While relaxing his body language, Ken’s casual composure returned. “I consider it my personal responsibility to keep your hyper, capricious, and completely inappropriate horseplay at a bearable level. If I let you fly too close to the sun at home, who knows what trouble you will get into when I’m not there to look after you? I don’t have cash for bail money.”
A tiny smile curved the edges of Tommy’s mouth as he peered at Ken’s face. Seeing another opening, he pushed his luck further. “Aw, Kenji Wenji loves me.”
“Whatever, and don’t—only Mom can call me Kenji.” One of Ken’s dark eyebrows lifted as his eye twitched a tic. One of his few facial tells for irritability.
“Oh no, not whatever…Kenji wants to protect me from myself…he really cares.”
“Okay fine…I’ll admit it. I hold a small, tiny really, amount of affection for you. However, there is a limit to my tolerance for your idiocy. Don’t call me Kenji, don’t touch me, and for God’s sake, put on some clothes.” Ken’s nostrils flared on his last word, providing a subtle cue playtime was over.
“All right.” Tommy grinned before be-bopping toward his room to get dressed. Stopping in his tracks, he looked over his shoulder. “Don’t be mad.”
Ken’s silvery-gray eyes rolled up toward the ceiling. “What do I have to be mad about? I’m used to your tomfoolery, though you invading my privacy in the worst kind of way is a level above your usual dumbassery.”
“Cool.” Tommy grinned as he left, unrepentant. Ken deserved some small measure of harassment for all the times Tommy had been forced to apologize for his friend’s blunt manner. He had always given Ken a pass because he realized pretty early on that Ken didn’t mean any offense. When they were just little kids, Tommy had to teach Ken to say hello or wave when someone greeted or waved to him. Ken honestly didn’t get why it was a big deal until Tommy explained that people tend to get pissed when they think they’re being snubbed.
Back then, Tommy didn’t know Ken was a literal genius with an IQ over one-sixty. Ironically, at the time, Tommy thought his dumbass friend needed lots of watching over to keep from looking like a great big fool. He had relished the role of mentor and enjoyed the praise he got from his parents for protecting Ken. Over the years, they had parlayed that synergy and were able to capitalize on each other’s strengths while smoothing out each other’s weaknesses. Looking back, maybe their tendency to team up had made them overly dependent on one another. A pang of guilt constricted Tommy’s chest. Ken could have gotten a free-ride to study anywhere he wanted but chose to follow him.
Coastal Carolina University wasn’t easy to get into, but it wasn’t exactly MIT either. Still, Tommy couldn’t exactly say he was surprised that Ken chose him over the best institutions of higher learning in the country, and selfishly, Tommy had let him.
As a jolt of lightning illuminated the sheets of pouring rain hitting his window as if someone was continually splashing the pane of glass with a full bucket of water, he jumped. The accompanying rumble of booming thunder set his heart racing. Please get here soon, Trisha! Taking a deep breath, he said a prayer for her safety as he searched inside his chest of drawers for an outfit.
Chapter Two
2:53 p.m.
KEN set the cooler keeping the beer chilled down beside the big, comfy couch he and Tommy had purchased secondhand from an acquaintance in need of some quick cash. The gray cushions could be removed to fold out the hideaway bed, but the metal bar running horizontally underneath the thin mattress made sleeping there painful as hell. Leaving the cushions in place to sack out proved much cozier. When Trisha slept over, she always used a pillow and blanket to snuggle up on the couch while he and Tommy slept in their respective beds. For their natural-disaster inspired sleepover, they were pulling an air mattress into the den so they could all camp out together.
He glanced over at Tommy as he used a bicycle pump to blow up the mattress, his impressive biceps rippling with each downward push. Ken pursed his lips, staring at Tommy’s height, broad shoulders, and muscular build. In comparison, he looked like a pipsqueak. He put a hand on his six-pack abs, rubbing them absently. Arguably, he was in as good of shape as Tommy and was better at defending himself if necessary. His own body was lean with solid muscle definition, but unless he had his shirt off, he didn’t look like much of a hunk, especially if he was standing next to his best buddy.
Ever since they hit middle school, he’d had to deal with all the girls passing him over while they flocked straight to Tommy, but Trisha was different. She was my friend before ever meeting him.I was sure she’d forget all about me after I introduced them, but she dug deep, burrowing out her own little niche and settling in as if she had always been there with us. Ken smiled as he walked into the kitchen. He poured a bag of chips into a large, red plastic bowl before he brought the snack along with a box of cookies into the den, placing them on the hand-me-down coffee table Tommy’s grandmother had given them. “What else do we need?”
Tommy looked up, his strong arms never missing a
