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She needed to move on. It would be better for both of them. He didn’t want to watch it happen, but he didn’t give himself another choice. It was the internal struggle he knew he’d have for a while.
But fuck, if he thought it was hard to watch her get married years ago. It was harder to watch her flirt with someone when he’d had a taste. When he felt her come apart in her arms.
He stood abruptly, nearly knocking his chair down behind him. “I’m going to grab some water. Anyone need anything?”
They all said no, but he’d bring some extra back, just in case. He needed an excuse to get out of that room. The kitchen would give him a quick escape. He’d grab some water and snacks and get out. Nobody would even know he’d been there.
Archie ignored the voices and laughter coming from the next room as he made his way into the kitchen and headed straight for the fridge. He grabbed a few bottles of water and then a few of the protein bars on the counter before turning to leave.
“Hey.” Max entered.
He remembered meeting the guy a few times. He was Tabitha’s friend. Probably the new best friend.
“Hey.” Archie kept his smile flat.
“I know she’ll never say it, but it deserves to be said. Thanks for keeping her safe.” Max walked further into the kitchen and grabbed a bag of chips from the counter. “I feel like it’s obvious to say thank you for your service, and I’m appreciative. It’s just, and you’ve known her longer than I have, so I’m sure you know. She enjoys being liked and would give the shirt off of her back to help someone else. Her ex took advantage of that and I just want to say it’s good to have someone like you back in her life.”
Archie turned, but paused. “Max, we’re just friends.”
“Considering she’s flirting with Luke, I assumed.” Max chuckled behind him.
“Good for her.” His jaw ticked as he left the room to head back to the security office.
So the guy had a name.
Luke.
It wasn’t even a dorky name. It was a good name. This would be easier if it was one he could make fun of. Luke was a classic name.
He groaned as he pushed open the door to the office and deposited the bottles of water and bars on the table. He slumped back in his seat and ripped open the wrapper of the protein bar. Alternated between taking bites and gulping down his water as his mood soured even more.
“Why do you seem to be in an even worse mood than when you left? I thought food made people happy.” Aaron grabbed one of the bottles of water.
“What did that guy say in the kitchen?” Tyler questioned. “Dude, we all saw it on the feed.” He gestured to the screens in front of them.
Archie shook his head. “I’m just in a mood.” He crumpled up the wrapper and tossed it into the trash in the corner. “And that guy is Max, one of her closest friends. He just wanted to say thanks for doing my job.”
“Uh huh, sure.” Aaron shook his head and stood. “I’m going to go and walk around the perimeter. Anyone else need to stretch their legs?”
Matt stood and turned the laptop toward Tyler. “Yeah. I need a break from staring at that screen.”
After they left, Tyler sat down next to Archie and turned the laptop so they could both see the footage. Their eyes flickered between all of the monitors for a solid twenty minutes before either of them said a word. Which was fine, Archie was fine with the silence right now. Until they could hear the laughter from the other side of the house.
“We can at least hear what’s going on.” Tyler flipped the volume of one of the cameras on.
It was static for a second before they could hear the group of them in the living room crystal clear. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting to hear. They were taking a break from recording videos and were adjusting new costumes and in a heated debate of something one of them called the biggest hammer.
“Thor is a god! Have you seen the size of his hammer?” One of the girls laughed.
“Have you seen Hulk?” Max interrupted.
“Which version. Are we talking about Banner or The Hulk?” Another guy asked.
They all laughed.
Tyler flipped the volume back off. “I don’t care about the cock size of the Avengers and which one is probably bigger.” He shook his head and ran a hand down his face.
“Is that what they were doing?” He felt like an idiot. “I thought they were literally talking about Thor’s hammer.” He shook his head. “Fucking nerds.” He loved it though.
