Chapter Fourteen
Asher
I woke up to the ring of my cell a couple of days later. Yanking away from another dream featuring Rory and Franklin, I almost thought I was still asleep when I saw Franklin’s name on my phone.
“Hello?” I said, trying to sound like I hadn’t been still sleeping this close to noon. “Franklin?”
“Hi, Asher!” Franklin said, his voice ticking up when he said my name. I bit down a smile, then pulled myself up on my elbows. “I hope you’re not busy?”
“Not at all. What’s up?”
It wasn’t the first time I’d heard from Franklin since our last date—or from Rory, for that matter. They’d both texted me and said that they had a nice time, and we even sent a couple G-rated selfies. But it was definitely the first time either of them had called me out of the blue.
“I had something I wanted to run by you,” Franklin answered. “Do you remember the friend of mine that we ran into at the racing simulator?”
“The alien racing simulator,” I teased. “Yeah, I remember.”
“She needs someone to pull together a booth and display for a small convention the weekend after next. It’s pretty straightforward, and as I thought over our reorganizing projects, I realized that I basically had all the supplies myself.”
I blinked my eyes shut, then rubbed my knuckle against them. “Okay…”
“What do you say?” he asked. “Should we take this show on the road?”
I thought carefully, trying to make sure I understood him correctly. “Like, more work?”
“Exactly!” he said. “I think we’d make the perfect team. You and I could pull together some appropriate decorations and displays, do a little assembly work before hand, and then install it for the client.” I heard Marlene yip in the background noise. “What do you think?”
Probably, I should have paused and acted like I was considering it. But it wasn’t like I had any other job offers lying on my desk.
Or a desk.
“Fuck yeah,” I said. “Let’s build some cool shit.”
Franklin laughed loudly, and a satisfied feeling spread across my chest. “Excellent. We can talk details when you come in to help with the garage next?”
“Yes—” I said, then bit down on my lip before aSiror aDaddyslipped out. “Catch you later, Franklin.”
I jumped out of bed, tugged on a pair of boxers, and then wandered toward the kitchen. Lilith was sitting in the living room, flipping through mail, and she started laughing when I entered the room.
“What?” I asked.
“What’s that grin about?” she asked. “You still crushing on your favorite geeks?”
I dropped onto the couch across from her, landing with a flop on my back. “Duh. I told you about our date.”
“In far too much detail,” she laughed, then shoved a cup of coffee across the table. “Here. Drink this coffee. I put too much sugar in.”
I grabbed the mug by the handle, then lifted it in the air. “You’re the sappy one who owns a bunch of mugs with hearts all over them.”
“Oh, yeah?” she teased back. “Is that what this is about now? Hearts?”
I took a drink of the extremely sweet coffee, then dropped the mug back on the coffee table as I sat up. “I’ll have you know Franklin just called me. And we’re getting more work together.” I shrugged. “We’re not cooling down yet, is all I’m saying.”
“You don’t have to tell me. You know two of the guys who bartend at the Steel Rose are in triads.”
I scoffed. “Triads. Whatever.” Words like that always seemed silly to me, like I would think we were married or something serious. “We’re just hooking up.”
“And I’m just saying don’t forget that things could be more than that, too.” She pulled her legs up on the couch, then crossed them under her. Her purple hoodie fell off one shoulder, and she smiled as she caught my eye. “I’ve seen how happy Franklin and Rory make you, Asher. And I don’t know what it was like in Los Angeles, but I’ve never seen you act excited about someone you were seeing before.”
