Heart-Bound ✅

Chapter Twelve

To Tyler's relief he could see that Malcolm had already been seated when he entered the restaurant. "I'm with him," he said, pointing Malcolm out. Malcolm responded with a wave.

"Was the traffic still crazy out there?" Malcolm asked when Tyler sat down.

"I found a parking spot about five minutes away," Tyler said sheepishly. He accepted the menu offered to him. "Is there anything you would recommend?" he asked the waitress.

"Bun bo nam bo is one of our signature dishes," she responded. Her cheeks were rosy and she glancing between them quickly with a look of excitement on her face. She was undoubtedly pleased to see that two very good-looking men had been seated in her section.

"Then I'll have that," Tyler said.

"So will I," Malcolm said. "And an order of goi cuon to share, please."

"Goi cuon?" Tyler asked when the waitress skipped away.

"They're a healthy version of spring rolls," Malcolm said. "It's my favorite Vietnamese food. I think you'd like it."

"Then I'm happy to try it." Tyler didn't want to check his phone in the middle of a date, but he couldn't help but be on edge.

"Hey," Malcolm said suddenly, and Tyler glanced up. "You all right?"

Tyler shrugged stiffly, seeing no need to hide anything. "I got a text from Kane while I was parking my car."

Malcolm's shoulders stiffened slightly. "Your ex?"

Tyler nodded. He pulled out his phone and showed Malcolm the text. "See?"

'How are you doing?" Malcolm read aloud. His brow arched. "He's fishing. Why would he be fishing?"

"I don't know," Tyler said honestly. "He already moved his new boyfriend in and he tried to rub his new relationship in my face, so—"

"Oh, you used to send him "I love you" texts?" Malcolm suddenly asked. Tyler felt the blood rush to his head as he realized Malcolm was reading old texts between them. "That's sweet—"

"Oi," Tyler said, snatching the phone back. "My showing you that new text wasn't an invitation for you to see our chat history, Malcolm."

Malcolm looked mortified, as if realizing what he had done. "I'm sorry," he said seriously. "I didn't mean to invade your privacy."

Tyler shook his head and put his phone back in his coat pocket. "It's fine," he said in a calmer tone. "I just...don't like the reminder of my failed relationship."

"Why not block him then?"

Tyler paused, and then pulled his phone back out. "That's a good idea."

"But I wasn't teasing you," Malcolm said. "From what little I saw of your text exchange I can see that you really cared about him. I wish one of my exes has sent me "I love you's" daily."

"Well, he can't text me now," Tyler said after blocking Kane. He tucked the phone back into his coat pocket.

"But you're a generous guy, Tyler," Malcolm said. "It's awful that someone took advantage of your generosity, especially since they were your partner."

"I'm getting over it," Tyler said, drinking some water.

Malcolm grinned at him. "I sure hope so. Ah, here we are," he said as the waitress returned with their goi cuon.

Once they settled into their dinner and got off the topic of Kane, Tyler started to relax and enjoy himself. He was honestly surprised by how much he had in common with Malcolm. While they did have different interests, the differences didn't annoy Tyler. Nor did the similarities. And despite the fact that weren't technically dating, Tyler was...enjoying opening up to Malcolm. And having Malcolm open up to him.