Page 4 of Holden
“How many years is that?”
Holden licked his lips, pink tongue darting out and drawing a slick line Bryce couldn’t help but stare at. How was he supposed to stay strong in the face of such a gorgeous man? What had Merrick been thinking sending them out to eat? He knew how Bryce could be sometimes, and Bryce was a little tired from the flight, from the stress of the trip, from his entire life.
“Do you and your brother ever stop talking?”
Bryce’s mouth twitched and he scratched his Cupid’s bow with the corner of a jagged fingernail. “My answer is the same as before.”
Holden studied him, and Bryce had to look away. The weight of Holden’s crystalline blue stare was too much for him to handle on as little sleep as he’d gotten the night before. The man was objectively gorgeous, and Bryce didn’t have much willpower when it came to telling pretty men no.
“My brother talks more than me,” Bryce explained. “He started early and never stopped, and if I ever wanted to be heardat home I had to have just as many words and just as much volume.”
“Doesn’t it ever get tiring?”
Holden hadn’t looked away from him, a few loose strands of hair falling into his eyes. Bryce picked up his sandwich and took another bite, chewing and swallowing before answering, “Yes.”
Competing with Merrick had always been exhausting, but it was the only way to be seen in their house, growing up. Merrick had not only excelled in academics but also art. He was social and he was friendly; everybody loved him. Bryce hadn’t necessarily grown up in Merrick’s shadow, but there were absolutely some big—albeit hand-me-down—shoes to fill.
“Then why don’t you stop?” Holden asked.
Bryce let out a low laugh, scrubbing a hand down his face. “At this point, I don’t think I know how.”
“I could think of a couple ways,” Holden said.
Bryce’s eyes went wide, a surge of something flaring out from his stomach and tickling every nerve in his body. The reaction must have been visible because Holden smirked before covering the lower half of his face with his hand and looking away.
The conversation felt like an impasse…or maybe an invitation. Bryce wasn’t entirely sure, but the thing about growing up with a brother like Merrick meant he always had to at least try.
“Tell me more?” he asked.
Bryce would have sworn Holden’s cheeks darkened, but it could have also been a shadow. There were so many palm trees in Los Angeles. It was one of the first things he’d noticed on the ride from the airport. Well, that and all the concrete. Los Angeles wasn’t anything like the small town in Colorado he’d grown up in, and maybe that was part of the appeal.
Merrick leaving had been a blessing and a curse. For as much as Bryce had struggled to get a footing in his own life, he found itten times harder to do the same with his brother gone. He could have dropped out of college and moved early, or transferred his credits or something, but with all the chatting and all the brain power, Merrick had always also been Bryce’s voice of reason.
Don’t walk away from the scholarship, his brother had told him.
So he hadn’t.
Add the minor if you can handle the course load, his brother had said.
So he did.
“No,” Holden said softly, wrapping the remainder of his sandwich back into the wrapper and carefully pressing the tape back down to seal it closed.
Bryce cursed under his breath.
“Sorry.”
“For what?”
“Saying that,” Bryce answered. “Obviously, it wasn’t welcome.”
“Not unwelcome,” Holden said, standing from the rusted iron table and angling his head toward the direction of Ink and Ember. “Just short on time.”
Bryce made less graceful work of wrapping up his sandwich and untangling himself from the table. Holden had already started to walk back to work, and Bryce jogged to catch up to him. They fell in step together, and that was maybe the first time he realized Holden was shorter than him. Not by much, but enough that if they ever did kiss, he would have to tilt his head down…
“Short on time,” he repeated. “Does that mean…?”
“It means I have another appointment I have to set up for.”
