“Yo,Papi!” Luc calls after him, but Finn doesn’t respond. Luc catches up and gets in his space, nearly tripping him before grabbing his shoulder. “Easy there,Papi.”
“I’m not your fucking grandpa.” Finn scowls, annoyed. “What do you want, Delacroix?”
They continue walking, their voices fading into the wind and muffled by crunching gravel. Luc punches Finn’s shoulder, way too hard for it to be casual. Finn winces and rubs it, shooting him a look that says he’s one second away from putting Luc through a wall.
But I can’t watch what happens next because Toulousestarts climbing up my outstretched arm like it’s a jungle gym. I freeze, the panic crawling up my spine just slightly faster than the rat itself.
He makes it to my elbow, and I lose it. “Shit, shit, shit!”
The sound I make next isn’t human. It’s somewhere between a squeak and a strangled scream, way too high and way toonotmasculine. My cover has held through crash landings, oversized hoodies, and sobbing in the dark, but it might just be ended by thisrat.
“Jesus.” Mason steps back into my line of sight and plucks Toulouse off my arm. “What are you even doing?”
“Thanks.” I sigh in genuine relief, my heart still jackhammering in my chest.
Mason cups the rat in one hand and starts stroking its tiny head with his thumb. “You’re such a cute little fucker.”
“No, he’s not. Look at the tail.”
“Thetail?” Mason scoffs. “Look at theface. The dumb little paws. He’s cute as shit.”
I stare wide-eyed at him, stunned. “You’re into Luc’s rat?”
“The rat can’t do fuck all about being Luc’s,” he says with a shrug. “That’s not on him.”
Toulouse, clearly thrilled with his new best friend, scrambles up Mason’s arm, runs across his shoulder, andsits therelike he belongs.
I stare, absolutely floored. “You have got to be kidding me.”
Mason just smirks. “Some people have charm. I have rat appeal.”
I nearly roll my eyes at that lame line, but huff a laugh instead, just as Luc strides back toward us with smugness dialed to eleven, until he sees Toulouse perched on Mason’s shoulder like a damn parrot and stops dead. “What the fuck?”
Mason just reaches up to scratch behind Toulouse’s ear, the smallest, shittiest smirk on his face.
“Is he…” Luc’s eyes dart between Mason and me. “He’s not… Toulouse, are you serious right now?”
I cross my arms, snapping out of my stunned silence. “What the fuck was that with Finn?”
“Nothing.” Luc glances at me, all innocent eyebrows and faux-casual tone. “I just had the urge to punch him.”
I narrow my eyes. “I saw that. Why, though?”
He levels a look at me.
Yeah, right.
“Probably because normally Greer’s glued to your side, but today he’s ignoring the bloody hell out of you… just a guess,” Mason adds unhelpfully.
Luc steps closer, clearly intending to reclaim his rat-child, but before he can, Toulouse disappears into the safety of Mason’s hood.
“Traitor.” Luc’s shoulders slump with exaggerated defeat. “So, are we doing that track walk shit or what?”
I glance at him sideways. “Can you behave yourself?”
Luc snorts. “Well, I fucking have to now that my son’s defected to the enemy. Can you, Payne?”
Mason doesn’t bother to respond, just turns and strides away.
