10
L awrence weaved through traffic and headed to Alijah’s gallery. He, Chayse, and Erin were helping her package some paintings she’d sold and hang up new ones in their place. He hadn’t seen the three of them at the same time since the wedding. He’d been assigned several new businesses to try to get as clients that kept him busy. Well, that and when he wasn’t working, he’d been spending time with Remy.
Though he was sure, the three of them were doing the same. Alijah enjoying married life, Chayse enjoying living with Nik, and Erin enjoying her two new men. Even if they didn’t know it was Remy with whom he was spending his free time. They’d been dating for a few weeks, but Lawrence hadn’t told anyone. It wasn’t as if he was keeping it a secret. They went out, and people saw them.
He’d considered going to Chayse and Nik’s housewarming party, but he’d been sore, his back hurting again that weekend. He relaxed in Remy’s bed but insisted the other man go. In hindsight, Lawrence had become more sore after Remy returned from the gathering. So, that may not have been the best idea.
He pulled onto the street where Alijah’s gallery was and found a parking spot. It was going on one thirty, and he was lucky to get a place as close as he did.
The closed sign was up when he reached the door, but he tried the handle and found it unlocked. Lawrence stepped inside, not seeing anyone, but he figured that Alijah and whoever else may have beat him there were in the storage room where she kept her shipping materials and paintings before putting them out .
Lawrence was proven correct when he stepped into the storage room doorway and found all three women looking over a few of the paintings.
“Hey,” he greeted, drawing their attention.
“Hey,” Alijah responded as the three turned to look at him.
“I didn’t think you’d be able to come help since you were working,” Chayse spoke as he stepped into the room.
“I didn’t have much I needed to focus on today, so I was able to get it done,” Lawrence responded. “I’m more shocked that Alijah could get away from Kieran.”
“He doesn’t have any meetings this afternoon. So, he’ll be okay without me for a few hours.” Alijah responded. “I ordered lunch for us. It should be here soon.”
They helped Alijah take shipping boxes, filling for the boxes, and the paintings she was shipping out to the main area for the next thirty minutes. She sold quite a few pieces since she’d had the gallery. Lawrence thought she should get someone to work for her during the week instead of just on the weekends. He did not doubt that she would eventually begin to sell more and need the additional help.
While she had someone working Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the gallery was closed the rest of the week. Alijah still dropped in for a couple of hours when it was open, and she insisted on packaging and shipping any paintings that were sold and needed to be sent herself. Lawrence could understand that. She wanted to make sure that the paintings reached the buyers unharmed.
They’d placed the lavender Styrofoam popcorn in the boxes, adding the paintings once they were wrapped in soft lilac cloth. A thank you card was placed on top.
Once they were all packaged, Lawrence carried them carefully behind the desk, where they’d be picked up at five-thirty when the gallery opened. She’d sold three paintings. Two were shipping to other cities, and the other would be delivered to an art collector in town. They’d sealed the last one when there was a knock on the door.
Alijah opened it, took the food, and tipped the delivery person. She then went over to the desk, placed the food down, and reached over to grab a bottle of wine. They made small talk as they ate over the next forty-five minutes, and once finished, they cleaned up, taking a short break to digest before Alijah went to choose new paintings.
While Lawrence waited for Alijah to choose, he took out his phone. He noticed he had a text from Remy asking if they were still on for that evening. Lawrence responded that they were, and he was fine with Remy picking him up.
Alijah and Chayse stood back when the paintings were chosen, ensuring they were straight while he and Erin placed the pictures. They hung slightly high, which made it easier for them to hang them.
With the last painting hung, they went to the other two, Erin taking a seat on Alijah’s lap as Lawrence stood before them. It’d only taken them an hour and a half to do what she wanted, but he’d been there for two and a half hours.
“Thank you all again for helping,” Alijah stated.
“I’m not going to pass up food and drinks,” Lawrence responded. He was sure Alijah knew she could get him to help with just about anything as long as there was the promise of food.
“And here we thought you wanted to spend time with us,” Chayse teasingly responded.
Lawrence decided to tease her back. “That’s secondary,” he replied. “Anyway, are you excited about your cruise in a couple of weeks?”
“I am. We’ll be gone for an entire week. So, I had to schedule most of my shoots for these first two weeks and scheduled all of our men for the same day next week. I can do them all at once,” Chayse responded. “This cruise will be well worth it and deserved afterward.”
Lawrence could imagine. He’d seen the May edition of Gorgeous that was put out at the beginning of the month, and the Mother’s Day spreads were beautiful. He was sure it’d taken Chayse a lot of work. Each spread was different but no less stunning than the last. Lawrence could only imagine the work she was putting in for the June edition.
He wasn’t artistic like the three women in front of him. So, it always amazed him when he saw something they created and thought about how much work they’d put into it .
“Speaking of men,” Alijah started. “I was thinking we could go on a couples retreat sometime in August or September since you’re dating Cruz and Paetyn now.”
When Lawrence heard Erin was dating the two men, it made sense to him. Like they fit together. He’d only been around the two men a few times, but he knew that, if nothing else, Erin would have a hell of a good time with them. She was living her best life, and he wasn’t mad at her.
Erin nodded. “That sounds like fun.”
“You can come to, Lawrence,” Alijah paused briefly. “You can bring Remy.”
Lawrence’s attention snapped from Erin to Alijah. He was shocked that he hadn’t given himself whiplash as his eyes widened. How did she know that he was dating Remy? He hadn’t told anyone. He didn’t know how she’d come to know unless Remy told her, and the other man hadn’t informed him that he’d done so.
“What?” he questioned for lack of a better response.
