Page 98 of Wandering in Darkness
“Lane, Cal just keeps bashing me down harder and harder. Beat him up for me.”
“Okay,” Lane says as he reaches for me. I skillfully slide Felix in between us so when he goes for a choke hold, he grabs his own one true love while I merrily put myself into my seat and buckle my seat belt.
“Laaaaaane, release! Laaane!” Felix cries.
“Sorry, babe. I knew the body felt a bit too… uh…”
“Manly? Too manly to be Cal? That’s what you were going to say,right?” Felix asks as he finds his seat and buckles himself in.
“Yes. Manly. That’s the word I chose,” Lane says with the fakest smile on his face.
“How come I do everything I can to be magnificent for all of you, and all you guys do in return is torture me? Where is the kindness in your heart? The kindness I have inflicted on you should be reflected back on me.”
“Says the man who nearly got me murdered instead of a sandwich,” I say.
“Says the man who cackled when I knocked myself out with a rock,” Antonio contributes.
“You’ve been nice to me,” Grayson says.
“Just hang around him long enough,” I tell him.
Felix, who is now sitting in front of me, spins around to give me a look. “Why don’t I ever hear any of you blaming Lane?”
“Lane’s just a cool guy,” I say.
“Yeah, I have no problems with Lane,” Antonio agrees.
“Thank you,” Lane says as he holds up his hand, which I fist bump. Felix is gasping now.
“All of this is him! You guys! In the dead of night, he whispers these ideas into my head about all the shit he wants to get into! It’s not me! Guys! I want a fist bump. I want to be cool too,” he whines as he holds his fist in the air. Out of pity, I give him a bump, which seems to make him happy.
But the moment he gets that irritating grin on his face while he stares at both of us, I realize that I really shouldn’t have bumped his fist.
“Sooo…” His eyes flicker between Grayson and me.
“Do you ever want me to feed you again?”
“Sooo… the weather today… boy, it’s nice out,” he says. “Nice for a heist.”
“Sure is,” I say.
As Felix turns back in his seat, he begins talking to Antonio about why he hasn’t moved in with Frank yet, and I’m glad he has a new victim to harass.
I look over at Grayson, who smiles the moment he catches my eyes.
“Hey,” he says, voice soft. “I see you kept the gun I bought you.”
“It’s my baby. You may not touch him.”
“I wasn’t going to touch him.”
“I suppose you can stroke him since you did pay for him,” I concede.
“Weirdly more concerning.”
“He’s a good boy. I want to take him to Arthur’s and show him off. Rub it in his face, you know?”
“Yeah, that’s definitely what I do with friends,” Grayson says.
