Page 84 of Third Wheel

He texted Brian. The same person he’d gone to when he and Kincaid had broken up.

Zach: Can I come over?

Now, he just had to hope that, unlike Zach, Brian hadn’t left his phone somewhere away from him.

Thankfully, he didn’t have long to wait.

Brian: I’m at Marquis. Meet me here?

Not ideal, but better than spending one more minute in this house where Amy’s absence gaped, and Kincaid’s melancholy hovered in the air like a dark miasma.

Before answering Brian, though, he walked back out into the main room. Kincaid was still sitting on the couch, staring at the television. It was still off.

“I’m going to go meet up with Brian,” he said, waiting to see what Kincaid’s response would be. Kincaid didn’t even twitch.

“Okay.” His voice sounded hollow. He didn’t ask where. He didn’t ask if Zach would be back.

Fuck.

It was all falling apart.

Pressing his lips together to keep his emotions from spilling out, Zach went to the front door and grabbed his keys off the hook. He waited until he was outside to text Brian back and let him know that he was on the way.

Getting into his car, feeling like he was fully alone for the first time, Zach slammed his hands against the steering wheel.

“Fuck.”

Did he feel a little better? Not really. But at least he wasn’t all pent-up anymore. He could drive. As long as he focused really hard on where he was going and didn’t think about everything that had just happened. Which was a lot easier said than done when all his brain wanted to do was turn over every single word he’d said, every single place he’d gone wrong.

Right from the point of accidentally leaving his phone inside. That was the first mistake.

Stop thinking about it. Just get to Marquis. Just get to Brian. He’ll know what to do.

Fuck. Was Kincaid right? Did he really expect other people to tell him what to do?

No. He just wanted to talk things out. And to get out of the house to think. He didn’t actually mean that he would do whatever Brian told him to. It was just that Brian was a good sounding board. He knew the situation. He knew Zach. He knew Kincaid. He’d have good ideas.

The universe was finally on Zach’s side when he arrived at Marquis, and he managed to get a spot right in front of the restaurant. He spotted Brian as soon as he walked in at a booth with Rae, Iris, Law, Nick, and Avery. Shit. Zach was interrupting a group date. He was so fucking selfish. Krista was right—he did make everything about himself. It hadn’t even occurred to him to ask Brian why he was at Marquis.

It was too late to back out, though, because Brian had obviously been waiting for him. He saw Zach as soon as he walked through the door and was already getting up from his seat.

“I’m sorry,” Zach said as soon as Brian reached him. “I didn’t realize… I wasn’t thinking…”

“It’s okay. When you texted, I figured you needed me right away.” Brian held out his hand for Zach to clap, and they came together in a bro hug. “I can see now that I was right.”

“I…” Zach sagged as they broke back apart. “Yeah. Thank you for always being there for me. It means a lot.”

“I know.” Brian inspected Zach’s face, his serious brown eyes taking in everything. “Come on, let’s go over to the bar, and we’ll talk about it.”

“I don’t want to interrupt.”

“It’s fine. I already told Rae that I’d be stepping away when you got here. We just paid, so everyone will be getting back to their day. Law and Iris are going to take her home.”

Zach’s eyes stung with threatening tears as Brian turned him toward the bar, hand on his shoulder.

“You’re a really good friend.”

“I know.”

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