Alec held my gaze as he approached, melting me. I don’t know what my face was doing, but I’m sure it wasn’t manly. His smile never faltered.
“Sorry I’m so late,” he said as I stood to greet him. “Got caught up.”
“No worries at all,” I said, as if I never had an ounce of cool in my life.
I’d seen him since we split, yet it was different. He chose to come meet me. And what Rebekah said before the pitch meant he still thought highly of me. If that was just professional or more, I couldn’t tell. But he said he missed me. And that was…
“Congratulations, guys. Seriously, great job.” Alec spoke to Deven and me, but his eyes lingered on mine. If I melted when he came over, I boiled under his gaze.
“Thanks, man!” Deven said, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“We couldn’t have done it without you, apparently,” I said.
Alec’s eyes flashed, and his smile tightened, but only I noticed. I wasn’t planning to bring that up in front of Deven, but it needed to be said. Who knew how long he’d stay?
“That’s not true at all. You did that all on your own. I gotta say I’m proud of my old FinCrest crew. Still churning out excellence, it seems.”
“Well, thank you for putting in the good word,” I said.
“Rebekah asked if you knew what you were doing. All I said was that if anyone over there did, it was Mason Blackwood.”
His smile was genuine, one I only used to see at my apartment. Like the sun through a magnifying glass, my core dissolved, and I fought the urge to confess my undying love for him.
Deven cleared his throat. “Sit down, man. What are you drinking?”
Soon, we were clinking glasses to our success. I said, “They paid, by the way.”
“Who paid what?” Alec asked after swallowing his first sip.
“The wager. We were the first team to land a pitch. And we fucking closed it.”
Alec’s eyes softened. “I told you not to worry about it, Blackwood.”
I blushed, gulped, and tried to move the conversation along. Alec informed us what his new company did—consulting on large institutional software platforms—and we told him about the goings on at FinCrest.
We chatted for less than an hour when Deven’s phone vibrated on the cocktail table. His girlfriend’s face lit up the screen, with the words “Bebe Girl” wrapped in diamonds and sparkles.
“Hey, babe… no, I’m still out. Mason’s old boss showed up—Yeah… No… Oh,really? The one with the app?—Ok… Yeah… No! I’ll FaceTime you when I get to my room… Yeah… love you too... I’m gonna download it now!... yes… love you too... bye… bye.”
Alec and I shared a look, but were mature enough not to grill Deven over his conversation.
After hanging up, Deven said, “I think I’m gonna call it a night. Are you guys gonna hang here for a bit?” The effort to sound casual was hilarious.
“Yeah, we’ll have at least another drink, right Alec?”
Alec nodded. “At least.”
Deven tried to hide his relief. “Ok. Cool. See you later. Great seeing you again, Alec.”
Once he was gone, Alec turned to me, and we laughed.
He said, “Wi-Fi enabled vibrator connected to an app?”
“Oh, one hundred percent.”
We laughed again. Alec said, “Good for him. Wish that kinda shit was around when I used to travel.”
“Do you? Why?”
