“Hey, buddy. Why aren’t you in your bed?”
Ossie barked at me until I heard my phone buzzing on the kitchen counter. I walked over and picked it up, finding a text from a number I didn’t recognize.
Hi Holden. It’s me, Avery Langhorn. I wanted to thank you again for bringing me home. Is it too much to ask for a ride out to the place where my roommate’s car is wrecked? I’ll pay for your gas and your time. I hate to ask, but my roommates aren’t coming back until next week. If you’re too busy, I understand. Avery.
“That’s interesting, Ossie.”
I grinned for no apparent reason.
Hi, Avery. I’m more than happy to take you out there. We could go on New Year’s Eve or Day. You just let me know. I’ll be here. Holden
A response came as if he was waiting for it.
If you’re going out on New Year’s Eve, we can go later New Year’s Day. I’ll let you choose what works best for you. And I’ll pay you for your gas. A
I chuckled. “Well, Ossie, you wanna go for a ride on New year’s Eve morning?” I had no plans to do anything except coveremergency calls, so if we drove down to Virginia in the morning, I could still be ready for anything that came up.
How about I pick you up at 8 AM on NYE?
A thumbs-up emoji came back right away.
I glanced at Ossie. “Looks like we’ve got a date.” I laughed as he cocked his head left and right, staring at me as though I’d lost my mind. “I know. It didn’t feel natural coming out of my mouth, either.”
I wasn’t sure why I felt funny about the concept of dating Avery Langhorn. Something inside made me want to get to know him better, but he seemed a bit standoff-ish. I thought he was gorgeous, but he’d really shown no interest in me…though he had been in an accident.
Having that discussion with a stranger wasn’t easy—"I’m gay. How about you?”Not a great ice breaker when you find a guy dazed from a car accident.
“Okay, not a date. If you think it’s best, Ossie, friend zone it is.”
That didn’t feel right either.
The passenger’s side door opened to reveal the handsome smile of Avery Langhorn. “Hey, doggy. May I sit with you?”
I reached for Ossie to put him in the back floorboard in his dog bed, but Avery nabbed him first, pulling him to his chest before climbing in.
“Is it okay if I hold him or her? What’s its name?” Avery held Ossie up and smiled as my dog licked the tip of Avery’s nose.Ossie’s tail was going a million miles an hour at the attention. It was cute.
“Avery, meet Oscar. Ossie, boy, this is Avery.”
Oscar settled into Avery’s lap as I pulled away from the curb of his house. “You need me to stop for coffee or anything?”
Avery sighed. “I’d love it if you did. I didn’t sleep well last night. I can’t thank you enough for driving me to the accident scene, and please let me know when you need to stop for fuel. Is this a hybrid?”
“Uh, yeah, it is. My work truck isn’t, but it’s much larger than this one. That thing eats up the gas.” I pulled into the drive-thru lane of a coffee place on the way to the highway. “What would you like?” I powered down my window to check out the large lighted menu board.
“I’ll have a mocha latte with an extra shot of espresso. Get whatever you want. This is definitely on me.” He pulled a small wallet out of his coat pocket and handed me a debit card. I ignored him.
I ordered our drinks and gave the guy cash at the window as he handed over the two lidded cups and a blueberry muffin. I pulled over to a parking spot so we could check that our orders were right. I opened the muffin, taking a chunk. “Help yourself. These things are damn good, but they’re huge.”
Avery took a pinch off the muffin and moaned, which went straight to my groin. Thank god I was sitting in the truck and had a little room in my work jeans. The guy did crazy things to me.
“So, you were coming back from where, exactly, that night? How’d you end up living in Baltimore?” Might as well start with the basics.
“Uh, to be honest, the cost of living is better in Baltimore. I’m business partners with my roommates and friends, Kyle and Brooke. We’re a start-up, so we need more bang for our buck than we can get in DC or Virginia. How about you? Youmentioned you were going home from your folks’ house the night of the accident.”
“Yeah. They live in Manassas.” I glanced at Ossie chilling in Avery’s lap, the happy little fucker.
“Huh?” Avery said, though I didn’t know why.
