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Chapter 12
Connor
Three sharp knocks sounded on Connor’s front door, and his heart sped up.
Fuck. He was like Pavlov’s dog lately, except he had physical reactions to so many more things than just a dinner bell. A knock at his door. A text chime. His phone ringing. Any of those set his heart racing.
Of course, he knew the reason. You didn’t have to be Sherlock freaking Holmes to figure it out. It was because every time he heard one of those sounds, his brain became consumed by one thought: It could be Luna!
When he opened the door, though, it wasn’t Luna’s beautiful face he saw. It was Gavin’s serious one.
“Hey, dude. Come on in.”
Gavin crossed to his couch and settled himself on it. This wasn’t totally unusual. Just like Connor had stopped by to work on the Mustang a few mornings ago and had walked into Gavin’s kitchen without waiting for a response to his knock. That was how it was between them—informal.
Still, this time seemed different, and Connor didn’t have a hard time putting his finger on why. “Dude, Gavin. Why the scowl, man? You look like somebody kicked your dog or something.”
Gavin gave a small shake of his head. He wasn’t the most outwardly expressive person, so Connor couldn’t count on reading his face or gestures. He was going to have to wait for his friend to actually fill him in.
Finally, Gavin spoke, his voice gruff. “Look, I don’t want to be here. Gen sent me.”
Normally, Connor would’ve made some kind of smartass comment, accusing his friend of being whipped. But with the way things were going, he saw some real potential for similar comments to be thrown up in his face in the future, so he decided it was smarter to keep his mouth shut and just wait for Gavin to spit out in his own time whatever he was here to say.
What he forgot, though, was that Gavin was a man of few words, and guys like that typically had a pretty high tolerance for extended silences. Gavin was no exception.
Finally, Connor turned and headed toward the kitchen. “Beer?”
Gavin glanced at his watch. “It’s 9 a.m.”
Connor grinned. “Hey, it must be 10 a.m. somewhere, right?”
When he returned from the kitchen, he tossed a cold can to Gavin and popped the lid on the one he’d brought for himself.
Gavin set his aside and said, “Look. Gen’s organizing this big event for Christmas, to benefit the pediatric ward at the hospital. You know about it.”
“Sure. I’ve heard some people talking.”
“Right. So, she wants you to volunteer. She sent me to tell you.”
Connor’s brows drew together. “Why didn’t she come over and ask me herself?”
Gavin shrugged. “Guess she thought I’d have a better shot.”
Connor barked out a laugh. “Right. Because of your eloquent powers of persuasion.”
Gavin shrugged again.
A small suspicion grew in the back of Connor’s mind. “Does this have anything to do with Luna? With pushing me and Luna together, somehow?”
Another shrug. “I’m staying out of it.”
“So that’s a yes.”
“That’s an ‘I’m staying out of it.’”
Connor grinned. “Well, tell Genevieve that if that’s what it’s about, she didn’t need to be all secret agent about it. That’s a plus to me, not a minus.”
Gavin stood. “So, you’ll do it?”
