Page 118 of Bitter When He Begs

“You love it,” he says, grinning against my throat like he hasn’t just publicly made out with my pulse point.

Nate’s watching with the deadpan expression of someone who’s endured far too much couple energy for one afternoon. He takes a dramatic slurp of his pink sugary monstrosity andsighs. “Okay, I don’t need to be a part of whatever domestic PDA bullshit this is. Some of us are still tragically single.”

Luca finally looks up, resting his chin on my shoulder. “Sorry, didn’t realize they let you out of the lab,Nate.”

“Didn’t realize they let you into public places without a leash,Luca.”

“Only on game days.”

“You know, that actually checks out.”

I snort into my coffee while they start sniping back and forth, Luca letting go just long enough to grab the iced thing Nate’s holding and take a sip uninvited.

“Really?” Nate barks. “You backwash like a toddler.”

Luca pulls a face and hands it back. “Says the guy who drinks liquified dessert and calls it‘therapeutic.’”

“Itistherapeutic. You wouldn’t understand. You have the palate of a tree stump.”

“At least I’m not the one who tried to make grilled cheese in a toaster.”

“You told him?!” Nate shrieks, looking at me like I betrayed him. “I was twelve!”

Luca scoffs. “You were seventeen.”

“You need to die.”

I take a long drink, watching them with mild amusement, warmth spreading through my chest in ways that have nothing to do with the coffee.

They keep going, trading barbs and teasing insults while I lean back on the bench behind me, watching them with my cup in both hands. Luca throws an arm across Nate’s shoulder, who shrugs it off immediately, and the whole scene feels like some kind of bizarre domestic sitcom I didn’t audition for but somehow got cast in.

It’s weird, this version of my life. Not bad. Just… unexpected.

There was a time not long ago when I thought Luca and Nate in the same room would end with bloodshed. Not just because Nate’s protective, but because Luca’s… well, Luca. Loud. Obnoxious. A little too charming for his own good. But now, watching them shove each other like idiots, hurling sarcasm back and forth while people walk past on the quad with backpacks, earbuds, and midterm stress written on their faces, I feel something I wasn’t expecting.

Peace.

“You two done?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

“No,” they both say at the same time.

I roll my eyes, but I’m smiling too hard to care, then Luca steals a sip of my coffee like I won’t notice. I narrow my eyes at him. “Do you not know how money works?”

He grins, unrepentant. “Sharing is caring.”

“You owe me a new cup.”

“I’ll pay you back in kisses.”

Nate snorts so hard he wheezes. “You guys are disgusting.”

“You’re just bitter he picked me as a boyfriend,” Luca says.

“More likeboyfiend,” Nate says, glancing at me with a grin that’s more fond than anything. “Sage is still in his honeymoon phase. He’ll wise up, eventually.”

“Doubt it,” I mutter, turning my coffee between my palms. “I’m pretty sure I’m stuck with him.”

Luca leans in again, lips brushing the shell of my ear. “Forever’s sounding real sexy right now.”