Page 13 of Just Between Us

I push off his desk. “Meet you downstairs in ten?”

He nods and I head back upstairs, satisfaction burning inside me.

Cole is already seated when Kai and I walk into the Japanese restaurant. I kiss him hello as his eyes look over both of us, an amused glint in his eyes. I take the chair next to Kai, sitting right across from Cole.

Just then, a waitress appears with menus in hand. She pauses before dropping them in front of us, her pale skin flushing. I watch her do the maths, trying to figure out what sort of dinner this is.

Are the three of us just friends?

Which of us is dating?

Her eyes settle on Cole, glazing over slightly. She bites her bottom lip and tucks a blond strand of hair behind her ear.

“Hi, I'm Ivy,” she says brightly, eyes focused on Cole. “Can I get you guys some water to start?”

I’m used to everyone who possibly can, hitting on Cole. He looks like he stepped off a Ralph Lauren ad campaign and if we weren’t together, I’d lustfully stare at him too.

“Sure, thank you, Ivy.” I shoot her my brightest smile and she visibly blushes.

We get ordering out of the way and slip into an easy conversation about work. Kai and his team have their meeting with Jones at the end of the week and I can tell he’s a little nervous but he’s brilliant. If it works out, it will make A-EYE more money which is all they seem to care about anyway.

Cole asks him about his family, and he only mentions his mother and his sisters, nothing about his father and I wonder what the story is there. As the food arrives, he seems to relax into the conversation. It’s surprisingly easy and his personality shines through his shyness that fades away as each minute passes by.

Kai’s mother is an English teacher, and he tells us how she bribed him to read as a little boy. He and Cole get into it about the books they love. Cole has an entire library of crime thrillers and horrors at home.

Kai makes a face when Cole says that.

“But the twists are always so predictable,” he groans. “I think I can tell who the killer is within the first fifty pages. Fantasy and sci-fi are way better.”

It’s Cole’s turn to make a face. “Fantasy is predictable too. Just long senseless journeys to some place with a name you can’t pronounce, prophecies, and dragons.”

Kai rolls his eyes. “That’s just Game of Thrones.”

I don’t read much anymore. I tend to hyper-fixate and read it all in one sitting which was only useful when I was trying to finish my university assignments the night before a deadline.

When I was a kid, to get my mind off things, I’d spend endless hours playing Mario Kart and Mortal Kombat. When I was a teenager, it was copious amounts of weed and loud music. Then before Cole, it was way too much alcohol, sex and drugs. Now, it’s American reality TV and Cole.

I completed my master’s in politics, Economics and Philosophy at twenty and sometimes I consider going back for a PhD. I know my professors would love it if I did—I was always meant to be their scholarly prodigy, but I couldn’t be that. Half the time I didn’t feel all that smart, I just felt like I was losing my mind, and I couldn’t find it in me to disappoint them.

I pull myself out of those depressing thoughts and focus back on Cole and Kai, still going on about books.

“How about this,” Kai says with a grin aimed at Cole. “You give me your favourite book and I give you mine and see if we can change each other’s minds?

I watch Cole as his tongue runs over his lower lip before his mouth spreads into a dangerous smirk. “You’re on.”

Kai smiles like he’s won something, and I feel myself relax as they continue to talk. It’s easy to fall in love with Cole again when I see him like this, so at ease and laughing.

When Ivy comes over again, she leans over Cole, just enough to give him a perfect view of her cleavage. It’s so obvious and shameless that I’m half impressed because if I were her, I’d probably do the same. Unfortunately for her, however, Cole’s attention is solely focused on Kai.

When she clears the table, Kai follows her with his gaze for a moment then turns back to us. “Does that get annoying?” he asks.

“What?” Cole asks, completely oblivious.

“She was trying her best to shove her chest in your face,” Kai says. “You must have noticed.”

Cole’s eyes land on the waitress, then back on me, as if confirming and I grin. “She was. She’s been trying to get your attention all night. I wouldn’t be surprised if she slips you her number with the bill.”

Cole lifts his brow then shrugs a shoulder. When we first met, he identified as straight. I was the first guy he ever slept with and I’m still the only guy he’s slept with. Ivy would have been his type before me.

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