What was Phineas doing here?
I pushed off the wall, emerging from the corner I'd attempted to hide in. Passing Wyatt on the couch, I smirked. He had no problem accepting the love and affection that Riley's dads were keen to offer him. As well as Paul and a few other shifters from the pack who Paul had vetted. I'd been against them coming but had been overruled. Again.
Paul seemed nice. I had nothing against the kid. But he was a part of the pack and had sworn loyalty to my grandfather and the elder houses. I could never trust him.
I slipped in behind Phin, passing my firemen buddies. Krat flashed me a double thumbs-up, making me snort. The chief was looking the other way, and Charles suddenly seemed upset to be there. Maybe he wasn't a party type of guy. That was fine. We didn't need to be friends as long as he pulled his weight at the station.
I paused in the kitchen, watching Phin say hello to Riley. How did they know each other? It felt like ants crawling across my chest. What was this feeling? Jealousy? Was I jealous that Phin had a friend? A real-life one? I should've been glad it was Riley.
"Hey," I said when Riley caught sight of me lingering behind them.
"Oh, hey, Nash. I think you actually know—"
"Phineas," I said, giving him a nod. A nod? What was wrong with me?
"Hey. I hope this isn't… I mean, I bumped into Riley at the…" His face went red as his lips, pressed into a straight line. He wore glasses now, ones that he hadn't been wearing before. I liked the way they magnified his eyes, making them brighter and easier to read. But his face was good without glasses too.
I lifted my hands as if in surrender. "No worries. Any friend of Rye's is a friend of mine." No, that wasn't what I meant to say at all. Phin was my friend first. I saved him! I should have been introducing him to Riley!
"Thanks," Phineas said with a nervous laugh. "And thanks for saving me the other day. I don't remember if I did. Those hours are kind of fuzzy."
I scowled, hating the idea that Phin might not remember every single second that passed between us. I did.
"I know you said not to bring anything," Phin said to Riley, setting the gift bag on the marble counter. "I didn't really. There wasn't time to order anything, but here, for the house and the baby."
Riley beamed. He hadn't been expecting gifts, even though Hal and his wife had brought loads of baby stuff, both homemade and purchased. I thought he was more appreciative of the gesture. Before us, Riley hadn't had a lot of people in his life. He pulled out a toy first, an action figure of a tyrannosaurus rex.
"It's from the Jurassic World movies. I know everyone is all about the Indominus Rex, but I'm a classics guy myself. There aren't any little pieces, so he shouldn't choke on anything. Though, now that I am thinking about it, maybe a hard plastic toy isn't best for a baby."
"I love it. Thank you," Riley said, enveloping Phineas in a hug that I ordered myself not to be jealous of.
"There's one more…" Phin said, and Riley stuck his hand back in the bag, pulling out a packet of seeds.
"Sage?"
"For the housewarming party. It's a pretty good plant to have around for digestion or memory. Or for warding off evil spirits," he added with a smirk.
"Thank you. This is amazing." Riley turned to show Hal the gifts, and he launched into a story about the time he'd made sage-infused lotions for his wife to pass out at a luncheon.
Except, when Riley got to the part where a normal person would be glad the story was over, he asked, "Did you use a double boiler?"
"How's Mrs. Boxer?" I asked Phin quietly, partly because I still felt guilty about how I'd snapped at her and partly because I was trying to prove to Phineas that I remembered every moment.
Phineas smiled, and it was as if the light in the room shone thirty times brighter. "She's feeling better, thank you. I checked on her right before taking the cab here." He frowned. "Not sure if I'll get one to go back. It took him about an hour to get to me after I called."
He'd come in a cab? Did that mean he could possibly stay? I set my beer down, the trajectory of my night changing dramatically with this one bit of information. "I bet she's business as usual already. Tough old girl. Even her forehead had looked way better by the time the building was cleared."
Phin's gaze darted out of the kitchen like he'd heard his name. "Yeah, well, I hear old people heal quick." His words were rushed and higher in pitch. "I should go mingle."
Never mind the fact that old people definitely did not heal quickly—Phin was pretty much running from me, leaving me with Riley and Hal around the kitchen island.
Be nice, Riley mouthed.
I turned before growling in response. I was being nice! It was Phineas who had run from me. It crossed my mind that perhaps I was responding to the love of the chase, that each time Phin rejected me, it made me want him more. Except that had never been my sort of thing before. If I asked, do you want to kiss, and the person said no, I didn't waste my time convincing them. I moved to the next. Phin hadn't said no, though. He'd just run into the dining room.
I'd nearly caught up to him when Linus slid in front of me, draping his left arm over my shoulder as he leaned heavily against me. His breath smelled of liquor, and he was wobbly on his feet. I'd have to check in with Riley to make sure this one had a safe ride home. Or a spot on the floor. "Looks like you need one now," he said, gesturing with his head at my beer-free hands.
Phineas chose that moment to look back. He took in the sight, Linus draped over me like a scarf, and smirked, shaking his head slightly.
I wanted to howl at the moon I was so frustrated.
Wyatt had moved from the couch to the kitchen table. He sat at one end, his long hair ruffled and sticking out like someone had just finished running their hands through it. Considering he had a different guy perched on each of his knees, I figured the new style was due to one of them. Aver sat at the other end of the table, Wyatt's complete opposite.
I could never understand Aver's desire to maintain a relationship with his parents despite what they'd all done to us. Even before recent events had intertwined our lives with the pack's, Aver had regularly visited his parents—off pack lands. He spoke to them almost weekly, and despite being a grown man who co-owned a successful construction company with Branson, he couldn't seem to figure out how to come out to them. As far as the pack, Walkerton, and Walker County were concerned, Aver was the sole straight man in a house of homosexual awesomeness.
There was no one perched on his knee, but Phin did look like he was about to take the vacant seat directly next to them.
No way. Aver was just the type of guy to let Phin hide behind him for the rest of the night. I knew he wouldn't make moves on Phin, not with everyone watching, but I'd been around Aver enough to know that the whole straight guy routine was like catnip to a gay man.
I grabbed the last empty chair from next to Wyatt and carried it around the table, setting it at the table's corner between Phin and Aver.
Phin scooted his chair over when it was clear that I was putting mine there whether there was room or not. "So," I said brightly. "What are we playing?" There were a few boxes of games on the table. Most of them wouldn't work for a party like this because they required being able to hear each other and to pay attention. I grabbed Jenga and slid it toward me.