Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“ H ey, are you clocked— Jesus, what’s wrong with you?”
Malcolm’s hand was slapped over his pounding heart as he stared at Dahlia in the doorway. “You just scared the crap out of me!”
Snickering, she stepped farther into Sally’s office and plopped onto the other end of the small couch. “You think because you’re sleeping with the boss, no one else is allowed in here now?”
He rolled his eyes and nudged her with his elbow, tucking his phone under his leg and pretending he hadn’t checked it every spare moment all day.
Or that he wasn’t disappointed each time there wasn’t a message from Bull.
It wasn’t like he didn’t know that he was busy helping his brother, but he really had missed working with him and wished he’d been brave enough to go with him.
“No, jerk, but I thought you were Sally.”
Dahlia raised her eyebrows. “It is her office, you know. Though I think she left for the day.”
“That’s the only reason I’m in here.” Malcolm grimaced. “I’ve been avoiding her all day. She keeps trying to talk to me about Bull.”
“Oh, shit,” Dahlia said, mouth twisting. “That’s so awkward. You didn’t tell me he’d told his family about you two already.”
Malcolm shrugged, picking at a loose string on the seam of his jeans. “I didn’t think he had, but I never explicitly asked. He must have, though, because every time we got slow today—and one time on my way back from the bathroom —she was there, trying to pull me into a conversation.”
“Shut up! On your way back from the bathroom?”
“Yup. I was horrified.”
“How do you know it was about Bull?”
“Oh, she made that very clear,” Malcolm said with a light laugh. “‘Malcolm, I just want to make sure you understand how sweet my son is.’ ‘Malcolm, did you know Bull graduated magna cum laude?’”
Dahlia smiled. “Okay, that’s actually really sweet.”
“I don’t know.” He made a face. “It didn’t feel sweet. Maybe it would’ve in another circumstance? But at work, it just made me feel weird about…”
“The fact that you’re sleeping with your boss?” she finished dryly.
“Yeah,” he sighed. “Do you think everyone here knows?”
She snorted, so he slapped gently at her arm. “Sweetie, everyone in this place is a horrible gossip. You know that. Of course they know.”
“Great,” he muttered, one more thing for him to worry about. All his coworkers talking about him behind his back and being judgy about his and Bull’s relationship.
Dahlia touched his wrist, giving it an affectionate squeeze, then stood, straightening her apron. “I should get back out there. We’re slow now, but it’ll probably pick up soon for dinner.”
“Did you need something?” he asked, standing too. He’d clocked out twenty minutes ago but had been hanging out in the office, wondering what he’d do while Bull was busy. It had only been a week, yet he felt aimless, knowing he wouldn’t be spending the night with him.
“Oh, yeah,” she said, slapping her forehead. “There are a few people here to see you. I put them at table three.”
“What?”
But she was already gone.
Who would be there to see him?
Grabbing his phone and shoving it in his pocket, he headed toward the floor, praying it wasn’t his brother ambushing him about the engagement party.
He’d be shocked if Evan actually knew where he worked.
Though he wouldn’t put it past him to track down the information just to come and yell at him about how Malcolm was ruining his life or whatever.
As he neared the booth in the corner where Dahlia had seated them, he smiled, wondering what on earth Ollie was doing at Bo’s. There were two other guys around his age, putting them all a few years older than Malcolm.
He didn’t remember telling Ollie where he worked last weekend at the party, but maybe he’d mentioned it in passing. They’d chatted quite a bit between drinks and dances and his friend Mason teaching Malcolm some new moves.
As soon as Ollie spotted him, he jumped up and hurried over, a wide smile lighting up his unfairly beautiful face.
He was wearing a tiny pair of jean shorts and a crop top that said Emotional Support Bottom in bright pink lettering.
It revealed a few inches of his belly—and a tattoo around his navel—when he lifted his arms for a hug.
Malcolm accepted the embrace, a twinge of guilt pricking him that he was surprised by it. Ollie had been nothing but kind to him last Saturday.
“Hi!” Ollie chirped. “Lia said it was okay that we waited for you. You’re done with your shift, right?”
“Yeah.” Malcolm nodded slowly, trying to catch up with what was happening. “How did you know…?”
Ollie threaded his arm through Malcolm’s and steered him over to the booth where the other two guys were waiting. “How did I know you worked here, or how do I know Lia?”
“Both, I guess.”
“Six is at Marv’s with some of the others. When he texted me earlier, I gently persuaded him to give me some details about the two of you. He finally admitted you worked here with Bull after I promised to do that thing with my tongue and?—”
“Ollie!” One of the guys clapped his hands over his ears, cheeks flushing bright red.
