I couldn’t help it. I laughed. Which was strangely hard to do since the corset was so tight.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
SCENE: #3.
Location: Corey’s bedroom.
Mood: guilt by vegetarian.
“I can’t believe this,” Tyson Thompson said over Skype Sunday morning. “Do you have any idea how many cows are sacrificed because of the leather industry? It’s a slaughter unrivaled by anything in the known world!”
“Really,” I said, arching an eyebrow. I was posing in front of my laptop, wanting to get my best friend’s opinion. “Anything in the known world. Anything.”
He dropped the act, laughing and shaking his head. “Gotta keep up pretenses. You know how it is.”
“Unfortunately.”
“You look good,” he said. “Different, but good. Dig the hair.”
“Thanks. The guy who cut it was named Flavius.”
“Of course he was,” Ty muttered. “Tucson is so weird. He’s not—”
A big man suddenly appeared behind Ty, wearing a cop’s uniform. “Who are you talking to?”
I dropped my voice. “My name is Dirk Steel. Tyson here is paying me to be his leather god, and you’re interrupting our session.”
Dominic bent over, squinting at the screen. Then his eyes bulged and he started choking. “Corey?”
I wiggled my fingers at him.
“This seems like one of those things I don’t want anything to do with,” he said, kissing Ty’s cheek and standing back up. “You look good, Corey. Don’t do anything stupid. I’ve arrested you once. I will transfer to the TPD just so I can do it again. Ty, don’t forget you need to call your brother and grovel more for acting like an entitled jerk. I love you.”
Ty rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Love you too.” He turned to look back at Dom. “Stay safe.”
“Always,” Dom said from somewhere off screen.
“I thought you apologized already,” I said when Ty turned back. “You know, for the whole entitled jerk thing.”
“I did,” Ty muttered. “But Dom doesn’t think it was enough.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “And he’s right of course.”
“He usually is.”
“Babies, though. Bear and Otter are having babies.”
“You knew it was going to happen one day,” I told him. I sat down at my desk in front of the laptop. I learned rather quickly that sitting in a corset was the stupidest thing ever, as it pinched and pulled in places I hadn’t expected. “They’re not getting any younger.”
“Yeah, I guess. It was just… I don’t know. All that stuff happening at once. Izzie. Mom. Babies. Moving back only to find out I was kicked out of the Green Monstrosity so I could live in sin with my boyfriend.”
“Seafare is exhausting,” I agreed. “But you’ll figure it out. This is a good thing, Ty. All of this. Maybe not your mom, but I think it’s just one ending you needed so something else could begin.”
He nodded. “I know.” He smiled, and I was struck by how different he was from the boy I’d met on the bench at Dartmouth in the middle of a panic attack. He looked healthier. Whole. “I’ll get over myself.”
“I know you will.”
He waggled his eyebrows. “So, Jeremy.”
I groaned. “Can we not do this?”