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“I couldn’t figure out what to say.” Not a confession, but close enough.
The delivery driver skirted past us, to get to the kitchen. At least no one else was out here to hear this conversation—I didn’t mind much, but being the subject of small town gossip ranked up there with Onyx and Alys fighting, on the sucky scale.
“Maybe you couldn’t tell us because you don’t really want to go,” I said.
Onyx leaned against a nearby chair, resting his ass on the back. “The new store? I get the chance to do it again. What I did here.”
“What we did here.” Yes, a lot of it had been Alys and Onyx before I came along, and even more of it was Onyx alone, but it wasn’t all him.
“Do the math for me,” Onyx said. “Turn this into a situation where no one loses.”
I was trying to. “I need time to come up with a solution.”
“I’ve been thinking about it for months. There’s no everyone wins answer, and the two of you already have great things.”
“The three of us already have one of the best things, and you aren’t giving anyone a chance to save that.”
“You’re being—” Onyx snapped his mouth shut.
“Maddox.” The owner called from the counter, and set a large pizza box and a full plastic bag on the counter.
I gave Onyx one more glance. “If you missed us, you could’ve said so. If you don’t give a fuck, you should’ve just gone. I’m going to let Aubrey do my make-up. We’ll finish the contest. I don’t know how, but I’m going to find a way. If you’ve already given up, I can’t do anything about that.”
Onyx clenched his jaw and his nostrils flared.
I paused for him to say something. Anything. When he didn’t, I grabbed the food and walked out. What else was I supposed to do?
It kind of sucked a whole lot leaving Onyx behind, especially on a sour note, and heading to Aubrey’s without him.
Evie and Sawyer were in front of the vintage clothing shop, and the two were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn’t look up until I was close.
When Evie did see me, her grin grew. “Pizza Man. My new favorite person.”
Gage huffed. “You’re replacing me with a younger model?”
“Only for the night. Extra sausage is one thing, but your meat is always best.” Evie smirked at Gage.
And I had no arguments for her logic.
“Besides.” Evie screwed her face up in thought. “Alys isn’t going to let me keep Pizza Man long term.”
I summoned my best fake I’m offended face. “I have a name. And I get a say in who keeps me.”
“It’s cute that you think that,” Gage teased. He gave his full attention to Evie again. “Just remember, if you put a bunch of holes in the walls, you’re the one who has to fix them.”
“I know and we won’t. Go. Shoo.” Evie pushed Gage, and he walked away, waving over his shoulder. She took the bag of breadsticks and sauces from me, and we headed upstairs.
I had to know. “Holes in walls? Are we mad enough to punch things?” I was upset with Onyx, but not to the point of violence.
Evie gave a short snort. “Not quite. And seriously, oh. My. God, this smells good. Did you get—”
“All the garlic knots in the known universe and then some?” I finished for her. “Yes, plus extra garlic sauce.” I pushed into the apartment.
Alys and Aubrey were already waiting for us in the living room, with soda and plates on the coffee table.
Evie handed Aubrey the bag, and jerked her thumb at me. “He wants to know why we would put holes in walls.”
Alys blushed and Aubrey laughed. “God that was a billion years ago,” Alys said.
