Page 27 of Green
I did feel weird. I knew I was acting differently with her than I usually did. I wasn’t trying to. I liked how I usually was with Gemma. I was a leader and a bit of a control freak nerd with my employees. A charmer with the press and on social media. Cool guy with my friends. I’d grown into a bit of an alpha with the women I dated. But I liked myself most when I was with her. Being a best friend to her made me feel like a better person. Or maybe it’s just that Gemma made me feel better. The thought of her making another guy feel the way I felt around her was…not sitting right with me. At all.
I just didn’t think Ben was right for her.
After seeing Ethan and Chloe chatting amicably with him, I pulled Ethan aside.
“You know Ben?”
“Yeah, do you?”
“I just met him. You guys seem to already know each other.”
“You jealous?”
“Why would I be jealous? I’m just looking out for her.”
“I meant are you jealous about me hanging out with him.”
“You hung out with him?”
“Not really. He’s a good guy.”
“He is?”
“Pretty good. He invited Gem to a Dodgers game last week. He had extra tickets so she invited us.”
“You guys all went to a Dodgers game? Together?”
“Yeah. You weren’t in town.”
“She didn’t mention that.”
“It wasn’t a big deal.”
“You guys all went on a double date and nobody told me?”
“Nah. It wasn’t a date. Definitely not. I don’t think.”
“You are impossible to talk to. I seriously can’t wait for you to move out.”
“I’m not gonna miss you either.”
I punched his shoulder, just as the attractive redhead that I had spotted earlier approached, smiling, and giving Ethan a look that I recognized. It was the “you’re supposed to introduce me to your friend” look. She had to give that look to Ethan a second time, because he was not exactly sharp at the moment.
“Theo!” he said, jerking to attention. “Have you met Andie? My colleague. From work? Andie—Theo. Theo—Andie.”
Her fingers glided through her hair as she smiled at me. This was the third time that night. She had a nice smile. She had very nice red hair. She had all the things that I liked in a lady. So why couldn’t I take my eyes off of Gemma and Ben, who were out on the back deck? “Hi Andie, good to meet you.” I shook her hand.
“Hey, thanks for having us. This is a really great house.”
“It’ll be slightly less great once this guy and his wife move out, unfortunately. Thanks for coming.” I started to angle away from her, ever so slightly, but her hand reached out for my arm.
“Actually I wanted to ask you…Ethan was telling me you developed a fitness app for runners?”
“Yeah, a few years ago.” I saw Gemma’s head tilt back and she was laughing—really laughing at something Ben had said.Shit.
“Well, I’ve just started running, you know, to lose weight.” She paused for me and Ethan to tell her that she didn’t need to lose weight—which we did. “Whatever. It sounds like something I need. What’s it called?”
Gemma’s hand reached out to touch Ben’s shoulder and he leaned in to say something in her ear, his hand lightly touching her waist.Fuck.
