Page 36 of A Matter of Fact

The timer ticked down to five minutes.

Jace started to laugh. It began as a soft sound that quickly grew into something that had Jace’s entire body shaking with laughter. “Oh, my God. You’re worthless, aren’t you?”

“Excuse me?” Sebastian interrupted Jace’s breakdown, his eyes narrowed and expression pulled taut. “I know you have reason to not like him, but heisstill my brother, Jace.”

“He’s…not wrong,” Rhys muttered. “At least, I know what he meant.”

He meant that aside from his money, Rhys had nothing of value to offer anyone.

“Flowers are nice,” Jace said after quelling his mirth. “They’re thoughtful.”

Rhys nodded, making mental notes. He hoped that Jace was being sincere, even if it was more than he deserved, and he also hoped Sebastian would set him right if he said something wrong. In fact, his brother’s outburst had surprised him, especially considering he’d just rebuffed Rhys when he called him a friend.

“You can have a picnic at the beach. Ride the rides on the pier or play the arcade games,” Jace went on. “You could rent a movie and invite him over.”

He did like that idea, but he also worried about what he would do if he had Beckett alone in a private. Not that he would be presumptuous, but after that kiss, his mind had been running wild.

“Mini golf,” Jace suggested. “You can go to the theater and see a movie there. You could cook dinner together. Does any of this sound reasonable? Like honestly, Rhys, almost the entire population has dates for under a hundred dollars. It shouldn’t be hard.”

“I don’t date often,” he mumbled.

“You were engaged when I met you.”

“That was…”

“Yeah.” Jace stood up just as the timer started to alert the end of his break. “We all know what that was, Rhys.”

Jace pushed in the chair and walked toward the front door, tapping Sebastian on the head as he passed by. “Are we still on for tonight?”

“Of course,” his brother said. “You know how much Remington looks forward to it.”

“Cool. See you at eight.” Jace grabbed for the door.

“Jace.” Rhys reached for him, but fell short of physically stopping him from going inside. Jace turned, expression completely unreadable. “Thank you.”

Jace nodded, dragging his tongue across the front of his teeth before slipping back into the cafe. Rhys let out a low breath, still unsure of what to do for Beckett, but at least he had a starting point.

“What’s tonight?” he asked when Sebastian stood up. They walked around the corner, back toward the waiting town car.

“Movie night,” Sebastian answered. “It used to be Jace and Remington’s thing, but now we all do it together. Kind of like a double date. A friends thing.”

“Oh.” Rhys climbed into the car ahead of his brother, face stoic as he counted the people who passed by on the street. “Right. A friends thing.”

“Was that helpful?” Sebastian asked him.

“Enough,” he admitted. “I’ll figure something out.”

“You can run it by me once you do, if you want,” his brother offered. “I can tell this means a lot to you.”

“Yeah,” he whispered, turning to watch the buildings zip by as they headed out of downtown. “It does.”

CHAPTERTWELVE

BECKETT AND THE ACCIDENTAL DATE

Beckett had no idea what kind of date Rhys had planned, but he was curious to see what the man would come up with on what amounted to a pocket change budget. In the bathroom, Beckett fussed with his hair, annoyed at the way the loose curls lay against his forehead. It was definitely time for a trim.

His pants started to vibrate, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket, expecting the call to be from Rhys. But it wasn’t.