Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
A snort escaped me as I looked up at the wild, swirling sketch that had been drawn on the white walls. Parker was an amazing artist, and his preferred media were giant murals. The bigger the scale, the better. Right now, he was in the middle of painting all of Declan’s home.
“I didn’t mean to disturb your work. I was hoping to catch Declan. He mentioned he was going to take a long weekend.”
Parker shook his head. “Change of plans. He flew to Paris yesterday for business and was incredibly grumpy about it.”
“And you didn’t go with him?”
The artist swung around and shot me a dark look. He picked up a wide paintbrush and pointed it at me. “Don’t start. I had to deal with his pouting about leaving. My passport has expired, and I haven’t even started getting one for Joy. He’ll return on Wednesday, and I think he’s planning to take off Thursday and Friday.”
“Oh. Shit,” I muttered. I turned slowly in place, running a hand through my hair as I stared at the walls without seeing them. Declan had been my first choice because I’d helped him and Parker. Declan was also very analytical, like Liam. I thought he’d been the best choice to understand Liam’s brain and assist me in figuring out what to do next.
“What’s up? Billionaire thing or a romance thing?”
My lips twisted into a half smile. “Romance thing.”
Parker perked up. He dropped the brush and hurried to my side. “It’s Liam, right? Are you and Liam are together?”
“How did you…”
“Sebastian has a big mouth, and you know it,” Parker chortled.
Okay, that was true. Sebastian was an amazing, supportive friend. Ride or die. He’d always go to bat for you. No matter what. But he also loved to talk among our close circle of friends.
I hesitated, and Parker huffed at me. He waved his hands. “Here. Give me your coat, jacket, and tie. You’re going to paint with me and talk. It’ll make you feel better.”
This sounded like a disaster waiting to happen since I couldn’t paint, but Parker wasn’t the type to take no for an answer once he had something stuck in his head. So, I shed the clothes he’d told me to and put on the smock he thrust at me. It was enormous and looked like I was wearing a baby blue tent.
“I got that for Declan. When he’s grumpy about work, I make him paint with me,” Parker explained as he put my clothes in the next room, away from the paint.
Parker returned and set me up with a small paintbrush that appeared better suited for a canvas rather than a wall and a can of dark red paint. He gave some instructions on what I was supposed to be doing—namely, filling in a section of wall where he’d put some sketch boundaries on.
He climbed up the ladder and resumed painting another section of wall in a softer shade of red.
“You know, Declan told me it was your suggestion for him to text me and what to say. That was pretty smart. If I hadn’t been trying to figure out my way to him, that would have totally sucked me in,” Parker murmured. His words warmed the cold spot in my chest.
Parker and I hadn’t gotten off to the best start in our friendship, so his praise was more than a little reassuring that I hadn’t destroyed the bridge between us.
“Thanks. It’s good to know that I’m not a total loss,” I muttered as I slowly spread the red paint across the white wall.
“Come on. We know you’re not a total loss. The fact that you salvaged a destroyed friendship after twenty years and turned it into something a lot more is pretty amazing. What’s happened?”
I told him everything. It all came spilling out. How we became estranged, how his parents were, his childhood, and on to where Liam had said that he needed space.
“Things should be fixed at work for him. If he takes his job back, that’s not really my doing. His boss has been trying to get him to return. I think the thing that’s killing me is that the issue doesn’t appear to be the gay thing. I was ready to tackle the gay thing. But after a few early bumps, it’s like he’s relieved and moving on. The problem seems to be my money, and I don’t know what to do about that. Everyone else has loved the money. It wasn’t a problem.”
Parker’s sharp laughter broke off my monologue, and I looked up to find him half lying on his ladder, giggling like a loon.
“What?”
“You said it perfectly! Everyone else loved your money, and you never stuck with any of them. But you found the one guy who doesn’t want your money. Makes him pretty awesome, right?”