Page 16 of Fragile Hearts

She rolls her eyes at him. “Since when did you turn into such a hardass?”

“Since I became your boss,” Nate fires back, pointing a finger at her.

Alana crosses her arms over her chest. “Sage is also my boss.”

Now it’s Nate rolling his eyes at Alana, and I swear these two might not be related, but holy fuck, do they act like they are. It’s all for fun though, because even though they might like to give each other a ton of shit, deep down, it’s obvious they really care for each other.

I glance at Flynn, who is chuckling at this whole interaction. He might be relatively new to our group, but he’s seen enough to know what Alana and Nate are like.

“Who exactly is working here today?” I ask, glancing around.

“You two,” Nate says, pointing a finger at me and Alana. “Flynn, you ready to check out some of the sketches I’ve done for your board?” he asks, turning to Flynn.

Flynn rubs his hands together, a huge smile on his face as he says, “Hell yes, let’s do it.” He kisses Alana goodbye in a way that is borderline obscene before he, Nate and Sage head back upstairs, leaving me and Alana alone in the shop.

“It’s good, you know,” she says when they’ve all gone.

“What’s good?”

Alana smiles, all teasing gone as she says, “What you’re doing for Sloane. Letting her stay with you, taking Mochi. It’s good.”

I huff out a laugh, shaking my head a little as I say, “Yeah, well, I think we all know how I feel about Sloane, don’t we?”

Alana laughs, walking over and wrapping her arm around my waist. “Yeah, we do,” she says. “And so does Sloane.”

“Does she?” I ask, wondering if that’s really true. I mean, yeah, I’ve asked her out a million times, but it’s always been casual, just a dinner or lunch or something that maybe she thinks is no big deal. I’ve done other stuff for her too, but then again, I do stuff for all my friends, so maybe that’s all she thinks we are. Maybe she has no idea how I really feel about her.

“She does, Owen, seriously,” Alana confirms. “She just needs time. It’s not that she doesn’t trust you or whatever. It’s just hard for her to open up. Even harder for her to let people in. It took months before she finally admitted to me that she was in the system, and that’s after she knew I was friends with that douche,” she says, pointing to the ceiling where Nate and Sage’s apartment is.

I blow out a breath, nodding because if anyone is going to know how Sloane really feels, it’s Alana. “Yeah, I get that,” I say. “And look, I’m not going anywhere.”

Alana smirks, squeezing my waist once more before letting go. “Good, that’s literally the one thing you can do for her that she will really appreciate.”

Chuckling, I say, “That and bring her dog home, right?”

After I finish up work, I head over to Flynn and Alana’s place to pick up Mochi and his things. Alana hands over about a million toys and beds and shit, while Flynn packs up all the leftover food in a bag.

“Bye, baby,” Alana croons, cradling his face in her hands.

Flynn laughs, gently tugging on his tail as he says, “Laters, fluffball. Be good.”

“You know you guys can come visit, don’t you?” I tease.

“Yeah, yeah,” Alana responds, holding the dog out for me. “Quick, take him and go make Sloane happy.”

Laughing, I lift Mochi’s paw and wave it goodbye to them before heading over to my car. On the drive home, Mochi sits quietly in the passenger seat, the window half open and the breeze blowing all his fluff back from his face.

He actually looks excited too, his mouth open like he’s smiling and his tongue hanging out the side.

When I pull into the driveway, I see Sloane’s car, and I smile, knowing she’s already home and I’m about to hopefully make her day. Beside me, Mochi lets out an excited yelp, as though he too recognizes her car and knows he’s about to see her.

“Alright, bud, you ready?” I ask, scooping him up. Mochi licks my face, and I laugh, getting out of the car. “Yeah, I know you’re excited to see her too,” I say to him as I unlock the front door and walk inside. “Sloane?” I call out, making my way through the living room to the kitchen.

“Out here!” she calls, and the second Mochi hears her, he starts going berserk, jumping about in my arms and letting out all these excited yelps.

Sloane obviously hears it because in two seconds she’s standing in front of me, a shocked look on her face as she takes in me and the dog. “Oh my god, what is he doing here?” she asks, coming over to take him from my arms.

Chuckling, I hand him over, smiling as she hugs him to her chest, Mochi clearly loving the attention she is giving him. When I don’t answer, she looks up at me, her eyes wide and a huge smile on her face as she says, “Owen?”

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