Page 77 of Seal the Deal
“Sure,” Andrew replies, having no intention of doing that because he has no intention of falling for Nicki. The only thing stupider than having a crush on your fake boyfriend would be having a crush on the fake boyfriend who made it clear he would never fuck or date you.
Andrew King is many things, but a masochist is not one of them. The last thing he needs, or wants, is that kind of heartache and disappointment. If Andrew is lucky, this entire thing will be made more tolerable by becoming friends with Nicki.
He strongly suspects Nicki doesn’t have any aside from Amanda, and even with her, he seems reluctant to admit he even likes her, though Andrew can tell he cares about her. If he’s honest with himself, which Andrew always is, he wouldn’t mind another friend—one not connected to his family and his brothers. That’s probably selfish, but everyone in his life is part of Charlie’s life too, and while he loves it, something about having Nicki all to himself, even knowing it’s fake, has been unexpectedly nice. He doesn’t have to share him, or censor himself or compare himself. Nicki is just there for Andrew, and yeah, it’s not going to last, but while he has it, he can at least enjoy it. Maybe when everything ends, he and Nicki could even stay friends. He wouldn’t mind that so much. In fact, he even wants it, and Andrew rarely wants anything.
“Andrew.”
Andrew clears his throat, hyper aware of his momentary disassociation. Usually he’s better about not doing that in frontof other people, at least no one besides Charlie, who is used to Andrew’s propensity to quite literally get lost in thought.
“We should probably get back out there before someone causes trouble.”
“You mean before Charlie causes trouble,” Eden smirks.
“To be fair, Alec is just as likely, but he comes by it through accidental exuberance where Charlie’s trouble is usually intentional.”
“Alec is kind of like a puppy,” Eden muses.
“Him and Jason both,” Andrew grins. “Speaking of which, Charlie mentioned you and Alec hung out. How did that go?”
“If by hung out, you mean Alec came over to Charlie’s while I was there and played with Birdie and Agnes while talking for hours without stopping, then yeah, we hung out.”
“Pretty sure all my brothers enjoy yapping.”
“He’s loud,” Eden mumbles, twisting one of the bracelets on his left wrist in what Andrew recognizes as a nervous tell. He knows Eden is still wary of Jason and Alec, but it’s only been about six months since the infamous Friendsgiving debacle. He can’t expect a lifetime of finding it difficult to trust new people, particularly men, to go away just because Andrew and Charlie tell him their brothers are good people. “He made me this. Said he and his friends were making bracelets, and he made it for me.”
Fighting off a smile that might be too wide for Eden’s obvious skittishness in acknowledging the gift, Andrew takes in the hot pink beads on the bracelet in question. He can’t make out the letters to see what it says, but the what doesn’t matter, it’s the existence of it at all that does.
“Charlie loves you, so we all do. Alec included.”
“Stupid fucking well-adjusted fuckers,” Eden huffs, crossing his arms.
Sensing Eden has hit his limit on feelings, he settles for dropping a kiss to the top of Eden’s head and guiding him towards the bedroom door. “Let’s go see what kind of trouble they’ve gotten into. Hopefully they haven’t scared Nicki off.”
“If they haven’t, I might.”
“Uh no, you’ll behave.”
“I don’t think I agreed to do that,” Eden says matter of factly, opening the door.
Before Andrew can question him further, he’s stalking into the living room and directly towards Nicki, who appears to be in some sort of stare off with Charlie.
“Hey,” Eden yells loud enough to get Nicki’s attention.
He turns, regarding Eden with a flat look. “What?”
“We need to talk.”
“What are you doing, Eden?” Andrew and Charlie question in perfect unison.
“How do they do that,” Jason groans.
“We’re psychic and can read minds,” Charlie replies.
“I believed you when you told me that when I was five. I’m old enough to know better now. You have no idea what I’m thinking, asshole.”
“You’re thinking about Emerson and having a snack.”
“Fuck off,” Jason laughs, slinging an arm around Emerson’s shoulder to tug him even closer before planting a kiss on his cheek that has Emerson blushing. A twinge of jealousy stabs Andrew right in the chest.
