But as soon as I pulled my phone from my pocket, it rang. When I saw Sticks on
the screen, I grinned.
“Hey, loser,” I answered, relieved to talk to him again. “I was just about to call you.”
“You were?” He sounded surprised, which made me laugh.
“Hell, yeah. I don’t have to go to work until five this evening, so I was curious if you were up for some Call of Duty.”
“Sure. I was actually going to see if you were around because…I have something for you.”
I nodded and waved him on, even though he couldn’t see me over the phone. “Well, then get your ass over here, man.”
Ten minutes later, there was a knock on my door, and you’d think I was waiting for a hot lady to visit, I was a bit too eager to answer it. But I didn’t care, and as soon as I pulled it open, this ball of relief eased inside me.
“This is for you.” Sticks held out a small brown paper sack as soon as we jogged down together into my apartment. When I only arched an eyebrow, curious, he jiggled the bag impatiently. “Well, go on and take it. It’s not poisonous, I swear.”
I took the sack and unfolded the top so I could peer inside.
“What the hell?” Staring incredulously, I gaped at the new box of condoms that had the words “Use Me Please” written out in thick black marker along the side.
“And I remembered to get the non-latex kind too.” Remy sounded way too proud of himself, so I squinted an incredulous glance his way.
He sighed as if disgusted that I wasn’t happier. “This is me proving to you that I’m perfectly okay with you going out and having sex with...whomever.”
“Just not your cousin,” I had to add, trying not to sound bitter and hoping I hadn’t just stuck my foot into my mouth and made things worse between us. But I was sort of hoping he’d say he was okay with me pursuing Elisa after all.
He didn’t. Of course.
He scowled a second before shrugging. “Yeah. Just not her.”
I wanted to mope and scowl and argue, but...this was Sticks extending an olive branch. Strange method, but he wanted to make amends, so I accepted it.
“Well...thank you, I think,” I said, tossing the box onto my bed. “So you want to kill shit now?”
His shoulders eased and a relieved smile slid across his face. “Sure.”
“So...Dugger Murphy, huh? Yeah, I can’t see Pick being named that either.”
As I gave my controls a rest to snatch my bottle of Angry Orchard and take a couple gulps, Remy finished off the small invasion of enemies closing in on us.
Damn, he really was good at this game.
“I know, right?” I set the drink back down to back him up as he entered a nearby building, guns drawn.
With a snort, he grinned my way, “God, your mom had sucky taste in names.”
I shot a guy in the head that was about to take him out.
“Shit, I didn’t see him.” Remy gritted his teeth in frustration. “Gracias.”
His gratitude came begrudgingly. It cracked me up how competitive he was and how he hated missing something or getting help.
I acted blasé about it. “Mmm hmm.” But he still flipped me the bird for my answer, and I had to laugh.
“So, this guy who owns the garage and who Pick actually used to work for ended up being his paternal grandfather? That’s some crazy shit.”
“Yeah, about as crazy as me finding out my boss was my brother.” I didn’t mention that I was a little jealous Pick had ended up discovering a new family member who didn’t outright hate him, resent him, or just not give a shit about his life. But then I reminded myself, I’d gotten a new family member out of Pick, hadn’t I? So I was technically no longer batting zero in that regard.