When he finished pushing food around in the pan, we served ourselves and took our plates back to the sofa in the living area. I threw another couple of logs into the fireplace and watched the wood take the flames as I sat back down to eat.
Being quiet with Julian felt natural and healing, as always. After a while, the sound of our cutlery clanking against the plates died down, and I took our empty dishes to the kitchen before returning to the sofa. This time, I lay down with my head in Julian’s lap and felt his hand immediately go into my hair the way it always did. I stared at the fire while he gently sifted through my hair and lightly scratched my scalp. The faint headache I’d been fighting off for the past few hours receded a little.
“Think she’s okay?” I asked softly after a while.
His fingers paused for a moment before continuing. “You should text her and ask.”
Somehow, that didn’t feel right. If she’d wanted my help, she’d have come to me instead of running away. “Nah. She needs to figure things out on her own.”
He made a sound that didn’t agree or disagree.
“Has Hazel texted you?” I asked after another few minutes.
I felt Julian shift as he reached over to the side table to grab his phone. After a few seconds, I felt his muscles tense.
He didn’t say anything.
I rolled over onto my back to look up at him. “Dammit, Jules. What did she say?”
He didn’t realize he was now cupping my cheek and brushing a thumb idly across the tender skin below my eye. The caress was soothing, but then again, he’d always had this effect on me. When I needed comfort, Julian was the first person I thought of. It had been that way as long as I could remember.
Julian sighed and met my eyes. “She said Erin decided to fly to Mexico.”
I sat up so fast my head spun for a split-second. For some reason, a laugh bubbled up. “She went on our fucking honeymoon? By herself?”
Julian’s pink ears were an instant giveaway. I laughed again. “Oh my god, she’s planning to find someone to hook up with, isn’t she? Well, that’s an adventure alright.”
“Parker, could you be serious for five seconds?”
“I am serious. She wants adventure, she’s getting it.” It still sucked that I couldn’t be what she needed. I still felt adrift in all kinds of ways I didn’t want to think about, but the relief I’d felt earlier was still there. Undeniable.
“Easy as that?” Jules demanded. “You’re saying it doesn’t bother you one bit? You don’t even have any made-up statistics to quote about the percentage of all-inclusive-resort hookups that end in disaster?”
I snorted. “Not a single one.” Surprisingly, the idea really didn’t bother me. I felt zero jealousy when it came to Erin, which I suppose was yet another giant red flag I’d mistaken for a good omen.
I stood up and made my way to the kitchen, where I’d spotted an unusually large collection of brand-new liquor bottles stashed in the cabinet next to the fridge.
Julian bit his lower lip like he was struggling for patience and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, Parks. I’m sure it doesn’t mean anything. She’ll go have her fun and then come back with a clear head. You can do things differently next time. The two of you can go to Vegas or something.”
“There won’t be a next time, Jules. She and I are done.”
“You say that every time, and yet…”
He was right. Erin and I were that annoying couple who broke up and got back together a thousand times over the years. Even I hated that about us.
“This time it’s for real, though,” I promised. “I’m done with women. From now on, it’s just you and me, okay?”
I grabbed two short glasses and tossed a couple of ice cubes in each one before pouring generous amounts of Julian’s fancy bourbon into each glass.
I tossed the first glass back and poured myself a second before bringing the glasses back to the sofa and handing one to Julian.
“You and me,” Jules repeated slowly. “Do you remember that promise we made back when we were kids? You said when you wrote it down, it became law. I agreed to it.”
“Heck, yeah.” I nodded. “And it’s still true. It’s always been you and me—”
“It was,” Julian corrected, staring down into his drink. “Then you and Erin got engaged. When you agreed to marry her, it became you and her. It voided our contract.”
Normally, I loved it when Julian talked to me in his lawyer-speak, but today, I did not.
“What? No, it didn’t!” I frowned. “Not really. Erin is… she’s Erin. She’s not you and me.”
He snorted. “Brilliant insight, Shortbread. Keep drinking.”
“No, seriously, Julian,” I began, needing to convince him that I meant what I said. “I never—”
“It doesn’t matter, Parker.” Jules sounded weary, like all the drama of the day was catching up with him. “That promise was a long time ago. I barely remember it anymore.” He threw back a healthy gulp. I noticed the way his throat moved as he swallowed. His dark evening stubble shifted as his Adam’s apple moved under his skin.
Julian Thick was a beautiful man. That was nothing new. He was stopped regularly by men and women who did a double take when they saw his dark hair, square jaw, and defined cheekbones. He’d even modeled in college on a lark. It wasn’t like he’d needed the money; his family was obscenely wealthy. But he’d thought it was funny, and he’d had a crush on one of the photographers.
“I still have that picture of you,” I said a little while later, completely out of the blue.
“You’ve had too much bourbon,” he said with that kind of soft tone his voice got sometimes when he was buzzed.
“No, I mean the one you did for that magazine. The one without your shirt.” I grinned at him. “The one with the nips.”
Julian grinned back, rolling his head on the back of the sofa cushion, his earlier surly mood temporarily forgotten. “Jordan Pribble. Had an ass like a fucking vise. I remember that day. God, he was hot.”
I stared at him. “You fucked him?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I fucked him. Several times if I recall correctly. Sucked him off, too. He was—”
“Ugh,” I said, interrupting him by holding up a hand. “Don’t want the details, thanks.”
“Fat like an eggplant,” he finished deliberately. “Uncut. Nearly gagged me until I cried.”
My heart rate tripped into a faster rhythm. “Stop.”
I hated hearing this. Loathed it. But it was also doing funny things to my stomach. I stared at the shine of bourbon on his lips, at the way his blue eyes glinted with remembered heat, and felt like I was maybe catching a glimpse of a Julian Thick who wasn’t my loyal friend but someone else’s hot, aggressive lover.
I shivered despite the fire.
Julian chuckled darkly. “Fine. I’m going to bed. Good night, Parker.”
He got all the way to the back hallway before I found my voice and called after him. “Stay. You can tell me about eggplant dick if you want.”
“Go to sleep, Parks. There are blankets in that basket over there.”