But Slade asked anyway. “Are you?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“You sound skeptical,” Evan grumbled.
“Because I know you.”
“Fine. I was.”
“Past tense?”
“Am,” Evan corrected.
“So she was right to think that.”
“No,” Evan stated firmly. “She didn’t know that at the time.”
“Maybe she picked up on it.”
Evan looked up. “She couldn’t have. She left for New York, and I hadn’t talked to her. Then, when I did, she said she wasn’t expecting anything from me.”
“Are you expectin’ somethin’ fromher?”
Based on the single-shoulder shrug Evan gave, it was apparent he had been.
“I screwed it up,” Evan muttered. “I screwed it up before I even had a chance with her.”
Yeah, well, Slade knew a little bit about that. He was pretty sure he’d done the same thing just a few hours ago.
“There’s always time to make it right,” he told his friend, even though he didn’t think that was the case for himself. “At least as long as she’s talkin’ to you.”
And as long as she didn’t walk in on you masturbating while calling out her name.
Slade felt his face grow warmer. For the past few months, he’d hidden his secret infatuation with Atticus. Mostly because he didn’t understand it himself. He barely liked the guy. How the fuck could he want to…to… To do whatever his dirty mind could conjure up. And Jesus. Some of those fantasies he’d been having were downright raunchy.
Evan was looking at him, and Slade prayed he hadn’t said any of that aloud.
“I probably shouldn’t be talking to you about this.”
Slade frowned. “What? Why? We’re friends. That’s what friends do.”
Evan’s eyes raked over his face as though he were looking for the truth. The man’s next words explained why.
“Atticus mentioned you couldn’t take your eyes off her at the club.”
Shit.
He’d honestly hoped Evan wouldn’t bring it up. It hadn’t been like that. Yes, he had stared at Becs. Partly because he’d never seen her dress like that, and she was hot when she dressed up. But mostly, he’d stared at her so he wouldn’t risk staring at Atticus. It was one thing to do it in the office because he could claim to be lost in thought about a case. It was something else entirely when they were out in public.
“Do you…?” Evan lifted a shoulder and dropped it. “Do you have a thing for her?”
“No.”
“Something tells me that’s a lie.”
Slade chuffed a mirthless laugh, then walked over to the upholstered armchair and flopped down into it. “Can I tell you somethin’?”
