Chapter Three
Trent
“Shit,” I muttered as I watched Declan practically running out of the party. I sighed and put my hand over my eyes. Dammit. I really screwed up. I obviously hurt the guy’s feelings, which sucked big time since he was the first person in a long time to talk to me just because he felt like it. I totally lost all my points, too.
“What the fuck was that about?” Levi asked, drawing my attention to him.
I dropped my hand and muttered, “Nothing. I dunno.”
Levi crossed his arms over his chest and lifted a brow at me. “You really expect me to believe that?” He waved his hand in the general direction that Declan had run off to. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you hurt his feelings.”
I groaned and leaned forward to bang my head on the table. I left my forehead on the table and mumbled, “I ran into him last night.”
“Oh shit, did you sleep with him?” Levi asked.
I turned my head to look at him but didn’t lift my head off the table. Levi looked… appalled at the thought of me with his ex. Ugh. I assured him, “No, I didn’t sleep with him. I wouldn’t do that to you. We ran into each other at The Saloon, and we went out for pizza and ice cream afterwards.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me that in the first place?”
“Ugh. I don’t know… I thought you’d be mad.”
“You thought I’d be mad that you went out for pizza and ice cream?” he said it slowly, talking to me like I was an idiot.
“No. Yes. I dunno.”
Luckily, Levi’s nephew Jacob ran over to him and started talking a million miles a minute about some kind of giant tower he’d built inside with cars and blocks or something. I lost track of the conversation because I couldn’t stop picturing Declan’s hurt blue eyes, but Levi followed his nephew and patted my shoulder along the way. I closed my eyes and kept my forehead on the table. Dammit. I’d scared away the only person at this party that I actually wanted to talk to.
***
“You’re doing the Riley wedding on Friday, right?” Levi asked me as he looked over the schedule on the computer.
“Yeah, I thought so,” I replied as I looked through the shop’s mail.
“Okay, good. I’m doing the Thompson wedding on Saturday afternoon, Andy’s got the Shela wedding Saturday night, and…” he trailed off. I rolled my eyes since he wasn’t looking at me because I thought I was doing the Shela wedding. I opened my mouth to say my piece, but then Levi said, “Oh shit, sorry, you got the Shela wedding.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, Andy has the Frulliato wedding on Sunday.” He let out a long-suffering sigh.
I eyed him and could tell that he was upset, so I puffed out my cheeks and asked, “What’s wrong?”
He glanced at me, then shrugged one shoulder. “I was thinking I could take Andy out on a date on Sunday.”
Ugh. Guilt tripping me, surprise, surprise. “Fine, Levi. Just ask.”
“What? I wasn’t gonna say anything.”
“You’re full of shit. You basically already said it. You may as well ask.”
He started chewing on his thumbnail as he looked at me from under his pink hair. He was so about to pout at me. You’d think that after working for him for a few years, I’d have developed an immunity to his pout. But alas, I had not, and the little shit knew it.
I groaned loudly and said, “Fine, I’ll switch with him. Happy?”
He grinned and threw his little arms around me with a squeal. “I knew you were my favorite for a reason.”
I looked up at the ceiling and shook my head, but patted his back. “You’re an ass.”
“You’re the best,” he retorted, making me snort and roll my eyes.
“You don’t have to butter me up. I already agreed.”
He pulled away from me and shot me a grateful smile. “I know, but you’re still awesome.” Then he kissed my cheek.
“Are the boys coming in today?”
“Yeah, I’m picking them up from school,” Levi answered a little distractedly. Levi watched his nephews twice a week, so they came into the studio. Sammy and Jacob were good kids, so it was nice having them around sometimes.
“Awesome. I found this weird doodling robot spider thing that I wanted to give to Jacob.”
Lev smiled at me. “That’s nice of you. I bet he’ll love that. He’s into bugs right now.” He wrinkled his nose, then said, “Anyway, I gotta get those prints ready for that Bridezilla before she storms in here again.”
