Page 83 of Praised
“Where’s Barclay?” I asked, taking the empty seat next to Rob.
“Home arguing with Val,” Dalton muttered, shaking his head.
Archie took a sip of his whiskey and rolled his eyes. “For someone who isn’t in love...”
“Whatever is going on with him and Val is complicated,” Dalton said.
“Do you know more than the rest of us?” I asked.
“Of course I do.” He grinned at me.
“He’s our friend,” Rob said.
“And he’s fine,” Dalton promised. “He’s been reeling a little since Dennis’s engagement and Val has been handling the brunt of it. That’s all.”
“That’s not fair for Val,” I said.
“Lots of things aren’t fair for Val,” Rob added.
“Val is an adult,” Dalton reminded us. “He can make his own choices.”
“It’s no fun to talk about them when they’re not here.” Archie’s attention again flickered over Rob’s shoulder toward Rose, Owen, and Grayson in the corner. Owen was the one talking now, far more subdued than Grayson could ever be. I turned my gaze back to Archie and watched a soft smile flutter across his face while he observed them.
“Let’s talk about yours,” he said, the soft expression turning quickly into a sharp and devilish grin.
“Yes,” Dalton agreed. “Lets.”
“What do you want me to say? You’ve met him before.”
“Meeting someone at work isn’t the same as meeting them in the wild,” Archie said. “And I’m personally offended that Grayson has spent more time with him than the rest of us.”
“Owen has too, at this rate,” I said.
Dalton rolled his eyes. “Owen talking to him is the best thing that could happen to either of you.”
“How do you figure?”
“I don’t want to make assumptions here, friend, but I would wager that the two of them have more in common than the two of you.”
“I doubt Flynn has been secretly in love with Rose his whole life.” Archie laughed.
As much as it pleased me to see my friend able to make light of the ten years he spent estranged from the man he was clearly meant to spend the rest of his life with, there was some subtle kind of truth in his words.
Maybe I hadn’t known it was Rose specifically, but had I been waiting for a man like him my whole life? Absolutely. I hadn’t expected him to be younger than me, and I hadn’t planned on being in my thirties by the time I found him, but he was here now and I knew. I understood why my brain hadn’t wanted me to bother with anyone else who’d dared to come before him. It felt almost like I’d been saving a part of myself for him, and that was special.
If not mentally unhinged.
But I was in love with Rose Baker, and I wanted to be looking in his eyes the moment he realized he was in love with me too.
I’d almost told him as much earlier, but thought better.
“I like him,” I said.
“You love him,” Rob corrected, and even in the dark of the loft, the flush that colored my face was enough of a tell to earn a whoop out of Archie. A sound so loud it drew the attention of the three men huddled in the corner, brows knit together in some kind of serious concentration and discussion.
“He doesn’t know.”
“He does,” Rob said. “He just hasn’t told you he knows.”
