Page 35 of Missiletoe
It was completely out of character for Gareth.
You need to know that Gareth is an honorable guy. If he makes a promise, you can take that shit to the bank.
Something must have happened before I came into Gareth’s office. If I didn’t know any better, I would have said Paris had done something to scare Gareth. But that would have been ridiculous.
Nothing scares Gareth.
I would have asked Baz to elaborate on what happened after I’d fallen asleep, but he’d just introduced a new topic that needed addressing immediately. “Boyfriend? He’s not my boyfriend. Did Paris call me his boyfriend? Did he say anything nice about me?”
I was going to ask if he’d said if he thought I was pretty, but Baz shoved me back onto the couch with a hand to my face. I guess I’d gotten carried away and jumped on him a little.
“No, he didn’t say much about you. He was too busy having a pissing contest with Gareth.”
“Do you think he likes me? Not that I care,” I tacked on sneakily. If I wasn’t careful, Baz would realize I was into Paris.
Baz’s mouth twitched. “Hmm…I don’t know. It’s really hard to say at this point. He’s being pretty subtle about it if he does.”
I sat up, planted my feet on the couch, and tucked my knees up under my chin. “I know! It’s so hard to tell, isn’t it? Not that I care. His eyes are really blue, aren’t they?”
“I hadn’t noticed.” Baz stood up and offered me his hand. “Okay, sleepy britches. Let’s get you up to bed; this day has been a rough one for you and we both know sleep attacks don't count as real sleep for you. Do you want me to get Gareth to carry you upstairs?”
I ignored Baz’s hand. “I’m not currently speaking to Gareth, so no.”
Baz’s eyebrows nearly hit his hairline. “Really? I don’t think you’ve ever been mad at him before.”
“Well, I am today. He didn’t need to let Vale kick Paris out like that. Especially without warning. And how could he let that happen to Apple? What if he got squished?”
“Ha! You should have seen Apple after he got over his shock. I’ve never seen someone yell at Gareth like that before. Dude has an iron nutsack for sure. Though I don’t know what he’s so upset about. If I were Apple, I wouldn’t complain about getting manhandled by two large aggressive men.”
“What did Adam say?” Because there was no way Apple wouldn’t have told his husband immediately.
“Only that he was going to start doing all of his homework in Gareth’s office without Apple around.”
“Shit. That’s a nasty threat.”
“Which is why we should get out of here. Adam told me I had fifteen minutes to move you, and our time is just about up.”
On cue, the door opened, and Adam stormed in, sans Apple. He gave me a grunt of acknowledgment before stomping to Gareth’s desk and throwing his backpack down on it. One of the legs on Gareth’s desk popped off the second it made contact. All of Gareth’s pencils, perfectly lined up on his desk, began to roll off, one by one, shattering into splinters as they hit the floor. When Adam sat down, one of Gareth’s computers started to spark.
The wall of monitors began to flicker wildly.
I scrambled backward on the couch to avoid the shower of sparks Gareth’s desk lamp emitted when Adam turned it on. “Jesus, Adam, you do not mess around, do you?”
Adam shrugged, but I could tell he was proud of himself. I let Baz pull me off the couch because as much as I enjoyed watching Adam get revenge for me and Apple, watching him destroy thousands of dollars of tech I’d helped create was going to make me cry.
“Where is Gareth?” Baz asked, which was a valid question.
Gareth never lets Adam in his office, even with Apple around. His entire world is in there. I mean, he has redundancies, but his office has everything just the way he likes it.
Adam gave us a sly smile. “He might be stuck in his personal elevator.”
“Why is that?”
“I might have spent a few minutes inside it alone before he got in it.”
Baz and I looked at each other and laughed.
I love Adam. Everyone should have one. But they also need an Apple because the property damage is staggering without him.
