Gravity (Greenford #2) - Romeo Alexander Page 0,10

finding out how his heroes managed to survive the attempted military coup and assassination attempt on their lives and going out with Lucas for a sociable dinner, he would have been torn.

The timing was perfect, though, and the coup hadn’t started, so he was able to grudgingly set the book aside and get ready. Not that there was a large requirement for getting ready. In his younger years, he might have fussed over his hair, made sure that everything he wore worked perfectly for the night he was having and taken his time with meticulous grooming. Coming into his late twenties and early thirties had made him see that sort of prep work as excessive, whether it was for a night with a friend or on a date.

Not that he’d gone on any of those recently.

So he took his shower, threw on a comfortable shirt, jeans, and took about five minutes to try to make sure his hair didn’t look like he’d been recently electrocuted. His five o’clock shadow was something he would just leave, it wasn’t as if Lucas was going to care, and personally, he liked the way it looked on him anyway.

The drive from his house to Nations took about twenty minutes. The streets where he lived and until he reached a certain district of Greenford were quiet. Once he grew closer to what constituted ‘downtown’ and thus closer to the college, he began seeing more people on the sidewalks and the streets.

It was one of his favorite things about living in Greenford. After having spent over a year in Portland and differing amounts of time in various places around the country, nothing quite hit the right notes for Samuel like Greenford. Where he chose to live was quiet, the nearest house was a quarter of a mile away and separated by a thick patch of woods. But if he wanted some noise and life, all he needed was to drive to the downtown area of Greenford, where the few bars, clubs, and other hotspots awaited him.

He wasn’t surprised when he found Lucas waiting in the parking lot as he drove in. The taller man was leaning against his Jeep, legs crossed at the ankles as he stared down at his phone.

“Why am I not surprised that you beat me here?” Samuel huffed as he slid out from behind the wheel, closing the door behind him.

Lucas looked up, smirking. “I know how much you love it when someone beats you somewhere.”

“You’re an ass,” Samuel grumbled.

He came from a long line of terminally late people. For as long as he could remember, his family never knew how to follow a schedule. Even as a boy, it had driven him half-crazy, staring at the clock and seeing they were supposed to have been at their destination twenty minutes before, and someone was always still not ready. As an adult, he was early to every meeting by at least ten minutes.

Just as Lucas probably knew he would, Samuel checked his phone. Sure enough, he was eleven minutes early.

“It always makes me feel like I’m the one who’s late,” Samuel complained, tucking his phone away.

“I’m usually somewhere before you are,” Lucas said, sliding his own phone into his pocket.

Samuel glared. “That’s a lie. I’m usually earlier than you.”

Lucas shook his head. “I almost always arrive before you do. But usually, I drive around the block or hide out of sight and wait till you show up before I make an appearance.”

Samuel stared at him, disbelieving. “What, why?”

Lucas shrugged. “Because I know it stresses you out to think you’re late, and like just now, you always think you’re late if someone’s beaten you there. It’s really just easier not to stress you out right before a meeting.”

Samuel rolled his eyes. “You make me out to be such a drama queen.”

Lucas chuckled. “You can be, sometimes. But that’s not why.”

“Then why?”

“Because you’re my friend, and I don’t see the point in stressing you out if I can take an extra five or ten minutes to keep it from happening. It’s not like it’s some burden, I promise.”

Samuel let it go, knowing better than to get into a heavy discussion right before they were supposed to be relaxing and enjoying themselves. He’d always been a little uncomfortable with people doing things for him for the sake of his comfort or making things easier. Both because he didn’t like when people went out of their own way to accommodate him and because he didn’t need