I waved him off. “I’ll finish up with the mail and start the edits for the reunion shoot.”
“Thank you, Trent!” Levi shouted over his shoulder as he made his way to the back.
My coworkers, Alex and Jax, walked into the studio and I asked, “You guys drive together or something?”
Jax said, “I picked him up because his car’s in the shop.”
“Oh, dude, that sucks. How long is it stuck for?” I asked.
Alex shrugged. “Till the end of the week.”
“Oh man. Brutal. Let me know if you need a ride anywhere,” I said as they walked past me, heading for the break room.
Alex smiled over his shoulder. “Thanks, man.”
I waved him off and went back to my work. I was lucky to have such great coworkers that I considered friends. When I’d first started working here, it was only Levi and me, and now his business had grown enough that we had several employees, all of whom I liked—thank god. Levi had even trusted me with hiring the last person—Miranda. I loved that we were all a tightknit group and that this place had such a family feel, even if Levi drove me crazy all the time. I guess that’s what happens when you’re around someone so much.
***
When I got off work, I decided to stop at the grocery store because I knew I had, like, no food at all in my apartment. I grabbed a cart and headed to the fresh produce section as I tried to mentally pick out what meals I’d cook this coming week. I’d been eating like crap lately, so I figured I’d at least plan a couple healthy meals. Or try to.
As I reached for an orange, movement two aisles down caught my attention and I did a double-take. His back was to me since he was grabbing some kind of vegetable I couldn’t see, but I was pretty damn sure it was him. So I dropped the orange and pushed my cart down and around until I was on the other side of him. When I saw those blue eyes that were scanning the vegetables, my breath caught a little. Declan was seriously one of the hottest guys I’d ever met. But I didn’t even care about his body—well, I did, but that wasn’t the only thing that caught my attention. Long eyelashes framed his sparkling blue eyes, and when he didn’t know anyone was watching him, his handsome face looked almost peaceful. His face was almost… pretty in those moments.
I ran a hand over my face when I realized what I was thinking about. It didn’t matter how hot or pretty or whatever he was, because I couldn’t freaking have him. He was Levi’s ex, and he was the worst boyfriend ever in the history of boyfriends. He hadn’t even been able to call Levi his boyfriend in the years that they exclusively slept together. Freaking years, people! I didn’t want to get involved in all that drama.
I glanced at him from between my fingers and sighed. Even if he wasn’t on the market for a boyfriend, he’d been fun to hang out with, and I’d hurt his feelings afterward. I, at the very least, needed to apologize to him.
“Are you planning on just standing there pretending you don’t see me, or were you going to say something?” Declan asked without looking up from the green peppers he was examining. All the points. Declan has all the points.
I groaned. Of course, he’d seen me. I’d been standing there for like two whole minutes. Damn it! “Ugh,” I said and he finally looked up at me with a raised eyebrow. I sighed and pushed my cart around so I didn’t have to talk over the top of the produce. I sighed, then said, “I’m sorry I was a jerk at the party.”
“It’s fine.” He waved me off and went back to picking out his veggies.
“No, it’s not. I hurt your feelings, and I’m sorry. I don’t know why I didn’t just tell Levi that we’d hung out.” I ran a hand through my hair. “I did, by the way…. tell him, I mean. After you left, I told him we went out for pizza and ice cream, and he didn’t even care.”
“That’s because it wasn’t a big deal.”
I sighed since he was now pretending to be picking out more peppers, though he’d picked up and put back the same three like ten times. “Hey, Declan?” I put my hand on his forearm.
He turned his whole body toward me. “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly, then realized my hand was still on his arm. It felt good, though, so I didn’t remove it. Instead, I rubbed my thumb along the skin on his wrist where his shirt sleeve had ridden up. He didn’t pull away, so I didn’t stop. “Can we just pretend I wasn’t a douche and be best friends again?”
He stared at me for a moment before a slow grin spread across his face as he said, “Only because you just admitted that you’re a douche.”
