“You’re late.”
His favorite goddamn phrase even when I wasn’t.
“I’ve been standing outside for twenty minutes. If you were so concerned, you would have looked for me yourself.”
Houston jerked his head over my shoulder. “Why do you think he found you?”
“Hey, I would have gone,” Loren objected. “Eventually.”
I rolled my eyes and tried to pass Houston, but the doorway was too narrow, and he filled it too easily. I didn’t even know where the hell I was going or what I would do once I got there. I just needed to be away from them.
“Excuse me,” I forced myself to say when he refused to move.
“Did Loren give you a tour?”
“He didn’t need to. It’s not like I could get lost walking a straight line. Excuse me,” I repeated when he continued to block my way.
Reaching past me, he wordlessly opened the door next to me, which forced me to back up or be hit. “This is the bathroom we use for guests.”
“Which we never have,” Loren added. Houston ignored him.
Barely sparing a glance inside, I found a clean half bath and nodded, prompting him to close the door and turn back the way he came.
“This is where you’ll be sleeping,” Houston said as I followed him.
There were four bunks built into the bus, two on each side, with curtains for privacy. Houston slid back the curtain of the top one perpendicular to my right shoulder. The bed was narrow but long, and the bunk tall enough to sit up fully without bumping my head. It was already covered with bedding even though I’d brought my own, and they looked way more expensive and comfortable than my ten-dollar sheets from Target. Though, what really sold me was the small TV built into the wall at the foot of the bed.
“It has Netflix,” Loren announced.
It didn’t escape my notice that he’d been quiet until now. Spending the last three months with them with another year to go, I’d already learned that Loren only felt the need to make his presence known when Houston was around. I wondered how much longer it would take me to grasp why. Perhaps it was because Loren didn’t like being told what to do, and Houston thrived on giving orders.
My attention shifted back and forth between Houston, who stared at Loren over my shoulder, and Loren silently daring Houston to do what was on his mind. My gut told me their little tiff was because of me, but my head wouldn’t allow me to care. I’d already done enough by getting myself trapped between them. The passageway was narrow, and I stood between two alpha males seconds away from ripping into each other. I was probably the only reason they hadn’t already come to blows.
Yay me.
“So,” I said slowly, interrupting their brooding, “is this it or…?”
Houston’s gaze slowly returned to me. I watched his jaw firm before he wordlessly spun on his heel and led me through another doorway. It was a bedroom the size of a standard guest room, and inside was a king-sized bed, a nightstand on each side with trash bins underneath, and another flat-screen spanning the wall it faced. My favorite part of the room was the wall next to the door that had been painted to depict them—Houston, Loren, Jericho, and…Calvin. The aromatic but bitter smell of olive oil suddenly filled my nose.
Calvin should have been the one standing here. Not me. I never thought I’d enjoy filling a dead man’s shoes, but I hadn’t expected to feel so guilty about it either.
As Houston led me through the bedroom until we reached the bathroom, I realized the walkway between the bed and the wall was narrow. The bathroom was about the size of mine at home, which said more for the bus than it did my apartment. It even had a glass shower big enough to fit two people, a sink with plenty of counter space, and a toilet disappointingly not lined with gold.
I felt duped.
Houston and Loren had unconsciously hyped me up for this moment only to show me a normal goddamn toilet. There was no eighteen-karat gold anywhere.
“I wasn’t expecting this,” I blurted honestly.
“Being rich and famous comes with its advantages,” Loren drawled from his perch against the closet by the door. Naturally, he’d mistaken my meaning, and I wisely decided not to share.
“This bedroom is used on an as-needed basis,” Houston informed me. At my confused look, he added. “We share it.”
“You mean, like, we sleep in here together sometimes?” What the hell would be the reason for that?
“It’s interesting that your mind drew that conclusion first, baby fawn.”
Since Loren chose to tease me, I decided to pretend he wasn’t there as I waited for Houston to explain. Rich was the only one who didn’t seem to get off on being cruel, and as usual, he was missing when I needed him. I tried gauging where he went whenever he disappeared, but as expected, neither Houston nor Loren was a welcome fountain of information.