Page 71 of Hartley

“It’s easier than focusing on the dread in my mind and the pit in my stomach. I thought once Gil was gone, I’d feel better, and my anxiety would lift. While some of it did, now I worry about other stuff.”

Before my mind could go down that road again of what could be happening, I started putting together the ingredients I needed for brownies. Not just any brownies either. I was loading them up with gooey chocolate and only going to bake them until they came out moist and decadent.

“Jordan’s going to be okay,” Hartley whispered. “He has to be. We’re going to have a big celebration where we pledge our lives to each other with our friends and family there.”

“Pop would be proud of you.”

Hartley gave me a sad smile. “I hope so. We have Lane now as part of our family. A half uncle I didn’t know I had. Fuck, that sounds weird. I’m not calling him that. I’ll just say he’s mycousin or something. Less questions will be asked that way. Anyway, what are we making?”

“Brownies and maybe another dessert if we have time. I’m not sure how long Jordan will be gone and want to keep myself busy. I already called Dex and told him I wouldn’t be in tonight. It’s one thing to be here and bake but going to Untouchable when all this shit is going on, I wouldn’t be able to focus.”

“At least Jordan doesn’t freak about the security when you’re there. No one’s getting into Untouchable who isn’t supposed to. Dex’s guards would fuck them up.”

“Dex would too.” People saw him and immediately thought businessman, but he was much more than that. Dexen didn’t have an ex-fighter for a brother without learning a few things himself.

“True. I forget Dex can kick ass. He’s also got two big partners who would gladly handle it for him.”

I smiled. “They fit together well.” It made me happy to see people find where they fit in life, not only professionally but also personally, especially when they were amazingly kind.

Hartley and I worked side by side to make the brownies. Once they were in the oven, we started on banana bread. I asked Rory if he could go upstairs and get the too ripe bananas off the counter. We weren’t going to eat them that way so they might as well go to good use.

With the bread in the oven too, Hartley and I took care of the dishes. I told him he didn’t have to help me, but he wanted to. With Ava away at her friend’s house and Jordan out, it kept us busy. Maybe I wasn’t the only one who needed something else to do.

We sat on one of the couches I ordered for the space to relax on when there was food in the oven. It faced the floor-to-ceiling windows that took up the far wall, looking out over the city. I loved sitting here at night, taking it in, enjoying the peace that came with knowing I was in here and not out there fighting my way through city traffic and dealing with more stress than I could handle. I might have gone through a lot with Gil, but I was also lucky in a lot of ways.

My arm rested around Hartley’s shoulders as he tucked against my side, his head on me. “I never imagined we’d be here,” I said.

“Waiting for Jordan to get home to wash blood off himself? It’s not a thing of dreams, though I do love it when water drips down his bare chest.”

“No,” I chuckled and pinched his side. He let out a little yelp then nestled back in. “I mean us. You and me. We knew each other years ago. I was always with Forest, and you’d tag along now and then.”

“It was either that or wait for Pop to give me a lesson about something. I know what you mean though. Occasionally, I wonder if I’m dreaming. I had such a crush on you, Vail. It was a fantasy, not a reality. And then you were in front of me like I pulled you out of thin air. I couldn’t believe my luck at meeting Jordan and having you back in my life.”

“We’re where we’re supposed to be.”

“We are.”

The sun started to set over the city as Hartley and I stayed on the couch. When the timer went off for the brownies, then the bread, Barry told us not to move and entered the kitchen to remove them from the oven, and turn it off, before slipping out the door again and closing it partway behind him.

Hartley and I ended up lying down on the couch with the recessed lighting casting a warm glow on us. Tahoe lay sprawled on his side on the area rug. I put that there for him,not wanting him on the couch. There was no way I was buying his spoiled-ass another bed.

The couch was long, but not nearly enough. My legs rested on the arm while my head was cradled on a throw pillow. Hartley lay on top of me, his cheek pressed to my chest where he could listen to my heartbeat. He said it was a soothing sound.

The door opened a bit later. Instead of hearing the quiet footfalls of Barry, it was loafers tapping across the floor. I’d know that sound anywhere.

Hartley must have fallen asleep at some point because he didn’t move as Jordan rounded the couch and stopped in front of us. His suit of earlier was gone. In its place was a pair of the lounge pants Hartley made and loved us in, and a white T-shirt stretched across Jordan’s muscular chest. When I looked down, I saw fancy slippers, not loafers.

He crouched and brushed a lock of hair from my forehead. “Hi, baby. Doing okay?”

“Better now that you’re here,” I whispered, trying but failing not to wake Hartley.

The moment he stirred, and his eyes latched on to Jordan, he flung himself in Jordan’s direction, knocking him onto the area rug where they landed, displacing Tahoe, who jumped out of the way just in time.

“You’re okay?” Hartley asked as he lifted Jordan’s shirt, and his hands skimmed over his flesh.

“I’m fine. I wasn’t hurt.”

“Was anyone?”

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