Kiss Me: The Complete Collection by Novak Charlie

Author:Novak, Charlie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-11T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY

Aaron

“I thought you were going to quit,” Ben said when he found me stubbing out the last of a cigarette in the staff garden after lunch on Tuesday. The late-afternoon June sunshine was hot on my skin as I basked like a lizard in one of the metal chairs. I shrugged and pulled another cigarette out of the packet.

“You’ve gotta let me have one vice.”

“You have plenty.”

“Not enough.” I grinned. I didn’t actually smoke that much anymore. It was more a bad habit I’d kept up for when I needed to think something through. Today that something was how the fuck I approached dating Josh because I had as much experience with traditional dating as I did electrical engineering.

“Do you need me to list them?” Ben asked.

“I’ll start if you want: smoking, junk food, bad sex, worse language.” I ticked them off on my fingers. “They used to be worse.” Ben rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. “Come on. You know I’m right.”

Ben frowned and dropped down into the chair next to me, wincing as his bare skin brushed the hot metal. We probably needed a fucking umbrella, otherwise my pasty ginger ass was gonna burn by the time we got to August. “You’re in a good mood today. What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Can’t a man be cheerful without being fucking interrogated.”

“Not when that man’s you,” Ben said.

“Are you saying I’m a miserable bastard?”

“Yes.”

I grinned and shrugged. “You’re not wrong.” I took a last drag from the cigarette and stubbed it out in one of the old ashtrays I’d nicked from a bar in London. I debated asking Ben for his opinion, but Josh and I hadn’t really worked out what we were doing beyond the basic premise of wanting to be together, and I didn’t want Ben shoving his nose in just yet. Plus, I wasn’t one hundred percent sure how he’d react, and it was way too early in the game for him to be pissy at me.

“Have you seen Patrick today?” I asked, redirecting Ben’s attention away from me.

“Yeah, I just saw him leaving. Is he okay? He looks a little stressed.”

“Did he tell you what’s going on?”

“No? Is it serious?” Ben sounded anxious, and I shook my head.

“Not life threatening. Just about him and Connor.” I didn’t want to spill all Patrick’s personal details to the world, but since Ben’s brother was the one who owned the dance studio Connor taught at, I’d have thought Ben would have a fair idea of everything since Levi was a bloody gossip.

Ben grinned and huffed out a laugh, leaning back in his chair. “I wondered. Does this have something to do with the stress baking?”

“Yeah. He made two fucking cheesecakes, thirty brûlées, and forty mini lemon meringues yesterday.”

“Jesus. Better fucking push the desserts this week, then,” Ben said. “I thought the chiller looked full.”

“You won’t get anything else in it.” I chuckled. “Hopefully he’ll fucking talk to Connor soon. I don’t know how many more pep talks I’ve got in me.

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