Page 22 of Mending Me
“I do, but not very often and usually only when I’m home.” I wanted to move away from this topic as fast as possible. I had my reasons for not wanting to drink but I wasn’t ready to share those reasons with him yet.
“Fair enough.” I could tell he still had questions but was nice enough to not push the subject any further. His phone was sitting on the table and started to buzz as our server came back with our drinks. He flipped it over, checked the message quickly, and set it back down without answering it.
“How’s your week been?” I took a sip of my drink and glanced at his phone when it buzzed again. He didn’t pick it up this time and answered my question.
“It’s been fine. Like I told you at dinner, I work for my friend’s security firm overseeing a team that covers high-profile events, celebrities who come to town, things like that. We have some summer festivals coming up we are working to plan and get organized for—” He stopped mid-sentence to turn over his phone that was nearly exploding on the table at this point.
“Someone’s popular,” I chuckled, finding amusement in how frustrated he looked looking at his phone.
“It’s my stupid friends,” he sighed, looking at his phone quickly. I could tell he was trying not to be rude by being on his phone.
“Is everything okay? You can reply if you want, it’s okay.”
“Yeah, everything’s fine, they're just talking about our campaign tomorrow night.” As soon as he said it, his eyes widened and he looked at me. Almost as if he’d said too much or shared something he didn’t want to share. The hue of his cheeks turned a slight shade of pink.
“What do you mean,campaign?” I gave him a smirk and leaned over the table towards him.
He let out a sigh and took a pull of his drink before speaking again.
“You promise not to laugh?” His eyebrows were raised and he looked at me nervously.
“I promise. Cross my heart and all that jazz.” I ran my finger across my chest and loved how his eyes lingered on it for a few seconds too long. He let out another deep breath before speaking.
“My friends and I, all the guys you met at the bar last time, we meet up every Wednesday and play Dungeons and Dragons. It’s something we did growing up until I left for bootcamp. We started back up around the same time I came home. It’s how we make sure we see one another, hangout, blow off steam, you know.” He took another pull from his drink. “Some guys get together and play cards or watch football. My friends and I get together, play Dungeons and Dragons, and drink beer.”
I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh once he had finished explaining. Not because I thought his Wednesday night plans were lame or stupid, but because I loved how much it clearly mattered to him. Here was a guy who was an ex-soldier, went to the gym every morning for at least an hour, worked at a high-intensity security firm, but was spending his evenings playing board games with his friends.
Hank Martínez was a total nerd and I kind of loved it.
“You told me you wouldn’t laugh,” he teased. I felt his hand shake my knee under the table as he gave me a face.
“I’m not laughing at you, I swear. I’m laughing at how cute I think you are. This thing with your friends clearly matters to you. I think that’s really endearing. Most men don’t have strong friendships as adults. I love that you do.” I held his hand under the table and swiped my thumb across the back of it, drawing small circles with it.
“They might be idiots, but they’re my best friends. More like my brothers.” He pulled his hand away from mine and rubbed the back of his neck.
“I think that’s amazing. I love that you have them. And I love that you get together every week. Tell me more about this game, I’ve heard of it before but I don’t know much about it.” I took a sip of my drink and straightened up in my seat, ready to learn anything and everything about his Wednesday night ritual.
“You don’t have to be nice, I know you probably don’t care that much.” He gave me an incredulous look.
“Uh, yeah I do. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t wanna know.” How dare he question my interest?
After studying me for a beat, he dove into explaining the ins and outs of Dungeons and Dragons. I had no idea how involved it was. I’d heard of it before, but Hank and his friends took it to the next level. They all had their own characters, they made up new storylines, and he told me they would sometimes play for up to four hours at a time. I couldn’t even think about the last thing that kept my attention for more than forty-five minutes.
“So, do you like, use funny voices when you play?” I teased. At this point, we had been at the bar for almost two hours and had both had several drinks. He was on his third beer while I was still sticking to strictly alcohol free mocktails.
“Uh,” he laughed, “yeah, sometimes. It’s not normally me who does, but Conrad has been known to pull out a voice every now and then.” The way he spoke about his friends made my heart swell.
“I love that. I think the relationship you have with your friends is sweet.” I set my chin in my hand and propped it up on the hightop.
“Yeah, they’re good guys.” I watched him get lost in a thought as he finished his drink. When he set it down on the table, his eyes met mine.
“Do you want another one?” he asked, looking at my empty glass.
“No, I think I’m good.”
“You wanna get out of here then?” His eyes burned into mine as we held each other's gaze.
“Sure, let’s go.” We both stood at the same time and he reached his arm toward me to pull me closer to him. I watched as he threw some cash on the table and as we walked through the bar, he kept his hand on the small of my back just like he had before. There was an ever present protective energy about him that I could feel as I walked closely next to him.
