Page 158 of Crucible
“Shut up.”
Aurelia giggles again. “You three are awfully close. Have you ever—”
“No,” we all say at the same time.
“Well, there was that one time Thor lost a bet to Khalil.” Which I only know because Zeke told me.
Aurelia gasps and sits up. “No way!”
“Yeah, well, sorry to disappoint you, but forget it,” Thor snaps. “We’re not talking about this. And as far as I’m concerned, it never happened. End of discussion.”
“Wow,” Aurelia dryly teases as she lies back down. “Touchy.”
“It was a handjob,” I blab. “Thor gave. Khalil received.”
“Seth!” Thorin and Khalil bark.
I roll my eyes. “Big deal.”
“How the hell do you know that anyway? Zeke was awake when it happened.”
“He told me.”
“Of all the things he could have shared,thatwas most important?”
“I don’t write the reports, Khalil. I just read them.”
“So, what was the bet?” Aurelia asks curiously.
“I bet him that I could hit a bullseye from a thousand feet away.”
“All those years spent hunting for our food, and Khalil can’t hit shit but put a hand job on the table, and suddenly he’s Chris Kyle.”
Snorting, I roll over onto my back and tuck my hands under my head. “Khalil reciprocated,” I say.
He reaches over our girl and punches me hard as fuck in the stomach. I groan and curse as I roll over away from Aurelia and fold into the fetal position.
“So, I take that to mean it’s not something you’re interested in repeating?”
“Sorry, Goldilocks. It wasn’t for me.”
“Yeah, whatever. You liked it,” Thorin taunts.
Khalil ignores him. “Anyway. We have you now. I don’t have to settle for rough palms and no eye contact over there.” He tosses a thumb toward Thorin, who flips him off.
“What about you, Seth?”
I let my eyes drift closed as I get comfortable again. “Pass.”
“How do you know if you’ve never tried it?”
“Aurelia, baby, gorgeous, light of my life…go the fuck to sleep.”
My eyes are closed, but I can hear her pouting when she grumbles, “Fine.”
I can tell it’s morning by how unbearably goddamn cold it is.
When Thorin and Khalil rescued Zeke from Isaac’s cult, and I got to experience life outside of constant torture and endless pain, I compiled a list of my favorite things and everything that I can’t live without, even if the world ended tomorrow—Meat Lovers pizza, rap music, frappé, cute kittens, fantasy novels, Christmas, and cotton candy.
