JT closed Parrot’s laptop at the sound of a key in the front door.

“Yo,” Parrot said, halting mid-step, caught in the threshold by his surprise.

He gawked at JT, then gave his head a good shake and stepped inside, closing the door behind him. Shrugging out of his jean bomber jacket, he swung it on the wall coat hooks by the entrance. He left his inquiries until he moved into the kitchen, rummaged through the fridge, and loaded his arms with the ingredients for a sandwich.

While he cut off a slice of ham, he flicked his attention to JT. “Good afternoon,” he said finally. There was a short pause before he added, “You’re not usually around here at this time. What gives?”

Turning his head away, JT had been waiting for this question after anticipating it most of the morning.

With his elbows perched on his knees, the alpha leaned forward on the couch, his fingers locking under his chin, index fingers pressed to his bottom lip in thought. How to go about confronting Parrot had starred as his number one problem for the past six hours since Lady Loan-shark and her goons stopped by with their foreboding—and enlightening—message.

Since he met Parrot five years ago, JT felt indebted to him. A hit-and-run car accident had turned his life around. On his back in the hospital, disoriented and still reliving the flashback of his near-death experience, JT had leaned on Parrot’s help. Parrot had been a complete stranger then. Parrot had happened on JT’s wreckage of a vehicle and he’d called for an ambulance.

It was the oddest path to a long, strong friendship, and JT had gotten used to never getting a chance to re-pay Parrot’s debt. Until now.

Rather than pouring out all of that, JT said, “Something came up.”

“Something good, or something bad?” Parrot wondered.

JT’s shoulders lifted to his ears, his body stiffening with tense anxiety. “Just something.”

Over what JT pictured was a mouthful of sandwich, Parrot hummed as way of acknowledgement, not pestering JT about his aloof response. Hearing the sound of his footfalls, JT waited for Parrot to drop down beside him. He moved to the cushion over, leaving a seat between them on the three-seat sofa. If Parrot noticed JT’s sudden need for distance, he didn’t mention it.

Instead, he ripped into his sandwich, popping the tab of his can and guzzling his soda. When he cleaned through half his meal, he swiped at his mouth and burped loudly. Stretching back, he massaged his stomach. “Man! Didn’t know how hungry I was, or how long I’d be, or I’d probably have grabbed a snack.”

Seizing on that opening, JT asked, “Where did you go?”

Parrot bit into his sandwich, his cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk, his hand flicking off the crumbs from his lap. There was an avoidant air in his actions. Honestly, JT expected to have to ask again when his suddenly reticent roommate said, “My sister called. She needed to go to the clinic for her ultrasound appointment. Had a fight with the boyfriend, and she kicked him out.”

“Oh,” was all JT managed, his suspicions cooling down.

It’s hard to be angry at someone when they looked like they’d been kicked hard. So, despite what happened this morning, he ventured forth with comfort…or his best attempt at it. He was never the cuddly type. Already his nape prickled with the heat of dread fucking this up, screwing their weird co-existence as roommates and friends and former lovers.

“Is the baby all right?” JT was aware that Parrot played an important role in his large family. Born to a single mother, Parrot had four sisters, one older and three younger, but they all relied on Parrot some way or another. Right now, his eldest sister juggled her first pregnancy and a rocky relationship.

Even after the chill that settled between them when they stopped falling into bed together, JT continued to be connected to Parrot and his life—it should have relaxed him, and yet he grappled to come to terms with how inextricably entwined they’d remain. It only multiplied the butterflies trapped in his rib cage, fluttering away inside and making him sick.

“Yeah, the kid’s all right. She’s okay, too.” Parrot cleaned his plate and wiped his hands hastily on a napkin. Tossing the used tissue onto the plate, he took another gulp of his soda and burped again. “It’s just I came through for her today, but Sienna’s typically stubborn, and she might not call me the next time she needs help, y’know?”

As an only child, JT actually had no fucking clue what it was like having a sibling. Though he figured it couldn’t be much different than living with Parrot now, and chiefly, cleaning up after him. And as the older one by two years, JT felt it was his responsibility to watch over his friend…but also lecture him if he needed some straightening.

