Page 177 of Rising Heat

“About Bex.”

Tyler smiles.

“Nah. Ryan’s harmless.”

I look at Mack instead.

He doesn’t answer right away, just slips into his jacket, thinking about it a second longer than I’d like.

“I wouldn’t worry.” Mack shrugs. “Ryan gets bored easily.”

“Usually.”

Mack reaches for the door before anyone says anything else.

“Come on,” Tyler says. “It’s freezing.”

A minute later we’re out on the sidewalk, the cold slipping beneath my jacket the second the door swings shut behind us. We decide to walk anyway, Tyler beside Bex, Mack beside me, all four of us falling into step automatically.

Tyler and Bex are already halfway into conversation about Philly when we hit West Broadway, Bex saying something about the restless feeling of realizing you’ve outgrown a city before you’ve figured out where you actually belong. Tyler listens with that genuine focus of his that makes people keep talking.

I only catch pieces of it because Mack’s hand brushes mine once between us. Then again. The third time, his fingers simply thread through mine, warm and loose and so natural it feels like we’ve been doing this for much longer than we actually have.

My stomach flips anyway. That part is apparently still evolving.

Tyler falls back beside us sometime during the last block, his hand finding the small of my back beneath my jacket as we cross the street, and just like that, I’m walking home between them.

Mack’s fingers are still laced through mine. Tyler’s hand stays warm against my back, absentminded and steady, like neither of them has thought twice about where they’re supposed to be.

My brain, meanwhile, is still trying very hard to file this entire situation under something that resembles normal. It’s not going well.

We stop when we get to the stoop. Bex is midway through a story about one of her editors while Tyler laughs, both of them already carrying on like they’ve known each other longer than a few hours.

Mack steps closer to me while I’m watching them. When I turn back, he’s already looking at me. He tips my chin up with two fingers and kisses me gentler than he ever has.

“Goodnight,” he whispers against my lips.

I don’t even realize I’m smiling until I answer.

“Goodnight.”

By the time Mack steps back, Tyler’s already there, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear before leaning in to kiss me too.

“Text us when you wake up. I’ll make breakfast.”

I laugh softly.

“Okay.”

Tyler smiles, the kind that reaches his eyes, before he and Mack head toward the front door, still talking about something from the bar as they disappear inside.

Bex loops her arm through mine as we head upstairs.

“Tell me again how this isn’t a thing?”

This time, I have no answer.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE