front door swings open and fills the room with light. Turning, I find Church limned in bright sunshine, and my eyes go wide. I don't think he can quite see me through the dusky gloom inside the diner, but it's only a matter of seconds …
Tobias launches himself over the counter, and shoves Church back, yanking the door closed so that there's just a thin sliver of light on one side.
“We're in here with a girl,” he growls, the muscles in his shoulders and back taut. Since he gave me his coat, I can see exactly how lean and tight his body is. My dry throat is suddenly not so dry anymore, and I end up swallowing a lump. So he's attractive, so what?! “So fuck off and leave us alone. You know we don't like to share with anyone but each other.” Tobias slams the door and locks it.
“You better leave Merinda money for that pie. And clean up in there, won't you? If you don't, I'll be forced to kick both your asses.” Church sounds so cheerful, it's practically disturbing.
“He could try,” the twins drawl with dual rolls of their eyes. Tobias saunters back over and sits on the stool next to me, getting ready to dig into his treat. Shockingly, Micah seems to have already finished his, leaving just a ring of crust on his plate. As I watch, he lifts it up and puts the whole thing in his mouth, smirking at me all the while.
“You think Church is just going to walk away now?” I ask, and Tobias shrugs, cutting off a good third of his pie and putting it in his big, stupid mouth. His big, stupid mouth with its full, luscious lips and that glistening bit of cherry filling he just licked off the bottom … Ugh. No. Gross. I'm not crushing on a guy who's treated me like total crap for months. No way.
“I don't think: I know.” Tobias says as Micah gets three glasses from under the counter and fills them with cola, a splash of grenadine syrup, and a cluster of maraschino cherries. He stabs a metal straw into the drink and passes it over to me. “I wasn't lying: we only share with each other.”
“Eww,” I blurt without meaning to. The twins both turn to look at me. “What? I'm just … you shouldn't talk about girls that way.” I take a sip of my drink, and my cheeks flush. Yum.
“Well, it's true,” Micah says, sliding his metal straw into his mouth in a way that could only be described as seductive. He meets my eyes dead-on, swirling his tongue around the end of it. “Does that bother you?”
“You two can do whatever you want,” I mumble, focusing on the massive slice of pie that'd take me a week just to finish. “But don't talk about women like they're objects right in front of them. It's off-putting.”
“Oh, but you're not a woman,” Tobias says, flashing a sharp grin. He glances over at his brother, and Micah matches the expression. They both turn to me, and I get this little chill down my spine, like something bad is about to happen.
“No, don't you dare!” I blurt, scrambling up from the stool, even though I have no idea what they're planning.
“Chuck’s just one of the guys, right, Micah?”
“Oh, definitely, Tobias. We wouldn't want to treat him any different just for having a vagina.” My cheeks explode with embarrassed heat at hearing that word come out of his mouth. “You're still the same old, asshole Chuck to us.”
Micah jumps the counter, and the two of them grab me by the back of the jacket as I make a run for it, yanking me into their arms as I struggle and kick at them. Somehow a black marker makes its way into Tobias' hand, and by the time they let me go, I have a giant penis drawn on the side of my face.
“Ack, what the hell is wrong with you?!” I groan as I shove into the bathroom, its walls plastered with old posters from faraway places. Wetting a bit of paper towel, I scrub at my face as hard as I can, but my skin is bright pink before I've made any noticeable progress.
“Body paint pen,” Tobias remarks, holding open the door with his back while Micah pops his head in and grins. “Takes rubbing alcohol and effort to get it off. Have fun with that.”
“You both can just go suck