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Not.
Not any that he was going to act on, at least.
Rae spread her hands wide, giving Patrick a challenging look. There was the inner brat coming out. Also her protective side. She was never going to back down from protecting her friends.
“What?” she asked Patrick.
“Just… try not to look at her.” He sighed again. “Yes, I know how ridiculous that sounds. I can hear it. But…” He looked around as if remembering that he was out on the main floor, where everyone could hear him. Tilting his head back, he looked up at the ceiling, probably begging some higher deity for patience, before he returned his gaze to the three women. “Just try not to look at her, okay?”
He couldn’t kick Noelle out for being dramatic. All he could do was try to mitigate the drama.
“Are you going to tell her not to look at Iris, too?” Rae challenged.
“Yes, I am,” Patrick replied firmly. “If everyone could just not look at each other at all, that would be great.”
Well, that was going to be interesting to enforce.
Not that Patrick was assigning any particular consequence. He was just making a request. But Brian didn’t know what he expected to do if it wasn’t followed. This was hardly a usual situation.
Giving them all a look, Patrick turned around as if he was going to head outside to follow after Noelle… but her friends were already back inside. Sam headed straight for the bathroom with Marissa and Carolyn on her heels. Looking slightly miserable, Amy walked up to Patrick. Brian was about to join his own friends when she happened to glance over him, and her expression lit up. She held up her hand with one finger raised, asking if he could wait a minute for her.
Brian nodded, rocking back on his heels. Considering everything that had just gone down, he would wait to join the table of friends, which wasn’t the worst thing. It would give him a little more time before he had to face Rae for the first time since their trip and pretend he was completely unaffected.
Was she watching him?
He wasn’t sure.
He tried to sneak a peek, but when he looked, she wasn’t looking at him.
Maybe she had been, though.
Maybe you’re full of wishful thinking.
After having a low-voiced discussion with Patrick, who patted Amy’s shoulder before he headed back to his office, Amy wheeled around and hurried up to Brian. Cute and curvy, she was pretty in a girl-next-door kind of way. Her long brown hair had been pulled up into messy buns on either side of her head, giving her a vaguely Princess Leia look, and she was wearing a cute little black dress that hugged her curves.
“Hi, Brian. How’s Zach doing? Is he okay?” She bounced slightly in place as she clasped her hands in front of her.
“He’s good. Mostly. Sort of. I mean, it’s kind of hard to define.” Watching her practically vibrating in concern was making him uncomfortable. Taking her by the arm, he pulled her over to two of the empty chairs in the Lounge so they could sit down.
“He just loves Kincaid so much, you know?” she said earnestly, brushing an errant strand of hair out of her face. “He wants to tell his family. He’s just afraid.”
Amy and Zach had become good friends because she was a masochist in a vanilla relationship, though her fiancé was understanding about her needs and was fine with her scening platonically at Stronghold. It worked for Zach since he was both a sadist and a switch in a committed relationship as well. They’d been scening regularly to get their needs met almost from the very beginning.
Brian wasn’t surprised that Amy knew as much as she did about the situation. He was a little surprised at how distressed she appeared to be. Then again, she had a soft heart. As evidenced by the way she’d run after Noelle. Just knowing someone she cared about was hurting was enough to distress her.
“I know. And even Kincaid knows that,” Brian said gently. “It’s just something they have to work through themselves.” He reached out and took Amy’s hand in his, squeezing it gently. “Are you okay?” It had suddenly occurred to him that maybe part of her distress wasn’t just over Zach but a reaction to everything that had just happened.
She took a deep breath, getting herself under control and confirming some of his suspicions.
“Yeah… Noelle was just so upset. And angry. And… Sorry. You shouldn’t have to worry about this.”
“No, it’s okay. You can tell me. Sometimes, it helps to unload on a third party who doesn’t have anything to do with the situation. And, to be honest, you look like you could use a hug.”
Looking up to meet his gaze, Amy’s hazel eyes were full of unhappiness as she burst into tears. Brian reacted immediately, without thinking, reaching across and pulling her from her chair onto his lap.
“I’m sorry,” she hiccupped, trying to get herself under control.
“It’s okay,” he murmured, rubbing her arm. “There’s nothing wrong with a good cry now and then.”
