Page 59 of Burning Up

“Gray must have really worked you hard,” Matt said.

“He’s a fucking ass.”

Toby laughed. “He’s got a cute ass. That’s for sure.”

Bryce swatted Toby’s rather fine rear end as he walked by. “I’ll remember that later.”

“Please do.”

Bryce frowned as he poured himself a bowl of cereal. He’d been slacking on his cooking duties because of his classes. Matt and Toby hadn’t complained. Much. But he was getting tired of cereal and Pop-Tarts for breakfast.

Matt walked into the kitchen and grabbed his jacket from one of the hooks by the door. “Hurry up. We’re meeting the rental agent in ten minutes.”

“We have an appointment?”

“Yes, weren’t you listening when I told you this yesterday?”

“Um… maybe.”

Matt rolled his eyes. “I got us an appointment to see two houses I noticed on my run a few days ago.”

“Okay, I’m ready,” Bryce said, pushing his chair back from the table. He wanted to be enthusiastic about finding a house, but they’d looked at what felt like hundreds of apartments and rental houses and something had been wrong with all of them. Not wrong like a few details weren’t to their liking, but I-wouldn’t-rent-that-if-my-life-depended-on-it wrong. Turning the light on at one place had sent a large colony of roaches fleeing for cracks in the walls. Another was less than half the advertised size. Yet another had rotten floorboards and mildew-covered walls. Bryce had started to think they should just get some tents and take to the woods.

The first house they saw that morning was okay, but while the square footage was a little bigger than Bryce’s current house, the bedrooms were both too small to hold his king-size bed and the floor plan sucked.

As they followed the agent to the second house, Toby sighed. “I don’t know how many more suck-ass houses I can look at.”

“The last one wasn’t bad,” Matt said.

“No, but it wasn’t right either.”

“Maybe this one will be better.” Bryce wasn’t optimistic, but he didn’t want Toby hurting Matt’s feelings.

When they got out of the car, Theresa, the rental agent, was standing on the porch wearing a God-I-hope-you-rent-this-house smile. The outside was freshly painted, and there were boxes of pansies in the windows. It was promising. Could it be the one?

The moment Bryce stepped inside, he knew they were going to rent that house. The downstairs had an open floor plan with living room, dining area, and kitchen, and the numerous large windows made the space feel even bigger than it was.

“The bedrooms are all upstairs?” Bryce asked, although it was obvious.

“Yes, would you like to see them now?”

Bryce glanced at Matt and Toby. “Yes, ma’am,” Toby answered.

The three of them followed her up the carpeted stairs. They would be a pain in the ass to clean, but the carpet was plush and comfy. It would feel great under cold feet in the morning.

Two of the three bedrooms were tiny, but the master bedroom was large and as full of light as the open space downstairs. “It’s big enough to fit a king-size bed,” Matt observed.

“Oh, yes, most definitely,” Theresa said, though she looked surprised that one of them would have one. They hadn’t bothered to correct her assumption that they were roommates. Bryce was tempted to say, “What the hell else would we all fit in?” but he behaved himself.

The upstairs bathroom wasn’t amazingly spacious, but it was adequate, as was the one downstairs, and both were full baths, which wasn’t easy to find in his neighborhood.

When the agent finished her spiel, Bryce looked at Matt and Toby to see if they were as into the place as he was. Toby grinned and gave him a thumbs-up while the agent was answering a question from Matt about average utility bills. Trust him to come up with the practical questions. Like Bryce, Toby was probably more interested in the fact that they could set up the third bedroom as a playroom. It might not fit a king-size bed, but it was sure as hell big enough for the spanking bench he’d been planning to build.

“So what do you gentlemen think?” the agent asked.

Bryce wanted a chance to discuss it with Matt and Toby without Theresa listening in. “Could we have a few minutes to look around on our own?”

The agent hesitated, as if deciding whether they’d do any damage if she left them alone. They must have passed muster, because she said, “Of course. I’ll be on the porch when you’re ready.”

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