Page 35

"We were supposed to be gone this whole week, and we are off work, but a few of us came home early to spend some quality time together." Quintin drops his hand. "It just kind of happened last minute."

I'm grateful to him for saving me from having to answer such a difficult and pointed question.

There's nothing I could have said since I hadn't known ahead of time that my boyfriends were leaving, or even what their plans were for this week.

Overall, communication is not one of their top skills, outside of when they're strategizing to take down another team's turrets.

"We have had a few good times this week," I admit, smiling up at Quintin.

We always have a great time together fucking, but it's also been really nice to get to know my boyfriends a little more one-on-one and bond with them outside of the bedroom.

Outside of the house too. Between our work schedules and the fact that up until this week, our relationship has been strictly sexual, quality time together hasn't been a priority, or even an afterthought.

Both Quintin and Lionel smile back at me, and it almost feels like we're having a moment together, just us, even here crowded into this tiny bar.

Maddie clears her throat. "Would the two of you like to join us? We could pull up a few chairs?"

"You forgot your receipt." The waitress appears out of nowhere and hands Quintin a slip of paper.

"Oh, thank you." He takes it and folds it up without looking at it.

"You're welcome. Have a good night." The waitress glances once around our table, then hurries away.

"Actually, we've come by to walk Clarissa home." Quintin slips the folded paper half under my empty glass. "Unless you'd rather stay for another drink."

"You should stay," says Sasha. "We'd love to get to know your roommates. Just one more drink."

My boyfriends look at me, waiting, but their faces don't give anything away.

I wish I could straight up ask them if they want to stay or if they really did just come to bring me home.

They've expressed worry about me walking home from the train alone at night, but if that were their full intention, they could've met me at the station.

They wouldn't have come all the way out here to the bar.

"I suppose one more drink wouldn't hurt," I relent, and I'm fairly certain Quintin rewards me with a small almost-smile.

"All right, ladies, what are we all having to drink?" asks Lionel.

My critique group leans forward to give their orders, and only now do I realize how low-cut some of their shirts are, showing off their tits to my boyfriends.

Looking down, I ignore the sight as much as possible, but then notice writing on the receipt Quintin put under my glass.

Pressing down on the fold, I can just make out a phone number.

Glancing over at the waitress at the bar, I meet her eye, but she immediately looks away. Had she seriously tried to give her number to my boyfriend right in front of me? Very not cool.

"Clarissa," says Lionel, bringing me back to the table, "what would you like?"

"I'll take a house white." I try to smile. It's sweet that they aren't taking the woman's number. That they were going to leave it here. It's a simple thing, but it makes my stomach do a happy little somersault.

"Those are your roommates?" asks Maddie, leaning in to whisper even though the boys are across the room at the bar. "You should have told us they're gorgeous."

"I think they're trying to impress us by coming in here and paying our bill." Angela deftly slips the receipt out from under my wine glass, showing it around to us. Sure enough, they paid our tab.

And right there at the bottom, in black and white, is waitress' phone number.

"You said they're single, right?" Sasha looks past my shoulder to the bar.

"Uh." I didn't say that exactly, I'd said that they weren't dating anyone. But how do I explain that just because they aren't dating anyone doesn't necessarily mean they're single-single?

Luckily, I'm saved from having to answer by my boyfriends' return with our drinks.

Maddie and Sasha grab chairs from nearby tables and add them to the head and foot of ours.

I'm in too much of a daze about Quintin and Lionel not only showing up, but also subtly turning down the number of the cute waitress, to be thinking clearly about where they'll sit.

If they attract so much attention from women, why did they need to post a flyer in the first place?

Unless it's because all of those women want actual dates and conversation, not understanding the rigors of building a successful career and the time it takes, at all hours of the day and night.

Maybe it wasn't that they couldn't get dates, it's that they didn't want the pressure of an actual relationship.

I'm more confused than ever as Lionel hands me my glass of wine. "Thank you."

The guys glance at the two empty chairs and then at me. If I ask Angela to move over, I'm making a statement about wanting to sit by my roommates. Would that imply that there is something more between us? Would normal roommates insist on being next to each other?

