Page 21 of Liam

"That'll be $51.75."

I keyed in the sale and passed him the handheld. Of course, he had a Centurion Card. Not only was he a successful real estate agent, but he probably came from family money.

Chad lifted his glass. "How long have you known Owen?"

"What business is that of yours?"

"I'm just curious. You seem close. Have you ever dated?"

I crossed my arms. "Owen is like a brother to me. So, stop getting under his skin."

Chad smirked. "I get under his skin, do I?"

"Forget I said that."

"Too late." He turned from the bar and went to join the group of real estate agents.

"What did you do?" Noah asked from right behind me.

"I think I gave Chad fodder."

"Great work." He patted my shoulder, returned to the beer taps, and pulled one. I rolled my eyes and sighed. Owen was going to kill me. I'd never seen him get so worked up about someone competing with him. He usually welcomed a challenge.

I joined Noah at the taps. "When are we going to be receiving those Okanagan wines?"

That's where Noah and Brody had gone camping for their honeymoon. They'd spent a few nights near Kelowna on the west side of Okanagan Lake, and then a few nights in the desert of Oliver. Their trip had been focused on partaking in wine tours up and down the valley. Not that they could see them all. There were 186 licensed grape wineries in the Okanagan region.

"Next week."

"Can't wait to try some of them."

"I still think it's weird that you like wine." Noah made up a row of shafts and set them on the mat. "You know Jamal doesn't drink alcohol. It was a drunk driver who hit him."

My brow dipped. "I didn't know that." I didn't know anything about his accident and how he ended up in that wheelchair. Maybe someday, he would share his story with me.

I wanted that with him. To be that close.

Even if it was just as friends.

"For fuck's sake." I nearly bolted to my feet, but I didn't want to cause a scene. For some reason, Charlie had thought it would be a good idea to go out to dinner together.

Now I knew why.

He'd deliberately chosen a public place to ambush me.

I was three double scotches in. The conversation had started with how I was a terrible communicator. How I nevertold Charlie how I was feeling. He'd been dropping little crumbs of his emotional state to me recently. He wanted me to reciprocate. It felt strange. We weren't boyfriends. We'd established that much. I couldn't understand why he was acting like we were.

"It's the truth. We don't have sex anymore," he said, reiterating what he'd been berating me for over the last few agonizing minutes. "It's been almost two weeks now."

"And yet you continue to sleep at my place."

Charlie's jaw clenched, making the muscle jump. "Why are you shutting me out?"

I needed to tell him the truth. Or, at least, part of it. The full truth was I couldn't get Jamal off my mind. "Maybe I don't enjoy sex with you as much as I used to."

Charlie leaned back and crossed his arms. "Well, that's a start at least."

I motioned to the server to bring me another drink.

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