Page 34 of Jett in Jeopardy

“I just… um… I wanted to know if maybe you wanted to go out sometime?” He nodded at the cafe. “Maybe we could get a coffee together.”

Had he just asked me out? In the few times I’d worked with Simon, I had no idea he was gay. Not until I ran into him that night at The Dunes. He was a little taller than me, but not by a lot, his frame thicker and stockier, and I would have bet money he played football in high school. His light hair was cut short, blond wisps fluttering in the chilly breeze. His face was round and boyish, not unattractive, but not my type, either.

I shot him my most sincere smile, hoping for warm and friendly and nothing more. “Thanks, I’m really flattered, but I’m kind of seeing somebody.”

Not entirely untrue.

“Is it the guy from the bar?”

I frowned. “How did you know?”

“I see you guys together a lot,” he said, answering my unspoken question. Then he shrugged. “Well, it doesn’t hurt to ask.” He sounded truly disappointed.

Again, I smiled, hoping I’d let him down easily. “No, it doesn’t. I am really flattered. Well, I should go, though.” I nodded across the road. “I’m meeting Brody.”

“Sure,” Simon said, “I’ll see you around.”

Chapter Fourteen

Jett

“Itisfreezingout there,” I said, pushing through the door into Brody’s apartment. The dull gray skies had darkened since I left the university, turning deep indigo blue by the time I got to Brody’s. Inside, warm air, heavy with the savory scent of whatever he was cooking on the stove, chased away the chill from outside. “Smells good in here.”

“Stir fry,” Brody said, looking up from the pan on the stove in front of him. “How was your day?”

“Good.” I shrugged out of my coat and hung it on the peg beside the door—the peg that had unofficially become mine since I’d moved in two weeks ago.

“Anything?” he asked, just like he did every time I got back from class. He didn’t need to elaborate. I knew exactly what he meant. Had there been anything strange, anyone following me, any trace of whoever was stalking me?

I shook my head, just like I had every time he asked. “Nothing. Maybe they got bored and moved on.”

Since I’d moved into Brody’s, whoever had been stalking me had vanished. There’d been no strange cars following me or trying to run me over, no more unexplained photos on my phone, no strange noises or missing things making me wonder if there was someone in the apartment who shouldn’t be. Even my car, which had the tires replaced, remained vandalism free.

Maybe you’d been wrong all the way around, and no one had ever been stalking you. You’d taken a series of unfortunate incidents and turned them into a paranoid delusion. And soon, everyone will know how you screwed up again.

“Unlikely,” Brody said. “They probably just haven’t had the right opportunity since you moved in.”

He may have had a point. Over the past two weeks, I was rarely alone. When Brody was at work and I stayed here, he was just downstairs. Even when he was away from The Dunes entirely, Cilla, Damien or any of the wait staff who worked at the bar were usually around.

“Can I help?” I asked, leaning against the counter next to where Brody was cooking.

“This is almost done. You could get plates and utensils.”

I did as he asked, setting the plates on the counter before Brody dished out rice and poured the stir-fry over top.

We sat down together at the table and talked. We’d gotten into something of a routine over the past two weeks. When I got home from class, Brody would normally have dinner waiting. We’d sit down together, talk about everything and nothing, then he’d go to work while I washed up. On his nights off, we’d clean up together and flake out on the sofa, binge watching each other’s favorite shows.

I liked the routine, and I really like his company. Despite living with two other guys at my other place, our schedules never jived, and we rarely spent any time together—especially over the last few months since Alistair had moved out and Grier and Sawyer had paired off. Even when we were all together, with Finn and Sawyer, I felt like a third wheel.

This week was my turn, so I had us watchingThe Last of Us. Last week, Brody had insisted I watch all theStar Warsmovies after I admitted I had never seen any of them. Next week, Brody planned for us to watch theAlienfranchise because it turned out Brody was a huge sci-fi nerd.

Once we finished eating, we washed the dishes together. He washed, and I dried. I did point out that I could clean up the dinner dishes myself. He cooked after all, but he shrugged and said he didn’t mind.

Brody finished washing before I finished drying and putting away the dishes, so I kept going. He went back into the bedroom to get ready to go down to work.

“Are you coming down tonight?” he asked once he emerged from the bedroom.

“I don’t know.” I set a plate on top of the stack in the cupboard. “It’s Friday. You’ll be busy. I don’t want to distract you.”

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