Page 116 of Rest In Knotty Pieces

“Do you like video games?”

The tenseness goes out of my shoulders, and I completely relax. There were times in the city where I would end up in an arcade, drawn there because of the lights and sounds, but with the money I’d sometimes steal, I’d play for hours. Safe and warm where I could forget. “I do.”

Rolly bounces his way to a wall and presses a button, revealing the massive TV they keep hidden there.

“Let’s play.”

I glance at the others, waiting to see if anyone is going to argue.

“Dinner’s ready, so I’ll go bring it in. We’re having chicken burgers. If only a certain alpha and omega hadn’t spent the whole day and night in bed.”

I press a hand to my stomach, feeling sick again. “Shh, I can’t think about that right now. By the way, does anyone have any mouthwash? I can still taste King’s sweat.”

“Yay!” Rolly says happily. “My fav. The burgers, not the sweat. Although King’s sweat is tasty.”

I think my skin just turned green.

Sage snorts but looks at him with a fondness that has my chest clenching. I don’t want the sex and stuff. They can keep the kissing, but I want that intimate trust, that affection.

King bumps into me, and I stagger, whipping around and glaring at him.

“Sorry,” he mutters with a red face. “About before. That was not how I wanted us to meet again.”

His humiliation is almost endearing.

“I may have overreacted a little,” I concede, “but it was shocking. It’s something I expect from the others, but Merle has normally been fairly considerate.”

“Did I do something wrong? Is that why she left?”

How can such a huge and violent alpha be this unsure?

“She left because she decided you needed to get to know us all, since she wanted to keep you. It's just…she has terrible timing, and I was the one who came up.”

“Oh.” His smile is gorgeous. “Merle wants to stay?”

“She enjoyed it. She was happy. Disgustingly happy,” I mutter and feel my face flaming.

He grins wider, his chest inflating.

“Can we stop talking about this now, because I won’t be able to eat if we keep going?”

King nods too quickly and goes and sits on the couch. Rolly grabs my arm and pulls me next to him.

“Get ready to die.”

“Die?”

“Oh, yes. I’m going to destroy you,” Rolly growls, so preoccupied with the game that he hasn’t even noticed that I’m smiling at him.

Sage brings in the food. Blaze sticks around, but it’s Roseland’s silent observations that drive me insane.

I feel like he’s waiting for something, but I don’t know what that something is. I don’t know if it has to do with me or one of the others.

Eventually, he gets up, murmurs his excuses and slips from the room, leaving us alone.

Sage gets up and follows him, which is cute. Information bubbles up from Kestrel, and my mind boggles.

“Sage and Roseland are stepbrothers?” I say out loud.