Page 2 of Praised
“You too,” Owen said, resignation over my intent with his friend splashed across his face.
“Are you sure?” I asked, wanting to pursue him for fun, but not if it was a real issue for Owen. I might have been a fuck boy—his words, not mine—but I wasn’t callous and I was never cruel.
“It’s up to him.”
“What are the two of you talking about?” Archie asked, looking back and forth between the both of us.
“Nothing,” I said, brushing him off and heading inside to find the subject of our conversation.
Frankie was easy enough to locate, standing in the middle of the dining room with his hands bracketed against the narrow dip of his waist while he stared at a pile of boxes with a frown on his face.
“Were the boxes talking shit?” I asked, coming to stand in front of him. “Want me to kick their ass?”
Frankie looked up at me and huffed an unamused laugh. “Do lines like that work on men out here?”
“Who said it was a line?”
He rolled his eyes. “I know your type.”
“Do tell.” I gestured for him to go on. I was curious how the man saw me, and his answer would undoubtedly give me insight about how best to make it happen with him before his trip back to the east coast.
“You think you can buy whatever you want,” he started.
“For the most part, I can.”
My bank account wasn’t anything to laugh at, but I didn’t think I oozed pretentiousness the way my other friends Barclay and Rob did. I’d have to take that one back to the drawing board. Not to say my money didn’t help me seal a deal if I couldn’t quite get it across the finish line with my looks and personality alone, but I didn’t ever intend to leverage it right off the bat.
Good to know.
“You’re too attractive for your own good,” he went on.
I grinned, plucking at the collar of my shirt with a sense of satisfaction that proved I knew myself better than I thought after all. “That sounds like a compliment.”
“I didn’t mean it that way.”
I rubbed the front of my chest with a pretend grimace. “You wound me.”
“You could use some of that, I think.”
I let out a breath, not interested in fighting for a meal.
“You know that after you pack your suitcase up and go back home, that I’m going to be the one here still, right? That I’m one of Archie’s best friends, and I’m honestly rather fond of Owen already, as well.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Frankie asked.
“When you’re gone, we’ll be who he has left.”
Frankie laughed, shoving his hair away from his face, revealing two sparkling green eyes that hadn’t yet stopped taking my breath away.
“I’ll never be gone, Flynn.”
“Hey, hey!” Owen came inside finally, air fryer tucked beneath one of his arms like a sack of potatoes. “Archie was saying we should go grab a drink. You in?”
Frankie’s eyes were locked on mine.
“I’m always in to hang out with you,” I answered.
Frankie’s lip twitched, but he didn’t break my stare. “I’m happy to see a little of the city.”
