Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2)(127)

“When are you starting?” she asked to change the subject. Thankfully, he let her.

“Next month. I had more things to tie off here before I could get everything in order.”

“Oh, right.”

“What area did you settle on?” Marcus asked.

“Venice. The commute won’t be awesome, but I am finally going to learn to surf!”

Marcus flashed her his striking smile. He had recently whitened his teeth so there was a pleasing contrast between his winning smile and his handsome face. No wonder he drove the boys mad.

“How many bedrooms?”

“Two. Why, you planning a visit already?”

“Yes! I hear the boys by the beach are gorgeous! I chose to live in West Hollywood.”

“Wait…” Krista thought over what she’d just heard. “What? You are moving down there?” Her heart started to thud.

“You aren’t connected with the hub, Geegee. How would you survive without me?”

Krista bounded off her chair and flew around the desk. She threw herself into his lap. He wasn’t expecting the force of it and both of them went over onto the floor.

“Gee—“ Marcus got himself up and straightened his clothes before he helped her up. “You are attractive, but I am still g*y, honey.”

She laughed at him, “When was this decided?”

“When I signed. Tory said you were going to the L.A. branch. He was discreet, but I knew why, of course. I already knew Ben was going. He said he wanted to keep us together so he offered a sweet little relocation bump and I was sold. Hell, girl, I’ve done San Francisco. Bring on L.A.!”

“Slut! Yay! You are going to have to build a whole new Dark Hub.” Krista shook her head at the horror of it.

“Oh,” Marcus waved that thought away, “the hardest part will be dimming the lights. I’m a pro at networking.”

It was at that moment that Kate walked in, thunder and storm clouds, like she usually was these days. It did not sit well with her what Sean was doing, which in her opinion, was taking the cowardly way out. She’d been chomping at the bit to have a serious discussion with him ever since she’d heard.

“Krista,” Kate stated as she took a seat.

“What, don’t I rate high enough for a hello?” Marcus asked, mock offended. He knew Kate’s M.O. these days, and was probably excited for the tirade he knew was coming.

She turned to him. “Hello.”

“Well, hi Kate, so nice you could stop in,” he responded pleasantly.

She rolled her eyes and turned back to Krista. “I’ve just come from talking to your soon-to-be ex-boyfriend, which you ardently love. And that ardently loves you, but is too chicken-shit to man up. Do you know what that ass**le said to me?”

“Butt-out?” Marcus fluttered his eyelashes at Kate’s hostile stare.

“Yes, in so many words!” Kate scoffed. “Can you believe that? I mean, let’s just break this down, Krista, because I can’t be the only intelligent person in this threesome.”

“Kate, we’ve been over this—“

Kate cut Krista off. “No, we are going to talk about each point, and then you are going to go beat his head against the wall until it gets through, and then you’ll get your happily-f*cking-ever-after, got that?”

“You sound angry…” Marcus smiled when Kate threw him a look that promised pain.

“We’ll do the dumb ones first.” Kate ticked off her pointer finger. “He is afraid Jim will find you through him. But Jim probably has no clue what his last name is. He certainly doesn’t know where Sean lives. And oh, he does know Jasmine and my last names, and we are also a way to find you. What a dumb-f*cking reason.”

She ticked off her second finger. “He can’t move to L.A.? Okay, yes, that makes sense. He has a house, I get that. But Cassie can get transferred again and Sean can eventually work it out after he gets Junior V.P.”

“Just to play the devil’s advocate,” Marcus said, a touch more seriously. “He doesn’t know when he can get that title. Not with any assurance. It could be years. He’d be stringing Krista along for all that time. Plus, the housing market is in a slump. Selling right now is a great way to take a loss.”

“You guys…” Krista whined.

“Three,” Kate said, arguing with Marcus now, “we all know he’s just punking out with goodbye. We know it, Marcus. That’s his deal. Go running when things get tough, right? Because that f**king guy could absolutely do some long distance. It’s like, an hour plane ride. What the hell? He makes enough.”

“You guys, stop,” Krista said, wiping away a tear. “I’ve talked to him about all this, okay? This is what he wants. I didn’t want to ruin the little time we had fighting.”

“No, this isn’t what he wants, Krista,” Kate stated. “He doesn’t know what he wants.”

“What do you want me to say, Kate?” Krista asked dejectedly. “He broke up with me. He doesn’t want to keep it up. He’s repeated himself enough times that now I look like a fool begging him not to dump me. I do have some pride.”

Tears made streaks down Krista’s face. Kate’s temper deflated and she slumped, the last of her fight gone out of her.