Page 59 of The Triangle

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - ALEC

He starts to respond, but then stops himself, swallows down the rest of his drink in one gulp, slams his snifter down on the table, and stares at me. I wince. Both because I’m certain he’s going to shatter the glass in his hand and the table itself, and because that is simply not how one sips brandy. But I understand. He’s aggravated. I am too.

I smile at him, reach for the decanter, and refresh his snifter for him. I take my own drink up and offer him a toast of cheers before taking a sip. Then I take the seat opposite him. Sit for a moment. Feel the air move through my lungs before I speak.

“What happened, man?”

He doesn’t respond immediately. Finally, he says, “To what?”

“To us. The three of us. It seemed to me that we were just starting to really thrive. And then…”

“Are you serious?”

“About what?”

“Are you asking me a real question right now? ‘What happened?’ Are you being this way deliberately or are you honestly stupid? Never mind. I know the answer. You’re not stupid. What do you want?”

That is an impressively loaded question whether he realizes it or not.

“Well, Daniel—”

“Fuck you.”

“—I suppose the first thing I want is to figure out who has put us in this position.” He nods a bit. “And then before I kill them for trying to take our lives—Christine’s twice—I want to thank them.”

Danny draws his head back, knits his brows together, and takes on an agitated expression. “Thank them?”

“As I said.” I sip brandy.

“For what?”

“For bringing us all together.”

“The fuck are you talking about?”

“Oh, I realize that whoever-is-doing-whatever-this-is-that-they’re-doing is doing it with the intention of somehow wiping the three of us off the planet, but their mistake is that they didn’t just attempt to pick us off one by one. Because the three of us? Together? We are, my dearest Danny, an unstoppable force.” I take another sip. Not to give Danny a chance to react. I know he won’t. I just feel like taking a sip. “The only thing that can undo us,” I continue, “is us.”

He adjusts himself in his chair. The creak of his leather jacket fills the room. When he settles, he says, “There is no ‘us.’ There never was.”

I smile and shake my head. “You’re still a stubborn naaier.”

“And you’re still a smug asshole who thinks he can get whatever he wants, just because he wants it.” He reaches for his own brandy and I place my hand over his, holding it on top of the glass.

He looks down at me holding his hand there. My other hand slides up my thigh. I let it rest on my crotch.

He looks at me holding my cock, then his eyes shift to where my hand is touching his. He swallows. His breathing accelerates. He shifts in his chair again.

“Take. Your. Fucking. Hand. Away.” he says.

I don’t.

“Alec…”

“You need to get your head around something, bru.” The tension filling every muscle in his body is radiating off him. I squeeze my hand around his slightly. I want to make sure I don’t grip too tightly too quickly. Not this time. “We need each other.”

His jaw tightens. His fist tenses around the glass. I’ve been lucky so far that nothing has shattered, so I opt not to push my luck further and release my grip on his.

Standing, I remove my jacket, walk around the desk and hang it on the chair behind, and take that seat now instead. Probably best to give a little space for the moment. Then, watching Danny’s bare chest move up and down, just like it did in the car earlier, a thought occurs to me. I cock my head at him.