Unleashing Chaos

Chapter Three

I nearly choke on the bite I'd just taken and wipe my mouth with my napkin before speaking. "Well, you met Mandis. Grub, the guy that was with us, that's his husband. They've been together for what feels like decades, and they met when they were kids. Most of my other brothers are so oversexed that they literally make out with their significant others at family functions, and none of them have ever needed a dating app to find someone. It's been so fucking easy for all of them," I mutter, and my resentment toward them flows out of me with such ease, it alarms me. I don't like feeling that bitterness toward my siblings, but I do.

"Come on, Desi, it can't be that hard for you to find a guy. I'm sure you could go to the grocery store around the corner, walk a couple of aisles, and get more than one request for a date," Cannon pipes up.

"Where I'm from, it doesn't work like that," I say, choosing my words carefully. "There has been no one for me. Not even a possibility. I've never been on a date, never been kissed. I mean, I know about sex; I'm not completely naïve. I've just never done it or anything leading up to it. Even the simplest of things, like holding someone's hand." My cheeks flush as I realize I probably just shared way too much information with my two brand new roommates. My two brand new male roommates.

"So your plan is to experience all that now?" Jace asks.

I lift one shoulder in a lazy shrug. "I mean, I just want to see what happens naturally, you know? But I don't even know where to start with meeting people. In case you couldn't tell, I was a little bit sheltered as the youngest and only daughter. So, I thought maybe a dating app would be good to start with."

Cannon sets down his fork and holds out his hand. "Let me see your phone."

I pull it out of my pocket, unlock it, and set it in his palm, watching as he swiftly taps the screen. "Here, Face ID," he says, holding it up in front of me. I give him permission to download, and when he hands it back to me, there's a new app on my home screen with a logo that looks like a little red flame.

"What's that?"

"It's the app everyone talks about when they're wanting to meet people, just to see what 'happens naturally,'" he says, looking at me pointedly.

"Oh. Oh! You mean like...to 'hook up?'"

"Yeah, but I know a couple people who met their 'person' on there."

Their person. That sounds like an eternal partner to me. "Their...'person.' What do you mean by that? Like...the person they want to be with forever?"

"I guess if you believe in that shit," Jace mumbles before Cannon can answer.

I glance at him. "Oh, and you don't?" I've never heard of anyone not believing in eternity before.

Jace grabs his empty bowl and stands. "There is only right now and the things you can control in this moment. Good and bad legacies are forever. Nothing else matters."

Without another word, Jace gets to his feet, rinses his bowl and loads it in the dishwasher before walking out of the kitchen and down a hallway next to the dining room. Then, a door clicks shut, and Cannon and I are left in silence.

I've never met someone who appears so opposed to relations with other people. Up until now, the man lived alone in a huge house, spends all day in loungewear, plays video games, and just shut himself behind another door rather than hang out in the living room. Just the thought of what I saw today makes me lonely.

I clear my throat and shift my gaze to Cannon as I continue eating. "Well, that was awkward."

"That's what love can do, Desi. It can turn a man into a jaded human being," Cannon says, shoveling a forkful of noodles into his mouth.