I snorted out a laugh at that and shook my head, and that cute smile stayed on his face. But he suddenly turned back to the peppers, making my hand fall from his wrist, and he picked up yet another green bell pepper. I frowned at my hand and the way it missed his touch—so not cool that my hand had a mind of its own, apparently.
I nodded at the pepper he was holding. “So you gonna pick out a pepper, or just stand there fondling them all night?”
A surprised bark of laughter fell out of his lips—point, me—as he shook his head at me and turned toward his cart. When he turned back, something came flying at my chest, making me look down and watch as a grape bounced off me and fell to the floor. I looked at him with raised eyebrows and said, “Dude. You did not just throw a grape at me.”
He shrugged one shoulder, fighting back a smile, and tilted his head a little. “Yeah… I kind of did.”
I shook my head. “Do you realize you just threw food at the food fight champion of Lightbroke High School?”
He snorted out a laugh. “Uh huh… sure…”
I narrowed my eyes at him, then quickly grabbed a pepper and chucked it at him. He ducked, but it got him in the shoulder and he tried to catch it, fumbling it until it fell back onto the produce table. I bit back a laugh at his flailing.
With wide eyes, he stared at me and whisper-yelled, “You’re going to get us kicked out!”
A little giggle bubbled out of me—one point, Declan—but I tried to keep it in as I laughed out, “You started it, and I wasn’t about to put my title to shame just because we’re in a store.”
“You know, you’re a little crazy,” he said, though not cruelly. He sounded amused, if anything.
I shrugged a shoulder. “So I’ve been told.” When I noticed he had a pepper in his hand again, I asked, “Dude, what is with you and the peppers? You have some weird tactile issue that the peppers are fulfilling for ya?”
He huffed in amusement. “No, I was picking some out until you distracted me.”
I leaned to the side and pointed at his cart. “You have, like, eight peppers in there already. How could you possibly need more than that?”
He glanced at said peppers in his cart, then back at me. “Every week I pick a different cooking theme. This week, it’s peppers.”
I narrowed my eyes at his facial expression. “What was last week’s theme?”
“Potatoes,” he said immediately, but his lips twitched a little.
“You’re making that up.”
“How do you know I don’t do that?” His eyebrow lifted.
“Your eyes are shifty.”
He chuckled. “Okay, you got me. I don’t do that.”
“Then why are you still picking some out?”
“I told you, you distracted me. I forgot I already threw them in.”
I snorted and pushed my cart up beside his, trying to get him to move along. When he followed my lead, I asked, “So what are you making, then?”
“I’m gonna do a stir-fry tonight, and stuffed peppers tomorrow, I think. What about you?” he asked, gesturing to my nearly empty cart.
“I don’t really have a plan. I usually just come in and grab anything that looks good.”
He glanced at me, then stopped near the onions, reaching for one. “Really? Isn’t that frustrating? I like knowing what I’m going to make and what ingredients I need.”
“You’re a planner, I get that. I’m more of a fly by the seat of your pants kinda guy,” I said, deciding to grab an onion for the hell of it.
He nodded. “You like to cook?”
“Eh… sometimes. I don’t mind cooking, and I think it can be fun, but it isn’t something I like doing when it’s just me all the time, ya know?”
“Yeah, I get that. It’s better when you can cook for other people, but it’s still something I’ve always enjoyed, even when I lived by myself. My kid brother is staying with me, so now I get to cook for him, too.”
“Oh, I think I heard something about that. He’s in college or something, right?” I asked as we continued down the aisle.
He licked his lips. “You heard about my little brother?” He sounded completely surprised.
“You do realize I work with the biggest gossip in the city, right? So yes, I heard he was living with you and that you’re paying for school, or something like that. I don’t know. I sometimes tune him out.” I snapped my mouth shut and looked up at him with wide eyes when I realized what I’d said. I knew Declan was trying to remain friends with Levi, so I tried to backtrack. “I mean, I listen to him when it’s important, but if I’m trying to work, and I need to concentrate, I…” Shit. “I mean… he never stops talking, so sometimes it’s hard to edit and…” I trailed off and cringed.
