Chapter One #2
Their eyes lingered on one another for longer than they used to, their hands brushed and fingers tangled occasionally as if they were testing the waters of hand holding.
Autumn had spent a lot more time hanging out with him at Branch and Brew than she used to.
Felix could chalk that up to her having nothing to do, but she was just about the happiest, friendliest person he’d ever met.
Autumn had no shortage of people she could spend her time with, but more and more she’d been choosing to spend the majority of it with him.
The sharp crack of a branch breaking to his right shook Felix out of his Autumn-centered reverie and drew his attention over to Travis.
The man was broad shouldered and barrel-chested, the sight of his thick arm muscles poking out from under his shirt sleeves causing Felix to reflexively check out his own.
He was two inches taller than Travis. Yes, Felix had measured and yes, it was very important that everyone knew that, but those two inches were enough to make Felix look lanky, like he had been stretched out just a shade too long.
Both men used manual labor for most of their exercise, but where Felix remained lithe and had a runner’s build, Travis looked like he could bench press one of the apple trees out back and not even break a sweat.
Felix had always had a hard time putting on muscle, but it never really bothered him except on the odd occasion where he was already feeling a little off-kilter, and his new feelings for Autumn had definitely accomplished that.
Travis pointed at the series of growlers in the back of the car. “New batch?” he asked the moment he was next to Felix.
Felix nodded, not bothering to wait for more than that from his least talkative brother.
“Yup. Taking these over to the bar so I can use them for my new cocktail. I’m going to add some chile liqueur and a few other ingredients to this mix and call it ‘Spring Fever.’” Felix smiled at his older brother. “What do you think?”
Travis pursed his lips and grunted. “Sounds fine.” More than two words from Travis was usually reserved for times of serious discussion, of which they’d had few, but Felix appreciated his brother’s curtness.
He was a straight shooter, so his saying it sounded fine was the equivalent of gushing over it.
Travis looked around the side of the farm for a moment, looking a little out of sorts. “Need any help?”
Felix raised a brow at his brother as he slammed the hatchback of his car.
“You want to come to the bar with me? Willingly?” Travis hardly ever left the farm except for when he had to or when Felix dragged his unsocial ass out to trivia night with the promise to get him a pair of earplugs and not try to set him up with any women.
The first was due to his sensory processing disorder and hate of any noise above sixty decibels, the second was anyone’s guess.
As far as Felix knew, Travis had never dated or hooked up with anyone since.
..well, ever actually. At one point he has suspected his brother might be asexual, but borrowing his laptop, he’d seen enough of Travis’s browser history to know that he was at least interested enough to look at porn.
Someone really should teach him about how to use an incognito search, but that wouldn’t be Felix.
He had something else at the top of his to-do list, getting his best friend to be more than that.
Travis shrugged, and scratched his beard.
It was another thing Felix was slightly jealous of.
He had stubble on occasion, but he couldn’t grow a beard to save his life.
“Dunno. Need to get out more. Thought you might need a hand.” Shrugging, Travis turned to leave, but Felix was able to snag the collar of his shirt and draw him back.
“Not so fast. I never said I didn’t need the help,” he told his brother.
Felix did not need the help, but the fact that his brother was opting to leave the farm and had spoken in more words than grunts was significant enough that he decided to fib a little.
“You can come along and help me unload these.” A smile came over his face again as he walked to the driver side of his car.
“After that, maybe we can head over to Aiden’s place and convince him to make us lunch. ”
Travis grunted in the affirmative, a smile playing behind the shaggy beard he was sporting at the thought of popping into their grumpy brother’s restaurant.
Aiden hated surprises, but he would put up with the two of them coming over for some food, especially if his girlfriend slash restaurant manager was there to convince him to play nice.
With nothing more from Travis, Felix hopped into the car and started off toward The Branch and Brew.
Now that Aiden had a girlfriend and Beckett was engaged, Felix felt an even greater desire to settle down, and there was only one person he could think of to do that with.
There was a lot of history between the two of them due to their decade plus long friendship, and there was a lot to risk in him telling her that his feelings had shifted from platonic to romantic.
It could ruin the relationship they had now, but it could also make it that much better, stronger, and longer lasting.
If she didn’t feel the same way, Felix wasn’t sure he could just push those feelings aside, but he would do it if she asked him to.
It would hurt, but Autumn had been and always would be his friend first. Now all he had to do was find the right time to tell her how he felt.
When that would be, Felix wasn’t sure, but he needed to do it soon.
A woman as amazing as Autumn wouldn’t stay single for long, and this time, no boyfriend was going to force him to put that genie back in the bottle.