Which was how he rallied courage to hold Parrot from heading off to his room, his plate and can of soda forgotten on the coffee table. Frowning at the sight of the mess of crumbs from his sandwich around the plate, JT asked the question he’d been shying from ever since his roommate returned home. “A friend of yours stopped by today.”

“A friend?” Parrot raised his brows.

“That’s what she said.”

Parrot cocked his head to one side, his brows swooping down now in a thoughtful expression. “So what’s the message?”

“She’s asking for her money.” JT watched a range of emotions flitting over Parrot’s face, shock bleeding into confusion, shooting to concern before landing on emptiness.

Smoothing his features, his friend said, “Oh, okay. I’ll get back to her then. Thanks for the delivery.”

JT wasn’t through though. Far from giving him real talk, Parrot cowardly retreated into his shell. Pushing from the sofa, claiming all six-feet-six of his towering influence, JT stared down Parrot from the short distance separating them, protecting the shorter beta from being throttled by him. He hadn’t scratched off shaking sense into his friend.

“It was no normal delivery.” JT recalled how the petite blonde bared her teeth, her hired muscles in the background, looking as fierce as their employer. “She had bodyguards, and they looked ready to break bones and draw blood for their cash.”

Parrot shrugged, his effort to downplay with nonchalance missing its mark by a long shot. “It’s really no big deal. I borrowed some money. It’s just a little bit of a down payment.”

“How much?”

“Don’t worry yourself about it. I got it handled.” Parrot waved him off, heading for the kitchen and grabbing a chilled beer from the fridge. His needing something harder in the middle of their conversation spoke volumes.

“Wren,” JT called, drilling holes into his friend’s suave manner, because he could see right through him then, more than ever before. And he saw a troubled soul. “How much?” he repeated.

Parrot scowled, his fist coming down lightly on the counter, his other hand tightening around his beer can, his gaze studiously keeping from the alpha riding his back over his stupid decision to tie himself to a loan shark. “Just drop it. I said I’d take care of it.”

“No. Not when they come banging at our door.” JT met him in the kitchen, leaning his hip on the counter, their bodies close enough that Parrot forced his gaze up, his light brown eyes burning with his growing anger. It was rare to see Parrot pissed. But JT had lived long enough to see a lot of sides of the beta.

So when he crossed his arms and snapped, “I’m not going to drop it. Might as well tell me how much they want from you. Save us both an argument.”

Parrot scoffed. Gulping at his beer, he slammed the can down harder, splashing the surface. But he didn’t pay heed to his mess here either, like the coffee table. “It’s about twelve thousand,” he parted with the information on a mutter.

JT did a double take, his nails digging into his arms, and though his mouth dried, he managed to echo, “Thirty thousand?” At Parrot’s slow nod, he blurted, “How?”

Shrugging again, Parrot guzzled his beer, his liquid courage disquieting JT even more. He wouldn’t need that much to drink unless this shit was even bigger than he’d have JT believing.

Parrot emptied the can quickly, the tin ringing out as he crunched it in his fist before slapping it down on the counter, as twisted as this situation was becoming. Bumping his shoulder on passing, Parrot said, “It’s handled, all right? She won’t be coming here again. So it isn’t your problem anymore.”

JT whirled, breathing down Parrot’s neck to his door.

The shorter man whirled around and pressed his warm, firm hand to the alpha’s chest. His head tilted back, his eyes imploring JT to stop his investigation, and those soft, plump lips parting in his silent plea… Parrot snapped his mouth closed on whatever he planned to say, backing into his room, he left JT on the other side when he shut his door.

Touching the door handle, muscles tensing ready to fire open the door and barrage Parrot with questions until he gave in, asked for the help he likely needed, JT heaved a deep sigh and let his hand fall.

Maybe later, he promised, though it felt less like a placeholder and more like an excuse to block out this incident and go back to pretending like everything was normal. Was it though?