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WORM

T he hotel bar isn’t very busy. Mercury is on Worm’s left happily scarfing down his chicken wings, fries, and cheese sticks. “Just a little snack,” he’d said when he ordered. Bull has Susie Beth cornered in a nearby booth. She isn’t looking very happy to be trapped next to the wall, or perhaps she just doesn’t want to be trapped by Bull. Good luck, buddy.

Worm is nursing a beer while Virus is on his third, complaining the whole time about being bored. Worm doesn’t remember Virus being so whiny when they’ve been out before. Virus heaves out a huge sigh. What’s gotten into him now?

“What’s eating at you?” Worm turns to face Virus. “You’re worse than a three-year-old at church.”

“Nothing,” Virus snaps, staring at the wall of liquor behind the bar. “I mean, what could possibly be wrong? It’s not like all my bros are finding women, settling down, and leaving me to carry the torch for all the bachelors for life, right? That would never happen.” He turns his head, giving Worm a glare.

“I’m not settling down,” Worm denies, even as a sour feeling settles in his gut. “It’s just dinner. Besides, you’re not the last one left. Mercury is a happy bachelor, right?” Worm spins to his left.

“I’m a bachelor all right,” Mercury responds, looking down at the remnants of his food. The look on his face makes it plain he’s anything but happy. Worm frowns. What’s he missing? Does Mercury want to be settled down? He makes a mental note to have a private talk with him sometime.

“Everything is changing,” Virus complains, drawing Worm’s attention again. “I miss the good old days when we’d come back from a mission and hit the bars, picking up barflies for a bit of fun, then hanging out together. Now, most of the team is married with kids, or soon to be, and those days are gone.”

“We still hang out,” Worm counters. “Hawk and Charlotte have everyone over at least once a month.” Virus’s face screws up in a scowl.

“It’s not the same!” Virus waves his hands around in a dramatic fashion. “There are kids present. We can’t get shitfaced and have barflies hanging off us.”

“Is that what you really want?” Worm asks with genuine curiosity. “You want to have meaningless hookups and never have someone special to come home to?” Virus waves at the bartender. When he looks over, Virus holds up his empty glass indicating he’s wanting another.

“I’m not saying that I never want to settle down, but it’s all happening so fast, you know?” The bartender places another full glass of beer down in front of Virus.

“You should slow down,” Worm counsels. “Don’t tie one on and cause a scene. Wallace and Emma deserve to have a drama-free weekend.”

“I’m in com-complete control,” Virus slurs, swaying a little. “I’m just going to have another, then I suppose I’ll go to my room and be bored to death.” Worm feels sympathy for his friend, but not enough to miss out on spending the evening with Allison.

“Oh, come on,” Mercury peers around Worm to eye Virus. “We can go out and do some exploring. There’s all kinds of stuff to do around here. There’s shops, dinner shows, and historical sites to explore. I’ll keep you company.” Virus sneers at Mercury but nods. They get up, heading for the hotel entrance. Worm follows to grab his dinner order. It’s about time to head up to Allison’s room.

A few minutes later, Worm arrives at Allison’s room. She opens the door seconds after he knocks. His heart begins beating overtime at the sight of her. She’s in a cute little sparkly champagne colored dress with rows of tassels hanging from the bodice and hem. “I brought dinner.” He holds up the large bag from Olive Garden. Worm is mentally face-palming himself at how stupid he sounds, but she’s short-circuited his brain with her beauty.

Allison’s face lights up. She steps back waving him into the room. “Oh, something smells delicious!” Worm follows her into the room to a small table-desk near the window with a couple of straight back chairs. Opening the bag, he pulls out the containers of food.

There’s two of each, soup, a salad, bread sticks, chicken broccoli alfredo, and tiramisu for dessert. Allison oohs and ahhs as he opens each thing. Her stomach growls in appreciation. “Let’s eat, I’m starving!” she exclaims when he’s finished removing the last box. He isn’t exactly hungry for food. He’d much rather feast on her to get his mind off the conversations with his sisters, but he needs to feed her. She’s going to need her strength for what he has in mind. Still, he needs to at least taste her lips. It’s been a couple hours since she left his room.

