Page 65 of Break the Rule
“I have other friends,” Andrew grumbles.
“I didn’t say you don’t have other friends, I said you don’t text anyone. Denise hates phones as much as I do, and we all know that since she moved in with Amanda, you two have gotten chummy. I know you guys have monthly wine and whine dates.So my comment stands. Anyone you text was at Mom and Dad’s tonight. Who was it?”
“You’ll find out soon enough,” Andrew hedges, being oddly elusive.
“Annie, tell me.”
“Now it’s Annie because you want something,” he says with an exasperated shake of his head.
Charlie grins, leaning closer. “Yes,Annie, my most favorite brother.”
“Didn’t you once tell Alec that I couldn’t be your favorite brother because I hogged the womb?”
“You don’t need to remember every single fucking thing someone says to you, you know.”
“Trust me, it’s not on purpose. I wish I didn’t.”
“What does that mean?” Charlie frowns, not liking the morose tone of Andrew’s voice.
“Nothing,” Andrew says, plastering on a smile. “Anyway, we’re almost to your house, so just know that whatever happens I love you.”
“You didn’t hire me a stripper, did you? I’m shocked, Annie.”
Andrew snorts. “No, I did not hire you a stripper.”
“Is it paint?”
“I love that your two thoughts for a surprise are just a stripper or paint.”
“There are few things in this world better than the human body and a way to immortalize it.”
“You’ve done enough immortalizing of this one already.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Charlie asks, turning his eyes on his own tree-lined street. “What the hell is at my house?”
“Something you’re going to like. I think.”
“You think.” Charlie pokes him in the side. “Details, now.”
“You can wait one minute.”
“I absolutely the fuck cannot,” Charlie protests, turning to stare out the front window watching as his little bungalow comes into view at the end of the street. “I don’t see any—oh.”
Charlie’s heart leaps into his throat.
He’s just as beautiful as Charlie remembers, his blonde hair blowing in the wind and his arms wrapped around his middle as he sits on Charlie’s front porch.
“You...he…how.”
“The how doesn’t matter,” Andrew shrugs. “He’s here, for now. Just…be patient with him?”
“How do you know Eden? Have you two been texting? Are you two friends?” Charlie gapes.
“Don’t worry, he doesn’t like me like that.”
“I wasn’t worried,” Charlie scoffs, unsure how to explain to Andrew how happy it makes him to imagine that his favorite person in the world might like Eden, too. “He’s kind of great, right?”
“He’s a fucking handful that’s for sure, but…yeah, he’s great.”
