Page 49 of Deadlier Obsessions

“Jesus, I was just saying,” I mutter, turning away from all of them to watch the girls heading for the door back out onto the street. “Our ladies legged it on us, guys.”

“Yeah, whose fault is that?” Mav asked, heading after them and complaining about them buying their own stuff.

“What’s going on, baby? You’re really on edge and picking fights like that really isn’t your thing. It’s mine.”

I shrug at Gage, but he shakes his head. “I’m serious. You’re usually more chill than this.”

I gesture at the door the other three of us just disappeared through.

“Shit’s changing on us, Gage. Whether we want it to or not. You saw how both of the girls were looking at those fucking rings in that jewelry store. Marriage and shit, it’s gonna keep coming up, and it’s not gonna work, is it? There are three too many of us.”

“Or one,” Gage says gruffly, his shoulders slumping. “I’m gonna end up being left alone if you guys all marry off. I mean, nobody’s begging to marry me, are they?”

Anyone who thinks this man doesn’t have a heart is a fucking moron. Gage has major abandonment issues already, but losing any member of our family would crush him, because he loves every fucking one of us.

“I’m not letting that happen, Gage, and if I have to trap us all on a fucking desert island somewhere, I will.” I take a breath and start walking. “And for the record, I’d marry you in a fucking heartbeat, Gage.”

I catch that sharp intake of breath from him, but I keep walking because I just put my fucking heart on the line yet again, and while I know he wouldn’t break it, I can’t look at him right now, in case he’s horrified or disgusted by my words. He says nobody wants to marry him, but I also note he hasn’t said anything about wanting to marry anyone either. Maybe he just never considered it before, or maybe he’s vehemently against it. Who the fuck knows? Do we generally talk shit out in this family? No, we argue and then we fuck. Sometimes things don’tget resolved as quickly as they should, but is that solely down to three fucking emotionally stunted men, or are the women also having as much difficulty with their feelings? We never talked long term, except to insist we’d force the issue. Maybe it’s time we did.

GAGE

He really said that, didn’t he? The whole walk back through the pretentious overpriced stores and to our hotel, I’m stewing on it, because he actually said he’d marry me. This whole time I’ve been so convinced that nobody would choose me, because who’d actually choose a guy like me? The thought of marriage, or anything as fucking socially acceptable like that, had been horrifying for me, because I imagined I’d be the one left out, but maybe it doesn’t have to be that way.

I wonder if there’s anywhere on this planet that allows weddings between a group of people like this? I know what I’ll be setting up searches for when we get back, but for now, I catch up with Sebastian, sliding my hand into his and winking at him when he looks at me. He’s downcast, probably thinking he shouldn’t have said it at all, but I’m not letting him go back on it now. I’ll find a way to get us all fucking married if it’s the last thing I do. There has to be a loophole we can exploit, doesn’t there?

“Do you guys’ mind if I get some rest? I’m exhausted,” Lucy says as soon as we enter our room, and Mav takes her back there to probably tuck her in and read her a fucking bedtime story. Stella goes for a shower, and I kiss Sebastian and slap his ass.

“Go shower with her, baby. Help her with all those hard-to-reach areas.” He rolls his eyes at me, but follows her, whichleaves me alone for a few so I can get started on figuring this shit out. If any of them think they aren’t staying with us, or are getting any kind of fucking normal, they’re dreaming.

A quick search on my phone shows me way too much to try and wade through, although it’s clearly illegal everywhere in America, which isn’t a big shock. Same goes for most of the Western world, so I set up a few bots doing some searches for me, with clear parameters, so I can stop before anyone catches me. All isn’t fucking lost. If anyone can figure this out, it’s me.

“We need to talk, man,” Mav says from behind me, nearly scaring my damn phone right out of my hand.

“Prick. I nearly shit my pants then.” We both stare at each other for a moment and start laughing.

“Lucy’s ruining all of us, man. So much Brit shit is finding its way into our speech.”

“True story. Sebastian even said ‘legged it’ earlier. Some of their phrases are funny though.”

“He’s why we need to talk.” Here it is. Time to try and defuse yet another situation between the two of them. I open my mouth to defend my Pretty Boy, but Mav gets in first.

“Is he okay? He’s been edgy since the girls fucking coerced us into trying to make me gay. He’s not feeling threatened by me, right? I don’t want either of your dicks. Or asses. I’m more than happy being the straight guy in this fucked up math problem we have here.”

“Gotta be honest, that’s the last thing I thought you’d say, man. Honestly, I don’t know. What I do know is that this trip is fucking cursed, and we need to go home. I mean, Lucy would still be pregnant if we hadn’t left home, but maybe this is just too much reality for our situation.”

Mav stares at me like I just blew his mind or something.

“What?”

He shakes his head, laughing quietly, stopping when my glare must suddenly warn him of my rapidly shortening fuse.

“We’ve known each other for fucking years, more than a decade, and that’s the most logical you’ve ever been, even though it’s probably completely wrong.”

I flip him off, but while we’re being serious, I refer us back to ending this fucking nightmare trip.

“Think we can get them to go back home before anything else goes wrong on this fucking vacation from hell?”

“Ah. Yeah, about that. Lucy wants to go back to see her family before we leave.I know, I know… I’ve already done the whole ‘what the fuck’ thing, but she wants to tell them about the baby. I really don’t think it’s going to make anything better, but I don’t think she’ll be happy if we just fuck off and ignore this.”

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