Chapter 10

Anthony

“Are you going to eat that?” Dave points to the growing pile of green olives on the side of my plate.

“All yours,” I tell him as I rotate them in his direction.

Unable to think of a casual way to bring up the BBQ at Jon’s house the other day without looking like a fool, I just scoop another forkful of Moroccan chicken into my mouth. Fortunately, I don’t have to wait long for my in.

“That game was crazy, huh?” Dave doesn’t even bother to swallow his mouthful of olives before speaking.

My nose scrunches when bits and pieces of chewed food fall onto his crooked tie, joining the soy sauce already dotted on it.

“The American League closer is a miracle worker.”

He nods enthusiastically.

“It almost made eating Jon’s steak worth it.”

See? Smooth as butter.

“The company is good, but the food leaves a lot to be desired,” he agreed.

“So everyone took the day off just to watch the game? That’s seriously hardcore baseball fandom.”

He shakes his head and thankfully swallows his food before speaking again. “Joey works from home. I think Andi just had the day off, although I don’t think she’s above calling in sick to spend the day hovering around Jon.”

“Works from home?” I ask.

“He works here, man.”

“Joey works for GMQ?” I don’t know if playing stupid is the best thing, but I’m going with it.

“One of the best architectural designers we have.” He says it with so much pride I can’t help but feel the same. “He mainly focuses on urban landscape as a whole for conglomerates with plans for multiple buildings.”

“That’s huge.”

He nods in agreement.

As an architect myself, I know how hard it is to get approval for a single building design. Dave and I both work in the final stages of drafting, working on other people’s visions and ideas. I knew he had some sort of skill for one of the triad of founders to call him in to clean up Freddie’s mess the other night. I’m just the lucky bastard who stuck around too long after hours.

“He’s pretty amazing.” He shovels more food in his mouth. I’d question his calorie consumption if I hadn’t seen him without a shirt the other day. The guy clearly knows what he’s doing.

“So what’s up with Andi and Jon?”

“Nothing.” Is his response.

“Do you not pay attention to them?”

“No.” He wipes his mouth with a napkin for the first time since we began lunch. He dabs at the food plastered on his shirt and tie but quickly loses focus. “And you shouldn’t either. You can’t give that situation a voice.”

Chuckling, I put my fork down. “Andi has given it a louder voice than anyone. She’s relentless.”

“Jon would never go there,” he advises.

“Have you seen the way he watches her? The way he pretends to ignore her antics all the while loving every second of it?”

He laughs. “And here I thought you were trying to get more info on Jon. No offense, but he isn’t into dudes.”

“Seriously?”

He grins.

Fuck.

“How did you know?” Is it possible that the one thing I’m trying to hide from everyone is something they already know?

“No, you’re not,” he argues.

“What?” This guy never talks in a straight line.

“You’re not interested in Joey.” Dave assures me.

“Umm. Pretty sure I am.”

“You can’t be. There’s a rule.”

Sighing, I sit back in my chair, arms crossing over my chest. “All of these fucking rules.”

A rule, I want to add was already broken. Well, we broke it before I was introduced to the group, but still.

“This rule, in particular, will never be broken.” He pauses, right in the middle of the only thing I’ve wanted to talk about for the last two days to take a drink of fucking green tea.

I could strangle him right now. I don’t give a shit if we’re late getting back from lunch, we’re going to finish this damn conversation.

“The rule?” I prod.

“No twin friends.”

“I need a little bit more information than that.”

With a harsh drop of his bottle on the table, he stares back at me for a long moment before responding. “Jon, Joey, and I went to school together. They’re twins, so they always have had the same friends. Joey had more female friends of course. Sophomore year, one of Joey’s closest friends slept with Jon. When Jon did what Jon does and didn’t commit to loving her liked she’d hoped, Joey lost his closest friend.”

“That fucking sucks.”

“Yeah,” he continues. “Come to find out, the only reason the girl became friends with Joey in the first place was to get closer to his brother. The no twin friend rule was made shortly after. When a couple of Joey’s other friends found out they were serious about not breaking the rule, they dropped him too.”

