There was an annoyed grumble. Then, “Come in.”
Noah pushed the door open.
Michael looked up from his desk. His hair wasn’t oiled, strands falling over his forehead. His suit was rumpled, and he smelled faintly musty. He straightened in his seat when he saw Noah, chin lifting in a smug, defiant look that Noah recognized all too well from a lifetime of watching Michael charm his way out of trouble.
Noah cut him off before he could start. “Let me buy you a coffee. We should talk.”
Michael hesitated. Trying not to bristle. Noah watched his jaw work before he broke into a sunny smile, only a little sharp around the edges.
“Whatever my baby bro wants,” he said. He went to straighten his tie, only stopping when his hand met an empty collar. “Let’s go to the good place. I know everyone goes to that place next door, but if my assistant brings me another one of those burned mochas, I swear to god.”
Noah held the door open for him to swagger through. He followed, nodding along to Michael’s coffee rant and making pointed eye contact with Tia, who was staring at him from down the long, empty hallway.
Michael managed to keep a running commentary on the abysmal coffee at the cafe next to their building until they made it to the other cafe, which was admittedly a lot nicer than the one Noah always sent Tia to.
“It’s only two blocks away,” Michael finished, pulling his chair in so hard it screeched against the floor. “Like, make the walk. Right? Assistants, man. Solazy.”
“Right,” Noah said, not mentioning how he routinely caught Michael balancing a pencil on his nose to avoid doing paperwork.
Michael leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest. “So. You didn’t say much in your text. How’d it go?”
Noah shrugged. Tried to look like he was holding back a frown. Playing it off, like he always did. Sad, but nottoosad. Otherwise, Michael would know he was faking. Noah kept everything so close to the vest, calm and polite until something stabbed its way out.Making up for being such a hothead when I was younger, he told Tia once.Life’s a lot easier now, I’m not just… reacting to everything.
She’d given him a strange look.Sure, she’d said.But you have to react tosomethings. Stuff that matters.
Which Noah tried not to be offended by. He never had a problem with reacting to “stuff that mattered.” He just… reined himself in when he needed to. For good reason! If he didn't rein himself in with Benji, for example, he'd scare him off so fast there would be a Benji-shaped hole in the door.
He wanted to command Benji to move in, to dig about why he was so cagey about him having anything to do with Max, and ask why he never talked about his family. But he didn’t. Because Benji was cagey, and Noah could only push him so far before he clammed up.
“Broke it off,” he said mildly. “You were right.”
Michael blinked, surprised. He waited, presumably for the humble little brother act to slip and the hothead jackass he’d grown up with to reappear.
“I owe you an apology,” Noah continued, channeling every slice of humble pie he’d once used to apologize to Tia in their first year at college, when he was still shaking off his asshole persona. “I know you were just looking out for me.”
Michael chuckled. He was still looking at him sideways, waiting. But the longer Noah kept looking steadily at him, the more relaxed Michael got. Relief, Noah realized. Another consequence dodged.
“Huh,” Michael said, arms flexing. “Shit. Glad you finally saw some sense.”
Noah clenched his hands against his knees, forcing a bland smile. He wanted to grab Michael and shake him. Ask how the hell he could look Benji in the eyes and not see a sweet man who had a hard time accepting a nice coat. How he could do something so monumentally stupid as steal money from his ownfuckingcompany, the company their father built with his own two hands, the company he trusted his eldest son with? How he couldpossiblythink that Noah was some schmuck who needed protecting from big, bad college students using him for his wallet?
“I did,” he said finally. “Thank you.”
Michael relaxed into his chair. “Look. I’m sorry you had to find out like that, okay? I just didn’t want you to get strung along.”
The waitress appeared beside the table, sliding their coffees in front of them. Noah glanced at her, giving her a quick smile.
“But seriously,” Michael continued, picking up his coffee without glancing at the waitress as she left. “You really should’ve seen that one coming. I mean, a twenty-year-oldcollegestudent? You’ve got to be kidding me. Kid hadhugeferal cat energy. Was he a good actor, or are you into that shit?”
Noah dug his nails into his leg as he pictured Michael threatening Benji. Telling him he’d kick Benji out of his home, get his kid brother kicked out of school. Calling himtrash. He thought back to Benji’s eyes squeezed shut that first night in his bedroom, those narrow shoulders hunched, asking Noah tobe nice about it.
“He seemed sweet,” Noah said. He took a long, measured sip of coffee, waiting for his rage to get to something more manageable before continuing, “You didn’t do anything to him, did you? He seemed… unsettled.”
The slightest glimpse of regret flickered over Michael’s face. Then it was gone. Michael shook his head.
“Nope,” he said, popping the p. “You know me, man. All bark and no bite.”
He grinned. Noah smiled back, entertaining a brief fantasy of picking Michael up and slamming him onto the table. Hissing,you bribed a fucking property manager to kick him out of his apartment because you thought I was going to stay with him. He had three days to pack all of his shit and leave. He has to keep most of his art supplies at my house because he’s worried about getting paint on the carpet of his hotel room. He’s spent his whole life with his guard up in case someone treated him like shit. He gets one good thing in his life, and you want to take it away because you think someone without a couple of summer homes can’t possibly want us for any reason but money.
