“Anyway, I guess I’m no longer needed here,” Ben suddenly said. “You’re in the prime position to do the interviews. The audio ones anyway.” There was something pointed about the way he looked at me, but definitely not that he was annoyed. This was him giving me a hint that I needed to have some fun.
I sucked in a nervous, shaky breath and nodded for him to go. This I could do. Ben left us alone and I turned on the audio recorder, putting it in the middle of us all. I guess if they decided to watch the training videos, and then record their own with Ben, that was something they could do later on.
“So,” I looked at them all in turn. “How do you want to do this? One by one? Or all at the same time?”
After a brief discussion, they decided to all go at the same time, which I guess was a good thing. It would definitely make things easier if they could bounce ideas off one another as they went along. It would certainly make them more likely to open up to me. Of course, there were some answers that I was going to be very interested in, and not just for the report. Especially after last night, my heart needed all the answers that I was too afraid to ask for. There was nowhere for me to run this time, especially with my leg like this.
I started with asking them all about the prize and how they would feel if they won. Hatcher gave a slightly less intense answer than he did when we were alone, but the sentiment was still there. He wasn’t afraid to let the others know he wasn’t in it to win it. I had to admit, that really impressed me, more than he could have ever known. Honesty was something I genuinely appreciated. I was shocked by Chase’s answer as well. He definitely seemed to be caving to pressure more than following his dream. Rory’s reply was all business like. Even Alek didn’t sound quite as interested as he usually was, which was strange. I really hoped I wasn’t just hearing what I thought I wanted to hear. Picking out what I felt like I needed.
When the topic of relationships came up, I was relieved that Alek didn’t mention what he and I had shared over the years. I was also grateful to hear that Chase was newly single, that Hatcher was too busy with his head buried in his work to have a relationship, and that Rory had only ever had flings before now. It was dangerous to care so much that these guys were single, because it certainly didn’t mean anything was going to happen between all of us.
Although without even realizing what I was doing, I had started holding Chase’s hand with my right hand, and with my left I’d laced my fingers through Rory’s. As soon as I noticed this, my heart began to pound, but I didn’t move away from either of them. As complicated as this was, I loved it. I couldn’t get enough of it. It felt so right.