Raze (Riven 3)

Relief flooded me. I didn’t want Dane’s friends to think of me as a shady liar. Even if I had lied in a generally shady manner.

“Great, thanks.”

Dane’s hand landed on the back of my neck and squeezed. Theo was undeniably gorgeous, but one touch from Dane made my whole body yearn toward his.

Inside, the farmhouse was simple and clean, with a big gray sectional in the living room and a bunch of instruments in the corner. A dining table was set in the alcove next to the kitchen. The whole place looked homey and lived-in. There were flowers on every flat surface—vases with larger arrangements, makeshift vessels with a few flowers in them: a water glass, a candleholder, a teapot, and something that looked like a gourd.

“Hey!” called a voice from the kitchen. Caleb was tall and broad, though not as tall and broad as Dane. He had brown hair and a short, neat beard with a little red in it. His eyes were an intense, moody green, and tattoos peeked from the collar and sleeves of his shirt.

He gave Dane a bear hug, complete with backslapping, and I had a moment to hope I wouldn’t receive similar treatment before he turned to me.

“Felix, it’s great to meet you. I’m Caleb.”

He gave me a much gentler hug and back pat.

“Hi,” I managed. He smelled kind of amazing.

“Garden looks good,” Dane said, and Caleb and Theo launched into a long dialogue about what they’d planted and what they’d harvested and mulch and water and the weather and the acidity of the soil that I didn’t really understand.

We sat down to eat, and Caleb brought a steaming casserole dish to the table. There was a bowl of roasted brussels sprouts with bacon, a loaf of seedy bread and butter, and a salad already on the table.

“You’ve improved, kid,” Dane said, eyeing the food.

Caleb flipped him off. Theo’s eyes got bright. “I know, right?” He put his hand on Caleb’s back and Caleb’s expression immediately softened. “He can make such great stuff now! Not,” he added quickly to Caleb, “that I didn’t love your hash. I just…you know. Caleb used to only be able to make hash and eggs,” Theo explained to me. “Which was great, but also…” He shot me a gagging expression. “Got old.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Caleb took the lid off the casserole dish. “It’s basically lasagna, but with spaghetti instead of lasagna noodles because I didn’t have any and Theo forgot to go to the store.”

Theo rolled his eyes. “Whatever; it’s the exact same thing, just in a different shape.”

“Looks great,” I told them.

Despite Dane’s warning, the food was good. Theo said “I told you so” about the noodles and Caleb rolled his eyes, then smiled at him sweetly when he thought no one was looking.

“So, um,” I said. “How’d you guys meet?” I pointed between Dane and Caleb.

“You didn’t tell him?” Caleb said, sounding surprised.

“Not my place,” Dane said casually.

Caleb said, “He was my sponsor. In NA. Best fucking sponsor in the world. I wouldn’t have made it without him.”

“You would have.” Dane sounded certain and Caleb waved him off.

“I’m the only sponsee Huey deigned to be friends with,” Caleb teased, but he sounded a little proud. Dane smirked at him and toasted him with his water glass.

“That’s cool,” I said. “That you guys liked each other so much, I mean.”

“It wasn’t random, though,” Theo added.

“Nah,” Caleb confirmed. “My sponsor before was like—I dunno how to say it without being a dick, but he was kind of a star-fucker. Not that I’m a star,” Caleb quickly added. “But it’s tight circles, you know, and we all talk to each other. And there’s no shortage of addicts in music, so it can be kind of awkward. This one lady purposely offered to be a sponsor to people in the biz because she hoped to meet famous people. It was a pain.”

Dane took another serving of spaghetti lasagna and stared at his plate while Caleb talked.

“Anyway, when one of us gets a good sponsor we tell each other. So when my friend said she had the best sponsor, I wanted to know who. She said he came over when she had some recognizable folks over and he didn’t mention it. Didn’t seem to care at all. And Levy’s like—”

“Whitman!” Dane said sternly.

“Wait,” I said. “Levy like…Levy Price?” I nudged Dane. “You know Levy Price?”

“It’s called Narcotics Anonymous, Whitman,” Dane snapped.

“She’s totally open about it, Huey, you know that!” Caleb insisted. He relented when Dane just fixed him with a long-suffering look. “You’re right, fine—it’s not my place, sorry.”

“I won’t say anything,” I assured them. Dane patted my leg.

“Anyway, once Huey proved impervious to famous people, a bunch of us wanted him for a sponsor. Sucks to have to censor yourself about talking about your friends to your own sponsor.”