9. Brooke
Chapter nine
Brooke
The four of us pile into Marcus’ car, Maci and I sitting in the back seat, and make the short drive to the Japanese restaurant. We’re meeting Troy there, but Lexy couldn’t get out of work.
Closing the door behind me, I walk toward the restaurant. My head turns when I hear Marcus’ voice call out to Maci. She stops, taking a few steps back to him by the car.
“Yeah?” I hear her say, but noticing how Dean hardly acknowledges it and continues toward the entrance, I follow him.
Standing outside the row of bike racks by the front door, I turn away from the cute white-paneled building toward Dean. My curiosity gets the best of me. “What’s that about?”
“No idea.” He shrugs.
“Marcus seems like a good guy.”
“He is,” he agrees without hesitation, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans, his maroon and black flannel shirt rolled just above his forearms.
“I’m really not intruding, right? I don’t want to be an imposition just because he’s too nice to say no. ”
“Trust me, Marcus doesn’t agree to anything he doesn’t want to. He’s big on consent.” Dean winks.
What the hell was that about? I’m about to ask, but movement draws my attention to where Maci and Marcus stand by his car. She practically falls into him, wrapping her arms around his waist. He embraces her hug, pulling her closer, his hand petting her hair like he’s trying to soothe her.
Not a moment later, they break apart. The way Maci rubs her fingers under her eyes, I know she was crying. I look at Dean, sporting a half-smile and no concern, and I feel like there’s a secret I’m not in on.
Marcus and Maci join us, Dean pulling his fiancée to him in a side hug and kissing her temple. “Let’s keep him,” she whispers through a few residual tears, and Dean laughs subtly.
“If you insist.”
I check Marcus’ reaction, wishing it could give me some indication of what’s going on. He’s checking something on his phone, not paying attention to any of us. I’m about to ask what happened when Troy bounds in front of us, blocking our path to open the door.
“Hey!” he greets. I slip through the doorway with Maci and Dean, catching Troy’s hand slap Marcus’ shoulder from the corner of my eye. “Congrats on your deal.”
“Thanks, man.” Marcus grins, sliding his phone into the front pocket of his dark gray jeans. His black V-neck strains slightly across his chest and biceps. What was I just thinking about?
Focusing forward, I catch up to Maci as she slides into the brown leather seat at the bar top. Sitting next to her, Dean takes the other side, Marcus next to him and Troy on the end. She wasn’t able to get reservations last minute, but this section of the restaurant has such a good ambiance .
Behind the bar, there are six shelves of liquor, reaching so high there's also a sliding ladder like you’d see in a dream library. The lighting is a moody, deep brown over red oak counters and shelving.
Once we’re settled, Troy orders everyone a round of green tea shots. “To Marcus,” he says, holding his shot toward the rest of us. “The guy who helps make all our dreams come true. It’s time for you to have your own.”
“I’ll cheers to that,” Dean adds as he glances at Maci, catching her gaze. She gives him a soft smile, lifting her shot in the air as she leans her head on his shoulder. I want that.
“To my favorite person,” Maci says, and Dean shakes his head slightly, chuckling. From what Maci told me, Marcus really grounded her in her decision with Dean and giving him a chance. I think he definitely played a role in their story.
A tingle of happiness flows through me as I lift my shot into the air, joining theirs. Witnessing the strength of a found family is one of my favorite things. But this one in particular gives me a strange feeling that I could become a part of it and that I might be on the receiving end of Marcus’ magic too.
Halfway through dinner–all of us ordering authentic Japanese ramen–the bartender checks on us. “Everything is great, thanks,” Troy tells her, but her gaze isn’t on him.
Marcus looks up from his bowl like he can sense her stare.
“So, the waitress over there,” she points, and we all follow the invisible line created from her finger, “wanted me to give you this.” She slides him a piece of receipt paper with a name and number scrawled across it.
“Thank you,” Marcus responds, but there’s not enough infliction in his voice to determine how he feels about it .
As soon as the bartender leaves our line of sight, Troy slaps the back of his hand against Marcus' chest. “Dude. Everything good starts with a piece of receipt paper.”
Maci grins. “That’s only in bartender romances, Troy.”
Troy waves her off with a flick of his wrist. “Come on. This could be it for him.”
“You know nothing about her, man,” Marcus chimes in.
“Well, you’ll find out once you call her,” Maci assures. “Did you ever go on that date with the girl Lexy set you up with?”
Marcus sighs. “Yeah. She was cool but not cool with how much I work.”
“See!” Troy smacks his hand on the bar top. “I’m not the only one who thinks you need to take a vacation.”
“Yeah, I don’t think that would quite do the trick.”
“You’re never going to meet someone if you don’t make the time,” Dean adds.
“Make the time? I’m talking to two guys who knew the second they met their girl,” Marcus says, reaching for his hot sake and taking a sip.
“Hey! Technically, it was the second time,” Troy counters.
“Look, I’ll make the time when I find someone who is worth it.” Everyone else is amused, but the conversation seems to be putting Marcus on edge. I don’t think it's the teasing, though. I wonder if he genuinely wishes he had a girlfriend. It’s kind of hot that he seems to want to settle down.
“We just want you to be happy, Marcus,” Maci says, her voice soft and sweet as she looks at him on the other side of Dean.
“Yeah.” His single word attempts to end the discussion despite me wishing someone would share more insight .
“At least call her?” Maci presses, raising her own white ceramic sake shot glass to her lips.
Marcus nods, adding nothing as he adjusts his chopsticks in his hands before dipping them into the broth.
Maci turns to me, adjusting her own chopsticks. The boys engage in another conversation, but Maci still lowers her voice. “I feel bad. He does try to find a girlfriend. He’s agreed to nearly every date Lexy and I have set him up on.”
