Finding My Own

18. The Boyfriend

"Hey now!" Elijah cut in. "Lunch between friends is supposed to be friendly. This escalated rather quickly."

"Just jokes between friends." Cooper chuckled. "Right, Roxanne?"

"...Right." I crossed my arms. "How have you been Eli? I know we haven't really spoken since that night."

"I'm good. Been better." Elijah smiled. "How's Sebastian? I know he's working out of town. He hasn't seen you for a while."

"He'll be fine."

"Sebastian? Who's that?" Cooper asked.

Nosy much?

"My boyfriend," I said. "Been a few months now."

"I didn't know that..."

"Because...I don't go around telling people I'm not single."

Cooper was going to say something else, but the chef walked in. He didn't waste any time handing out menus and getting our drinks ready. The black curtain was silent as he pulled it open and began prepping everything.

"If you want, you guys can come look after figuring out what you want to eat," he said. "As a complimentary appetizer, I like introducing a surprise dish."

"Is that fine with you guys?" Elijah asked. We nodded. "Do your best, chef. We'll join you in a moment."

I didn't bother looking at the menu, because I knew I was gonna eat anything presented to me. If all goes well, then Cooper will be forced to leave. I won't have to worry about trying to talk him out of extra drinks and driving him back to the company. I still have to figure out what his role is in this mess.

"Has anyone had swordfish before?" the chef asked. We all shook our heads. "Well, today is your lucky day. We just had a new batch come in this morning. I'd like you guys to try our newest recipe. All the chefs have been perfecting this recipe for months before we opened."

"Sounds like it's amazing," I said.

"If fish is your thing, then you'll definitely enjoy it."

While we watched the chef, Elijah and Cooper made small talk. They seemed pretty invested in talking sports. Elijah's date, Selene, didn't seem like she loved talking to people. She'd say a couple of words to me before staring down at her phone. I was fine with that. At least she wasn't giving me a reason to really question Elijah's taste in women.

Lunch was served hot and I was enjoying every last second. Cooper happened to leave earlier and tipped the chef a little too well. I shot a text to Todd and Maison, explaining what he'd done and how cocky he'd been. They would definitely have to watch him in the coming days. Once the bank transfer happens, a lot of them are going down. I won't let them take Mr. Whitlock along.

"It was nice having lunch with you guys," I said. "Maybe you and I can go out again some time."

"Maybe. I do have a couple of seminars I'm doing in the coming weeks," Eli muttered. "Sebastian should definitely join us."

Ugh, as much as I love Sebastian, he doesn't have to know all of my friends. I like to keep him guessing about me. If he knows everyone I hang out with, we might as well be just friends. It's odd to have him know who is who and end up focusing on the wrong thing.

"Anyway, we have to get going. Selene has an appointment soon."

"Ah, okay. It was nice meeting you, Selene."

"Likewise, Roxanne."

I didn't like the way she was saying my name. It was like she was trying to figure out if she wanted to like me or not. She didn't speak to me much during lunch to say she didn't. My interaction with Elijah was enough to make any woman iffy about me, but we're just friends. Being overly friendly is going to be the death of me.