Page 27 of Pick Six

“Like you don’t give them plenty.” She winces when she says the words. “I’m sorry that was out of line. I don’t know why I said that.”

“Because it’s true and you had a front-row seat to a lot of it I’d guess, thanks to Drew.”

“He used it as an excuse pretty frequently to not be home or have time to pay attention to what I was doing. So I guess it made me bitter. Of course now, thinking back, I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what it was—an excuse.” She crosses her arms over her chest, shaking her head.

“Yeah, well, I’m glad you’re free of all that shit. You didn’t deserve it.”

“And you didn’t deserve all the judgment. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. Hopefully, you’ll see I’m not as awful as the track record would make it seem.”

“I don’t think you’re awful, Alex. I know you’re a good person underneath it all. You just have problems like we all do.”

“Most people don’t try to put their fist through someone’s face to solve it.”

“No, but I mean… You punching him was kind of hot, honestly.”

“What?” She’s in a strange mood tonight. Saying all sorts of things I’m surprised to hear come out of her mouth.

“I’ll never admit that to anyone else, and I donotcondone it.” She points at me with a serious look on her face before she shrugs. “But I mean, Drew would never have punched someone over me. So it was kind of nice… very white knight-ish of you.”

I raise an eyebrow at her.

“Don’t start,” she warns, and then starts unloading the groceries.

I keep my mouth shut, but I was definitely going to tuck that piece of information away for later.

FOURTEEN

Harper

“We don’t actually haveto do this you know. I’m fairly certain no paparazzi are following us or peering through the window to check up,” I say as we finish unpacking the grocery bags in his kitchen.

“Oh come on, Saint, you afraid of my cooking?”

“Maybe a little.” I laugh.

“Just trust me. They’re good. Go set up the TV and see if you can find what you want to watch while I get started.”

It feels weird, being in his space, acting like we’re domestic together. It’s not like we haven’t eaten together before. He’d come to a million holiday dinners and BBQs at Drew’s and my house. But the two of us alone like a couple is strange. Then throw in the fact that we’re at his place which I’ve never set foot in before, and now I feel like I’m through the looking glass.

After a few minutes, I’ve picked a couple of movies and I wander back into the kitchen because I’m very curious about what it looks like to see Alexander Xavier cooking.

“You find something?” He glances up at me as he gets the griddle ready.

“Yeah, a couple of things. I was going to let you pick since it’s your house and all.”

“All right. I was just thinking, for our first event do you want to go to that donor gala with me later this week?”

“By donor gala do you mean the invite-only one at the art museum that people would kill to get tickets to?”

“Yes?” He looks at me warily.

“Yeah. I’m not supposed to be there. That’s like upper management and board attendees only.”

“Well, you’re not going for work. You’re going as my date.”

“Still that’s like… cheating for me to be there. You have to earn your way to something like that in my world.”