I have a hard time believing the man couldn’t get a date on his own. Has he looked in the mirror? I glance past Maci, getting a clean peripheral view of Marcus even with Dean in between. His scruff is clean cut, his hair tied back neatly, both drawing attention to his sharp jaw. “He just has terrible luck? I mean, he got a phone number tonight from a stranger without trying.”
“He does fit dates into his schedule somehow, but I think he’s picky because he never goes on a second date. Plus, the work thing is spot on. Trying to spend a solid amount of time with him is like trying to parallel park in downtown Portland. It’s either impossible or takes multiple tries.”
“Didn’t he just go on a camping trip?”
“Yeah. But that’s been a standing tradition for him, Dean and their friend Aden since they were in high school. If he tried to bail, they’d kick his ass.” She laughs, spooning a bite of ramen into her mouth.
“It seems like he wants to find someone, though?” I feel bad talking about him when he’s only a few seats away, but my curiosity is getting the best of me. I’ve only had a good impression of the man so far. I can’t imagine it would be hard for him to find a girlfriend, despite his work ethic.
She finishes chewing. “I’m convinced he does. We still have seven months until our wedding, but since it’s intimate and international, we’ve been trying to nail down the accommodations. The other day I asked him if he was going to bring a date. He said he doesn’t have anyone he’d want to invade our circle, so he’d rather bring no one. But I can tell that sometimes he feels lonely when he’s the third wheel–that he wishes that wasn’t the case. Are you going to bring someone?”
“Am I going to bring someone to Australia, where arguably the hottest men on the planet live?” I chuckle, swirling the sake in my glass. “Kidding. The last thing I need is to fall in love with someone who doesn’t live near me. If we’re the only ones riding solo, Marcus and I can keep each other company, I’m sure.”
“Yeah, it’ll be nice that he’s met you now. Weddings are the best with the right people.” She spins her engagement ring with her thumb. “Have you ever considered getting married? For real this time.”
“I don’t think so. My experience with Beau was really traumatizing. The prenup process alone was a nightmare. The way Beau’s parents sat across the conference table from me, eyes flitting back and forth between me, the lawyer and the contract, making sure I knew my place in his life, was enough to make me want to steer clear of marriage. I get there are expectations in every relationship, but it feels like too many rules and extra paperwork to complicate things for no reason. That’s not what love should be about.”
“It would be different with the right person. Unless you stumble into another millionaire, which doesn’t seem likely based on how much you avoid them.”
“Yeah. I don’t know. Regardless, I’m not sure marriage is in my future. You know me, I like freedom. ”
“But you also want to find someone.” She doesn’t ask. We’ve had the conversation before about how I would love to find my person , the way she found Dean.
“I don't think commitment and freedom are mutually exclusive. To me, you can be committed to someone, but choose to release yourself from all the heavy expectations placed on that by society. Things that complicate it unnecessarily.”
“I get that. We’re all awesome at making love more complicated than it needs to be.”
“I’m glad you figured yours out,” I tell her genuinely, leaning my head on her shoulder.
She tilts her head until it’s resting on mine. “I’m glad I had you to help me with it.”
An hour later, we’re back at home, and the awareness that Marcus is on the couch in the room next to me is at the forefront of my mind. I wonder if he regrets letting me stay here. What if he likes the waitress from tonight? What if he wanted to bring her back here and I’m preventing that? Maybe that is why he seemed put off about her tonight.
I shake the guilt from my head and delay thinking about where I’ll go after staying here and what that will look like for my life. Reaching for my Kindle on the nightstand, it slips from my grasp, falling to the floor behind the bed. Shit.
Climbing down from the mattress, I reach my hand in the narrow gap between the bed and the wall blindly. My hand latches onto something that is definitely not my Kindle. Curious, I tug on the loop. It takes my brain a moment to register, and I drop the strap immediately. Not because I’m disgusted or freaked out. I think because I’m curious. Because I want to know more, but I’m sure as shit not going to ask. Not Marcus anyway. I pull my phone from the nightstand, gripping it tight to avoid that falling too, and open the girl group chat that Maci started with me and her friends.
Me: So, I accidentally dropped my Kindle behind Marcus’ bed…
Maci: OH! Dean got me one of those things you clip to the frame and use a clicker. You need one.
Lexy: Please tell me you called him in to help you get it and got *distracted*
Me: You can’t tell him I told you.
Avery: Oh my gosh, you have to tell us now.
Lexy: Troy knows I tell you bitches everything about our sex life. Guys should expect it. But we won’t tell.
Maci: Everything is about sex with you, Lex. You don’t even have to tell us.
Lexy: Tell me you and Dean didn’t try that thing I told you about the other day and that it wasn’t amazing.
Avery: *covered in baby spit living vicariously through whatever Brooke is about to tell us*
Avery: Then let’s circle back to the thing you told Maci.
Me: I found ties tucked under the mattress.
Maci: …like hair ties?
Me: Nope.
Lexy: Oh, damn. I knew Marcus would be hot in bed, but I wasn’t prepared for kinky.
Avery: Please tell me you’re interested in trying them.
Maci: Have you ever?
Me: I’ve literally known the man for like two weeks–most of which he was gone.
Lexy: I slept with Troy the fourth time I ever saw him. Stronger argument, please.
Maci: Okay, wait. Why did I not consider this scenario? You two would kind of be perfect for each other. OMG please date him .
Me: You guys are insane.
Avery: She didn’t say she wasn’t interested.
Maci: I’m going to ask Dean if Marcus has said anything to him.
Lexy: I’ll ask Troy too.
Me: No way. I work for him now!
Lexy: You’re the one who brought up the restraints. At least part of you must be curious.
Me: I’m not getting tied up by my boss.
Lexy: You better tell us about it when you do.