2. Catching Up
2
CATCHING UP
DANTE
A fter kissing Tessa goodbye for the day and taking a quick shower, I head down to the kitchen to grab a coffee and some breakfast.
When I enter the spacious room, Kurtis is whisper-shouting at Evan, waving his arms around like he’s talking shit. Most likely about me. Or it could be about the Instant Karma fallout. It’s hard to tell, Kurtis easily gets wound up over shit.
Frustration coils in my chest. I try to release it. His drama might have nothing to do with me.
“Sup?” I jerk my chin in their direction in a casual greeting.
“Oh, decided to leave the fuck nest?” Kurtis waggles his eyebrows like he’s joking.
I might not be as psychic as Tessa, but my intuition was correct. From his sassy jest, I know he’s angry at me.
“Yep. My dick needed a break from all that fucking.” I poke the bear. “I hope we didn’t keep you up this whole time.” I glance down at his crotch and wink.
“Dante,” Evan warns, like I’m the asshole here.
“What?” I give him my best glower. “Don’t bring up my damn love life if you don’t want to talk about it.” I turn my gaze back to Kurtis, daring him to continue.
He looks away, knowing he doesn’t have a leg to stand on about how to behave in our shared house.
I fix my coffee how I like and grab a pastry from the counter. Greta, our resident house manager, always makes sure we have all the things we need. I’m glad she stayed on after Instant Karma was destroyed.
As if my thoughts have summoned her, the older woman walks into the tense scene in the kitchen. “Hello Dante! What are you up to today? I hear Tessa has been called away for her first day with Death.”
“Well, I was going to ask you if anyone has heard from OG Karma. And if not, I was going to ask these bozos to hang out, but it seems they have something lodged in their nether regions.”
Greta suppresses a giggle. “That’s not part of my job description to check,” she says with a smirk.
Kurtis, Evan, and I give each other a surprised look. Greta didn’t joke around when we had our former employer. I suppose she was worried about the consequences if she said the wrong thing.
“Want to play Monster Mash?” Kurtis offers. “You haven’t played with us in a while.”
I accept his olive branch. “Sure. Sounds good.”
We gather some cold drinks and snacks and set ourselves up in the game room. Evan and Kurtis sit next to each other on the couch. Odd . They never sit together, even if they’re close friends.
Whatever. It’s not my business if they’re getting closer. What did I expect? I’ve been isolating myself with Tessa for weeks now.
I notice their knees touching and a casualness and comfortability that hadn’t been there before.
They’re trading inside jokes that I’m not part of.
I can see how my dating Tessa and spending so much time alone with her would feel like for them. Probably the same way I’m feeling like an outsider now myself.
“Need anything?” Kurtis asks Evan as he rushes off to take a piss and grab some more waters. He forgets to ask me. Or is being dismissive on purpose.
I glare at his retreating backside.
Evan clears his throat. “He’s grown more attached to me than ever lately.”
Damn, for not being an actual psychic, Evan is very perceptive. He watches everything, and it’s a gift of his to quickly assess situations. He used it often when we were working for Instant Karma.
I try to brush off my stupid hurt feelings. “Yeah. Makes sense. It’s all been a lot.”
“That’s the truth,” Evan agrees and restarts the paused game.
Kurtis bounces back into the room and tosses me a water bottle. “Thought I forgot about you, didn’t ya?” He chuckles. “Nope. That’s what you do.”
I roll my eyes, but my gut sinks as I realize how I’ve failed my friends. They were there for me while we worked for Instant. How many times did we bail each other out? Too many.
Kurtis and Evan were working together years before I came along, and because of that, they’ve always been closer than I was with either of them. Evan took Kurtis under his wing and kept an eye on him when we were out at clubs or in dangerous situations, since he can spin out quickly and become self-destructive. But their closeness is no excuse for me to ignore our friendship. Our history.
I sense Kurtis is more level-headed than he’s been in a long time, maybe ever. I wonder if his improvement is because Instant isn’t actively draining his soul anymore. I feel better too, but I’ve attributed it to Tessa’s love healing me.
Evan and Kurtis get back to their playful elbowing and get lost in the game. Actually, Evan’s acting different, too. I don’t think I’ve seen him so free-spirited. Not that he’s dancing on tabletops or anything, but his demeanor feels more open, more relaxed, at least toward Kurtis.
We continue playing until the early evening. Eventually, I stand up to stretch, wondering if I should head upstairs to the showers since Tessa should be home soon.
“I need to workout.” Evan tilts his head in an invitation. “Want to go down to the gym? You’re both welcome to join me.”
“I could use a workout.”
Kurtis cocks his brow at both of us, then his shoulders relax.
We head downstairs to the fancy ass gym in the mansion. It’s equipped with weight machines, treadmills, and mats for sparring. It rivals a lot of smaller commercial gyms.
I start on the treadmill to warm up, and the guys follow my lead.
After a few minutes of silence, Evan speaks up. “We’ve missed hanging with you.”
For Evan to admit that is the equivalent of him bawling his eyes out. He’s a known control freak, rarely showing emotion. He’s dealt with Kurtis and me for years, and he’s loosened up a bit, but not as much as I would like.
“I missed you guys, too.” I regret abandoning them to tend to my relationship with Tessa. This must have been hard on them—almost dying and realizing their souls were damaged by Instant Karma. “Sorry. I got caught up in finding my someone.”
Evan hums his acknowledgment of my apology. Then a moment later, he says, “I’m jealous.” He eyes Kurtis. “We both are.”
“I’ll spend more time with you,” I promise.
Both Evan and Kurtis chuckle with no humor.
“No, about Tessa,” he corrects.
“You’ll find someone,” I offer.
Evan shuts off his machine and turns to face me.
Something’s going on that I’m missing.
I stop my treadmill too. “What?” I demand.
“We wanted Tessa.”
I scoff. “ Okay . Not sure what you want me to do about that. I love her.” I shake my head in confusion. “You had your chance with her. Not my fault she picked me.”
“We didn’t have a shot with you hogging all her attention,” Kurtis grumbles.
“And now, with Original Karma, we have a way to heal and live our lives.” Evan rubs the back of his neck. “I want a chance at love.”
Next to Evan, Kurtis nods his agreement, as if this were some sort of debate. As if backing off for their sake is an option.
“I’m not stopping you from finding love, but I’m not going to give you the go-ahead to steal it from me.” I toss my sweat rag at my machine and storm off.
What the actual fuck? Are they for real?
I’m not giving up on the one thing in my entire fucked up life that’s ever felt right.
Tessa is mine .