She’s so much more than I deserve.
“Yeah,” Chloe says, answering Quinn’s question. I zoned out and missed what she asked. “I was the most involved with season one, but I think the showrunners have done a good job keeping the show close to the series while expanding side characters more than I did since the books are all told through Kellie’s point of view.”
“That is so freaking cool.” Quinn leans in. “And you go to all the premieres?”
Chloe nods. “I do, and I went to two Emmy Award shows with Charles when he was nominated. It was…rather boring,” she admits with a laugh. “I was so hungry the whole time. Now you,” she starts and looks at me, “get to suffer through them with me as my hot date.”
“I suppose I can be your arm candy,” I joke, and Chloe’s lips curve into a smile, lighting up her whole face.
“Do you have to live in LA?” Quinn asks, sucking down a large mouthful of her cocktail. “Because of all the TV series stuff?”
“No, I don’t. My editor is in New York, but my publicist and agent are in LA. We meet face to face, but pretty much everything can be done online or via Zoom now. Though I was recently approached by a producer about writing a series.”
“Ohhh, cool! But, what, uh, does that mean?” Quinn asks.
“A network who may or may not have produced some epic fantasy series before wants me to basically be in charge of the writing for two seasons of a new fantasy show that’s a twist on the old King Arthur legend.”
“That sounds awesome!” Quinn says excitedly, stirring her cocktail with the straw.
“It does, but I don’t know if I want to do it,” Chloe goes on.
“Why not?” I put my hand over hers again, needing to touch her.
“It would require me to stay in LA for another year or so, and would take away time from writing my own books. And I, uh, just don’t want to be tied to LA.”
“You don’t like it there?” Archer asks. “The weather is shit here in the winter. I’d love to move somewhere warmer, but we can’t leave family here.”
“Oh, the weather is wonderful there. Waking up to sunshine more days than not has done wonders for my mental health, I’m sure, but…” She trails off, biting her lip as she looks at her glass of wine.
“But you don’t want to be away from Sam,” Quinn finishes with a big smile. “That’s so sweet, and I get it. Long-distance is hard.”
“But doable,” Archer adds quickly, for our sake.
“Oh, for sure.” Chloe looks at me again, and the second our eyes meet, a rush goes through me. I want to lay her down and slowly trail my tongue down her body, hovering over her tight pussy, taking my time and teasing her before I finally dive in, tasting her sweet cunt and licking up every drop she gives me as I eat her out. “It helps that neither of us have anything tying us down other than work.”
All at once, the moment is over, pulled out from under me like a rug from my feet. I feel Archer’s eyes on me and avoid looking at him and his unspoken question.
No, I haven’t told Chloe yet.
Because in a few short months, I will have something tying me down to Chicago.
“They did offer quite a bit of money,” Chloe admits, picking up her wine and taking a drink. “Not that I need it,” she adds almost shyly. The waiter brings our appetizers, and the conversation shifts to the antics Quinn and Archer’s kids have pulled the last few weeks. We talk and laugh the rest of dinner, and when the bill is paid, we leave the restaurant with the intention of walking around the block a few times before calling it a night.
“I think we’ve been replaced,” Archer says, looking over his shoulder at Quinn and Chloe, who are walking down the sidewalk with their arms linked, laughing hysterically at something one of them said.
“It looks like we have.”
“If they do lesbian stuff, do you want to watch?” Archer asks seriously.
“You set up one camera, I’ll man the other,” I say back, just as serious.
He laughs first and shakes his head. It’s been a while since we’ve been out like this, though even when we lived together, we were both going through hell as we finished our residency. We hardly had time to sleep, let alone go out and have a social life.
We come to a stop at the street’s edge and Chloe and Quinn crack up at something again.
“My favorite thing about the series are the familiars. They’re cats!” Quinn tells Chloe, reaching up and brushing her hair back. Lesbian stuff might not be so far off after all.
“No,” Archer groans, rolling his eyes. “Don’t talk about cats.”
“What’s wrong with cats?” Chloe asks, and I chuckle, knowing of Archer’s annoyance with their cats.
“Nothing,” Quinn says harshly, looking at Archer. “They are majestic creatures and I really love them. We have a few.”
“A few?” I raise my eyebrows. “That’s not what I heard.”
“We have seven, you want one?” Archer deadpans, and Quinn pouts. The light changes and I make sure the girls, who might be a little tipsy, cross with us and don’t get lost in the sea of people.
“It’s nice to see them getting along,” Archer says. “I don’t think—wait, we’ve never met a girlfriend before. For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve never used that word. You flat-out refused to.”
I swallow hard. “Because there was only one person I wanted to use that word for.”
“And now you have her.”
“Now I do.”
“You two look happy,” Archer says. “She’s good for you, and if it even matters, which I know it doesn’t, I like her. Your sister won’t shut up about her either. You’d think Rory was the one dating Chloe, actually, by how much I hear about her. I think she’s already planned your wedding, so let’s hope Chloe will go for a gothic Lord of the Rings themed ceremony.”
I laugh. “I think she would, actually.”
“And you?”
“I’d marry her in Vegas tonight if that’s what she wanted.”
“So, I take it you…you haven’t told her yet, have you?”
He doesn’t have to specify to know what he’s talking about. “Not yet. She just got here and…and…fuck. I want the weekend together without ruining everything. Does that make me a selfish asshole?”
“Kind of, but I don’t blame you. Enjoy it, but know the longer you keep this from her, the harder it’s going to be to tell her. And when she finds out you didn’t tell her, she’ll be upset.”
“I don’t like you being so logical and wise. It’s unsettling.”
“It’s about time you start taking my advice, though your advice to fuck her out of my system did work in a way. I didn’t quite get her out of my system, but our one-night stand has turned into years of marriage.”
“And a million kids.”
“Some days it feels like two million. And don’t even get me started on the cats.”
“You have one for each kid.”
“And then some,” Archer grumbles.
“Just have more kids.”