Page 12 of Lifeline

“Stop,” he said with a snort. “Do you know how many times I’ve had to defend my heterosexuality because my twin brother is a giant homo.”

“Probably about as many times as I’ve had to fend people off from the idea of a threesome with us,” I told him.

“Ugh,” he said and let go of me, as I suspected he would at the mere mention. “I don’t even want to think of how many times you’ve probably had to answer if you’ve been at least a little curious.”

“About as many times,” I said dryly. “Are we done having a moment? I’m going to need to do a bit of confirmation, but I’m fairly certain I know what we’re going to need. Some of these circuits are fried. Some of them are hanging on by a thread. I’m betting the winter did them in. Goddamn things are old and cobbled together like a Frankenstein project. Some new, some old, none of them working as they should. The winter probably damaged some components and now it’s warmer out, a fuck ton of moisture got in and ruined the cooling, so it’s got heat and water damage all over the…goddammit.”

“Just…I’m not going to ask if you want my advice because I know you’re going to tell me no, but…you should probably try getting your head out of your ass and go talk to him,” he said and when I glared at him, he shrugged. “What? Things can’t go on like this.”

“Like this,” I scoffed. “It’s been a week. You don’t magically get over something in a week.”

“It’s been years since your relationship ended,” he pointed out. “So either your breakup was that dramatic, or you two need to stop acting so weird. You’re in your thirties now, time to stop being a little bitch.”

“And this is why it’s a good thing you don’t give people advice,” I told him dryly. “You’re terrible at it.”

“How was that terrible?”

“You told me to stop being a little bitch.”

“That’s fantastic advice! It’s accurate in what you need to do and what you’ve been doing, perfect. Flawless advice, actually.”

“I’d rather try to seduce Jake than take your advice,” I said, glancing at him casually but watching him blink in surprise and frown.

“Don’t,” Reno said with a snort. “Because he’d give it a shot just to say he did. You know how he is…wait, are you into him?”

“I’m not blind, but don’t worry, I’m not going to seduce your bestie,” I said with a snort. I mean, I was not blind; there wasn’t one man at the place, excluding my brother, that wasn’t good-looking. I wondered what it was about the outpost that attracted good-looking men, but that trend had continued with the newest additions of Colin and yes, even Aidan.

“So, if you’re not being a little bitch, that means it was an ugly breakup,” Reno said, and I rolled my eyes toward him. “So…did one of you cheat?”

My eyes widened. “What? No! What the fuck?”

“Hmm, did you hit each other?”

“Jesus, Reno. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“What? For it to be this awkward and tense after all these years, it has to be something big, doesn’t it?”

“It doesn’t have to be dramatic,” I pointed out, wrinkling my nose. “Cheating and then abuse?”

“Is it abuse if it’s mutual?”

“Pretty sure that’s just mutual abuse.”

“Hmmm,” he said and trailed off as a voice rose from nearby, and I raised a brow as his ears perked up. “I guess Jake got free.”

“Do you think he took off when Trevor wasn’t looking?”

“Well, he isn’t going to irritate Trevor so much that he’ll send Jake away,” Reno pointed out. “Trevor’s not that easily tricked. Now if it was Xander or Cait…maybe.”

“So he either slipped away somehow,” I said, because seriously, Jake was as big as Xander, twice as loud, which was an achievement, and yet was the sneakiest person at the outpost. It was a dichotomy I’d never been able to make sense of, but no one else seemed confused by it, “or he did whatever he was made to do. Do we want to take bets?”

“I want to vote against him actually being helpful,” Reno said with a snort. “But he’s making too much noise for someone who snuck away. We both know Trev has no problem hunting Jake down and bullying him when necessary.”

“Sometimes that’s the only way to get Jake to do anything,” I muttered.

“True,” Reno said with a grin as Jake’s voice grew closer, and he walked to the edge of the roof and called down. “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?”

“Hey hey,” Jake called up. “Wait, hold on. That’s a good question. Why am I? I should be Juliet, I’m so much prettier than you.”