Page 124 of The Holy Grail
“What?”
“I’m just wondering if youcankeep it to yourself, especially when it comes to your best friend.”
“I can keep it to myself.”
“Like you kept what I told you to yourself?”
She made a face at him. “If you’re referring to me telling Mal what you said—”
“Obviously, I am.”
“—that was different. You and I didn’t have an agreement that I wouldn’t tell anyone.”
Evan’s eyebrows rose at her audacity. “What? That’s your justification for your word vomit?”
“Yes. If you’d told me not to tell him, I wouldn’t have.”
He gave her a look that said,You’re so full of shit, you should be able to taste it.“Okay, I’ll pretend to believe you, and agree to keep this between the three of us for as long as we can, which will be until you break and tell Paige.”
Jules returned his look with one that said,You picked a fight with the wrong girl.“I’ll bet you fifty dollars I won’t tell Paige until it’s time ... say, when we tell her and David together.”
“You’re on,” Evan said, before turning to Malcom, who, not surprisingly, seemed in favor of the decision to keep the relationship under wraps as well. “What about you? Is there something you want to ask for?”
Malcom shook his head. “I can’t think of anything—oh, wait, I do have something.”
“What is it?”
“When you’re at work, could you not flirt so hard with all the attractive people?”
“Really? You know it doesn’t go anywhere.”
Jules gave Evan the stink eye.
“Okay, itusuallydoesn’t go anywhere,” Evan amended. “And it obviously wouldn’t go anywhere from here on out, but I’ll scale it back to just friendly, bartender-patron conversation.”
“Thank you.” Malcom smiled and reached over to take Evan’s free hand. “I just don’t want to think about you at work flirting with anyone when I’m here watching TV with my cat.”
“Nor do I, when I’m home watching TValone.” Jules stressed. “At least you have a cat for company.”
Another silence settled over them, and Evan used it to focus on their joined hands, connecting in a circle. He was feeling both nervous and hopeful this path they were now taking wouldn’t lead to a fucking mess.
“Look at us,” Jules said softly.
Her eyes were bright with emotion, as were Malcom’s, and Evan let their energy wash over him, igniting his skin. “Yes. Look at us.”
“Do you feel it?” Malcom asked, his voice low.
Evan swallowed hard. “I do.”
Chapter 38
And then there were three ...
After announcing his departure not long after the hand-holding session, both Malcom and Jules tried to get Evan to stay a little longer, even as they walked with him to the front door.
“It’s been a pretty big day, and I just need to have some time to myself to process everything, and get centered,” he told them.
It wasn’t untrue. He really did need to get a few things straight in his head, the least of which was the fact that less than an hour ago, he’d been heading for the exit ramp at one hundred miles an hour, and now he had a new boyfriendanda new girlfriend.