Declan chuckled a little. “It’s fine, Trent. Stop worrying. I barely talk to the guy anymore.”
I ran a hand over my face. “Yeah, I know. Sorry, I’m just…” I closed my mouth, sucked in a breath, then said, “So your brother is living with you. I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”
He smirked at my terrible subject change, and answered, “It’s a good thing. I haven’t seen him much in the past twelve years, so it’s been nice catching up. He’s a little bit of a slob, but he’s only eighteen, so I guess that’s to be expected.”
I nodded. “He’s young.”
“Not much younger than you,” he said while looking at some lettuce.
“Uh, I’ll be twenty-six next month, so yeah, he’s young,” I said. Not that I’m old, but I’m a far cry from his kid brother.
He turned to me and looked me up and down. “Really? I thought you were about twenty-two, at the most.”
“Yet, I’ve been working for Levi since before you two ever hooked up,” I pointed out, reaching past him to grab a bag of mixed salad. If he was eating healthy, maybe I could, too. Or I could try. That’d been my plan, after all.
“I guess I never really thought about it like that.”
When we finally got out of the produce area, we stopped at the deli, and each took a number. There were five people already waiting, so we’d probably be there for an eternity. I asked Declan, “What kind of stir-fry are you making?”
“I’m going to do chicken and veggies, but I can’t decide what kind of sauce I want. I usually make stir-fry once a week because it’s my favorite meal.” His eyes met mine for a moment, but he looked away as he continued, “Last week I made this orange honey stir-fry that was really good, and Kade really liked it. It was a new recipe for me, but it turned out well. But I think I kinda want to make my teriyaki sauce tonight so now I don’t know.” He shrugged, then looked at me expectantly.
“Wow. I so did not think you’d be a cook,” I blurted.
He smiled a little and ran a hand through his hair. “It’s not something I typically talk about or anything.” If I didn’t know better, I would’ve sworn he was blushing. But why would he blush over me finding out he liked to cook? And better yet, why would Declan blush, like, ever?
“I think it’s awesome. And they both sound good to me, so I don’t think I can help you pick. Maybe you could do the teriyaki tonight and save the orange honey for next week, just to switch it up.” I lifted a shoulder a little, and when I saw that he somehow still looked embarrassed, I felt a weird pull to touch him to assure him that I meant what I’d said; it was pretty awesome. I didn’t really understand where his sudden embarrassment was coming from, but I wanted to make it go away. I resisted the urge to rub his arm and instead said, “Maybe you could send me the recipes. I haven’t had stir-fry in a long time, so it might be good to try.” I held out my hand. “Give me your phone.”
He lifted a brow, but followed my directions anyway, pulling his phone from his pocket and passing it to me. I entered in my phone number, saved it, then sent myself a text so I’d have his number, too. Then I handed his phone back and said with a grin, “There. Now my new best friend has my number.”
His lips curved up on one side. “That’s probably a requirement for the best friends thing.”
My grin grew a little. “It totally is.”
“You really want the recipes, or was this some ploy to get my number?”
I snorted and shook my head. “No, I want the recipes. It sounds way better than the ramen I was planning on eating tonight.”
He looked absolutely horrified. “Maybe I should send you more than just the stir-fry recipes, then.”
I chuckled. “Only send me easy stuff. I don’t really like cooking a complicated dinner for myself.”
He nodded. “I can do that,” he said right before his number was called.
After he finished at the deli, I’d expected him to go finish his shopping, but I was pleasantly surprised when he waited for me and ended up walking through the rest of the store with me. He even started adding all the ingredients I’d need for the orange honey recipe, then made me walk back over to the produce section so he could fondle some more peppers before adding them to my cart.
And when we walked out of the store together, he fist-bumped me before promising to text me the recipes and pushing his cart to his car. I drove home with a smile on my face.