Four Letter Word (Love Logic #2) - K.M. Neuhold Page 0,112

the cupcake in one bite, waving us all over to the sitting area in the living room. We make ourselves comfortable on the couch, waiting expectantly to hear whatever he has to tell us.

I put my legs up over his and lean my back against Hudson, waiting to hear what Riot has to say. My heart flutters quickly, imagining some of the possible worst case scenarios before I can convince myself that I’m probably overreacting.

“Yeah?” Leo prompts, leaning closer on Riot’s other side.

“Don’t look so worried, it’s nothing bad,” he says, giving us all a reassuring smile. “I just wanted to let you know I’ve decided to stay.”

“Stay?” Leo repeats. “Wait, when were you not staying?” Panic rises in his voice, matching the nerves now twisting in my stomach.

“What the hell?” I drop my feet from his lap and sit up.

“Hold on, I’m saying this all wrong.” He holds his hands up. “As you all know, I’ve moved around a lot since leaving Pennsylvania in my early twenties. The past couple of months, it’s been in the back of my mind that this is around the time I usually pick up and find somewhere new. But I don’t want to go anywhere. I want to stay right here with the three of you.”

“What the fuck? You weren’t going to tell us any of this?” Leo glares at Riot, and I cheer internally because seriously what the fuck?

“I’m telling you now,” he defends.

“You’re Mr. Communication, and you don’t see a problem with the fact that you’ve been apparently battling for months about whether to pick up and leave us or not and didn’t bother to tell us?”

Riot looks stunned, his mouth falling open just a little and his eyes going wide. “You’re right. I should’ve talked to you all about it. I’m sorry.”

“You’d better be sorry. We love you; you can’t just up and leave without telling us,” Leo snaps and then seems to realize what he said. “I love you, and if you try to take off without warning, I’m going to hunt you down.”

A slow smile spreads over Riot’s otherwise scolded expression. “I love you too, and I promise I won’t make that mistake again.”

Hudson clears his throat and gives Riot a pointed look. I scrunch my forehead up and look between the two of them, trying to decipher the meaning.

“Honesty and communication?” Hudson prompts, and Riot goes right back to looking properly shamed.

“Fine, there’s one more thing, but it’s not a big deal,” he says. “Being a bartender isn’t my main job, it’s more of a... I don’t know, a hobby I guess?”

“If you’re about to tell me you’re a stripper and never told us I’m going to be super pissed off,” I warn.

“What’s wrong with being a stripper?” Riot teases, clearly trying to diffuse the situation.

“Only the fact that you haven’t let us watch you strip.”

“I’m not a stripper,” he assures me. “Or any kind of sex worker, for that matter. I’m an author.”

“An author?” Leo repeats, clearly as dumbfounded by this conversation as I am.

“I write sci-fi, pretty successfully I might add.”

“He’s being modest; he’s a fucking literary genius,” Hudson says.

“Wait, you’ve read his books?” I ask, twisting to look at him.

“Before we even met him. He’s been my favorite author for years. I didn’t recognize him at first, but then I went in there to tell him off for keeping you away from me, and it clicked. I recognized his face from the book jacket, and that’s when we started getting to know each other.”

“This is wild,” Leo mutters. “Why is this a big secret? I don’t understand why you didn’t tell us.”

“It’s not really a big secret; it’s just not something I usually tell people I’m dating. As a kid, my love of sci-fi, among other things, kind of made me a nerdy outcast, and I’ve always been a little self-conscious talking about my books. It’s easier to keep it to myself since I’ve never stuck around long enough for it to matter to anyone I’ve dated.”

“But you’re sticking around now,” I remind him.

“I am, which is why you deserve to know.”

I blow out a breath. “This has been a lot of information.”

“Wait, if you’re a rich and famous author, why are you living in this dinky apartment?” Leo asks, looking around as if he’s seeing the place for the first time.

“I always find a cheap place with a month to month lease. Now that I know I’m staying I’ll probably look for something