He holds out Allison’s chair for her to sit. Leaning in, he steals a kiss as he helps her scoot her chair up to the table. Allison is breathless and grinning when he lets her come up for air. “Mmm,” he murmurs, “delicious.” Allison giggles, giving him a playful swat.

“Sit down here and eat,” she waves toward the empty chair. “There’ll be time for that later.” Her eyes are heated, and her voice drips with seduction. Worm’s cock stiffens. He isn’t sure the boxer-briefs he’s wearing will contain it much longer. He adjusts himself as he moves behind her to reach his seat.

Guilt washes over him. Here he is thinking about sinking his cock into Allison when his family is at home suffering over the loss of their father. He can’t help feeling like he should be there helping in some way, even though Leigh and his mom had encouraged him to come to the wedding instead of using his time off to travel back home to check on them.

“Is something wrong?” Allison asks, her hand landing softly on his forearm. He glances up at her, pressing his lips into a tight line. He opens his mouth to answer but slams it shut. It takes a couple of tries before he finally answers.

“I’m afraid I might not be very good company,” Worm tells her, wanting to share it all with her, which is a first for him. “I…I called my middle sister, Amber, after you left today.”

“Is she okay?” Allison asks, concern lacing her tone. “Did something happen to her?” Worm’s worried expression softens.

“She’s okay,” he replies, placing his hand over Allison’s that is still resting on his arm. “She’s had a hard time dealing with dad dying. She’s refused to talk about it or see a therapist like the rest of us. I haven’t pushed her to go, because I know we all deal with things differently. I was trying to give her some space, but Amber tends to lash out when she’s upset. Sadie, our youngest sister, is the one who gets the brunt of it.”

Allison turns her hand over, linking their hands. “Oh, Russell, I’m sure that must be difficult for all of you. How old are your sisters?”

“Leigh is the oldest, after me. She’s eighteen,” Worm informs her. “Amber is sixteen, and Sadie is twelve.” Allison’s brow wrinkles with confusion. Worm can see the wheels turning. She’s wondering if he’s younger than he looks. “I’m twenty-eight,” he adds to ease her mind.

“Oh, I…,” Allison stammers.

“I could see the confusion,” Worm says, letting his amusement show in his voice. “Mom got pregnant with me when she was only sixteen. Her parents refused to sign the marriage license, so she and dad had to wait until she was eighteen to get officially married.”

“Um, yeah, I could understand their concerns,” Allison comments. “Did they not like your dad?” Her face pales and worry appears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, that’s not my business. I didn’t mean to overstep.”

Worm gives her a genuine smile, his free hand going up to cup the side of her face, needing to touch her. “It’s okay, sugar. Ask whatever you want.” He pauses as a thought occurs to him. The next words surprise him. “I don’t normally talk about my family’s history much, but for some reason, I want to share it with you.” Allison’s face breaks into a brilliant smile and her tense posture relaxes.

“Thank you for trusting me.” Worm brings the hand he is still holding to his lips, pressing a kiss to the back of it. Suddenly, he wants her to know everything about him and his family.

“My grandparents liked my dad just fine, but they’d felt my parents were too young and didn’t really know what they wanted,” Worm continues. “I think they were afraid that if they consented to the marriage, just because mom was pregnant, the marriage wouldn’t last. Who knows, they might’ve been right?”

He shrugs his shoulders. “I suppose because they wouldn’t agree to let them marry until mom was old enough to sign her own papers, it made the bond between my parents stronger. Dad was a year older. He finished high school and got a job right away. Once mom graduated, they got married and headed off to college together, taking me with them. That is why my siblings are much younger than me. They worked their way through college before having more children.”

Allison is completely focused on him. She seems to be enjoying hearing about his family. A warmth spreads through him settling in his chest, growing and pulsing. He tries to ignore it and what it could mean. He can’t allow himself to fall any harder for this brown haired beauty than he already has. He doesn’t want to admit he’s going to miss her when the week is over.