Chapter 7: Can of Worms

Damien’s POV

The carton of oat milk feels pissfully heavy and when I knock swipe the spare card I have to Parker’s apartment the door beeps.

I beeline to the kitchen, drop the carton on the counter and climb up the stairs to get to his home office. I push open the door and as expected, the fucker is sat on his chair, glasses on, hair groomed and paying rapt attention to his laptop.

When I don’t make a move to say anything, he peers up from his screen and leans back into his chair. He looks at me and I see his brows tense when he takes me in further.

“You’re agitated” he states, observing me carefully.

“You didn’t tell me she lived here” the accusation leaves my mouth before I can stop myself. I ball my fists to my side. “Did you know?”

Parker sighs and takes off his glasses, dropping them to the side and standing up from his desk. He stretches a bit and the starchy white shirt he has on doesn’t crinkle in the slightest.

I’ll never understand why he chooses to wear his office shirts to work at home but who am I to argue.

“Of course I knew. Lance told me she needed a place and wanted to offer her an apartment in the complex”

Of course.

“But you didn’t think to tell me” He stops in front of me and his blue eyes pierce into my brown ones.

“You live down town, I live on the topmost floor, she lives on the 15th floor, I could hardly imagine a situation where you’d run into her” he replies curtly. He side steps me and makes his way down the stairs.

I’m upset and I know from the way his shoulders are tense that he is too. He hadn’t told me about their run in from the group hangout nights ago.

That said enough.

I follow behind him. “Well I ran into her, while I was grabbing your stupid oat milk” 

Parker sighs when we make our way to the kitchen and he sees the carton. “My least favorite brand” he still puts the carton in the fridge.

I lean against the counter. “They didn’t have the one you usually get. I thought this would do” I shrug and quickly remember why I was upset. “I brought her back and stopped by her apartment.”

I see the way Parker freezes and then he crosses his arms. “I don’t know her apartment. Didn’t ask”

He didn't want to know.

I’ve known Parker long enough to know what he actually means even without him spelling it out.

“Why?” I feel myself getting heated again. “Why didn’t you ask Parker?”

“I don't owe you any explanations Damien”

This was the problem.

Dealing with Parker and Lexi always finds a way to frustrate me. 

Lexi is stubborn as hell and bound to run away after one giving you one of the most unforgettable nights of your life and Parker is the kind of person to bottle up everything he felt after that night , shove it in a box, and throw it in the ocean.

We never talked about that night.

“No” I find myself countering. I shake my head. “No, we’re going to talk about this, about that fucking night and not pretend like the three of us didn’t all feel that”

Parker stares at me intently. I can sense he’s bristling and probably five seconds away from an outburst but I don’t care.

I want to push him.

“Feel what Damien?” He finally speaks, he’s trying to keep his voice in check but the stern tone he takes shows just how much restraint he’s holding on to. “What did we feel? Oh I’ll tell you what we felt, stupid as fuck, there’s no reason we did that. We didn’t feel anything”

“Oh we fucking did” I counter. “We fucking did cause she’s ours ” I let out a frustrated exhale. “Since kindergarten , high school, college, after college, it has always been the three of  us. That’s why that night happened, that’s why it felt so fucking right too”

Parker lets out a groan and like the seams finally crack he explodes “And what happened after? She ran to fucking Santo Paulo and now there is no us. We lost her”

The kitchen is filled with tension and his labored breathing is enough for me to know that this is clearly affecting him too.

I feel my own tension dissipate a little further and let myself say the words I’d been hoping to say for a long time “But she’s back”

Parker locks eyes with me again and he nods. “She’s back” he lets out a long sigh and turns around towards his cabinets.

He places wine glasses on the counter and opens the fridge. “Merlot?”

Fuck I’ll drink anything at this point.

I nod and he pulls one out of the freezer. He pours both of us a glass and slips it back into the fridge.

We make our way towards the living room and we take two different chairs.

I take a sip of my wine and he does the same.

“What do you want? Cause I know what I want” 

His words cause me to pause and I look up at him. “What do you mean?”

He drops his glass on the table beside him. “Yes, I was upset and I tried to forget about it but, I saw her on Saturday and fucking hell”

I can’t help the chuckle that escapes my lips. Yeah, Lex is gorgeous, always had been and more so, the 5 years seemed to do her good.

“I broke up with Cassie”

My eyes go wide in shock. “Woah, what, when?” 

He nods. “Saturday”

When he saw Lexi again. I frown. “How did she take it?”

“I don’t care” he shrugs.

Parker could be cold in a way he didn’t even realize.

“I want her,” he states. I’m about to say something in response to his statement but he cuts me off.  “ I’d been thinking about it for a while but I didn’t want to start anything, but you’ve come in now and opened a can of worms.”

I take a gulp of my drink, as my mind goes back to the memory of the blue eyes that bored into mine today, full lips that stretched into a smile and that laugh. For a moment in her apartment it felt like old times. 

“I want her too”

“Then we have to make it work,” Parker states. “I’m not losing her again ”

I hold my tongue because I know what I want to say won’t help.

He can’t determine whether or not she’ll stay, that decision is entirely up to her. The look on his face however tells me that he’s thought of something.

My eyes narrow and I look at him “What are you planning ?”

“We just need to take it slow” He states.

Parker and I go way back and when he sets his mind to something it can be really hard to convince him to do anything else. 

Now I’m intrigued, Parker and patience aren’t exactly the best of friends. How does he plan on going about this?

I lean forward in my seat, feeling a rush of adrenaline that I haven’t felt in a long time. It comes with a feeling of caution but its excitement that lingers heavily.

I bring the wine glass to my lips and take a sip, staring into piercing blue eyes that always seem to figure everything out “What are you thinking?”