He pushed himself up to standing, ignoring the way one knee clicked and his elbow ached. He turned without so much as a thank-you.
“What happened?” a guy in a blue gym staff T-shirt asked. Avery waved him off and headed to the locker room, stopping at the fountain to rinse out his mouth and spit reddish saliva and water down the drain. His whole face was on fire, and his lip and his chin throbbed.
Linc didn’t follow him, and that was a mercy. But he couldn’t help but feel a little sorry about it too. If Linc had chased after him, Avery might have forgiven him, and he really wouldn’t have minded.
* * *
The rest of the work week sucked. They lost another client, and Mr. Murphy, their biggest account, sent over an audit notice that said the IRS would be reviewing documentation for the last nine years.
“They can’t do that!” Avery said. Uncle Theo only shrugged in defeat.
He finally worked up the courage to call Wanda and tell her he’d reconsidered her request.
“That’s amazing!” she said. “Send me your resume and we’ll talk.”
“Okay.” His heart fluttered in his chest at the idea of actually doing this.
“Awesome. Oh, and we’re having some friends over Saturday night. It’s Ronnie’s birthday. You should come.”
And because he was so busy being nervous about the resume thing, he agreed and totally didn’t consider how “friends” also meant Vasquez’s friends, especially since it was her birthday. He only realized his mistake as he walked through the front door of Wanda and Vasquez’s little bungalow and his eyes connected with Linc’s.
“Um,” he said as Wanda approached him.
“Hey!” She threw her arms around his shoulders. “I’m so glad you came. We were just talking about you.”
He hugged her back and smiled. “That’s nice of you to say.”
“Avery!” Vasquez joined Wanda and repeated the hugging.
“Hi. Happy birthday.”
“I was so excited when Wanda said you were coming.”
“Oh. Um. Thanks for inviting me.” He glanced over her shoulder. Linc stood in the living room, chatting with a man who had his arm around the shoulders of a very pregnant woman.
Vasquez turned in the direction of his gaze, then rounded her attention back to Avery. She took his hand and winked. “Come meet everyone.”
The small house was full of people. Avery knew a few from town, and other faces he recognized but had never spoken to. He forgot names almost as quickly as he was given them, but Vasquez introduced him to everyone as “our good friend, Avery,” and everyone shook his hand and smiled like they meant it when they said they were glad to meet him.
“And this,” she said, leading him up to a man with a swooshy haircut and suspenders, “is Wanda’s brother Quinn.”
“Hey! It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.” Quinn had Wanda’s fair complexion and open smile, but his eyes flashed with a look Wanda would never give Avery.
Oh boy. Quinn stepped into Avery’s space, closer than even the tight quarters of the party recommended. He was tall. Taller than Linc. Avery had to tilt his head almost all the way back to see his face this close.
Quinn dropped his mouth in line with Avery’s ear. “Can I get you a drink?” And yeah, Avery was a disaster who couldn’t run on a treadmill, but he knew when someone was flirting with him. Mostly because—even though it happened infrequently—when it did occur, his heart hit a whole new speed. But also because Quinn’s gaze was very definitely on Avery’s mouth and not his eyes as he straightened up again.
“Uh, sure. A drink would be great.”
“What do you want?” Quinn raised his eyebrows to accentuate he wasn’t just asking about a beverage and—wow—he was very direct, wasn’t he?
“Um, what are you having?”
Quinn winked and held out his hand. Avery hesitated. Linc was somewhere over his left shoulder. He didn’t know where exactly, and he couldn’t check without being totally obvious and also maybe giving Quinn a reason to lose interest.
Wait. Was he interested in Quinn’s interest?
Gritting his teeth—probably a bad sign of how things were going to go for the rest of the night—he put his hand in Quinn’s.
