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Hands on his hips, Dare considered things

"He seems off," Trace said

"Yeah, I know"

Molly poked her head into the roo for the night?"

"We have a few o over, why?"

Priss pushed in around Molly and strode toward Trace "Because Chris is unhappy, and you two have to fix it"

"Unhappy?" Dare went to Molly and pulled her into his side "About what?"

"About Matt"

Trace held up his hands when Priss reached for hi boy He can handle his own relationships without Dare orin"

Priss wrapped her arms around Trace despite his attitude "But that’s just it He can’t handle this"

Dare frowned "Matt left because Chris had work to do"

"I know," Molly said "This tied Priss closer "So what’s the probleet involved"

"Chris isn’t reticent about anything" Dare tipped up Molly’s chin "He’s plainspoken to a fault"

"Not when he can’t be" Priss pulled away from Trace, her stance confrontational "And with you that you do, he can’t be"

Dare looked at Trace, but his friend looked as confused as he felt

Molly sighed "Dare, you and Trace do top-secret stuff, so naturally Chris doesn’t talk about that"

"So?"

"So Matt thinks he’s…" She winced "An errand boy"

Anger slowly stiffened Dare’s spine

In disbelief, Trace said, "No fking way"

"What else can he think?" Priss gave Trace a shove--or she tried to Trace didn’t budge "All Matt knows is that Chris handles the household stuff, setting up appoints and basically…"