“Oh, you can be as bold as you like.” Evander rose smoothly and strode, closing the distance in a couple steps. He was right up against Ozzy, less than an inch between them, and although Ozzy had a slight height advantage, it didn’t seem to chill Ev out in the least. Not that he’deverbeen intimidated by Ozzy. “It doesn’t change the truth: it makes sense to use that patio as a living space.”
“And you won’t hear any argument from me. But you’re not going to encroach on my territory again without a fight.”
“Oh, Oswald. You and your ego.”
Ozzy gripped his shoulders and shoved him a step back as his ire rose, hot and acid. “This isn’tego.”
“Yes it is. You want the entire outdoor space to yourself even when it doesn’t make sense or make a damn bit of difference. You have some notion that I’m against you.”
“Youareagainst me. Don’t piss on my face and tell me it’s raining.”
“I think the phrase is boots. Unless you’re propositioning me with a new kink. The answer would be no, since we’re not dating, but I would retract my correction if you meant it that way.” He sighed. “Listen, I would love to play this game with you, but we do have to figure something out for this job. You think you can put your big boy pants on and actually talk this through?”
“You think you can stop being a condescending asshole and actually be honest with me?”
Evander’s face tightened, just like Ozzy knew it would. He hated when anyone called him out on his honesty crap. But if he wasn’t willing to admit this was stupid, petty bullshit, Ozzy wasn’t going to let him get away with it.
Evander backed off and sat on the foot of Ozzy’s bed. “Don’t accuse me of lying.”
“Then be honest: you’re being unreasonable because you’re still bitter about the breakup.”
“I could say the same about you.”
Yeah, you could.Ozzy wasn’t unaware. When they were a couple, he probably would have let it go. Even though the landscapingwashis area and Evanderdidn’tknow what he was doing and there waszeropoint to sacrificing this—
Ozzy closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, Evander’s brows had knit together as he looked up at Ozzy. It was a familiar look, one of concern. Used to precede him checking in, and almost always when Ozzywasactually in his own head. Or up on his own ass on a few occasions.
A familiar warmth filled Ozzy’s chest, followed by a rise of panic. He needed to cut this off, just in case Evanderdiddecide to follow that expression of concern up with that old check-in. They did not work well together, and this was not the time to give it another experiment. That urge was way too prevalent in that moment.
As Evander opened his mouth to say something, Ozzy shouted over him. “All right, compromise.”
Evander’s brows unknitted, but he frowned. An exaggerated one, clearly fake. “You must be pretty sick if you’re willing to compromise.”
“You’re right. I’m being ridiculous. You can get bent.”
“All right, I’ll shut up.”
“Do you know how?”
Evander rolled his eyes. “What’s the compromise?”
Ozzy sighed and considered pulling out of the offer entirely. Homescapes could pass judgment. But hereallydidn’t need that reputation, and it wasn’t like this would be the first time he and Evander had worked in conjunction. Just the first time when they weren’t dating. “Design it together. You really want it to be the best possible space for them, it makes sense to have the both of us in there instead of just you.”
“I’msureyou mean instead of just one of us.”
“Whatever you need to believe.”
Evander looked him up and down, a sparkle in his eye. “Can I state the obvious first?”
“Since when do you want my permission to say something?”
He shook his head. “In spite of whatever concept of me you have, I’m not…” He closed his eyes. When he opened them back up, that spark was back, and he was wearing a real frown. Slight, but familiar to Ozzy as a genuine expression. Something was actually on his mind.
“You and I are historically bad at not winding up giving this relationship another go. Can we really work together any kind of closely and…not to say that I hated our time together or whatever, but—”
“Keep calling me by my full name and be as sanctimonious as possible.” EvenOzzyheard how unnecessarily snide that was, so he tacked on, “I’ll be an insufferable prick and stomp around like I hate everything.”
“How is that any different than when we were dating?”
