Page 7 of Necessary Time

“Wesley, this is Colin,” he said.

Wes looked up and shoved his phone into his pocket. He was half my age, and he looked a little like Hendrix when he smiled, but it was those eyes…those ridiculous blue eyes that brought back memories that were already a constant in my mind.

“Wesley,” I barely managed his name. This wasn’t the stranger I’d kissed eight years ago. That man would be well past my age by now, even older than Hendrix. This was Hendrix’s little brother, who was barely drinking age, who’d just moved to California chasing after a dream.

“Colin, this is my baby brother, Wes.”

CHAPTERTHREE

Wesley

I knewit wasn’t polite to stare, so I wasn’t sure why Colin hadn’t stopped doing it since Hendrix introduced us.

“So, uh…” I bit into a sour pickle, chewed, and swallowed it down. “You guys come here often?”

Colin’s attention bordered on unnerving, but he was friends with my brother and I was trying to be social. It was the least I could do since I’d apparently crashed Colin’s birthday lunch. And even though he’d spent almost ten minutes assuring me and Hendrix it was fine, I felt like I’d shoved myself into a place where I wasn’t wanted. Subconsciously, I knew that was ridiculous because Colin wasn’t Miles, and Hendrix was in love with Miles so there was no interloping occurring, but still…

I wished he would stop staring at me.

Because the longer he looked…

I shivered, focusing on my plate and picking a corner off the crust on my sandwich.

“We come every Friday,” Hendrix said. “But Colin didn’t tell me today was his birthday.”

“How old are you turning?” I asked.

Colin scratched the side of his nose, a low laugh rumbling out of him. “Normally that’s not a polite question.”

“Staring isn’t polite either,” I blurted.

He raised a brow, the high angles of his cheekbones turning pink under the fluorescent lights of the deli.

“I’m thirty-eight,” Colin answered.

“Wesley’s birthday is in a month or so,” Hendrix said.

“How old will you be?” Colin asked.

I dragged my tongue across the front of my teeth. “I thought it was rude to ask.”

“Twenty-one,” Hendrix answered on my behalf. I looked back down at my half-eaten sandwich.

Colin laughed. “I don’t think I can even remember that far back.”

“I’d rather not,” my brother said.

I blew out a breath, pushing my plate away. I hadn’t come down for lunch with my brother to be mocked for being young. I was already feeling awkward enough about being in California and being unemployed, and being poor, and everything else about myself that made me different from the people in my life. Having lunch and being called out about something I had no control over sucked.

And Colin just would not stop staring.

“You know what?” I cleared my throat and climbed out of the booth, giving Hendrix a sympathetic smile. “I forgot I was supposed to meet Grayson.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. We have to…do some stuff.” I fished my wallet out of my back pocket. “How much do I owe you?”

“You’re good.” Colin was the one to wave off my money.