“Hey, gorgeous. How’s Cale?” Niko asked, surprising Derek that he knew Lucy’s younger brother.
Lucy smiled. “Recovering. That flu this year kicked his ass. I can’t believe it hit in April.”
“Tell him I’m still holding his spot when he’s ready to come back. I won’t ever cheat on my leg-day guy.” Niko winked at her, then leaned over the counter and made eye-contact with Derek. “Sorry I’m early.”
Derek shrugged, glancing at Lucy out of his periphery who was watching him with a strange expression. He wanted to ask her what it was all about, but he didn’t want to put Niko on the spot. “It’s no worries. Do you want to do me a favor though?”
“Anything,” Niko said quickly.
Derek fished out the food order on the little post-it and handedit off. “Can you call Jerry’s and order all this? Tell whoever answers to throw it on my tab and that I’m bringing my card in tonight.”
Niko looked at him for a moment, then glanced at Lucy before nodding. “You got it. Be back in five.” He strolled back out the front door, and Derek swiveled in his chair to stare at her.
“What?” he demanded.
She shrugged, twirling her colored pencil between her fingers like a tiny baton. “Nothing.”
“Lies,” he said, pointing his sharpie at her. He was profoundly aware of how much she looked like Cale right then, in spite of being six years older than him, and only sharing one parent. “What is it?”
“It’s just…everyone’s been talking about you and the flower guy. Like some epic love story or some shit. Niko is bad ass, I just…I guess I was confused.”
Derek sighed, resting his back against his tool box. “It’s complicated, but right now, Basil and I are just friends. He’s helping me with sign, and I’m doing an arm piece on him.”
“For free,” she pointed out.
“Yeah well,” he said, then trailed off, because the last thing he was in the mood for was to tell the sordid story of his impossible feelings and the struggle of their communications barrier. “It is what it is. I had a date with Niko, and it went kind of shitty, so we’re seeing if there’s any way to fix it.”
She looked startled. “Seriously? I mean, I’m rooting for flower guy, but it’s hard to imagine a date with Niko going badly. He, Mat, and Cale have been gym buddies for like a hundred years. Shit, my mom invites the guy to thanksgiving every year. He’s a good guy.”
Derek bristled a little. “Well, he said a few shitty things about…something,” he finished with some hesitance, not wanting to drag Niko, but not really in the mood to listen to someone come to his defense. “Do you think he knows about Mat’s head injury?”
Lucy’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know. I mean, he hates talking about it, so probably not. Why?”
“Just…he had this sort of attitude about uh…about disabilities and deafness and shit. It wasn’t great.”
Lucy’s face fell. “Oh. Well…”
“Look,” he said, holding up his hand, “it’s not a big deal. We’re trying again, and even if it’s not going to work out like that, we can still be friends. He really does seem like a nice guy, so I’m willing to give it another shot.”
The door opened then, and Derek went quiet as Niko walked back up to the counter and put the post-it down. “Done. He said about twenty minutes.”
“Sweet.” Derek put his sharpie back in his drawer and then double-checked his stall. There was no point in hanging around, anyway. Kat and Laura were in the back to handle any walk-ins, and Wyatt was coming in later for a touch-up appointment, so they were covered. “We can get going.”
Lucy gave him a sunny grin as he got up and headed out the front instead of the back, and he waved before the door swung shut. Neither of them said much for almost a full block before Niko let out a heavy breath and stopped Derek with a hand on his arm.
“Look, if you don’t want to do this, I’ll understand. Don’t feel obligated because Sage and I are friends.”
Derek couldn’t help a tiny laugh as he turned to look at Niko. “My brother and I might share the same face and most of the same ink, but we’re not the same person, and I sure as hell don’t feel like I owe him my loyalty to a person I don’t know that well simply because we’re brothers. I agreed to this because I think you deserve a chance.”
Niko’s cheeks darkened, the color visible even under the dim streetlight. “I really am sorry about that. I should have known better.”
“Maybe,” Derek gave him. “But you did listen, and that’s the important part.” He almost told him then, about hanging out with Sam and James tonight, but he wanted to see his raw reaction whenthey walked through the door. “Do you want to take your own car. In case it gets awkward?”
Niko shoved one hand into his pocket. “I wouldn’t mind if we shared. Uh…unless you think you want your own escape. But I also have no problem calling an uber.”
Derek smiled. “I think sharing is great. Come on, before I’m sacrificed to the tattoo gods for being late with the food.”
They arrived twenty minutes later,Derek holding the door for Niko who insisted on carrying all three bags. They were at James’ place that night, a leftover relic from the thirties tucked back into a grove of trees. He’d inherited the place from his brother who had been thirty years older than he was, and no kids to pass his shit onto. It came with some nice in-law quarters, a little cottage out back which was currently being rented by a blind man who was taking a sabbatical from his teaching job.
