“You boys play nice now.” She hopped down after them, snagging her to-go cup. “Tell Dalton I want to see him soon, okay?” She waved as she turned to head out.
“Sucking up to Vallancourt?” Kevin noticed the fourth coffee immediately.
“I, uhh… may have left out a few things about today.”
Chapter 4
ANDREW
“Istillcan’tbelievewe’re bringing Ford coffee,” Kevin groused. “Since when are you so accommodating?”
Andrew refrained from admitting—since he sucked my dick at Christmas.
“Though you two fake dating may be the craziest thing I have ever been asked to lie about.”
Kevin had not changed the subject since they left the coffee shop, even now that they were walking through the mostly empty R&D labs at Avalon. They’d chosen a time when Dalton said everyone else should be in meetings or testing labs so they could talk in private.
“You don’t have to lie,” Andrew said. “Don’t even bring it up. I just needed you to know in case Dalton says something. But if he does, feel free to express how you 100% do not support the idea of us as a couple.”
“No brainer there, dude.”
After all, sex and dating were two completely different things—and Kevin did not need to know that.
Dalton waved them over to his now cleaned workspace as they drew closer, with no one else in the immediate vicinity.
“Did we beat Ford?” Kevin asked, glancing around in suspicion. “That guy is meticulous to the second, so if you’re planning some ambush—”
“Kevin,” Andrew chided.
“He’s got a few minutes yet.” Dalton smiled without seeming at all bothered by Kevin’s distrust. “It’s nice to meet you. And you two are the best for bringing coffee. I didn’t sleep well last night. My mind has been too focused on the case.”
“You mean the case of your supervillain origin story?” Kevin pushed.
“Does that mean I get a super cool nickname like Artifice?” Dalton said, but then looked to Andrew nervously. “Not that it was ever proven he and Dad were the same person…”
As if that mattered anymore. “Ford was acquitted of all but one of those crimes, and that one he paid for.”
“What about Guile?” Kevin played along. “Or is theStreet Fightercopyright too iffy?”
“Kid Cunning?” Dalton suggested.
“The Boy Bandit!”
They laughed together. Dalton could win over anyone.
“Stopnaming my son.”
His father, on the other hand…
The three of them turned toward the disembodied voice coming from the darkest corner of the room where there hadto be a hidden door, or else Ford had skulked along the wall to make his entrance that much more dramatic. Andrew wouldn’t put it past him.
Slowly, he materialized out of the shadows, spotlighted ethereally beneath the overhead lights like he’d walked onto a photoshoot. How someone could make basic black clothing look so stunning, Andrew would never understand.
“Dad,” Dalton said in exasperation, “you were supposed to text me.”
“Figured I’d check the place out on my own.” Ford strolled up to the workstation. “You were right. Security here needs work. Almost as bad as Andrew’s offices.”
Andrew refrained from rolling his eyes.
