"What are you two doing here?" he asked.
"Des," Bianca said, rushing over and hugging him tightly. "You're awake. When did you get an assistant?"
Assistant?He quirked a brow, looking at Tallen over Bianca's shoulder. Tallen shrugged his shoulders, looking sheepish.I suppose he couldn't say he works for a mob boss. "I guess it slipped my mind," Des said, stepping out of her embrace.
"And I'm here to drop this off and take you shopping." Tallen reached into his pocket and handed Des the credit card. Not even looking at it, he put it in his pocket.
"When the hell did you get a black card?" Bianca asked.
"A what?" Des wasn't sure what the heck she was talking about.
"The credit card he just gave you is a black card, so either you started dealing drugs, became a high-paid escort, or you have asugar daddy you forgot to tell me about; there's no way you'd have a card that has its own zip code."
"How is it the first two things you could think of is me selling drugs or my body?" Des asked, shaking his head. "Did you forget my grandfather left me money to take care of myself for life?" He didn't say anything about the sugar daddy part. Or he didn't consider Othello to be one.
"Cut the shit. Number one, you hate credit cards and prefer using the app because you said fewer things in your pockets so they won't hold you down. And two, you're hiding something from me, Desmond Ellington. Now, spill."
"I'm not hiding anything," Des said. Well, he kind of was. Besides Gray, he hadn't told anyone that he and Othello were dating, though she knew he’d wanted to ask the other man out. He loved Bianca. She was a good friend, but she tended to mother-hen him or ask questions he couldn't answer or wasn't ready to.
"Fine." She smiled, and Des knew it didn't bode well for him. "Tallen dear, where are you going shopping today?"
"Wherever the doc wants to go, I'm just there to carry his bag," Tallen responded.
She circled one of Tallen’s arms, resting her head on his shoulder and looking adoringly at him. "Do you mind if I join you both?"
"Um...sure—I don't mind," he stuttered, unable to defend against her cuteness. Des had to admit Bianca had a way with people he often envied.
"Don't you think you should ask me if I want to go shopping?" Des snapped.
"You have no choice, Doc," Tallen said, looking at him with pleading eyes, practically saying Othello had given him an order he could not go against.
"Fine," he sighed. "Let me get something to eat, and we'll go."
"I brought you breakfast," Tallen said, pointing to the bag on the counter.
The logo on the bag told him Othello had instructed Tallen where to go. It was probably filled with his favorite sweets since it was from a bakery Des loved. He couldn't help but smile. They had a lot to work out about their relationship, but it seemed Othello knew him well and took far better care of him than he did himself.
"What's with that smile?" Bianca asked, standing beside him.
"My boyfriend knows me well," he mumbled.
"Boyfriend?" she asked, looking from him to Tallen, whose face grew pale, quickly picking up on what was happening.
"It's not him, but someone else."
"Wait, are you telling me you finally had sex?" she shrieked excitedly.
"Oh, for fuck’s sake," Des said, just as Tallen mumbled something and ran out of the kitchen. "Look what you did. You scared off the poor guy."
"He's not the one you're fucking, so it doesn't matter." She grabbed his hand. "Now tell me, who is it? And be honest with me, that's his credit card, and Tallen isn't your assistant?"
"It's Othello Moor, the guy I told you I liked a few weeks back. Yes, it's his card, and no, Tallen isn't my assistant; he's more of a friend."
"You've been a busy boy while I was away." She smiled, grabbing his hand and pulling him to the kitchen table. Bianca was a flight attendant who worked for a private company. When she wasn't wrapped up in a new boy toy, she was busy at work, where she'd been for the past few weeks. “Spill, I want to know all the tea."
He was about to speak, but his stomach rumbled. "Can I eat while we talk?"
"Of course, we don't want to waste yourboyfriend'sefforts, do we?"
