One True Thing (32 page)

Chapter Fourteen

Dusty

“I’M THINKING of throwing a little surprise

apartment-warming party for Asher.”

Rue looked up from the carrots he’d just

finished chopping for our stir-fry. “Yeah? That’s a

good idea. You said this is the first time he’s ever

lived alone, right?”

I nodded and handed him a red bell pepper.

“Yep. He went straight from his parents’ place to

living with Archer, and they’ve been roommates

ever since. This has been his first week of total

freedom.”

Rue made a sympathetic noise. “Poor boy.

Asher should have ditched his brother’s ass a
long

time ago. I didn’t think it would be possible for me

to dislike someone I’ve never met, but Archer has

the dubious honor of being the first.”

I laughed. “Asher told me he wasn’t always

so bad, but you’re definitely not alone. Michelle

hates him too.”

“Wise woman. I like her.” Rue smirked at me

and went to work on slicing the pepper. “So when

do you want to try to do this? And who would we

invite? Be kind of awkward if it was just us, and

you know Erik wouldn’t be interested.”

“Shockingly,” I teased, elbowing Rue lightly

in the side. “Well, Asher mentions his friend

Christy sometimes. I could probably get her

number from his phone. Michelle, of course. And I

could see if his parents wanted to come down too.

I’d love to thank his mom in person for the

Christmas presents she sent.” She’d knitted me a

hat that matched the scarf she’d given me after

Thanksgiving, along with three pairs of thick,

magnificently soft wool socks. I’d already worn

the rainbow ones three times.

Rue chuckled and shook his head. “No

parents. Didn’t you say that chick is a porn star?”

“Oh, yeah.” I winced slightly.
So much for

that idea.
“Um, I could ask Lane, maybe.”

Rue arched a brow at me. “The guy who has a

crush on you?”

“I don’t think he does anymore. I mean, he

knows I’ve been with Asher for almost four

months.”

Rue made a noncommittal noise.

I tossed the onions Rue had already chopped

into the oil that was warming in a pan on the stove

and stirred them briefly. “It’s not like I have a long

list of options. I met some friends of Asher’s at

that party in Newport Beach, but I don’t really

remember their names, and if I have to ask him,

it’ll spoil the surprise.”

“Okay,” Rue said, adding his carrots and

peppers to the pan. “So, Lane, Michelle, maybe

Christy, and us. We can work with that.”

“And possibly Archer,” I put in quickly.

Rue

gave

me

a

disbelieving

look.

“
Seriously
?”

I shrugged a little. “He’s Asher’s brother. I at

least have to extend the invitation.”

Rue sighed. “You’re too nice, Dustball. Way

too nice. This is how people take advantage.”

“Rue….”

“Fine.” Rue ripped open the package of snow

peas that was sitting on the counter and threw a

handful into the pan with unnecessary force. “But if

he gets stupid while I’m there, I’m gonna have to

lay the verbal smackdown.”

I laughed before I could stop myself. “Okay.

Fair enough. Don’t worry, though. He probably

won’t even show up.”

That was my hope, anyway. While I felt

obliged to tell Archer about the party, it wasn’t as

if I actually wanted him to be there. But even more

than that, I didn’t want Asher to feel bad if he

found out I never asked Archer to come in the first

place.

THE next day at work I decided to find out if Lane

would even have any interest in attending my

boyfriend’s apartment-warming party. I didn’t

think
he was still interested in me after all these

months, but I supposed it wasn’t impossible. If he

was, I couldn’t risk bringing him around Asher.

Bad enough we had to deal with Archer’s sneering

—and entirely unjustified—jealousy whenever we

saw him. We didn’t need to add another resentful

guy into the mix. But fortunately for everyone

involved, Archer had outright laughed at my

invitation when I’d called him that morning and

promptly refused. Fine by me.

“Hey, Lane.”

Lane looked up from the bottles he was

rearranging on his station. He met my gaze in his

mirror and grinned broadly. “What’s up, Dust?”

I returned his smile and plopped into the chair

at the empty station beside his. I’d never been

attracted to him, but looking at him then, I had to

admit he did have a certain something. It had

become more noticeable since he changed his hair.

The outrageous red spikes from before were

gone, exchanged for solid black with only a hint of

blue at the tips. Without being spiked up, his hair

fell pencil-straight to his chin. At least in the front.

The back was a bit shorter, and layered, and

overall I thought the style suited him very well. I

still didn’t know the real color of his eyes, though.

Currently, they were a rather intense shade of

violet, but the last time I’d seen him they’d been

green.

“How would you feel about coming to a little

get-together Friday night? My boyfriend just

moved into his new place, and I was thinking of

doing something to surprise him.”

“A surprise party?” Lane turned to face me

and leaned a hip against his own chair. “Yeah, I’ll

come. I want to see this boyfriend of yours. I

missed him that day he came by to whisk you off to

Sonoma.”

