Somehow, his conversation with Beatrice freed Van’s nerves over last weekend, and he was able to relax into his job again. Flirting like usual, slinging drinks, joking with the regulars.His life returned to some semblance of normalcy, and nothing remotely bizarre happened until the last Friday in September.
Melody cornered him right outside of their apartment bathroom that morning, a towel around his waist and his hair still wet from the shower. “I need you tonight,” she said.
His dick gave a small stir. “Oh yeah?”
“Not like that, Mr. Once and Done. You’ve already had me.”
He pretended to grump. Their night together had been a lot of fun, but he didn’t think about her in a sexual way anymore. She was too good of a friend now. “Okay, then why do you need me on a Friday night?” And how on earth did she know he had the night off with no actual plans?
“Come to a party with me. Adrian invited me. It’s Emmett’s birthday. He’s turning twenty, so Lincoln is throwing him a birthday party at his house, but I don’t know any of Lincoln’s other friends that well, or who’s going to be there.”
“So you and Adrian are still seeing each other?” he asked.
“Casually, yes.”
“And he knows, right?”
“Yes, he knows.” She huffed and folded her arms over her small breasts. “He was surprised but accepting, and we’re taking things slow.”
“As long as he’s good to you, I won’t have to beat his ass senseless.” He’d never quite gotten over the need to hunt down and put a serious hurt on the guy who’d assaulted Melody and put so much fear into her pretty eyes. She lost a bit of that every day as she continued to work and see Adrian.
“My hero. So, the party?”
He grumbled a bit. “Yeah, fine. It’s not like I have anything better to do.”
“Gee, thanks for the support.” She poked him in the chest with a painted nail. “And if Joshua’s at the party, behave.”
“Hey! What do you think I’m going to do? Jump him in the bathroom? He’s got a boyfriend.”
“Still. You were a growly bear for a week after you helped them get back together.”
Instead of denying it—because what was the point?—he slipped past her and angled toward his bedroom door.
“Seven o’clock!” she said as he shut the door behind him.
Van had made some spectacularly bad decisions in his life, especially those first four years after leaving home. Choices that had ruined his health and nearly killed him once, before he got his life under control. Going to the party tonight had a chance to either be a fun, stress-free evening . . . or one of his worst decisions ever.
Time will tell.
“Melody invited who?” Joshua’s voice had gotten a little too high, but he couldn’t help it. He stared at Lincoln from across the kitchen island, which was burdened with all kinds of assorted snack foods.
Lincoln slowly arched one slim, blond eyebrow. “Van. From Off Beat. They are friends, you know.”
“I know, I just—” Just nothing. Joshua had avoided going to Off Beat unless he knew Van wasn’t working. He needed to play off their connection as a fluke, something felt by two lonely people, one of whom wasn’t lonely anymore. He had Benji.
But that same gossamer thread that bound him to Benji, even when they weren’t in the same state, lingered in the periphery of Joshua’s vision, linking him to Van. It both enraged him and intrigued him, and he didn’t know which was worse. So, he stayed away. And unless he came down with a sudden case offood poisoning, temptation would be in the same room with him tonight.
Lincoln frowned at him. “Don’t tell me you think the hook-up-that-never-was is going to make it awkward to see Van tonight. I figured after his Love Doctor schtick, you guys would at least be friendly.”
“We are,” Joshua said. “I mean, we will be. It’s not a problem.”
“Good. And it isn’t as if this will be an intimate, six-person party. Other people are going to be here.”
“You know other people?”
He flipped Joshua off and ripped open a bag of tortilla chips. “Smart ass. Turns out that bar-backing helps you meet people, and a lot of people like to get friendly with the guy who knows the members of two amazing music groups. So yeah, people.”
Joshua was kind of jealous of him for knowing people. He’d been on the shore for about a month now, and he barely knew anyone except for the people he worked with and Lincoln’s friends. Sitting around had started driving Joshua crazy, so he applied and got a position in a warehouse that shipped to half-a-dozen different surf shop locations up and down the shore.
