Crossroads

Page 14

“I’m telling you, you won’t regret it. It’ll be the best steak you ever put in your mouth.” He’d kick Bryce’s ass if he tried to make his last statement sound like something it shouldn’t. Bryce opened his mouth and Nick held up a hand. “Shut up and give me the meat.” It was surprising to him how comfortable he felt around the guy. They’d fallen easily into a friendship, when Nick hadn’t done that in years.
Bryce slid the backpack off, opened it and handed two bags to Nick. “I need to clean up a bit while you go play with the meat. I’ll be out soon. Oh, and Christi called. She’s feeling left out so I invited her over to hang out with us. Is that cool?”
“Your ex-girlfriend Christi?” he asked on reflex. He wasn’t sure why it mattered who it was. “Or I guess I should say, your current girlfriend, depending on who’s around?”
“Ex works. Better yet, just call her a friend. That’s all she ever should have been, anyway. She’s great. You’ll love her. See ya in a few.” Bryce walked over to the door that led into his house, but for some reason, Nick didn’t move. It was a strange concept to him—the fact that they were so close, had been together, broke it off, but were still close. Oh, and add in the fact that they kept their break-up from Bryce’s parents. It was none of his business one way or another, but...he didn’t know. It was just weird to him. Probably because his only relationship experience was Jill, and she’d screwed him over so royally.
Still, he was used to it just being the two of them, and now they’d have someone else with them. And, I sound like a fucking weirdo. What the hell is wrong with me?
“You plannin’ on marinating your meat in my garage, or what?”
Yeah. He guessed that probably wouldn’t work too well. Nick wasn’t sure what the hell was wrong with him. “You’re a riot. See you in a bit.” He walked out of the garage, around the house and back to his place.
As Nick tenderized their steaks, and added all his favorite ingredients to the marinade, his mind went back to his neighbor.  There was something he wasn’t telling Nick when it came to Christi. He had a feeling it was something pretty personal to Bryce, and considering he had no obligation to tell Nick jack-shit, he needed to quit worrying about it.
It didn’t take Nick long to get everything put together before he wrapped the meat in saran wrap so it could soak in the mixture he’d created.
He changed into a pair of blue jeans and a black T-shirt, the whole time wondering what Christi would be like. Since she was so close with Bryce, he had a feeling they would be similar, which meant Nick was in a whole hell of a lot of trouble. He could hardly keep up with Bryce sometimes, so he had no idea how he was supposed to keep up with Bryce and the female version of him.
A few minutes later there was a knock on his sliding glass door. The only possibility was Bryce so he called out, “It’s open.” He heard the door sliding in its track and then Bryce spoke.
“We need to get some outdoor furniture for back here. I brought a couple chairs from my kitchen since my shit’s not as nice as yours.”
“Yeah, I thought about that. I was actually thinking of going and picking some up soon. It’s pretty barren back there. Though it looks a whole lot better since we cleaned it up.”
Nick looked over to see Bryce standing in the doorway, his hands above his head, grabbing onto the ledge. His T-shirt pulled up, showing dark hair and taut skin on his lower stomach. What the fuck? Nick jerked his eyes upward and they landed on muscled biceps as Bryce gripped the upper part of the door.
Nick shook his head, quickly turning around. What the fuck was that? Why did I just notice Bryce’s body? He shook his head again, as though that would make the thoughts fall out.
“You okay over there, buddy? You’re shaking your head like you’re a dog and have something in your ear.”
That comment kicked all the strange thoughts right out of Nick’s head and he let out a loud laugh. “You’re an asshole.”
“So I’ve been told.” Bryce shrugged and walked inside. As he did, Nick heard a car idling outside.
“Sounds like your girlfriend is here.”
“My friend, and you’re an asshole, too.”
Bryce stepped around him and opened the door. “Over here,” he called. Nick leaned against the back of the couch as he waited for Bryce’s friend to come in.
As soon as she did, she gave Bryce a kiss on the cheek and then Nick a big-ass smile. She was beautiful—thick red hair, curvy, a few freckles on her nose and cheeks. She was tiny, more than a foot shorter than him, but one grin from her and he could tell her personality was the biggest in the room.