Page 20 of Just Bromantically Invested

This was a terrible, terrible idea. I’m actually sweating, heart beating hard, as I stretch my brain, trying to figure out how to throw these people off. My plan was to walk in, casually grab a coffee, and then sip it at a table where I could see him and he couldn’t see me. This is … the furthest thing from that plan ever.

“… harassing your customers.”

Oh,come on. I turn and pin the old woman with my glare, hoping it will get her to back off. I’m trying to do some protective best friend stalking here, and if Penn knew about what I was doing, it would all be completely consensual. I just don’t actually want him to know about it at this point because I’m beginning to get worried that I’ve crossed the line from protective to needs-a-restraining-order, and I’d like to take a moment to reevaluate my choices before Penn finds out about literally any of them.

“Sir, you have to go,” the manager on duty says.

I glance toward Penn and Lana through the bushy ferns to make sure I haven’t caught their attention.

“What if I promise to order a drink and stay at that table and you won’t hear anything else from me?”

“You’re scaring people off,” she says in a bored voice.

“I’m sorry. I promise I am. Here.” I dig out my wallet and wave my card at her. “Put through my coffee and charge your lunch to it as well. I’ll be sitting right here. Not saying a word to anyone or going near a single person.”

Her eyes narrow a fraction. “Rightthere.”

I quickly sit my ass in the free chair beside me. From here, I can still part the plants enough for a good view of Penn. “Promise.”

She sighs but plucks my card from my grip and heads back to the register. The old woman says something, but the manager shrugs and, judging by the way her lips move, says, “Free lunch.”

I don’t want to know what she’s making me pay for right now.

Not that it matters. My heart rate is returning to normal, I have a good view, and my gut isn’t at all churning over the way Penn is laughing at something Lana just said.

The day is off to a fantastic fucking start.

Chapter 8

Penn

Now that I know this one hundred percent isn’t a date and that Lana wouldn’t be interested in me anyway, it helps to take the pressure off. The flustering over her assumption about me and Madden has passed, and now we cantalk. Become friends, without all that added bullshit my brain likes to throw at me.

Turns out that Lana came out to her parents a few months ago. It didn’t go well, so she grabbed her cat, jumped in her car, and left. She didn’t know where she was going or what she’d do once she got there, but after googling for the closest queer-friendly cities, she ended up in Seattle.

Good choice on her behalf.

Terrible choice by her parents.

“Tell me about Madden,” she says suddenly.

It takes me a second to catch up to the conversation change, like it has for most of the time we’ve been together. “What’s to tell? He’s my best friend.”

“How long have you known him?”

“We met in high school, early on. We were both on the baseball team, good enough to play college level but not much after that, and for some reason, from that first day, we … clicked.”

“It must be nice to have a friend like that.”

“Yeah. It’s easy. Now, we have a business together that we’re getting off the ground.”

Lana smiles and takes a sip from her coffee. “I had a best friend once. But I mistook her friendliness for affection, tried to kiss her, and unleashed the queer kraken on my life.”

“Is she why you came out?”

“Yep. Everyone in town knew, so I had to get to my parents first.”

“I’m sorry.”

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