Page 85 of Bad Habit
Thirteen
Mac
“Come on,” Dillon shouted from the living room. “I’m starving.”
I glanced up from a resource website for small business owners. “There’s leftover Thai in the fridge.”
“Keagan’s got sandwiches.”
My stomach growled, and I set my tablet down on the bed. Keagan lived across the Shady Oaks courtyard from the apartment I shared with my twin. There was no reason Dillon couldn’t go over without me, but we always went to Keagan’s together. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time one of us had gone without the other.
“Go on ahead,” I shouted through my closed door, which immediately opened.
“What’s wrong?” Dillon stood in the doorway.
“Dude!” I shook my head. “Ever heard of knocking? Maybe a little privacy?”
Dillon laughed. “We shared a room for eighteen years, Ma’s belly for nine months before that. Wouldn’t be the first time I caught you with your hand on your dick.” He brushed to the side the long shock of hair that perpetually shaded his eyes. “Porn?” He nodded to my tablet.
“No.” I pushed myself off the bed. “Okay. Let’s go.”
It was only three days until the big job, so I’d have to break the news to my brothers eventually. I was backing out. Putting off telling them wouldn’t make it easier.
Plus, there were sandwiches.
“I was doing research about starting a small business.” We walked across the living area of the apartment together.
“Really.” Dillon opened the door to our apartment. “So, you’re thinking about going legit once this job’s done, too?”
“More likebeforeit,” I said quietly halfway across the courtyard.
“What?” Dillon spun toward me. “What the fuck is up with you?”
I shrugged.
“Come on. Something’s up. It’s written all over you. You’ve been weird since you got back from Vegas.”
“Don’t tell the others, okay?”
“Don’t tell them what?” Dillon reached for Keagan’s door. “Did you win a jackpot or something, because you’d better share.”
“It’s not that.” I grabbed his arm to hold him back from opening Keagan’s door. “Promise you’ll keep this to yourself?”
“Okay, okay. What the hell, Mac?”
“I met someone. A girl. Woman. Person.”
“A girl-woman-person?” Dillon smirked.
“Fuck off. She’s special. And it’s serious. And suddenly the idea of risking prison seems like poking myself in the eye.”
Dillon rolled his eyes. “You’re just thinking with your dick.”
I shook my head. “It’s more than that.”
“Mac’s thinking with his dick? What’s new.” Our brother Shane appeared out of nowhere. Must have been hanging in the shadows as Dill and I walked across the sun-filled courtyard.
I shot Dillon a warning look as I passed by him into Keagan’s apartment, where Nick was already piling meat onto a bun.
