Page 14 of Xtasy

Meg saluted him. “Discreet. Got it. Ambrose McKenzie. Don’t ever say someone is too perfect for you. If I hear you do it again, I’ll whip your perky ass until it is blood red. Not pink. Red.”

Atlas smiled. Meg and Hawk were a lot alike. “Yes, dear.” He winked. “Stay safe and come home quick. Luv you, girl.”

“Luv you back!” Meg pulled in for another hug. “You keep having the awesome sex while I’m away. Promise me that you’ll have a good time and open yourself up. I want everybody to know the Atlas I love. Love means taking risks, baby. Now, I saw alarm bells going off inside your head as soon as I said the word risk,” Meg teased but meant every word. “Yes, risks are dangerous and painful when they don’t work out. But when they do? It’s a fucking awesome ride.” Meg leaned back, slapped Atlas’ ass, and said, “Now, go take that fucking awesome ride with your fucking awesome ass!” She darted for the door. “Love you, Atlas! Don’t forget to water my plants!”

As soon as his hurricane of a best friend closed the door to their apartment, Atlas felt an eerie silence fall over the room. Meg was so full of energy—the good kind of energy that everyone wished they had but few really possessed it. Her loyalty was without fault. Meg was the kind of friend that would stand side by side with you when you’d really fucked up, but then beat the shit out of you for being a dumbass when all the dust settled. Atlas hoped he was wrong about it being weird for Ambrose to send him the roses, or Meg would destroy him. He also hoped he was right about Hawk really caring for him on more than a sexual level, or Meg would destroy him, too.

Shit. His boring life of pre-Hawk/Ambrose was starting to look enticing again. It was safe.

His cell rang and he dug it out of his pocket, hoping it might be Hawk, anything to make him stop worrying. “Hello.”

“Stop overthinking everything, Atlas.” Meg’s voice sounded from the other end of the line. “I knew the minute I walked out of the apartment you’d start worrying about things that you don’t even know exists. Stop it! That’s all. Love you!”

Atlas smiled. If it wasn’t Hawk, Meg was the next best thing, and she was right. She’d nailed him on the worrying part. How could a tiny woman be both a hurricane and rock at the same time? There was no doubt about it, though, Meg was his fucking rock.

“Love you right back, doll.” Atlas answered. They both disconnected and Atlas turned to face the tribunal of roses. Ugh. One vase with a thank you card would have been more than sufficient. Hell, he shouldn’t feel like he needed to send anything…but there they sat—all, Atlas counted in his head, twenty-four dozen vases. What to do….

Two hours later and with the much-needed help of his doorman, Tanner, all the roses had new homes and any evidence of their existence no longer existed in his apartment. Atlas knew he was more than likely overreacting and reading more into the gift, but in all honesty, overreaction was his superpower. There was no sense denying it, so he owned the quirky weakness. While he knew he didn’t possess those supernatural spidey senses that Peter Parker had, but something was telling him that Ambrose’s responses weren’t something that would make Hawk happy.

He'd just logged onto his computer to do some work when there was a knock at the door, which was odd because people were supposed to be buzzed up. The top-notch security was one of the reasons Atlas had chosen this complex. Quietly, he moved toward the small room with two security panels so he could see who was knocking. Tanner.

Opening the door, Atlas asked, “What’s wrong, Tanner? Please don’t tell me people are complaining about the roses?”

Tanner laughed. “Nah, I’ve heard that old saying aboutno good deed goes unpunishedbut so far, everybody has been tickled to find their roses. I’ve even caught a few men taking credit for sending them. Assholes.”

“Okay, great. I was afraid something had gone wrong.” Atlas looked at the small box in Tanner’s hand and a feeling of foreboding washed over him. “What’s in the box?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s why I’m here. A courier dropped this off for you. Maybe that wholepay it forwardthing really works. Looks like you’ve gotten something back for the nice rose thing you did earlier.” Tanner handed him the box. “Hope it’s something awesome. See you later, Mr. Mosley.”

“I hope it’s not something awesome,” Atlas grumbled as he pulled out his wallet to give Tanner a tip. “Thanks again for all your help today, Tanner. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“No problem, Sir. I’ll see you in the morning unless something else comes up.”

As soon as Tanner walked away, Atlas closed the door and leaned against it. The small box, wrapped in sparkling gold paper and tied with a black ribbon, burned his hand—not literally but definitely figuratively. That same feeling of doom loomed over him. Could he get lucky and it be a small, inexpensive gift from Hawk? Doubtful.

Small steps carried him to the sofa. He plopped down and palmed the package. To be in such a small box, it was heavy. If it was from Hawk, maybe it would be a fun sex toy they could try out together? If it was from Ambrose, he hoped it would be nothing more than a lump of coal. Ugh. How could he go from having zero men in his queue to two…who were the best of friends?

His hands trembled and his untied the ribbon and unwrapped the package. Beneath the wrappings was a black box and the inscription of a very expensive jeweler in the downtown area—the kind he’d been afraid to ever walk in to because he knew there was nothing he could afford. Fuck. Double fuck. He opened the box.

A watch. An expensive watch, no doubt. He picked up the card attached to the watch. It was a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona. As carefully as possible, he sat the watch down and Googled the cost—approximately thirty-thousand dollars. There was a gift card tucked beneath the watch.

Atlas actually thought he might cry. They’d be tears of anger, but tears were threatening. Frustrated, he stuffed everything back into the box and crammed it into a container where he and Megan put shit they never really intended to do anything with. After placing it on the shelf, he started pacing back and forth. Ambrose had been so nice to him, so supportive of he and Hawk getting together as a couple. What in the holy fuck had gone wrong? Why would the man do this to him? More importantly, to Hawk?

He nearly jumped out of his skin when his cell rang. He stared at it in horror. What if it was Ambrose? Two rings. What if it wasn’t? Three rings. What if Megan was stranded somewhere and needed his help? Four rings. Atlas raced over and swiped his finger up the phone. “Megan?”

Hawk’s sexy chuckle sounded from the other end of the phone. “No, not Megan. Are you disappointed? Is this Megan someone I need to worry about?”

Just the sound of Hawk’s voice caused him to begin to calm down. Hawk would make it alright. He could fix everything. Atlas felt a smile tug at his lips. Yes, he felt much better already. “Megan’s my roommate and self-appointed protector against all things evil. She’s traveling for business and since I overreact about practically everything, I automatically thought something was wrong.” Atlas flipped off the container that held the expensive gift that he had absolutely no desire to keep. He only wanted Hawk. “Why did you call? Is something up?”

“Just missing you already,” Hawk purred into the phone. “How busy are you today?”

Atlas looked at his open laptop. He’d been about to log into work when Tanner had arrived with the gift. Without a second’s hesitation, he used his toe to close the laptop. “I don’t have a thing in the world planned. What do you have in mind?”

“Lots and lots of things. Naughty things. Wicked things.” Hawk answered. “All those things but I also want to take you out to lunch, meet some of my friends, and then a nice dinner. We are more than sex, Atlas. At least I hope we are.”

Warmth gushed through Atlas’ entire body. “I hope we are, too. I’ll be at your place in an hour?”

“Sounds perfect. Can’t wait to see you again.”

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