Sizzle

Chapter 28

Elliot

The guy who just sold me this truck swore up and down that it just takes a while to get the heater going but I’m pretty sure he lied.

Fucking horseshit. But I’m too pumped to be really pissed right now.

Because Elliot James is now the proud owner and operator of a food truck. Duckbill is going on the road.

If the math Jimmy did was good for anything, the amount of cash I’ll get from selling off the excess kitchen equipment will more than cover the cost of the vehicle, plus enough for a small starter inventory.

Paying my own bills is another story, but I’m not thinking about that now. Right now, I’ve got a food truck business to start.

Heading back to Alex’s—our house, damn it—I can’t wait to tell him. I still have to grovel, I know that. I was an absolute asshole the other day and he deserves better. But we’ve been friends for so long, surely he knows what I really meant? That I didn’t mean I couldn’t be with him.

I mean, I think I could. The whole gay thing is new, and yeah, I’m not all the way comfortable with it yet, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want him.

The heater must have finally kicked on. It’s definitely getting warm in here now.

I want him. The things I think about doing to him… I can’t get it out of my head. Why I couldn’t just tell him that, I’m not sure, but I owe Alex at least that much. It’s not just him and me, though. I need Joelle, and I think he does too. She makes us better, makes us more.

God knows, I’d never have made it through the last few weeks without her, without either of them.

I round the corner to our street, not paying much attention to the car parked in front of the house as I’m too busy planning how to grovel. Hey, I can admit when I’ve been a jerk. And making it up to them is going to be so much fun.

Except… What the actual fuck?

Alex is on the front porch. With a woman who is definitely not Joelle.

Shit.It’s the Ice Bitch. What the fuck is she doing here?

I slow up next to the curb. I can’t see her face, only Alex’s. When his expression goes all soft and he wraps his arms around her I lose my shit, laying on the horn as I throw the truck into park. My other hand is occupied tapping out a fast text to Joelle. God, I hope she can get here fast.

What the fuck? Diana’s got some damn nerve turning up again now. Alex said they hadn’t been talking. Diana can’t possibly want him back, right? Except obviously she can, because he’s Alex and he’s the best man I know and he deserves more than all of us combined can offer. Of course she wants him back.

It never even crossed my mind that he might want her back, too. Not after these last few weeks, what we’ve done together. Not after what he’s become to me.

Of course, Alex doesn’t know what he’s become to me, does he? Not unless he’s suddenly also become a mind reader.

I never told him. The twisting feeling in my gut turns to stone as I shut off the ignition and slam the car door shut behind me.

I never told Alex I love him and now the one person who might be able to take him away from me—from us—is here and he’s hugging her and God I’m too late.

The snow is coming down thick now, with big fluffy flakes, despite the bullshitting weatherman’s bullshit prediction that today was supposed to be warmer. I trample through the drifts next to the sidewalk, tearing across the yard. It ruins the fresh cover on the ground, but I’m too wound up to care. Halfway there, Alex catches sight of me and lifts his head, letting go of the Ice Bitch. Whatever he sees in my face obviously worries him.

“I love you!”

I’m shouting, even though they’re only about ten feet away now. Diana turns, her eyebrows practically disappearing into her hair.

“Goddamn it, Alex, you couldn’t wait ten more minutes? I love you, you son of a bitch! I don’t care what she says, you can’t go back to her. You can’t.”

Alex’s eyes are wide enough to fall out of his head as I climb the porch steps. The silence is deafening now, and I think maybe I didn’t have to shout quite so loud. I also maybe shouldn’t have started off by calling him names, but seriously.

“What are you doing here?” I ask Diana.

She arches a brow at me.

“I could ask you the same question.”

“I live here now. You don’t. Beat it.”

“You can’t just kick me out!”

“Want to bet?”

“Elliot,” says Alex. I swear to God, if he laughs, I’m going to hit his pretty face so hard he’ll feel it for weeks.

“You can’t take her back,” I tell him, turning my back on Diana completely. “You can’t. Not after the way she treated you.”

“That’s actually why I’m—” Diana says over my shoulder.

“I’m not talking to you.”

