She shyly smiles and then turns around again and walks up to me. I watch her every step, my body stiffening with every inch she nears. And as she presses her hand to my chest, my stomach bottoms out, and my legs tremble beneath me. “Thank you for being here, Breaker. I don’t think you will ever know how much this means to me.”
“No, uh, problem,” I say, swallowing again.
She stands on her toes and presses the lightest of kisses to my cheek. Even though it means nothing other than friendship to Lia, to me, it feels like she just branded me and marked me as hers for eternity.
And then, without another word, she opens the door and shows The Beave her dress, leaving me in a state of upheaval.
What the fuck just happened?
Breaker: Hey, do you think you could meet me for a cup of coffee in like ten minutes or sooner or whenever? I just need to talk, and I don’t want to talk to my brothers because they’re going to give me shit. I need someone neutral.
Banner: Color me intrigued. Want to come over to my place? Just in case you need privacy?
Breaker: That would be perfect. I’m driving over now.
Hands on the steering wheel, I keep my eyes on the road as I work my way across town to Banner’s apartment, which is just ten minutes away from where I live.
I met Banner through Ryot Bisley, his brother. Ryot and Banner both came up with this great idea called The Jock Report—a social media conglomerate for everything sports where the athletes get to talk to their fans one-on-one. When Ryot told JP and Huxley about the idea, they immediately wanted to invest because they knew it was going to be huge. And it has been. Ryot and Banner, who were living in Chicago at the time—Ryot is a retired third baseman from the Chicago Bobbies—moved out here to California, where they opened an office and have quickly taken the sports world by storm.
I got to know Banner on a more personal level and realized we’re pretty similar. Although he is a bit of a player, whereas I, apparently, haven’t needed to play around. But we do both like computers and have built our own. We also determined that our brothers like to gang up on us whenever they get the chance, so we’ve formed a younger-brother alliance. Talking to him about what’s on my mind will be perfect because he knows what the wrath of an older brother can do to you.
I turn right onto his street and then see an open parking spot right in front of his apartment building. Must be my lucky day—if that’s what you want to call it.
Once parked, I hop out of my car, lock up, and head straight to his apartment. I hate showing up empty-handed, but when it’s last minute, there’s not much I can do about that.
When I reach his apartment, I give it a knock, and I hear him call out, “It’s open.”
Pushing through his front door, I spot him in the kitchen with two bottles of beer in hand. “Sounded like a beer kind of moment, am I right?”
“Really fucking right,” I reply.
He nods toward his balcony. “Let’s sit outside.”
Banner has a really nice place. It consumes the entire top floor of his building with floor-to-ceiling windows, a massive open floor plan—more space than one person needs—and a large wraparound balcony. It’s probably the type of apartment I’d live in if I wasn’t living next to Lia.
I follow him out to the balcony, through his black-framed pocket sliding glass door, and then sit at his outdoor dining set under a black and white striped umbrella.
“I know I’ve only been here twice, but I don’t think I’ll ever get over your place,” I say.
“Yeah, I feel pretty lucky. Although Ryot keeps trying to get me to move out to Malibu with him and Myla. Not ready for that yet. I love the beach, but out there, it almost feels like I’m settling down, and I’m not at that point in my life just yet.”
I chuckle. “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you seeing someone?”
He drags his hand over his face in pain. “Don’t get me started on that. This gathering is about you, not me.”
“We can save some time at the end to dig deep into your non-relationship.”
“Ehh, that’s okay. I think I’m good.” He takes a sip of his beer and says, “So what’s going on? Your text read desperate need of help, and if anything, I like a good story, so tell me.”
I take a sip of my beer as well—actually more like a gulp—and say, “You know Lia is getting married, right?”
“Yeah, and you’re the man of honor, right?”
“Right.” I look out toward the skyline, unsure how to do this. “Hell, I don’t think what I’m going to say will make a lot of sense. It will sound like a bunch of rambling, but I don’t know how to talk about this without rambling.”
“Good thing you came to me. I’m good at deciphering rambling. Lay it on me.”
“Well, to begin with, I was shocked when Lia told me she was engaged. She and Brian, they, I don’t know, have a different relationship. I feel like when you’re dating someone, you’re all in, right? Like, you want to spend as much time with them as possible.”
Banner nods in agreement. “Yeah, I know that feeling.”
“Well, they aren’t like that. They can go a few nights without seeing each other, and I always thought that was weird, so when she said he proposed, and she said yes, I was truly shocked.”
“Yeah, I would be too.”
“And then she told me they’re getting married in five weeks, well, more like four weeks now. And I don’t know, this sense of panic consumed me. I couldn’t quite place it other than I was afraid to lose her.”
“That’s natural since you guys are so close.” Banner takes a sip of his beer.
“Right,” I say, gesturing my hand toward him. “That’s what I thought too. We are so close that I’m worried about losing that friendship. And I don’t get along with her fiancé as much as I probably should, so I made an effort to reach out to him and solve that issue because I didn’t want anything weird between us, anything that he could use against me so she doesn’t hang out as much.”
“Very smart.”
“But then he ended up setting me up with this girl, Birdy. On a double date.”
Banner winces. “That smells like a whole bunch of awkward.”
“It was. Very awkward, but Birdy turned out to be really cool and funny, and we’ve hung out a few times since.”
“Okay, any chemistry there?”
“That’s the problem.” I lean back in my chair and take a sip of my beer. “I’ve kissed her twice now, and although the thought of being intimate with someone was appealing, each time I kissed her, it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. It just felt normal. Like every other woman I’ve ever kissed, and I don’t know, I feel like there should be a feeling that’s more than normal, right?”
“If you want to get down to it, yeah. When you kiss someone, someone you think you could date or be with, there should be a spark. Especially that first kiss. The first kiss tells you everything you need to know.”
“There wasn’t any spark. Not even a blip.” I sigh heavily. “And then . . . today.”