“Whoops.” He winked at Malcolm. “Anyway, and I know Lia because I’ve been styling her hair for years.”
“Oh, right,” Malcolm said, snapping his fingers. “I totally forgot about that. She was so disappointed she couldn’t make it last weekend.”
“You and Bull should bring her and Becca next time,” Ollie said excitedly, rocking up onto his toes. “I’ve never actually gotten to meet Becca, even though she gushes about her at every appointment.”
You and Bull .
Something loosened in his chest at Ollie’s easy acceptance that the two of them were a package deal now.
It felt different than Dahlia’s gentle teasing or Sally’s awkward conversation starters.
Ollie was outside the Bo’s ecosystem. His assumption that not only would Bull and Malcolm be going to another clubhouse party but that, of course, they’d be together, made everything feel a bit more real.
A little scary, but mostly just exciting. Their isolated pocket of connection, where they had a chance to learn about each other and take things slow, was bursting. Their relationship was about to spill out in front of everyone they knew.
“I don’t know if you met these two last Saturday,” Ollie said, pointing at the two guys in the booth. “But that’s CJ, and that’s Emmett.”
CJ looked familiar, but Malcolm wasn’t sure if they’d ever actually exchanged names at the party.
He had short, wavy hair and bright green eyes, and there was a small silver hoop on the side of his nose.
Emmett had been the one to cover his ears when Ollie had nearly revealed what he’d offered to do to Six to get the information about Malcolm.
His golden-brown eyes were soft and welcoming, a deep set of dimples in his full cheeks.
“It’s nice to officially meet you guys,” he said, smiling warmly.
“Do you want to hang out here or go back to your place?”
Ollie’s question made Malcolm’s stomach dip.
He hadn’t even wanted Bull to see his sad little apartment, and now, three people he barely knew were going to invade the space and know immediately he was dead broke and struggling?
What if one of them sat in the red chair before he could stop them and they flipped over in it?
What if… What if they didn’t want to be friends with him after seeing it?
CJ snorted and pinched the bridge of his nose. The movement shifted his shirt, allowing Malcolm to see that it said I licked it so it’s mine next to a… neon eggplant? Where did they get these shirts?
Probably not Goodwill.
Right.
“Ollie, you can’t invite yourself to someone else’s house,” CJ said, exasperated.
Emmett snickered, ducking his head when Ollie stuck his tongue out at him. At least his shirt was benign, featuring cartoon dogs from a kids’ show Becca was obsessed with. Maybe he’d ask Emmett where he got it so he could suggest it to Dahlia if she hadn’t noticed.
“Okay, yes, you’re right,” Ollie said, pointing at his friend. “ Normally . But since you also tell me that there are certain things we shouldn’t discuss in public, I thought we should give Malcolm here the opportunity to choose where we talk.”
CJ rolled his eyes. “I like how you only follow social norms when it’s convenient for you.”
“Thanks. I like that about me too,” Ollie said, then spun to face Malcolm. “Well?”
Malcolm glanced back and forth between the three of them, almost afraid to ask what it was Ollie wanted to talk about that he thought Malcolm wouldn’t want to discuss in public. “I guess it kind of depends on, you know, the subject,” he said cautiously.
“You and Bull, duh,” Ollie replied.
“Well, apparently, everybody here already knows,” Malcolm said and shrugged. “So I guess we can just stay.”
“Okay!” Ollie scooted into the booth next to Emmett, smiling at him more gently than he had at CJ. “You hungry, Em? I think we should get some food.”
Emmett nodded and grabbed the menus that had been lying in the middle of the table.
Malcolm slowly lowered himself onto the other side of the booth, next to CJ, still a little worried about what Ollie wanted to know about him and Bull.
Ollie grabbed his own menu and then said, without looking up from it, “Firstly, I’d like to know why you lied to me about having never seen Bull’s dick before.”
Malcolm choked on his own spit and glanced around, but no one was seated close enough to have heard. He hoped.
“Good lord, Ol,” CJ said, patting Malcolm on the back. “You okay? I swear you get used to him.”
Slamming his menu back down, Ollie rolled his eyes so hard Malcolm worried they’d get stuck. “Well, he did. Six told me that Houston told him that Marv told him ?—”
Malcolm’s head started to hurt.
“—that Bull was kind of mopey today because he missed Malcolm.” Ollie grinned at him. “Because you guys spend all your time together. Banging like bunnies. According to Marv.”