“What?” Alijah mimicked, and it was terrible. She’d never been good at imitating people’s voices in the time that he’d known her. So, Lawrence didn’t know why she even tried. “Don’t sit over there like that man isn’t blowing your back out or like he hasn’t at least done so a couple of times.”
“Wait, how did you—”
“We all knew you disappeared that night,” Chayse told him with a shrug.
“And then Remy made up this story about a watch that was left, and him thinking it was yours. He could have done better,” Alijah responded. “But I wasn’t going to rain on his parade. I figured you either didn’t exchange numbers, and he wanted to contact you, or you left the watch at his house.”
Remy hadn’t told Lawrence he’d approached Alijah and made up a story. He assumed it was to get him to speak to him when he’d been ignoring him. He remembered their conversation about a watch when he visited Alijah at work, but Lawrence brushed it off. He’d ask Remy about it later that evening .
“The two of you were also not that discrete when you left,” Erin stated. “Though I didn’t know that’s who it was when I told you to talk to him.”
“So, the way I see it, you owe us some information,” Chayse said, and Erin and Alijah nodded.
Lawrence refrained from rolling his eyes because they would want to know the details of his relationship with Remy. Not that he minded; he didn’t know where to start, how to tell them what he felt when he was around Remy, how the other man seemed to overwhelm him at times.
He started from the night they left together after the wedding. Once Lawrence began talking, he just told them everything that transpired. He even told them how he felt overwhelmed by Remy, and all three gave him looks like they could relate.
Lawrence was honest with them about not knowing if he liked it. While they were dating and sleeping together, Remy made it clear to him that at any time he felt uncomfortable or needed to talk about what he was feeling, they would. Lawrence hadn’t needed to yet, but he knew that if and when he did, Remy would keep his word.
R emy knocked on Lawrence’s door at seven forty-five. The movie they were going to see started at eight-twenty. He only had to wait a minute until the door was pulled open, and Lawrence stood there in pants and no shirt.
Remy looked him over before stepping into his space, leaning slightly to kiss him. “Are you trying to tempt me?”
Lawrence smiled against his lips. “I’m not, but if I was, I see that it would be working.”
They stepped out of the doorway, and Remy closed the door behind them. He watched Lawrence go to his bedroom, calling over his shoulder for Remy to make himself at home. He was tempted to follow him. However, he sat on the couch, picking up the book on the coffee table. Remy hadn’t read it before and flipped it over to read the description. It sounded interesting, and he made a mental note to ask Lawrence if he could borrow it once he was finished reading it.
Ten minutes later, Lawrence came out of the bedroom fully dressed. Remy stood, following him out of the door. Once they were in the car, they headed to the theater.
As they drove, Remy asked Lawrence how work was and how helping Alijah rearrange her gallery went. It must have reminded him of something because he turned his attention toward Remy, and when he glanced over, Lawrence had an inquisitive look on his face.
“Did you make up a story about me leaving a watch to have Alijah get us in the same room?”
Remy chuckled. “I did. You were ignoring me, and I’d had enough of it.”
“When was this? Because she didn’t say anything to me about it.”
“I ended up not needing her to. You were already coming to the office to see her,” Remy responded, and he glanced at Lawrence to see him nod in understanding.
“Well, she invited us on a couples trip in a few months.”
“That sounds like fun. We can go if you want to,” Remy responded. However, he knew that depending on how long it was, Kieran would be uneasy about both of them being gone simultaneously. Remy didn’t typically have to worry about when he scheduled vacations because Kieran seldom took one. That wasn’t the case now.
When they arrived at the movie theater, they got in line for tickets, and Remy allowed Lawrence to pay as he requested. Remy didn’t mind, and he allowed him to pay for small things now and then when they went out. When they had their tickets, they made it to the concession stand and ordered snacks before entering the theater room.
Remy allowed Lawrence to choose where they sat. The theater wasn’t crowded; the movie they’d decided to see had been out for several weeks, so they missed the rush of people wanting to see it. They still had five minutes before the previews started.
“We should get takeout after the movie,” Lawrence stated before the lights went down .
“If that's what you want to do,” Remy responded. He’d had the same idea when they’d decided on a movie time.
The previews came and went, and the movie started. The two shared their snacks as they watched. It was an okay movie, but seeing it, Remy didn’t understand what all the hype was about.
When it was over, they exited the theater, throwing their trash away, and headed towards the parking lot. Before pulling out, they decided where they would get food from and headed in that direction.
After picking up the food, they returned to Lawrence’s apartment. When they arrived, Remy unpacked the food on the coffee table while Lawrence grabbed plates and utensils from the kitchen.
As they ate, they watched another movie on television. This one was older, and Remy hadn’t seen it in years. He’d forgotten how much he enjoyed it.
When the movie ended, he helped Lawrence clean up and headed toward the door. They were having their basketball game tomorrow morning, or he would have stayed. He turned to Lawrence before opening the door.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Remy told him before kissing him.
Lawrence nodded, and Remy pulled away, exiting the apartment. He heard the lock click into place before going down the hall and onto the elevator. It was after one in the morning, and they were playing at ten.
Once Remy made it home, he went into his bedroom, turned on the light, and got undressed, placing his clothes into the hamper and his phone on his bedside table. He entered his bathroom and brushed his teeth. He’d showered before picking up Lawrence and decided to do so before he left in the morning.
Remy slid into bed after turning off the light, picking up his phone when it vibrated. It was a text from Lawrence asking him if he’d made it home okay. Remy responded that he had, telling Lawrence goodnight. He knew that if he didn’t, they’d continue a conversation for a while, and they both needed to go to bed.
He got comfortable before closing his eyes. It didn’t take long before he was drifting off to sleep.