Page 26 of Havoc
With the last painting hung, they went to the other two, Erin taking a seat on Alijah’s lap as Lawrence stood before them. It’d only taken them an hour and a half to do what she wanted, but he’d been there for two and a half hours.
“Thank you all again for helping,” Alijah stated.
“I’m not going to pass up food and drinks,” Lawrence responded. He was sure Alijah knew she could get him to help with just about anything as long as there was the promise of food.
“And here we thought you wanted to spend time with us,” Chayse teasingly responded.
Lawrence decided to tease her back. “That’s secondary,” he replied. “Anyway, are you excited about your cruise in a couple of weeks?”
“I am. We’ll be gone for an entire week. So, I had to schedule most of my shoots for these first two weeks and scheduled all of our men for the same day next week. I can do them all at once,” Chayse responded. “This cruise will be well worth it and deserved afterward.”
Lawrence could imagine. He’d seen the May edition ofGorgeousthat was put out at the beginning of the month, and the Mother’s Day spreads were beautiful. He was sure it’d taken Chayse a lot of work. Each spread was different but no less stunning than the last. Lawrence could only imagine the work she was putting in for the June edition.
He wasn’t artistic like the three women in front of him. So, it always amazed him when he saw something they created and thought about how much work they’d put into it.
“Speaking of men,” Alijah started. “I was thinking we could go on a couples retreat sometime in August or September since you’re dating Cruz and Paetyn now.”
When Lawrence heard Erin was dating the two men, it made sense to him. Like they fit together. He’d only been around the two men a few times, but he knew that, if nothing else, Erin would have a hell of a good time with them. She was living her best life, and he wasn’t mad at her.
Erin nodded. “That sounds like fun.”
“You can come to, Lawrence,” Alijah paused briefly. “You can bring Remy.”
Lawrence’s attention snapped from Erin to Alijah. He was shocked that he hadn’t given himself whiplash as his eyes widened. How did she know that he was dating Remy? He hadn’t told anyone. He didn’t know how she’d come to know unless Remy told her, and the other man hadn’t informed him that he’d done so.
“What?” he questioned for lack of a better response.
“What?” Alijah mimicked, and it was terrible. She’d never been good at imitating people’s voices in the time that he’d known her. So, Lawrence didn’t know why she even tried. “Don’t sit over there like that man isn’t blowing your back out or like he hasn’t at least done so a couple of times.”
“Wait, how did you—”
“We all knew you disappeared that night,” Chayse told him with a shrug.
“And then Remy made up this story about a watch that was left, and him thinking it was yours. He could have done better,” Alijah responded. “But I wasn’t going to rain on his parade. I figured you either didn’t exchange numbers, and he wanted to contact you, or you left the watch at his house.”
Remy hadn’t told Lawrence he’d approached Alijah and made up a story. He assumed it was to get him to speak to him when he’d been ignoring him. He remembered their conversation about a watch when he visited Alijah at work, but Lawrence brushed it off. He’d ask Remy about it later that evening.
“The two of you were also not that discrete when you left,” Erin stated. “Though I didn’t know that’s who it was when I told you to talk to him.”
“So, the way I see it, you owe us some information,” Chayse said, and Erin and Alijah nodded.
Lawrence refrained from rolling his eyes because they would want to know the details of his relationship with Remy. Not that he minded; he didn’t know where to start, how to tell them what he felt when he was around Remy, how the other man seemed to overwhelm him at times.
He started from the night they left together after the wedding. Once Lawrence began talking, he just told them everything that transpired. He even told them how he felt overwhelmed by Remy, and all three gave him looks like they could relate.
Lawrence was honest with them about not knowing if he liked it. While they were dating and sleeping together, Remy made it clear to him that at any time he felt uncomfortable or needed to talk about what he was feeling, they would. Lawrence hadn’t needed to yet, but he knew that if and when he did, Remy would keep his word.
Remy knocked on Lawrence’s door at seven forty-five. The movie they were going to see started at eight-twenty. He only had to wait a minute until the door was pulled open, and Lawrence stood there in pants and no shirt.
Remy looked him over before stepping into his space, leaning slightly to kiss him. “Are you trying to tempt me?”
Lawrence smiled against his lips. “I’m not, but if I was, I see that it would be working.”
They stepped out of the doorway, and Remy closed the door behind them. He watched Lawrence go to his bedroom, calling over his shoulder for Remy to make himself at home. He was tempted to follow him. However, he sat on the couch, picking up the book on the coffee table. Remy hadn’t read it before and flipped it over to read the description. It sounded interesting, andhe made a mental note to ask Lawrence if he could borrow it once he was finished reading it.
Ten minutes later, Lawrence came out of the bedroom fully dressed. Remy stood, following him out of the door. Once they were in the car, they headed to the theater.
As they drove, Remy asked Lawrence how work was and how helping Alijah rearrange her gallery went. It must have reminded him of something because he turned his attention toward Remy, and when he glanced over, Lawrence had an inquisitive look on his face.
