Chapter 28 #2
His console lit up with a phone call. To my surprise, and relief, the name ‘Marlow Knight’ appeared.
At least it wasn’t his ex...
I still felt bad getting jealous over a woman he clearly had no intentions of getting back together with and who had a whole ass fiancé and child to go home to every night.
Unfortunately, my head and my heart loved to be at constant war with each other over getting my emotions settled long enough to remain level-headed when it came to Avery.
Jealousy had never been my forte. Not when I could just as easily remove myself from a potentially toxic situation and move on with my life instead of trying to compete against someone else.
However, every rule I’d ever had for myself was quickly tossed out the window whenever Avery entered the picture.
“Yes?” Avery said upon answering the call.
“I’m beginning to suspect you hate me,” the voice on the other line stated.
Glancing over at him to see his reaction to the clearly very dramatic words, I was charmed to see him rolling his eyes in an equally dramatic fashion. “Seriously?”
“First, you ditch our dinner date. Then, you keep avoiding my calls. No texts. Nothing. Just tell me you hate me.” The other man’s tone was so matter-of-fact that if it wasn’t for Avery shaking his head, I would’ve thought this was a very serious discussion.
“This is the first time you’ve called me,” was all Avery responded with.
“Is that all you heard!” the voice accused.
The responding shit-eating grin, coupled with the squeeze of my thigh, sent butterflies fluttering in my stomach. “Isn’t that all you said?”
The man on the other line, Marlow, groaned loudly. “Where are you...”
“Driving.”
“Oh, great. So you’ll swing by La Roux’s for lunch.”
Avery popped a brow. “You ever stop and think whether or not I’m busy?”
“With what? The guy fixing up your cars that you wouldn’t shut up about the last time we saw you? I know you don’t have a job currently, but you’ve got to stop hanging around there like a lost puppy, Av. Let that man do his job,” the other man goaded.
I watched his mouth drop in shock.
Avery’s talked about me?
Damn, why was that so flattering?
Obviously, I knew I’d be brought up if the past was ever talked about or used as background fodder for any particular story Avery might’ve shared—we were a part of each other’s lives for so many of those formidable years, I was bound to come up, even if it was an off-handed mention.
But from the way Marlow was speaking, it sounded like I was being brought up in far more than simply the retellings of past days gone by.
“Can you stop.” The words were gritted through his teeth, a deep flush coloring his face. “It wasn’t like I was chatting your ear off. You were doing plenty of talking yourself. And I still have a job, thank you very much.”
“One, that’s a lie because Silas and I were doing shots every time you mentioned the guy’s name which almost sent us to the hospital to get our stomachs pumped, thank you very much.
And two, it’s been weeks since you’ve been back to the city to visit your office.
Does the board even remember your name?”
“Seeing as I’m the one that pays their salaries, I’d hope so.”
My brain was in overdrive, still trying to wrap itself around Marlow’s words. This all could be one massive exaggeration in order to goad Avery into quipping back at his friend who clearly liked the verbal sparring, however I was beginning to lean toward that not exactly being true.
Not with Avery’s face still that beautiful rosy shade that seemed to grow even darker the longer Marlow spouted on.
Feeling like it was my duty to rescue my poor best friend from the persecution, I cleared my throat. “Um, Marlow was it?”
There was a pause, and then, “Oh? Avery didn’t tell me he had a friend with him.”
Other than the hand gently squeezing my thigh before he took a right turn, he wasn’t telling me to stop or not talk to his friend. So I took that as him giving me his blessing and carried on. “Yeah. The one you mentioned, actually.”
Marlow let out a hearty laugh. “Oh. I see what’s going on.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Avery muttered.
He laughed again. “Nothing! Just call me when you’re actually free. I think there’s some things you need to catch me up on.”
“Fine. Let Silas know I said hello.”
“Will do. And Brandon?”
I blinked. “Yes?”
“It was nice to put a voice to the name. I hope Avery brings you around soon.”
Even though I hardly knew this man, I could tell he was a good egg and was someone in Avery’s corner who clearly cared about him, even with what seemed like the endless teasing.
Those were the kinds of people I was hoping Avery had found after being sent to Switzerland.
A solid group of friends he could count on when I could no longer be there.
I was happy for him and the life he’d made for himself. And while I wished it hadn’t forced us apart, in the end, us finding each other again felt like divine timing.
“I look forward to one day meeting you,” I said.
Marlow chuckled. “Don’t let that bastard hide you away for too long. And if he keeps distracting you at work, I hear chasing him out with a broom works wonders.”
Avery scoffed. “Goodbye, Marlow.”
Lifting his hand off of my leg briefly to stab his finger against the console’s panel to end the call, he shook his head again before clapping it back down again. He traced his thumb along my knee, circling slowly along the joint.
“Pain in my ass,” he mumbled.
“Does he... know? About...” I waved a hand between us. Not that it really mattered one way or the other. I wasn’t ashamed of what Avery and I had gotten ourselves involved in with each other, or whatever label it was we were sticking to.
I was simply curious because if he had told Marlow about us, when the hell did he find the time? When he was on the way back from the hospital? Before that?
Avery shook his head. “No, no. But he’s also not an idiot.”
My eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Are you going to tell him?”
The groan I received in response was incredible—more pained than embarrassed sounding. “Yes. Of course I will. And I’m warning you now, both he and Silas are gossips.”
It was too good not to continue poking fun at him for.
And even more so to know he was open to sharing us with his friends, ones that I’d yet to meet but by the sounds of it, were eager to get that ball rolling.
“Wow, Avery. Just tell me next time you have a crush instead of it getting to me through the grapevine.”
“I wouldn’t call it a crush.”
“Then?” I prompted.
He was quiet as he rotated the wheel with one hand, taking us down a side street and away from the busy intersection that seemed to always be jam-packed this time of day. “I like you, Brandon. A lot. More than just a friend. A lot more.”
I swallowed. The air was suddenly growing way too hot.
“If that freaks you out, just tell me.” His voice had grown quiet, eyes staring steadily out his windshield.
How ironic for him to sit there and think that I wouldn’t be receptive to his feelings. Actually, scratch that. That I wouldn’t welcome his feelings. “You should drive us back to my place.”
He darted his tongue out to wet his bottom lip. The hand on my thigh slowly crept up my leg. “Yeah...?”
“Yes.” The second I got him into my house, I was tearing off his clothes.
He flicked his turn signal on and quickly merged. “Yeah, definitely. Let’s drop this paperwork off first and then we’ll head over.”
“Perfect.” Because after we did that, he was all mine.