“I didn’t really have any.”
“No one? Girlfriend, boyfriend?”
“I had hookups, not anything serious.”
“You didn’t even tell your dad?”
“Nope. Doubt he would have cared if I had.” Nox finished rinsing off and turned off the water.
No friends. No one to care. Luca couldn’t wrap his mind around it. He’d had Koda and his parents. But mostly Koda. The idea Nox had no one?
“What’s wrong?” Nox lifted Luca’s chin.
“I don’t know. It just seems… lonely.”
“It was rough, but I made my own family with my unit.” Nox pressed his lips to Luca’s. “And now you.”
“What about your team and Koda?”
“What I had with them was way different. We were all tuned into Koda. Most of the time, I didn’t know where I began and they ended. We weren’t family. We were…” Nox furrowed his brow.
“You were what?”
“The same. Different people but all housing the same being.” He kissed Luca again. “With you, there’s only me and how much I love you.”
But there wasn’t just him. Even if Nox didn’t want to see it that way. He wasn’t alone in his body.
Luca petted Nox’s chest. “Will you let me try something?”
“What?”
“I kind of want it to be a surprise.”
Nox raised his eyebrows. “Okay. Can I at least have a hint?”
“Dry off, then go get on the bed.”
“The bed?”
“You wanted a hint. Now go.”
Nox got out of the shower, and so did Luca. Both of them dried off. Nox waited for him at the door.
“You’re supposed to be on the bed.”
“Alone?”
Luca scowled.
Nox raised his hands. “Okay. Bed. I’m already there.” He disappeared around the corner, and Luca pulled the door shut.
Now he had to find something he could use. He opened the cabinet over the sink. Band-Aids, a couple of unopened toothbrushes, mouthwash, floss.
He checked the storage over the toilet. Tissue, wet wipes, more tissue.
Luca opened the doors under the sink. Shampoos, conditioners, menthol powder, three boxes of ammo.
Ammo?