4 • The Surprise

My new office is a huge change from the old cubicle I worked in before. Although, everything in this building is different from the one in Toronto, to be completely honest. And I have no idea what my new duties will be, but I don't bother to ask. It's not like I actually want to work, anyway.

I have a big computer I can fool around on while pretending I'm doing something and a chair that spins around. I'm happy with that, that's all I need. Plus, my best friend is only a hallway away and I can see him through the glass walls.

This life couldn't be better.

I've only spent a couple of hours in his presence and I can already see why Cain will be so important in my life. Always happy and pleasant, he's easy to like and love. And Samantha just makes me feel better with her mere presence, she's my confidant and therapist for when I'm feeling troubled.

I've always had decent friends, but I feel something different with the two of them. They are real. Good or bad, we will be together for the rest of our days and the universe has my back on that.

Now all I have left to do is meet Genova and live an epic love story to make everything in my life perfect. I will still miss Willow, but I always knew that we were momentary and that she will be happy with her new man.

And I'll be happy not being a gutless pig anymore.

The rest of the day passes without me having to do anything. An IT employee arrives to program my new computer and while he does that we chat for a while. All the workers I have met today are young and pleasant, unlike the Toronto office full of old sourpusses that bored me to death and hated me for being 'immature' and 'playing around instead of focusing on work'.

This couldn't be more perfect, really. I can't stop thinking that, I feel like I'm living a dream.

"Ready to go?" Cain asks from my office door a few hours later. I look up at him and nod, turning off the computer before getting up and walking to him, "My friend Pinky is already waiting for us in Janeiro. He's way too punctual for his own good."

"Okay, let's not keep him waiting then... Do you have Sam's number?" I ask without much thought, but Cain stops abruptly to narrow his eyes at me suspiciously, "So you can call her and tell her we're on our way."

"Of course I have it, I already texted her... why are you so insistent with Sammy?"

"Insistent?" I repeat, snorting a laugh at his overstatement and starting to walk to the elevator beside him. I want to mock his jealousy, but I don't think we're at that level of our brotherhood yet. The last thing I need is for him to think I actually want to steal his girl and start hating me before he can love me, "Well, she's the only person I know here besides you, excuse me if I want to make friends.l

"Hmm," he lets go, looking at me suspiciously for a couple more seconds, until the elevator doors open, "Okay, sorry. Sammy usually attracts the attention of suspicious men, I feel the need to protect her. She's like my little sister since she started working with my dad. Nothing weird, that's all."

Aha... maybe I would believe that if I didn't know I'd be attending their wedding at some point, as the best man. Or if it wasn't so damn obvious.

"I get it, I feel the same way you do towards her," I say to reassure him, but his guilty mind takes what I said as me wanting her too and his eyes narrow again, "I mean I could see her as a little sister, too... that's what you said, right?"

"Oh, yes," he nods, averting his gaze.

I don't know what happened between them before I got here, but their feelings are all too evident.

Sam is already waiting for us at the front desk when we arrive, chatting with Victor. I feel like a total loser when I have to get my temporary card to leave and Cain just has to present his wrist. I'll get that chip installed on my body as soon as I can.

"Ready?" Sam asks, approaching us with a nervous smile. She fixed her hair and applied color to her lips.

"I'm always ready, Sammy. Shall we go in my car?"

"You two can ride together. I have my own driver, thanks to your father," I tell them and Sam drops her smile, looking mortified at having to spend time alone with Cain. If I didn't know they liked each other, I'd think she was terrified of him, "I'll see you there."

I walk outside before they can complain about having to be together and I look around for Samuel. He's waiting for me, leaning against the car as if he has been here for a while.

"Hi, do you know where Janeiro is? It's a bar," I ask as soon as I reach him. Samuel takes a second to think about it and then nods, opening the door for me, "Thanks, but you don't have to do all that, I'm not royalty."

"Okay, I'll let you open your own doors from now on," he comments before closing the door and walking to his own door. Once he starts, he asks, "Did you make any friends today?"

"Yes, I actually met a lot of nice people."

"I'm not surprised, nice people usually found each other," he comments, making me feel nice. He's such a nice guy.

"Oh, stop it, you'll make me blush," I laugh, playing with my cell phone in my hands, nervously. There's something on my mind that's making me anxious, but I don't want to see what it is yet, "I don't know how long I'll be at the bar... can I call you when I'm ready to leave? That way you have time to go get dinner or whatever."

"Sounds good. But don't worry about me, Beau. I've been a driver for five years," he tells me, looking relaxed behind the wheel, "I understand you feel bad about making me wait, but I know how to find ways to entertain myself and time to eat. Besides, Lambert pays me way too well to drive and be alone most of the day. I love my job."

"It sounds peaceful. I feel less bad now," I admit, getting ready to leave when I see the name of the bar in question. Samuel parks at the curb and gets ready to get out to open my door, but he remembers what I told him and stops, just as I open the door for myself, "Bye, see you in a bit."

"Have fun."

I walk into the bar looking around for my friends but I don't see them anywhere. I walk to a high table and sit there to wait for them.

I look around for a waiter to order something to make me relax a bit before I start to have an anxiety attack, but my sight (and my whole damn world) stops when I see the guy sitting at the table in front of me.

Pink hair and thick black eyebrows over the deepest, bluest eyes I've ever seen in my life. Manly features and big shoulders. The eye contact between us sparks something in my head that leaves me immobile in my seat.

Something so strong that it breaks through my mental barriers and forces me to see what awaits me.

Oh, no. No, no.

I don't think so.

No.