An even shorter chapter than the last one, sorry. I promise to have the next on up this week!

It was only four days until he saw her again. She surprised him, showing up with a couple of engineers at the paddock. She pointedly asked to speak to him in his office. He noticed Barry's knowing smirk as they passed him. It made Owen want to punch something.

"You didn't tell me you were coming," he said gruffly when he'd closed the door behind him. He walked to his desk and sat down quickly in his chair.

"I thought you might find an excuse to leave if you knew I was," she explained, "and I wanted to talk to you."

He thrummed his fingers on his desk. He shrugged, "What about?"

"About what happened...what I did." She stood up straighter. She was stiff, but not overly nervous.

"You mean you kissing me?" he said flatly, hoping to get under her skin.

She stared at him, her stare almost blank but he could see a fire behind her eyes. It nearly made him smile.

"Yes," she answered tightly. "I wanted to apologize." Her hands fidgeted as she held them together in front of her skirt. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

He stood, now really trying to hide his smirk. She was just too much damn fun to stay mad at. He made his way over to stand before her.

"You didn't make me uncomfortable," he said, his tone mildly patronizing. "I just don't like being teased with something I can't have."

They locked eyes and he thought he saw her almost smile before she glanced down at his lips. He looked off to the side and took a step back to lean against his desk. He didn't need her kissing him again while she was involved with another man.

"So what's with the engineers?" he asked to change the subject. He folded his arms across his chest, feeling a little defensive.

"They're checking out the bridge," she said after a moment's pause, "to see what it would take to raise the railings."

He nodded, still not loving that idea. She glanced around his office and started walking around, taking in the stacks of files and few books he had scattered about.

"Have you gone over the safety procedures with the techs like I asked?"

"Uh, yeah," he lied, his voice a little higher than usual. "Yeah, they took it all in. I think we're good."

He saw her roll her eyes just before completely turning her back on him. "So when will you actually be having that meeting?"

He sighed. "I don't know. I'll try to make time next week."

"It's important, Owen," she stressed, turning back to him.

"I know it is," he defended. "Listen, my guys know what they're doing. What happened was just a stupid mistake. One stupid mistake by a new kid."

"We can't allow sloppiness to go unpunished," she argued.

"So now I have to punish them?"

"Well, what else would you call having to listen to the safety procedures all over again?" The corners of her lips lifted in the smallest of smirks.

Oh, she was making a joke.

He shook his head and smiled, looking down at his feet. "Oh, Dearing."

"What's wrong, Grady?" she asked with humor.

He could hear the clicking of her heels as she walked towards him. The toes of her shoes came into his line of sight.

"Owen," she called to him softly. He lifted his head and smiled lazily. "I still want to be your friend."

He paused to take a deep and long breath. He stood and placed both hands on her arms. "Claire Dearing wants to be my friend," he said quietly. "And all I want to do is marry the hell out of her." His face broke into a smile as she gave a muted laughed.

"I've missed your fake proposals," she said, still chuckling.

"You're the only one calling them fake," he teased.

She hummed. "So we're okay?"

"We're okay, Dearing," he agreed, stepping back from her with a nod and a reassuring smile. What else could he say? "But all bets are off if you go kissing me again."

He stepped back around his desk. He could only take being so close to her for so long. His chest was tight. He felt short of breath.

"Oh," she laughed. "And what does that mean?"

"It means, boyfriend be damned, is what it means."

He could see she was biting her cheek as she tried to reign in her smile.

"Well, I'll try to remember to restrain myself."

He sat back in his chair and pulled his hands behind his head. "You can try," he said with a wink.

She smirked and turned to leave. "Enjoy the rest of your evening, Mr. Grady."

"You too, Dearing."

She opened the door and started, seeing Barry on the other side apparently about to knock on the door. Owen's smile immediately dropped. Claire excused herself and stepped around Barry who watched and waited until the door to the outside of the building closed behind her before stepping into Owen's office.

"What's up?" Owen asked casually.

Barry shrugged, his smug smirk never ceasing. "Just wondering if you wanted to get drinks tonight?"

"Sure," he said quickly, pretending to read some papers on his desk.

"You're sure you don't have any other plans?" he asked tauntingly.

"I'm sure," he said confidently. "You know if I did or had the hope of other plans, I'd ditch you in a heartbeat."

"You're a great friend," he said flatly.

Owen chuckled and looked back up. "Are you ever going to let this go? There's nothing going on with me and Dearing." Anymore.

Barry threw his hands up defensively. "Whoa, I never said you had something with her."

"Whatever," Owen grumbled. "Sunrio?"

"Eight-thirty," he confirmed with a nod before closing the office door behind him.

...

"I'll make a deal with you," Barry bargained later that night after they each had a few drinks. "I'll cover two day shifts for you, whenever you want, no questions asked, if you just...come out with it." He said it so nonchalantly that Owen had to smirk at the attempt.

"You don't know her," he lied.

"See, I think I do. Otherwise you wouldn't be so secretive."

He shrugged defensively. "She wanted it to be a kept quiet," he insisted.

"Why? What does it matter? Is she married? Is she ashamed of you?"

He clenched his jaw and avoided his eyes as his friend's postulating hit a little too close to home.

"Alright," Barry conceded softly. "I'm sorry. Soft spot. I get it."

Owen shook his head. "It's fine," he deflected. He threw back the shot sitting before him and chased it with a sip of his beer.

"Yes, clearly," Barry teased.

"Look, she wanted it to be private. I respected that because...because she was really fucking hot." Barry snorted into his beer and Owen smiled. "And she was a fantastic fuck. But it's over now. She called it off."

"Then I would argue that the statute of limitations on keeping a secret of a relationship has expired and you are thereforE able to tell your very dear best friend who you've been fucking, as you so eloquently put it, for, what's it been, now - a year?"

"You love talking out of your ass, don't you?"

Barry laughed and nodded to the bartender who asked if they wanted another round.

"You know I know who it was," he said after a moment. His tone was light enough, though he was trying to be serious now.

Owen shook his head and still avoided his gaze.

"I mean, it's still mind-boggling to me how you could have possibly ever been with her, but you weren't subtle about it the few times I saw you together."

"Well, you're the only who knew, as far as I know," Owen said, fidgeting with the label on his beer bottle. "You can't mention it to anyone."

"I won't," Barry assured him. "I'm sorry it ended for you, my friend."

"Nah," he said with another shrug. "It had to end sometime."

Another wave of silence passed over them as they watched the TVs above the bar.

"Hey," Barry said finally, raising his beer to his friend. "She didn't deserve you."

Owen chuckled, raising his own bottle to cheers. "Yeah, sure. We'll go with that."

After taking a sip, Barry clasped him on the back and they went back to watching the infomercials playing on the screen.

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