“Elliot, you’re being rude,” says Alex. He’s obviously fighting a smile and I’m going to have to hit him for real, I think, except all I want to do is kiss him. But I have to make him understand first.

“You can’t go back to her. Joelle needs you. I need you. You can’t just leave us now.”

This wipes the smile off his face.

“You’re the one who left.”

“I know,” I say, reaching for his hand. “And I’m sorry. I didn’t mean I can’t be with you without her. I should have stayed, talked to you so you understood.”

Diana clears her throat. I glance over my shoulder.

“I suppose this means I should offer my congratulations?” she says in a quiet voice.

“That’s what I was about to tell you,” Alex says to her, matching her tone.

All of us turn to stare at the beat-up sedan pulling into the driveway, rods knocking hard enough to make me wince. I don’t know whose car that is, but it needs a priest.

Then Joelle steps out, and the world comes into sharper focus.

“Got your text,” she says to me, taking in the lot of us freezing on the porch. “This must be the famous Diana.”

“And you’re Joelle,” says Diana, nodding. “I’ve heard good things.”

“I should hope so, considering you’re standing between me and the men I love,” says Joelle evenly. “Literally.”

Diana clears her throat. “I guess this means I’m not coming in,” she says to Alex.

“Hell no.” I take the last two steps toward Alex and lay one on him. His lips part on a gasp and I pour every last exasperated second of the past few weeks into that kiss. I’ve shocked him enough it takes a few extra seconds before he’s kissing me back, and then his arm is banded tight around my waist, his other hand sliding through my hair and I’m hard as a rock despite our audience.

A drawn-out whistle has me pulling back before I can get to Alex’s zipper to show him how sorry I am. I turn my head to see Joelle grinning at us like it’s Christmas morning.

“That will never, ever get old,” she says, gesturing between Alex and me.

“Tell me about it,” says Alex, stepping toward her. He doesn’t reach for her, though it’s clear he wants to. “Are you all right?”

A car door slams as an engine fires up, startling all three of us. Diana pulls her car away from the curb, actually peeling out in her haste to vacate the premises. I can’t suppress a smile.

Ding, dong, the bitch is dead.

It’s not particularly nice of me to think that way about her. God knows, if anybody can sympathize about not wanting to let Alex go, it’s me. But she can’t have him anymore. He’s mine.

Or better yet, judging by the look on Joelle’s face, he’s ours.

Alex has turned back to Joelle, waiting for her to answer him.

“I’ve been better,” she says quietly. She meets his eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer when you called. I was sure there was no way we could make this work. And embarrassed. And confused.”

“Embarrassed by what?” They don’t need me for this part of the conversation but I can’t help but ask. “Not by what we did together.”

Joelle blushes. “A little.”

“That’s going to be a deal breaker,” says Alex. His voice is still soft, but implacable now. “What we do together is nothing to be embarrassed about. Shame has no place here, not between us.”

Joelle nods slowly. “I’ll have to work on that. It might take some time.”

She looks so goddamn pretty, snow swirling around her like that. I can’t stand the tears in her eyes, though, so I reach for her hand, drawing her gaze.

“I suspect—um, that’s at least partly my fault,” I say, stammering. I clear my throat and try again. “The way everybody found out about us… that was my doing. I should never have exposed you that way, not until you were ready for it. Or until we were all ready for it. And I definitely should never have made you think you were to blame. You weren’t, Joelle.”

Joelle looks at me a long moment, then nods. “Apology accepted.”

“I’m not done yet,” I say, laying my hands on her shoulders to turn her toward the street. “Do you know what that is?”

“The modern world’s very first food truck.”

“Not quite,” I say drily. “Though I’ll admit, she needs some paint.”

“She?”

“As of about an hour ago, that is the newest location of Duckbill.”

Joelle and Alex turn twin looks of surprise my way.

“Are you serious?” asks Joelle.

“As a heart attack,” I say, reaching for her hand again. “Joelle Munroe, will you do me the honor of coming to work with me again? I promise to honor, respect, and pay you until culinary school do us part.”

I was hoping to make her laugh, but all I get is a half a smile as she cuts her eyes away.

