Crossroads

Page 19

“Yes. Christ. Why do you care? Anyway, he’s a chef and owns a restaurant. It’s called Nick’s. The food is incredible. I can’t get enough of it. He was saying he could make food for everyone and we’d get it at cost.”
“Good thinking, little brother. Now I see where you’re going with the neighbor thing. That’d be fantastic.”
Well, wait. He didn’t want Jamie to think that was the only reason he’d invited Nick. Hell, Bryce hadn’t even thought about it himself. That had been all Nick. He’d invited his friend because he wanted him there.
Deciding he didn’t want to go into detail with Jamie about it right now, Bryce let it go. He found out the time of the party, head count and all of that. He’d need to get an idea about food from Nick—what their options were and all that stuff—but this would give him a place to start.
He felt better knowing he’d have Nick there as backup, someone for him to talk to during what would no doubt be a crazy day. Though, he had no one to blame for that craziness other than himself.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The day of the party, Nick was at the restaurant early to prepare. They’d decided on baked ziti and an Italian sausage bake he made. Once he had everything set up, he raced back home to shower and get ready. He was nervous, which was a fucking joke. What in the hell he had to be nervous about he didn’t know, but he was.
Just as he got ready, there was a knock. “Come in,” Nick called and Bryce walked in.
“Where’d you go this morning?” Bryce asked as he stood by the door waiting.
Um...was that a trick question. “To cook?”
“You had to get up early and go to work to make the food for us? You should have told me. I didn’t want you to go to so much trouble.”
“Did you think it would cook itself?” Nick shoved his wallet into his back pocket and grabbed his cell. He wore a casual, button-up, short sleeve shirt and jeans. Bryce was in jeans and a T-shirt, casual as well, so he figured he’d worn the right thing.
“Well, no. I’m not an idiot. I just figured whoever was working would take care of it or something like that. Not that I want to cause your employees extra work, either but, again, I didn’t want it to cause trouble. I shouldn’t have let you do it.”
Nick shrugged him off. It wasn’t a big deal at all. “I like to cook. I could have had someone else do it¸ but I wanted to. The other chefs are great, but...well, I guess we all trust ourselves more than anyone else. I wanted to make sure it was a perfect meal, so to do that, I needed to take care of it myself.”
Nick went into the kitchen to get one of the chafing dishes. Before he had the chance, Bryce reached out and grabbed his arm. His fingers were rough, Nick noticed, probably from working on bikes.
“Thank you. I appreciate you going to so much trouble for us.”
Nick didn’t move and Bryce didn’t let go. You’re welcome, danced on the edge of his tongue, but he had yet to make the words come out. Finally, he settled on, “No worries. What are friends for?”
Still, they both stayed in the same place, and goddamned if he didn’t think he felt Bryce’s thumb brush back and forth against his arm. What the fuck, Fuller? What’s going on here?
Finally, Bryce broke the silence. “Well, you know...if you ever need work done on a bike, I’m your guy.”
Nick knew he should laugh, but for some reason, he couldn’t make it happen. Instead he said, “We better go before we’re late. We still have to pick up your girlfriend.” Nick was in on the truth so he had no idea why he’d called her that.
It was then that Bryce finally let go of his arm. “She’s not my girlfriend.”
It shouldn’t matter either way. Whatever Bryce had going on had nothing to do with him. Still, Nick said, “She is today.”
Bryce’s dark brows pulled together. There were creases in his forehead as though he made the same facial expression often, and then it was just gone.
They loaded the food into the trunk of Nick’s car, and Bryce gave him directions to Christi’s. The car ride was awkward as hell for some reason.
When they pulled up to Christi’s apartment, Bryce got out as she jogged over. She kissed him on the cheek. “Hey, hot stuff. I’ll get in the back.”
“Yeah right. You’re not sitting in the back. Even if that wouldn’t make me feel like an asshole, Ma would kick my ass when we got there.” Bryce climbed into the back, and Christi in the front.
She surprised Nick by leaning over and kissing his cheek the same as she had with Bryce. “Hi, hot neighbor Nick.”