Page 41 of Twisted Needs

“I’m here to support Malloy,” I tell him. “And the kids, I guess. But Aviva dragged us here to watch her man in action.”

“Right,” Parker nods, not dropping his smile. But I can still notice the tiny shift in his expression. He turns his attention to Seth and extends his hand out. “Parker Morozov. Thanks for coming out.”

Oh my God. There’s no fucking way he’s doing this right now. The fake niceness in his voice is an immediate threat. The kind of threat you feel when you’re worried someone is about to embarrass you right in front of all of your friends.

He and Luca both do it. I fucking hate it.

Seth is completely starstruck. Of course.

“Of course,” he says slowly, carefully shaking Parker’s hand. “I’m a huge fan.”

“Yeah,” he nods, folding his arms across his chest and scratching his short beard that definitely needs trimming. “So how do you know Anders?”

Parker has his gaze locked on Seth and it makes my stomach churn. He’s fucking with me and Seth has no idea. It’s so fucking childish.

“School, I guess,” Seth mutters, turning to me for confirmation. “I go to GW. We met at a party⁠—”

Parker, completely obvious even though he’s trying to appear casual, slings his arm around my shoulder and pulls me into him.

“A party,” Parker repeats like it’s the most interesting thing in the world. “Anders loves parties.”

“You’re being annoying,” I tell him, tilting my head up to look at him. “Don’t you have…charity to do? Kids to talk to?”

“Between the three of us.” He exhales once, still wearing his menacing grin. “I hate kids,” Parker whispers to Seth and I. “But…you know,” he shrugs. “It’s for a good cause. Always good to show up for the community.”

“Petchka,” I warn. “Please go. You’re bothering me.”

He holds his hands up in surrender, taking a step back. “You’re right.”

I hate how my body stings from the loss of contact.

“So good to finally meet you,” he tells Seth. “Anders has told me and his family a lot about you.”

What a fucking liar.

Seth immediately looks weirded out. “Really?”

“Oh yeah,” Parker nods. “Always talking about…” he pauses for a minute. Probably trying to remember what Seth’s name is, even though I never told him. “He calls you the party guy, you know. It’s really cute.”

I can’t believe this.

“Oh my God,” I groan, pinching the bridge of my nose. I can feel a migraine forming already. “Seth, please ignore him. He really likes to embarrass me like this.”

“It’s okay,” Seth chuckles weakly. “You know—I just remembered Connor needed me to give him a ride to Abigail’s after this, so…” He gives me an awkward head nod. “I’ll call you, okay?”

“Great,” I say flatly under my breath . “Okay. Yeah. Thanks for coming out.”

The moment Seth turns around to leave, I give Parker a disgusting glare. “Asshole. That was so uncalled for.”

He shrugs. “I’ve never met one of your boyfriends before.”

“He’s not my fucking boyfriend,” I snap. “And even if he was, what the hell was that? Were you trying to embarrass me?”

“No,” he lies. “I was just being friendly—aren’t we friends?”

I huff. “Whatever,” I mutter. “That was⁠—”

“Stick around until the end and I’ll give you a ride home.”