Whiskey & Sin

by Emily Rath

Well, being sold out of the Center and forced to turn tricks was a close second…

“Are you an addict, drifter man?” Jared replied with a raised brow. “Do you pop your grammy’s back pills when she’s not looking?”

“Why am I such a good fuckin’ friend? You know you don’t deserve it.”

“He’s an idiot.”

“You only got one life and one body to live with it. I take care of mine, so it’ll take care of me.”

same that’s why I fill it with Taco Bell & herbs

We’re strong so you don’t have to be.”

“Liquid spinach and black coffee…no wonder you’re alone out here,” he muttered, setting aside the mug of coffee he definitely wasn’t going to drink.

“Who is Floyd Rainier?”

like sour milk.

you didn’t deserve it.”

“No one helps anyone for free.

At this point, I’ll shove my dick in my smoothie blender before I go wagging it at you.”

He wanted to see Silas happy. Food made people happy, right?

Bear would put him six feet in the ground.

Your bread tastes weird, by the way. And your dog has rotten farts.”

It was toiletries and a mix of hair products for textured hair.

“Pandora?”

Twenty minutes later, Silas was sitting on a stool in the middle of Bear’s massive bathroom, staring at his reflection in a full-length mirror that doubled as a door to the closet.

Goddamn it, Silas liked brussel sprouts.

How many more excuses you gonna pull out? Did your dog die too? Your apartment flood?

he had his humiliating foot condom on,

He reads comic books and likes to do taxes and tastes like cherry pie.

I’m like a horror movie meets a true crime special over here.

Death is not an option for you.”

Like you’re a stack of carnival tickets I can just trade for a light-up yo-yo?

I’ll show you ten more who think ‘no’ means ‘yes.’”

You don’t owe any alpha the honor of your body or your bond.

‘Reginald Crapweasel.’

then they fed me so many goddamn s’mores that I feel sick, and I never wanna see a marshmallow again.

And I just realized as I was saying all this that I forgot to feed the dog tonight and I’m sorry.”

It’s your story, not mine.”

I was going mad trying to stop myself from going to you. I reread the same page of my book fifty times.”

you are not a reflection of the shit that’s been done to you. You don’t have to carry it or live inside it anymore.”

eat some bacon-wrapped shrimp.”

“Otherwise they quite literally never shut up.”

“Because you’re a monster. We call it the Gutless Wonder,”

You want me to sit here with my coffee and your dog and put together a dream closet?” “Yes.”

The omega was nesting. Silas was nesting.

That’s my fucking shirt.

Silas was a little thief, pilfering all Bear’s favorite clothes for himself. And fuck if Bear didn’t want to go to his closet and give it all to the omega.

a sucker for sweets.

Not all families are tight like yours.

“If you’re lookin’ for anything more artistic than a stick figure, you’re gonna be disappointed,” the alpha said, unraveling an extension cord.

His alpha was marking him, and now Silas would carry these marks forever.

My buddy got the mermaid but his artist was shit, so instead she looks like a scaly sharkmaid.”

I’m feeling again, and it’s like I have no memory from before to guide me, no way to know what this is or what I feel. And I’m freaking out, because I feel so much.

You enter a room, and it’s like I’ve been hooked up to a pair of damn jumper cables.

“Thanks.