With a Pull of a Trigger

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Tiffany raised an eyebrow.

Christian looked at Joshua’s deathly-white knuckles and winced. “Are you sure? We’ve been calling your name for a few minutes now.”

Joshua pasted a smile on his face, nodding.

Christian blinked once, twice, before saying, “whatever. I’m calling Greg and he’ll be sending you home.”

Joshua panicked, his eyes widening as he registered what Christian said. “No! Don’t call him!”

Christian raised his arms in alarm. “Alright, I’m not calling him. Sheesh Joshua, calm down.”

Samuel looked at Joshua with concern. “Are you sure you’re alright? We can tell Charles you need to rest, you know. I’m sure he won’t mind.”

At the mention of Charles’ name, Joshua barely repressed a wince. Hoping that no one saw, he breathed deeply.

Too late though, as Tiffany’s eyebrows furrowed once she saw the wince. “What happened to you? You don’t want us to call Greg and you winced once Samuel said ‘Charles’.”

Joshua shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

Christian stood up at Tiffany’s nod, walking to the door to slide it shut. Tiffany raised an eyebrow in response, and Joshua knew that if he didn’t start talking, Tiffany would surely make him pay later.

He knew they were concerned. After all, they’ve been friends for a long time and had been through thick and thin with each other. He could tell them.

“Don’t tell Charles or Greg about anything I’m going to tell you guys,” he said, pleading.

He looked at the three of them and they nodded uncertainly.

“I saw Greg flirting with Charles a while ago,” Joshua admitted, embarrassed at having to say it out loud.

Christian raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Oh, is that all? If that’s all then Samuel certainly has had worse.”

Samuel shot Christian a dirty look. “Not helping, Christian.”

Christian shrugged. “It’s true!”

Tiffany was thoughtful. “I’m pretty sure they dated in the past,” she said, no doubt musing over the past few months they’ve spent with Charles and Greg.

“Really?” asked Joshua incredulously as he looked at Tiffany.

“Yeah,” she said, still obviously thinking hard. “I think Eena told me once.”

Samuel thought back to the days when he had been insanely jealous of Greg and his closeness to Reini. “Huh. Charles was the one who told me about how Reini and Eena used to have crushes on Greg.”

Christian grinned. “So, they had a thing together?”

Joshua shot Christian a dirty look. “Seriously not helping, Christian.”

Christian shrugged, shaking his head. “Seriously, Joshua, you don’t have anything to be worried of. So what if they had something in the past? Obviously, it’s gone, whatever the hell it was, because Greg looks at you like you’re everything. There’s nothing to worry about, man.”

Tiffany nodded. “Christian’s right, Josh. There’s no sense in beating yourself up over some relationship that ended before you even met him.”

Joshua sighed. “You didn’t see them. There might not have been something more between them, but there sure as hell was a spark.”

“So what?” asked Christian, turning to look back to the files he should really be working on, “it’s you damn decision as to if you want to make that spark a flame or just smoke.”