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“Because my home life wasn’t that good. I didn’t want to tell all of you what you mean to me outside of these books. My father was an abusive prick and my mother was a drug addict. My brother committed suicide when he was eighteen.”
I almost felt bad for him. Almost.
“Nice try, but none of us had lives before these books. You just created that little backstory to make me feel bad for you!”
“I know!” he hissed. “Do you see how devoted I am to this series? I can’t let it go!”
“Well, I can!”
He grabbed me by the arms, dragging me away from the crowd. “Freckles, imagine what life would be like if the truth came out. Do you honestly think you’d get to continue the life you have now? Who’s going to blow shit up with you?”
He had a point. On the other hand… “Look, I understand what you’re saying, but I can’t allow Rob to go through this on his own. He doesn’t even have a book! He’s living a half-life where he only gets action when Giulia decides to throw it in.”
“He doesn’t even like action!”
I shot him a pointed look. “That’s not the action I’m talking about.”
“Oh.” Then it dawned on him. “Oh! That sort of action.” He grimaced, shaking his head slightly. “So…it’s like he’s a virgin?”
“Well, not entirely. I think she wrote something for him in the beginning of this story, but I can’t be entirely sure that it played out on the pages. So, it’s sort of like knowing you’ve had sex, but not remembering it. Which means he doesn’t actually know what it feels like.”
Sebastian scrubbed his hand across his face. “Damn, that’s rough.”
“I know! Think about all the times we’ve gotten to have sex on the page. He’s our friend. How can we let him go through this?”
He nodded slightly. “You know, he’s not that good of a friend. I’m cool with it.”
I punched him hard, glaring at him.
“Ow! Fine, alright. I’ll…help you out,” he grumbled. “But don’t expect me to like it.”
“I don’t care if you like it as long as you do what you can to help our friend.”
“You know, I think I liked it more when you were all out for yourself.”
“I’ve never been all out for myself. Readers assumed that because of the way Giulia wrote me wanting to abort our kid. They didn’t even give me a chance until I took Kate’s place when we were captured.” I held up my left hand. “I had to lose two fingers for people to finally start liking me.”
He grinned at that. “All I have to do is show my charming smile.”
“Whatever. You’re partly blind. Readers only love you because you cry when you can’t see.”
“I do not!”
Turning, I stormed away from him, hearing him chase me. “I do not cry!”
“You cried on Hunter’s shoulder in a closet,” I tossed over my shoulder. “And everyone was like…Poor Cap. He’s lost his sidekick and he’s really sad. Waah, waah, waah!”
“Take it back! You’re making me sound like a baby!”
“Because you’re acting like a baby! I lost two fingers. You don’t see me crying about it!”
“That’s because Giulia wrote you as this hardened badass who doesn’t let anything past that steely armor. Without her, you’d be just floating around in stasis. No! You wouldn’t even exist!”
I spun around and got in his face. “Neither would you, but at least I’m trying to help our friend instead of looking out for myself,” I hissed.
“Fine,” he said, narrowing his eyes at me. “I’ll help you, but only because I’m the leader of Reed Security.”
“You’re also Giulia’s favorite. Let’s see how long that lasts when she realizes you betrayed her.”