“They were only nice to him because they wanted to score with Jon?”

He nods. “It was a seriously fucked up year. We don’t talk about Andi’s obsession with Jon because if it weren’t for the rule, he would’ve hooked up with her long ago, but he won’t.”

“Because there’s a rule.”

“Because he’s not going to risk hurting his brother no matter how he feels about Andi.”

How he feels about Andi? So it has more to do with some carnal urge?

“Which means none of you guys have tried to hook up with Andi. She’s not part of the rule.” It’s not a question.

“You think we don’t want to? We’re guys, and she’s fucking gorgeous, but we also like living, and if we ever even thought about touching Andi, Jon would kill us.”

“Tuesday,” he says with a groan. “You think I wanted to stay in that hot tub so long? I was instantly hard as stone the second she stepped outside. Fuck, I nearly came in my trunks when she started adjusting the straps of her bikini.”

He jolts and pretends to shiver.

“No matter how attractive she is, no matter how many times I have to rub one out in Jon’s bathroom just so I don’t embarrass myself, she’s off limits.”

I chuckle, and it dies in my throat the second he gives me that “but seriously” look.

“You don’t.” Who does that?

“More times than I’d like to admit,” he grumbles before picking up his bottle of green tea again.

“In their house?” That has to be against the law.

He shrugs. “Better than the Jacuzzi.”

“That may be the most disturbing thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Stick around, buddy.” He claps his hand against my back. “I’m sure something else will make you say that again soon.”

“You and Cooper never even tried to date her?”

“I’m done talking about Andi, and Joey for that matter.” He huffs and begins to gather his trash. I’m not concerned that he’s going to get up and leave me. He’s made such a mess around him we could be here for days. “We follow the rules. If you want to keep coming around, I suggest you follow them as well.”

“No one is allowed to date Andi or Joey, but they’re allowed to flirt and tease and suggest sexual things?”

“Joey doesn’t suggest sexual things,” he protests.

“I was hoping I could sit on Tony’s lap,” I mimic in a voice not even remotely close to Joey’s.

“Okay,” he concedes. “He may have gone a little far the other day, but he gets away with doing it because Jon knows we’d never act on it.”

“Because there’s a rule.”

He confirms with a nod. “Because there’s a rule.”

“That’s that,” I say and gather my own trash.

“Better be,” he warns but not in a threatening tone, just in a way that makes me think he’s worried if bringing me into the fold will somehow ruin the dynamic of the group.

I can hang out with them and not worry about Joey. I don’t even have to be around him. There are plenty of other candidates in Sugar Land, and I’m not being conceited in knowing that I’m a damn catch.

“So what are you doing this weekend?”

We both stand and carry our now empty lunch containers to the trash.

“Hanging out at Jon’s house of course.”

Fuck. My. Life.

“That’s like an every weekend thing, then?”

He grins. “More like every chance we get, not just on the weekends. Last night we watched Flip Flop Nashville and House Hunters.”

“Really? Jon is into home renovation series?” I can understand Joey liking them; he’s an architect. But Jon? Doesn’t seem the type.

“Jon likes baseball.” He sighs again when I frown in confusion. “There’s a rule.”

“Of course there is.” I wait for him to explain. I think I should be writing this shit down. There’s no way I can keep it all straight.

“Joey and Andi don’t bother us while ball is on, and we don’t bother them during Thursday night HGTV primetime.”

“But you said you went over there to watch it with them.” I can’t tell if I feel like an idiot because I’m talking to Dave, or if this is actually confusing me.

“They watch ball; we watch HGTV.” He shrugs again. “It’s the rule.”

“And this weekend is about ball or home repairs?”

“We’re playing the Jays on Saturday,” he explains, and I love that he has such pride in the Astros that he’s included himself in the team. “Saturday afternoon is about ball, but we may head to the Tavern afterward. You should join us.”

“Sounds good,” I say immediately.

Only because I love baseball.

And there’s a rule that Joey has to watch.