“About that,” she says, trying to pull her hand back. I’m loathe to let her go and after a few seconds she gives up, twining her fingers with mine. “Culinary school is on hold.”

“What?”

“Why? What happened?”

“Hah, funny story, actually,” she says. “I got a phone call this morning from Sizzle. The cable network?”

Alex nods and when she looks at me, I roll my eyes.

“It’s ninety percent of my DVR. Of course I know what it is,” I say.

She laughs again, nervously this time. “Yeah, them. So… they called. They like my blog, especially the videos. I have a meeting with them next week to talk about possibly filming a pilot for a show. For my own cooking show.”

My jaw drops so fast I can practically hear it hit the deck. Alex looks about the same as I feel—utterly poleaxed—until I start laughing. I scoop up Joelle and spin her around, loving the yelp it draws from her as she grips my coat.

“How about we take this inside before you fall and break each other into pieces?” says Alex, unlocking the door. Truth be told, I’d kind of forgotten about the snow and, you know, the freezing-ass temperatures. Just getting to talk to my two favorite people in the world was enough to keep me warm, but Alex has a point.

Plus, inside means fewer clothes between us, and I can always get behind that.

Alex cuts me a look as I walk past him into the living room like he knows where my head’s at. He probably does. I mean, who am I kidding? Subtlety is not my forte.

“You missed the rest of the show just now, Joelle,” says Alex, settling on to the couch beside her. I take her other side, same way I did the first night, all those weeks ago. “When Elliot drove up in that rattletrap truck, I thought he was going to run it into the house, he was so mad.”

“Really?” Joelle’s eyes go wide.

“Honking the horn at us, shouting, the whole nine,” he says, mischief in his eyes.

“You were hugging the Ice Bitch,” I shoot back. “What was I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know about ‘supposed to’ but I definitely wasn’t expecting you to run through the snow yelling ‘I love you’ at the top of your lungs like a crazy person.”

Joelle gasps and turns to me.

“Did you really?”

There’s an itch at the back of my neck I can’t quite get.

“It wasn’t that dramatic.”

“It makes the top five most dramatic things I’ve ever seen you do,” says Alex, grinning now. “Maybe even top three.”

I mutter something about keeping score. Alex scoots off the couch and kneels in front of me, his eyes on mine.

“Did you mean it?” he asks. I’m painfully aware that he hasn’t said it back and I’m pretty sure it’s too late to save face on this one so I just tell him the truth.

“Yes.” Joelle’s sniffling tugs at me and I turn to her. “I love you, too, you know. I’ve been in love with you almost since the minute I met you.”

Alex lays a wide hand on my knee, doing the same to Joelle, and squeezes us both.

“I love you,” he says. “Both of you. I don’t know how this is going to work but I want to promise you right now, I’ll do everything in my power to earn you.”

“Dumbass,” I say. I’m not crying. It’s allergies. Joelle, though—tears are streaming down her face as she leans over to kiss Alex. It’s slow and soft and the stuff of classic Hollywood cinema. Then she turns to me and does the same for me.

“I love you both,” she says, wiping her face. “But I think you already knew that.”

“And now Diana knows too,” I say. “She sure took off in a hurry.” Joelle giggles, but I’m looking at Alex. “You wouldn’t really go back to her, would you?”

He rolls his eyes. “Don’t be an idiot.”

I want to protest, but we’re here and she’s not, so I guess he’s got a point.

“She came back to apologize, more than anything,” says Alex. “I guess she got over whatever hang-up she had about me being bi. So you can stop calling her the Ice Bitch now.”

“I’ll think about it,” I say. “But not now. Right now I’ve got more important things to do.”

“Such as?” Joelle asks. I reach over, tugging open the top button of her blouse.

“Celebrating your inevitable fame and success, for one thing,” I say, popping the second button open.

“Anything else?” This comes from Alex, whose voice has dropped about sixteen octaves.

“Oh, yes,” I say. “I’ve got a list. Want to see it?”

“See what?” smirks Alex. “Your list?” He sweeps Joelle up into his arms and starts for the stairs.

“That too,” I say, one step ahead of him. “It’s upstairs. It’s rather… long. And in desperate need of attention.”