Page 62 of Uncharted

“Fuck yeah,” I said because it was the only thing I could think of, stupid as it was.

Reno laughed, and I realized I should have known better than to worry that I was stupid for him. It was Reno; he was fraught with worry and confusion; unsure and still figuring things out, but it was Reno through and through. “Couldn’t agree more.”

“Told ya I could get fucked,” I told him with a snicker, leaning forward, our sweaty foreheads pressing together. “Probably shoulda waited on that shower though, huh?”

“I’ll take sex sweat over work sweat,” he chuckled, fingers lacing with mine. “I⁠—”

“Don’t,” I told him, seeing the desperate urge to say something, anything that might make me understand and feel better. “Ya don’t have to. This was…great, it was fun; it was wonderful. But it don’t mean ya gotta say or do anythin’ specific, alright? I know you’re still knockin’ things around in that noggin of yours. It’s alright…I’ll wait till ya figure it out.”

“And…if I don’t…ya know?” he asked, unable to say the words.

“Then we’ll figure it out,” I said, finding I couldn’t say the words either. I didn’t know how likely it was to go…that way, but I couldn’t risk giving it power by giving it words either. Call it superstitious; or call it trying to save my heart from heartbreak before it was necessary.

“Okay,” he said, still unsure, but accepting what I was telling him. “You wanna eat in tonight?”

“Yeah,” I said immediately. “And uh⁠—”

He blinked at me. “What?”

“Will you…stay with me tonight?” I asked and felt the bottom of my confidence drop out from under me, leaving a scared little boy.

Reno blinked and then smiled, stroking my cheek. “I’ll drag the folding bed out of that back room.”

“Okay,” I said, glad he’d be there, but I was hoping⁠—

“You like to squeeze the fuck out of me when you sleep next to me. And I feel you’re not going to magically not do that now we’re in…shenanigans,” he said with a smirk. “So, how about this? You get your cuddles, and then when it’s sleep time, I’ll move to the folding bed. That way I’m here the whole time.”

I brightened immediately, not caring that he laughed at my transparency. “Deal.”

“Good,” he said, something strange in his face. “Someone has to take care of you, after all.”

“I’m glad it’s you,” I told him, content to watch his bare ass as he got up to rummage for his clothes.

Life was so fucking weird, but sometimes, it was fucking great.

And sometimes it was both.

9

RENO

I stopped outside the cabin door and immediately took a step to turn around and go back. I had already stopped half a dozen times on the way there, and it was, of course, completely on brand for me to stop at the threshold and tuck tail and run. I had spent a couple of weeks hyping myself up, and if I didn’t suck it up and do what I needed right then, I was probably never going to find the courage again.

“Quit!” I heard Xander bark from the other side of the door, and my face went blank at his shout. It wasn’t the angry, irritated sound I was used to. Oh, it was exasperated, but there was laughter in his voice and a fondness when he spoke again that I felt an ache in my chest. “You little shithead.”

I didn’t hear Colin’s reply, but there was no one else in the world I could picture Xander talking to like that, and all my courage disappeared in a puff of smoke. I was hearing two people who were crazy about each other and utterly comfortable, the sort of thing I wanted, but there was no way I was going to interrupt whatever moment they were having.

“Yeah, yeah,” I heard Colin say, his voice nearer the door so I could make out the words. “I’m on it, Your Royal Highness.”

“Keep that shit up and you’ll be kissing my feet along with a few other things,” Xander shot back, and despite the horror of hearing Xander horny, my feet were rooted in place, my hand hanging in the air to knock.

The door swung open before I realized what was happening and I didn’t want to know what Colin saw when he came to a sudden stop, a bag of trash in his hand, no shirt or shoes, and a look of complete shock that would have been funny in any other circumstance.

“Uh…so, I kinda…need to talk,” I managed in the smallest voice imaginable.

To his credit, Colin recovered quickly. “Okay…well, put this in the sealed can, would you?”

He handed me the bag, and I walked over to the corner of the cabin, unlocked the garbage can, dropped the bag in and locked it back up before shuffling back to the door just in time to hear Xander growl. “What the fuck are you doing?”