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“Oblivious?”
“Innocent,” I snap, narrowing my eyes. “Are you going to be a jerk to him?”
“Me? Never,” he says, and I absolutely believe him. Cassius is the nicest person ever. He’s so chill with everyone he meets. Such a good guy. He’ll go out of his way to make Max feel welcomed, even if he doesn’t particularly want to.
The elevator dings, and I skip out, smiling from ear-to-ear when I see that everyone is already here. Knox is setting up their long dining room table, while Elton entertains Rhys, Everest, and Butch.
“I’m going to say hi to Knox,” Cassius says, kissing the top of my head before walking away. I wrinkle my nose at that. I think it’s weird that he’s doing that, knowing what he thinks of Knox, but I don’t give it a second thought. Like I said, he’s such a good guy.
I shake my head and drop the omelets in the kitchen. Strutting toward the center of the room, I shake my hands in the air as I cheer. “The party’s here!”
Everest, who’s sitting on Rhys’s lap, jumps up to hug me. “Hey, we were wondering when you two were getting here.”
“Everything good?” Rhys asks, up-nodding in my direction as he drags Everest back onto his lap.
I nod. “Peachy. We just wanted to make sure the omelets were fresh before coming here. Hit a little bit of traffic too.”
Elton smiles and slaps my back. “We weren’t going to start without you two.”
I look around and frown. “Where’s Max?”
Butch groans and drops his head back. “Bambi’s been in the bathroom for twenty minutes now. I think he’s taking a shit.”
“Ew,” I say, cringing. “Maybe he’s just?—”
“Figuring out how to get his belt to buckle?” Butch questions sarcastically.
I make my way over to him and sit on the armrest of his chair. “Why are you being so rude?”
To this, he closes his eyes and sighs. He looks to where Elton is engaged in a heated discussion with Rhys, while Everest scrolls through his phone, then drops his voice to a whisper. “Don’t tell anyone, but the boss wants me to keep an eye on the new kid. Why? No fucking clue. He seems to have…” he trails off and frowns. “He’s taken an interest.”
I have no idea what that means or why it’s a secret. With the way Butch is talking, it sounds like Davis’s interest is not a good thing. Either way, right now isn’t the time to pry.
I’ll do that later.
“Um, so, you might want to fix your toilet.”
We all turn to look at Max, who, apparently, has finally emerged from the bathroom. He has a guilty look on his face as he glances behind him and gulps.
Knox, who’s the closest to him, snarls. “What did you do?”
“It’s not my fault you have a futuristic shitter!” Max argues, raising his hands. “What was that tube connected to the?—”
Elton snorts, but it’s entirely good-humored. “You mean the bidet? Did you try to use it?”
“Well…” Max blushes and scratches the back of his thick neck. “It looked like fun?”
Knox rolls his eyes and curses under his breath. “Elton?—”
“We’ll call a guy tomorrow,” Elton rushes out, a smile still plastered on his face. “No worries, Max.” He looks around and claps. “I think we’re ready to eat, yeah?”
Everyone nods and makes their way to the table. Cassius already has a seat saved for me, and I plop down, smiling when he pulls it closer to his own. “Everything looks great,” he tells Knox and Elton.
“We have you all to thank for that,” Elton says, ever the adorable golden retriever we all know and love. “You all brought the majority of the food. We just made it look fancy.”
Growling with impatience, Knox pulls out a chair for his husband. “Elton, I’m starving. Let’s eat.”
“Okay!” Elton says. He gives Knox a sloppy kiss to his cheek, and at his husband’s affection, Knox predictably softens.
