Page 116 of What We Bury

Me:

Enjoy your night off, sweetie!

Not sure what his problem is. Holden would have just sat in his car all night being tragic. Honestly, I’m doing him a favor by being here.

“Everything okay?” Sage asks.

“It’s fine. Just a mix-up on the roster. And I should probably set that group up before Captain Sunshine makes good on that split butthole threat.”

I very quickly set up a group chat with the five of us and Sage.

She lifts her phone when she receives a notification. “Kitten’s Hangmen?”

“It’s encrypted.”

“That is not the point.”

“Perfect group name if you ask me.” I set my phone face down on the table. “Now, where was I? Oh, right. Hangmenfamilysitch. I’m the youngest, obviously, because I’m a delight and an irritant in equal measure.”

“And Micah?”

“Micah is the heart,” I say carefully. “Of all of us. He keeps us human.”

“That’s not really an answer to who he is toEli.”

Sharp. I knew she was paying attention. I didn’t know she was payingthat muchattention.

I roll my wineglass between my palms. There’s a version of this where I deflect, and a version where I tell her the truth, and Sage has already said something tonight that qualifies her for the truth.

“This isn’t fully mine to tell, but you need the weather report before you walk into the storm,” I say. “Eli and Micah have a thing. An on-and-off thing that’s been more off than on for the last couple of years, because Eli is allergic to anything that looks like feelings. They don’t talk about it. We don’t talk about it. But it’s there.” I gesture vaguely. “I tell you this only because if you’re seriously considering the group situation in any form, you should know the group already has its own weather system, and Eli-and-Micah is the low-pressure front.”

Her brows pull together. “How off?”

“Currently? Glacial. Micah wants more than Eli’s willing to give. Eli ration-fucks him when the wall cracks and then walls back up. It’s not pretty. It’s not healthy. It is, I’m told by Knox, who refuses to weigh in on emotional matters as a rule,complicated.”

“Jesus.”

“Mm.” I take a sip. “Which probably explains some of why Eli reacted the way he did to walking in on you and Micah. He didn’t just see his best friend with you. He saw his best friend with you and his own gnarled, locked-up little heart looking back at him through the doorway. Whole thing’s a knot.”

Sage stares at me. “You see a lot more than you let on, don’t you?”

“Kitten.” I press a hand to my chest. “I am chaotically perceptive. It’s my superpower. Don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t.”

She’s quiet a beat, rearranging her mental furniture to fit the new information.

“Are you worried that two of your boyfriends are also sometimes fuck buddies?”

She shakes her head. “Not at all. I’m worried that this thing with me is coming between them.”

“Oh, kitten. I can assure you the only thing getting in anyone’s way is Eli getting in his own way. But I also feel sure he can’t keep that up forever. He wants this. I can see it in the way he acts over you.”

“Thanks, Milo.” She gives me a small smile. “That means a lot.”

“Okay,” I say, setting my glass down. “Enough. We’ve spent time on Broody McBroodison. What I want to know about is the giant who followed you in here this evening—don’t think I didn’t notice the hand-holding and the lingering looks and the ‘please don’t leave me’ energy between you and Knox tonight. What’s going on there?”

Her cheeks flush again. “We may have shared . . . a moment.”