Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
“Anyway, we’ve been close for years. He chose to go to the same colleges as me because he didn’t want the trouble of needing to break in a new friend.”
My lips twitched, and I shoved a piece of sausage into my mouth to keep from smiling. I was more inclined to believe the reverse of that.
“After he joined the company and I became the CEO, he stopped treating me as his friend, even as he was sitting in my house, drinking my scotch. He kept treating me as his boss. I hated it. The whole thing put us both on edge. One night, I stood up, and I went searching around the lounge until I found this metal ruler that had been left out for some random reason or another, and I held it up to him. I said, ‘We’re friends, and you need to remember that. If you need help with that, I’m giving you this.’ I shook the ruler in his face, and announced, ‘This is our friend stick. When I’m holding this stick, you have to treat me like your friend and not like your boss.’ ”
Sebastian dropped into his abandoned chair and held up what turned out to be a shiny gray marble egg. After a lengthy pause, Sebastian continued in a softer, gentler voice. “Byron, I would like to be your friend. You’re a smart, funny, interesting guy. And if you need it, I can make this our friend egg to help you remember you can talk to me as a friend, rather than as your boss.”
Seconds ticked by, and I couldn’t tear my eyes from that marble egg. My heart was pounding. Blood roared like a torrent past my ears. Was this real? How could Sebastian want to be my friend? This was insane. I was dreaming. No, I was dead. I’d died of alcohol poisoning, and now I’d gone to this weird heaven where things didn’t quite make sense but were better than my reality.
“Can we be friends?” Sebastian asked.
“Sir—”
Sebastian held up one finger from the egg. “My friends don’t call me sir. Sebastian, Cor, or even Courtland are pretty common. You called me Bastian last night, so that might be my new favorite.”
I dropped my fork with a noisy clatter and sat there roasting in the fire spreading from the tips of my ears to my chest.
“I don’t know,” I mumbled. After sucking in a deep breath, I forcefully lowered my walls a bit and blurted out, “I’ve already made such an ass of myself. I don’t even have friends who’ve seen me that drunk. However, the boss I greatly respect and admire has not only had to suffer through me kissing him, but I also managed to puke on him. Right now, all I want to do is curl up in bed and pretend I don’t have to deal with life for a little while. Maybe pretend you don’t think I’m a complete idiot and a loser.”
“Byron, you are not an idiot or a loser. People have bad days and make bad decisions. Let yourself be human. Besides, do you think me and my friends haven’t gotten rip-roaring drunk and done stupid things?” Sebastian snorted, still grinning at me. “So much stupid, you’d think we were brain dead.”
The smile started slowly, pushing against the restraint I always locked on my mouth when I was with Sebastian. I didn’t let myself smile because I’d told myself showing too much emotion was unprofessional. He needed me reserved, competent, and efficient at all times. Smiling meant I was getting too relaxed.
But he was asking me to be his friend, so smiling would be allowed. Also, I might have liked the idea of having the freedom to be a bit more relaxed around him.
“Okay,” I agreed, shoving the word out with more force than necessary.
Sebastian’s grin spread wide across his face and glowed in his eyes. “Okay, what?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. He wanted me to use his first name.
“No. I can’t do that. Not yet.” If we were going to be friends, I was going to draw some boundaries up early.
Sebastian’s smile never wavered. “Fair enough.”
“But keep the egg on the table. It’ll probably help.”
A laugh jumped from him, and the grin I had been holding back broke free. I returned my eyes to the remains of my breakfast while he lounged across from me.
“So, what do you normally do on the weekend?” Sebastian inquired as he plucked a grape from my bowl of fruit and popped it into his mouth.
“Nothing exciting. Laundry. Read books. Sometimes I’ll go for a walk or pick up a few groceries for the week.” I huffed a soft laugh. “You’re going to discover that I’m the most boring friend you have.”
“Doubtful.” Sebastian grabbed another grape and ate it. “I think Declan is still going to claim that title. He likes to organize and reorganize things. He’ll alphabetize his books on Saturday and the next Saturday, he’ll reorganize them according to genre. After that, color. And then alphabetize them again, but this time by the second letter of the author’s last name.”