“They made love until Chris had to leave for the airport, without sleeping at all. After Chris had left, wearing wrinkled jeans and Xander’s sweat and seed on his skin, Xander flopped back onto the bed and looked miserably at the clock.”

“Madison looked down at her cookie and back at Chris. “Why did he get a brownie and I only got a cookie?”“Because I love him unconditionally and you’re making him sweat.” Chris stuffed the rest of the brownie in his mouth.”

“You’re my friend,” Chris whispered back, and his other hand came up so he could rub Xander’s lower lip with his thumb. “That makes you beautiful.”

“His back to the room, Jackson said, "I need a Chris." Because Chris was gay, Dare choked and Trace laughed.”

“All he had left was his alcohol and his resentment, the emotion that, Jean Améry would write, “nails every one of us onto the cross of his ruined past.”

“You do know that as a small child, they actually carried me around on a pillow? I had a custom-made helmet that I had to wear until I was four. (Chris)That’s because you banged your head every time you got angry. I was afraid you were going to get brain damage from it. (Wulf)The brain is fine. It’s my ego and social life in the toilet. I shudder at what you’re going to do to the kid. (Chris dropped his voice and imitated Wulf’s lilting Norse accent.) Don’t move, you might get bruised. Oops, a sneeze, better call in specialists from Belgium. Headache? Odin forbid, it might be a tumor. Quick, rush him for a CAT scan. (Chris)”