Page 30 of Two for Charging

His arms shaking, Chris let the barbell fall to the floor with a crash. Next to him, Luca flinched.

“Sorry,” Chris said. “Bit off a little more than I could chew. I don’t think we should ask Jax, Howie. He just moved in, and it’s probably all still boxes and—”

“Eh, we’re pretty unpacked,” Jax said easily. “What do you think, Tom?”

“Do you think Artemis will be okay with so many people?”

Now Tom was asking Jax if their dog—the dog they owned and took care of together as joint pet parents, as a couple because they were a couple—would be okay. How had no one else noticed? Chris stood frozen, rooted to the spot, waiting for Luca or Howie to call them out.

“Are you kidding? She loves people. It will be the best night of her life.”

“But it’s Halloween. People always have chocolate, and she could—”

“We’ll keep her out of the kitchen. It’ll be fine.”

“Wait.” Luca looked between Jax and Tom. “I thought we were speaking about Jax’s house?”

“Yeah, with Tom.” Casually as could be, Jax strolled over to the rowing machine and settled down. Tom tossed him a towel from the bag containing their shared gear, and Jax draped it over the back of his seat before beginning his routine.

Luca’s eyes narrowed. “You bought a house. Together.”

“Uh-huh.” Jax began his reps on the rowing machine. “What do you say, Tom? Halloween party?”

“Sure,” Tom said. “But only if Howie does the planning.”

In one masterful move, he distracted everyone so the whole problem of him and Jax getting figured out vanished. Chris would be impressed if he hadn’t created a much bigger problem on Halloween with his distraction technique.

“Oh my God,” Howie said reverently. “I have been waiting for this moment my whole life. I will not disappoint you. Oh man, I need to get decorations. When can I come over and set up? Can we have bobbing for apples? Ooh, does anyone know how to make those cookies shaped like eyeballs?”

“How about you pull up a seat”—Jax jerked his chin at the butterfly machine across from him—“and we hash out a few details? Tom was going to take Breezy and Luca to lunch to chat about the power play anyway.”

“Was I?”

Jax shot Tom a look, his eyebrows raised and his mouth quirked.

Tom heaved a sigh and nodded. “All right. Breezy, Luca, hit the showers, and we’ll meet in the garage in ten.”

Chris hadn’t finished his workout and ought to at least cool down, or he could strain something. But he did as he was told. He wondered what Tom would say to Luca to allay his suspicions. Real estate was expensive in the Bay Area. And Tom and Jax had a really big house. Maybe Luca would buy that it was a question of practicality, or he would think they were just super-close friends. After all, Chris and Luca lived together for the same reason.

The thought sat hollow in Chris’s stomach. He hoped they were close friends and Luca didn’t simply tolerate him. He hoped Luca would want to stay friends who lived together for a long time, preferably forever.

He showered as fast as he could, intent on not leaving Luca alone with Tom for a moment. Luca was clever, and Tom was bad at lying.

“Is Mexican okay?” Tom asked when he met them in the garage.

Luca shrugged.

“Great, there’s a place a few blocks from here. Breezy, you drive.”

Tom got into the back seat, though Chris would have relegated Luca to it out of respect.

“Is that not your car over there?” Luca asked, squinting through the dark garage toward a nondescript gray sedan.

Tom hummed in agreement. “Jax usually drives these days. You can drop me here when we’re done, and he’ll take me home.”

Chris glanced to the side and saw the line on Luca’s brow furrow tighter. “Roomies!” he said, voice coming out too loud in the small space. “Like us!”

Luca’s frown deepened.