I couldn’t help but grin at that. Hard not to

when it was the sweetest thing a guy had ever done

for me. “I know I said it already, but thanks again

for covering some of my clients. Hope nobody

gave you any attitude.”

Lane shrugged. “Nah, they were cool. And

it’s no biggie. You’d do it for me.”

“I would,” I said, because it was true.

“So what time on Friday?” he asked.

“Well, I was thinking maybe eight or—”

“Excuse me, Dusty,” said a voice from behind

me. “Sorry to interrupt, but there’s someone asking

for you up front.”

I looked over my shoulder and saw one of the

new receptionists standing a few feet away,

redheaded and willowy with a smattering of

freckles across her nose and cheeks. Veronica, I

thought. “Oh, cool. I’ll be right there.” I stood and

glanced at Lane. “It’s probably Michelle. I’ll give

you the details later, okay?”

He nodded. “Sure thing. I’ll walk with you.

My four o’clock should be here already. She’s

always early.”

We walked together to the reception area, and

I looked around, searching for Michelle. She

occasionally popped in to say hello, but I didn’t

see her anywhere. Instead the person who stood

waiting for me was probably the very last one I

would have ever expected.

My forehead wrinkled. “Josh?”

Yeah, it was him. Slender, tan, and pretty as

the last time I’d seen him at that party. His only

imperfection, as far as I could tell, was his hair

color, which had clearly come from a bottle and

looked a little streaky. I doubted anyone who

didn’t work with hair day in and day out would

have noticed, but I did, of course. I would have

wagered he probably dyed it himself at home.

That, or he needed to find a new stylist.

He gave me a hesitant smile. “Hey. Um…

I…. Do you have a minute so we can talk? In

private, I mean.” His gaze darted to Lane, who

was still standing beside me. “Hi,” he added, this

time for Lane’s benefit.

“Hi,” Lane said, sounding a bit thunderstruck.

I looked sideways at him. His eyes were

wide, his expression just as awed as his voice had

been.

Oh, Lord.
Well, that answered the question of

whether or not he was interested in me anymore.

The new one would be whether or not I owed it to

him as a friend to tell him what Josh did for a

living before he started pestering me for a phone

number or something. But I could worry about that

later. I only had half an hour before my next

appointment was scheduled, so if Josh wanted to

talk, it had to be soon.

“Let’s go down the street and grab a

smoothie,” I said to Josh. He didn’t answer right

away. Both he and Lane were too busy staring at

each other. “Josh?”

He blinked at me, his cheeks warming.

“Yeah, sorry. That sounds cool.” He cast another

glance at Lane, a quick one, almost shy, and then

turned and made his way to the door.

I shook my head and followed behind him, a

hint of a smile curving my lips despite my

apprehension at his sudden appearance. He

seemed like a good enough kid, and I didn’t think

Asher would ever do anything with him, but it was

hard to shake the memory of him trying to shove

his tongue down my boyfriend’s throat.

We walked to Sunset Smoothies in silence. It

was only once we had our drinks in hand and were

seated at one of the small tables out front that he

finally spoke.

“Look,” he said. “I just wanted to say I’m

sorry. Asher had told me there was someone he

was interested in. I should have respected that. I

know I might have caused some drama between

you guys when I kissed him at that party, and it’s

been bothering me ever since. So I just wanted to

apologize to you, okay? Asher is a great guy.” He

met my eyes briefly, then looked away. “I’m sure

you already know that. I mean, you’re his

boyfriend. But in case you were wondering…

nothing ever happened between us. I offered, and

he could have taken advantage if he was a different

sort of guy, but… he didn’t.”

I nodded slowly. “Okay. Asher had already

told me, but, well, I appreciate you coming here.

And I accept your apology. You don’t need to feel

bad about it or anything. We’re good.”

Josh reached up and brushed floppy blond

bangs out of his face, his relief obvious. “I’m glad.

I… well, I would have felt pretty awful if I’d

messed things up for him. I really would like for us

to be friends.”

I hesitated for a moment. Josh seemed

genuine, and I knew it must have taken a lot of

courage for him to come see me. Could I stand

back and let him and Asher be friends? Could I be

friends with him myself?

I wasn’t sure about any of it, but I thought it

might be worth a try. Lord knew I could use a few

more people in my social circle, and I wasn’t the

sort of guy to hold a grudge. I believed that Josh

was sorry about the kiss. I didn’t think he would

do it again.

“What are you doing on Friday?” I asked.

Josh looked at me in surprise. “No plans yet.

Why?”

“Well… how would you like to come to a

party? Nothing as exciting as that whole thing at

Newport Beach. Just a little gathering to celebrate

Asher getting his own place.”

Josh blinked wide blue eyes at me. “Really?

You’d let me come?”

“Yeah,” I answered with a smile. “If you’re

serious about wanting to be friends.”

“I am.” Josh nodded then, and he looked so

earnest and happy, and, God, so very young, I