When I don't say or do anything, my boyfriends come to some type of silent agreement because Quintin moves to sit on the end by Angela and Maddie while Lionel claims the chair closer to me and Sasha.

"Yes, thank you." Maddie rests her hand on Quintin's forearm.

"Of course." Quintin takes a sip of his own drink, letting Maddie's hand fall away.

"So. Tell us about yourselves." Sasha turns her attention completely to Lionel. "Clarissa hasn't told us a thing other than that you exist."

Lionel glances my way and I must be wrong, but I swear there's a glimmer of hurt in his eyes before he looks back to Sasha. "What do you want to know?"

"Let's start with the basics." Sasha leans forward to rest her chin in her hand as she gazes at Lionel. "What do you like to do for fun?"

"We play games on our computers," answers Lionel.

"She meant what do you do for fun that's not job-related," I clarify, taking a fortifying sip of wine.

"What game do you play?" asks Maddie, sitting up a little more.

"Are you interested in gaming?" Angela asks her, surprised.

Shrugging, Maddie says, "I like to play the racing games with my neighbor sometimes."

"The neighbor you have dinner with all the time?" asks Angela, infusing the words with clear meaning.

"Yes," mumbles Maddie into her drink. I understand why Angela hinting that Maddie isn't entirely available annoys her, but at the same time, I'm grateful for it.

If they think she's semi-taken, maybe they won't take her flirting seriously, and I won't have to analyze the bubble of possessiveness that rose in my gut when Maddie touched Quintin just now.

"We play LoL," Quintin says in answer to Maddie's question, "but lately we've been getting into tabletop gaming when we have time off."

I flush with happiness at this statement.

The tabletop gaming is a very recent development—as in, since this week—and he's including me in what he considers a fun time.

And it wasn't even sex. Well, we did fuck during that one game, but we've played since then and it's been totally non-sexual.

I sit up a little straighter, both excited and honored that this popular, talented gamer is even hinting at our friendship.

"Clarissa and I have been planning a little movie night since our last one got cut short." Sasha pauses and looks at Lionel as if she's just now realizing, and laughing, adds, "Well, you know all about that."

"That we do," says Lionel, outright smirking as he raises an eyebrow at me.

I focus on the glass in my hand and try very hard not to think about the reason I had to leave movie night. This conversation is dangerous enough without me getting all hot and bothered thinking about them playing with the egg they gave me.

"We should plan something soon." Sasha glances to me quick before turning her attention back to Lionel. "Some night when you're not working."

"Uh, maybe." Lionel flicks his eyes toward me in question.

"So, what do you all write?" asks Quintin, looking around the table.

Thank you, Quintin , I think. Saved by a subject change.

Maddie tells him about her billionaires and Angela spills the details about her small towns. Then Sasha launches into her spiel about romantasy, and how they might enjoy her books because they include quests, magic and, of course, dragons.

I have a hard time focusing on what Sasha says, though, because Lionel shifts subtly under the table until his knee is brushing mine. Once we're touching, he walks his fingers from his knee to mine.

My eyes flick to his and then around the table, waiting to see if anyone notices and calls us out.

When no one does, Lionel slowly walks his fingers up my thigh.

My own hand slips beneath the table and clasps his, moving it back to his own leg.

But instead of letting go, Lionel links our fingers, and now we're sitting around the table talking to my friends and holding hands.

Like a real, honest couple. Which we most certainly are not.

"Yeah, maybe we'll give that a go," says Lionel, when he can finally get a word in. "Although we'd really love for our first romance book to be one of Clarissa's. So maybe after that. We'll see."

"Oh, you'll be in for a treat when you read Clarissa's," says Angela, rejoining the conversation.

"Whew!" Maddie fans herself dramatically. "Be prepared for some spice with that one."

Lionel quirks an eyebrow at me. "That's good to know."

My face feels like it's been sunburned, I'm blushing so hard.

I absolutely don't want my boyfriends to read my books and realize that I've basically been transcribing all of our sexual interactions for my characters.

They almost certainly wouldn't want anyone to know all of the details of their moves, especially when they've hired me for a job that no one else knows about.