AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He nodded. “Sure, yeah, that all sounds incredible.”
“Thank you.”
“And all of this has nothing to do with your m—”
“It has nothing to do with anything aside from our tired cocktail menu.” I said, not keen to have him finish that question. I peeled a tangerine, squeezed some juice in with the vodka and followed it with some ginger and lemon.
Mack stood watching me in silence and I shook the concoction, adjusted the flavor with a little more tangerine and then poured it into a glass for him, waiting for the verdict.
He sipped torturously slowly and my eyes focused squarely on his mouth as a spontaneous heat started to warm my blood.
“It’s delicious.”
“Good. You can think of a name.”
“You know that if you need to go home—”
“Why would I need to go home? Besides, you just said Greyson isn’t coming in. You can’t be down a second person. Where are those cloves…”
“Chase.” His tone was all soft and knowing and it was so tempting to unload everything on him in one long word vomit. I knew he’d never judge me, but something kept the words where they were for the moment.
“Mack, please stop looking at me like that.”
“I’m not looking at you like anything.”
“You are, now quit it.”
“We are going to talk about this.”
“Of course we are. Oh, I spoke to Nash.” That was enough to distract him, at least for the moment and I smiled genuinely for the first time today as I relayed the conversation and pulled out the juicer from under the bar.
12
MACK
Lindsay was an enthusiastic texter.
I had all but forgotten we’d exchanged numbers on Thanksgiving, and then, a couple of days later, the first text came in. Quickly followed by the second, and the third. There was a very good chance I was going to have received her full life story via one line texts before we made it to the date tomorrow.
The date was tomorrow.
I would have preferred to be at Rudi today because at least it’d be a distraction. My recent purchase was under the sink—the last place I figured Chase would look—and, even though I couldn’t see it, I could still hear the mocking whispers.What were you thinking with this? She’s going to think you’ve lost it.
Anxiety was a hot knife in my gut. I’d never felt nervous about going on a date, but I’d never been on a date with Chase before, either. Yes, granted, I wasn’t technically on the date with Chase but that was also part of the problem. I was going to have to watch her on a date with Brady. My lip curled as I sunk deeper into the couch cushions.
Fucking Brady.
The only reason I wasn’t completely crawling out of my skin was because I knew Chase didn’t actually want to be going on the date with Brady. She was doing all this for Lindsay and me. She was doing it for Lindsay and me when I had no intention of going on another date with her. Did that make me a dick? Maybe. Probably. If I’d been a better man I would have said no to the whole thing. I would have said thank you, but no thank you to Lindsay, owned my shit and gone after Chase.
I wasn’t a better man though, I’d agreed to the date knowing I wasn’t going to see Lindsay again. And I’d agreed only because Chase was the one to ask. I was an asshole. More so because, rather than thinking about Lindsay, and feeling guilty about my actions, my mind kept straying to Chase and the gift that was still mocking me from between my recycling and the eucalyptus counter spray. Would my gift mean she might actually enjoy herself? Only time would tell.
Forcing my brain away from the impending date, and my already too strong feelings about it, I went to the kitchen and took out my latest ice cream experiment. It was shaping up well, there was a good balance between the buttermilk and the maple syrup but it was still missing something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
I pulled out cream, eggs, and sugar ready to make another custard for ice cream attempt number four… or was it five?
Even if myfeelings for Chase hadn’t come raging to the surface thanks to our kiss, I would have had serious concerns about my compatibility with Lindsay based on the fact that bowling had been her idea. Granted, there was nothing inherently wrong with bowling, it was fine, but it was an odd choice. And, judging by the texts I was still receiving, one Lindsay was extremely happy with. The only real explanation I could come up with was that she was an outstanding bowler and wanted to showcase those skills in a date setting. Honestly, I would be pretty impressed if she was a great bowler in addition to a professional ballet dancer.
“Mack, hi, so good to see you again,” Lindsay said as she opened the door, her cheeks were pink and she nearly tripped over her own feet as she ushered me inside. “My roommate’s out for the night,” she added with a small laugh and I nodded, a tight smile stretched across my face.
