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He heard his mother’s voice in his head, urging him to stop being a hermit. Holt invited him out fairly often, but he always turned him down, preferring to go home to his baby girl instead. But she wasn’t home. Maybe he could use a night out after all. He didn’t get them very often. He should take advantage of his freedom for the night and go out for dinner. Besides, it would keep his mind off Daisy. “You know what? Sure. If you don’t mind.”
“Of course not, man.” Holt grinned. “Come on.”
Mark cast one last look at the link he’d minimized to the taskbar and shut his computer. Grabbing his keys and his phone, he followed his friend down the hallway. When they reached the elevator, Steven stood there, texting on his phone. He glanced up when he saw them coming and frowned when he noticed Mark was with Holt. “You ready?”
Of course Steven was going with Holt. He should have known. And if Lauren was coming, too, what were the chances that Daisy would tag along? Would they be stuck in another awkward dinner where they had to pretend they hadn’t seen each other naked? Shit.
He should have stuck with the original plan.
Solitude was always his best choice.
“Yep,” Holt said. “Are Lauren and Lydia waiting for us?”
“Yeah. With Daisy and a few other people.” Steven eyed Mark. “You coming along with us this time?”
“If you don’t mind,” he said quickly, hoping Steven’s dislike would give him a way out of this mess. If he suddenly backed out because he’d mentioned Daisy’s name, then they would suspect something was up. These men weren’t idiots. One mistake and the whole group of friends would know he and Daisy were up to something. And he’d promised no one would ever know. “If you do, I can just head home instead—”
“I don’t mind,” Steven interjected, pushing the down button on the elevator. “Why would I?”
Maybe because Steven hated him and thought he was after his girl. “I don’t know.”
“Then come on.” He walked into the open elevator, shooting Mark a challenging stare. “Unless you don’t want to come along for some reason? You stiffened up when I mentioned Daisy.”
Mark laughed. “What? No I didn’t.”
“Sure you did.” Steven rose his brows. “Do you have something against her? Because last time we were together, she certainly seemed to have something against you.”
Mark forced a calm expression to his face, trying to hide his true thoughts from the other man. “No, of course not. Why would I have a problem with Daisy?”
“I don’t know. She’s pretty damn likeable.”
Holt watched them both, his eyes narrow. “What did I miss?”
“Last time we all went out, Daisy ripped him a new one. Interrogated him on the spot.” Steven grinned, shoving his hands in his pockets. “And when he fought back? She ran.”
Holt rubbed his jaw. “Interesting.”
“There’s nothing interesting about me and Daisy,” Mark said, keeping his voice perfectly level. “I barely know her. She was probably just having a bad day, is all. I was an easy target.”
Steven said nothing. Just smirked.
Holt nodded. “Yeah. Maybe.”
“She seems nice, though.” Mark cleared his throat, watching the floors descend on the LED screen. It would look weird if he didn’t say something else, so he wracked his brain for something, anything, to say. “What’s her story?”
“She’s single, keeps to herself a lot, kind of like you. She and her partner are really close, and he’s pretty protective of her.”
Mark tugged on his collar again. “Her partner is a man?”
“Yeah,” Steven said distractedly. He checked his phone, then tucked it into his pocket. “He’s huge. Like the Rock.”
Mark swallowed. “Awesome.”
“Lauren thinks he’s secretly in love with her.” The doors opened, and Steven walked out first, continuing to talk. Mark and Holt followed him. Holt was still texting, but Mark was 100 percent focused on Steven’s words. “But then, she’s always trying to hook people up.”
Yeah. I know. “So her partner’s huge, protective, and maybe in love with her.”
“Yep,” Steven said, stopping at his truck. Mark’s Mustang was in the next space.
