Miss Fortune

Chapter Thirteen

His apartment seemed quieter than usual. Thorin tossed his keys onto the breakfast counter and moved to the refrigerator to pull open the freezer door. As he tugged out the bottle of Stoli and the door closed, Frerin said, "Sleeping alone again?"

Thorin stumbled backwards, almost losing his grip on the bottle's neck. "Jesus! Don't do that to me!"

"Sorry." Not only did Frerin not sound sorry, he didn't look sorry either. "So, what's your excuse this time?"

"What excuse?" Thorin set the vodka on the counter and reached into the cupboard for a glass, stepping behind the cabinet door to hide his surprise at Frerin's unexpected arrival. His relief had to be evident on his face, but he certainly didn't want Frerin to see it. "It was our first date, man. I'm not sleeping with her on the first date."

"Since when?" Frerin leaned against the counter in his favorite position—arms folded and legs crossed at the ankles. "Sometimes you barely knew their names, T."

"That was you, not me," Thorin countered, pouring himself three fingers' worth of vodka. "Look... about what happened with me and Lisa—"

"Forget it." Frerin held up a hand. "It doesn't matter."

"Yeah, it does. It was a shit thing for me to do—to you, to her."

"Oh, no doubt, it was. Absolutely. But—" he sighed softy and shook his head—"you were both hurting. I get that."

"I don't deserve—"

Frerin rolled his eyes. "Don't be so damn dramatic. She's moved on and so should you. I'm okay, T. Don't feel guilty over it. But for the love of Christ, don't say anything to Alex. I'd hate to see you mess anything up with her, now that you finally got your head out of your ass."

Thorin met his gaze. "Seriously?"

"Seriously. We're cool, T. Besides, it's not like there's anything I can do about it now. She wouldn't see me no matter what I did, so it's probably best to just let the past stay there."

Thorin just stared at him for a long moment. More than anything, he wanted to hug his brother, and that he couldn't made his throat tighten and his eyes sting. He slid his gaze to the glass of vodka. "I'm sorry, Frer. I never meant for it to happen."

"Yeah, I know. And you know, we don't have to talk about it. In fact, I'd really rather we never spoke of it again. So, tell me how your date with Alex went."

"It went just fine. It took every bit of willpower I have to keep from pulling her into the backseat of my truck."

"No guts, no glory."

Thorin managed to laugh. "I like her, Frer. I want to keep seeing her. First time I sleep with her is not going to be in the backseat of my fucking truck, hoping like hell one of the guys from the department doesn't catch us because a nosy neighbor thinks he's got teenagers humping in front of his house."

"Imagine the looks when they realized it was the respectable Thorin Durin humping his girlfriend in front of their house instead."

"And that's why I didn't pull her into the backseat. But I was tempted," he lifted the glass, "holy hell, was I tempted."

"So, when are you going to seal the deal, then?"

"I don't know. And even if I did, I'm not telling you. The last thing I want is you popping up while I'm in bed with her."

"Trust me, that's the last thing I want as well." Frerin ran a hand through his hair and sighed softly. "That's what I miss the most, Thorin."

"Sex?"