Page 9

CHAPTER NINE

Emory

I checked the time on the bottom right corner of my computer screen. It read 5:48 p.m. My heart skipped. Was I really going to meet Gray in just a few hours? For just a drink…or for more?

Pain shot through my fingertip. Damn it. I yanked my hand out of my mouth, where I’d been gnawing away at my nails. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t break the habit. I glared at my ragged nail. Grimaced. Gray would find that hot… not.

My stomach flipped as the realization hit again. Gray wanted to see me. Even after this awful debt business. The Forrester file still sat on my desk, a gloomy presence that wouldn’t go away. I’d tried hiding it under routine paperwork—loan applications and approvals that made me feel less shitty about my job—but it was always there, just waiting to be dealt with.

Not today, Satan.

I closed down my computer, pocketed my phone, and started for the door. Dad caught me in the hallway.

“Emory! I’ve been meaning to talk to you. Every time I stop by, you’re on the phone.”

It was almost as if I’d picked up the receiver at the sound of his approach to avoid talking…

“Sorry. Been busy.”

“That’s all right. That’s why we pay you.” He clapped my shoulder. “Just wanted to check in on those delinquencies. You make any progress?”

I nodded. “Had some delay in getting in touch with everyone. We’re getting there.”

“We need to start processing paperwork?—”

“Right, right. Let’s talk Monday, okay?”

“All right.” He glanced at the clock with a frown. I took off for the lobby before he could comment on my early exit. “First thing in the morning, Em!”

I waved a hand to show I’d heard him. Ugh. The last thing I wanted to do was talk to my dad about the Forrester foreclosure. I’d have to think of a way to stall him. I’d promised Gray I’d do what I could to give them some time to figure out a solution. I couldn’t delay for much longer, though.

The foreclosure itself would take time to process. But it’d be so much easier on them if it never started.

I raised my fingernail back to my mouth as I walked into the lobby, nibbling. I’d just smooth out the ragged edge. The damage was already done, right?

I gave a cursory glance toward the tellers. “Night, Janine!”

“Have a good weekend,” she called back.

I noticed the sole customer at the counter too late. Dallas.

My stomach cramped, and I sped up, cutting through a seating arrangement of beige chairs. I knocked an issue of Time magazine to the floor. Damn it.

I backtracked to pick it up.

Dallas cut toward me with a big grin on his face. What the actual fuck?

“Emory, my man! Got big plans for tonight?”

I stared at him, my brain unable to compute that this man who’d put his hands on me, pushed me around, and might have done much worse was talking to me as if nothing had ever happened.

“If you’re still curious about, you know , we could take another drive. I just deposited my paycheck. I’ll even buy you dinner after.” He chuckled. “Assuming you make it worth my while.”

I dropped the magazine and turned for the door. “Don’t talk to me.”

“Ah, come on, that was a joke!” Dallas followed me. “I was just kidding around.”

I hit the glass door, flinging it open too hard, and stepped out onto the sidewalk.

Dallas caught my arm. “Dude, wait!”

I shook him off. “Don’t touch me. Don’t you ever touch me again.”

“Why are you so pissed?” he said. “It wasn’t a big deal. We got our wires crossed, that’s all. It was just a little misunderstanding.”

I scoffed. “Yeah, okay. Whatever. They’re uncrossed now. You stay away.”

His eyes grew hard. “You think you’re so goddamned special, huh? As if I can’t do better than you.” He leaned in. “I know your dirty secret, Em. You better watch out, or pretty Allison will know it too. Maybe the whole town.”

My blood drained so fast I grew light-headed.

“I’m not special,” I said through numb lips. “I’m nothing to you. Not worth the effort.”

“That’s fucking right,” he spit. “You’re nothing .”

He walked away, back straight, head held high, while I shook where I stood. Weak. Cowardly.

Maybe I really was nothing.

Certainly, I wasn’t worth Gray’s time. Even if I was, it was a bad idea to start something. Why give Dallas ammunition for any rumors he might decide to spread?

I closed my eyes and took a breath. Then another as I made my way to my car. By the time I got home, I was a little steadier.

I let myself into my apartment, the warmth of color and texture instantly soothing me. My home was the one place I let my inner artist out.

My pale blue couch and mauve armchair draped with pastel green and yellow throw blankets. My mosaic coffee table with a wildflower design that I’d gotten from a talented artist who came through town. The many paintings on the wall—some mine, some I’d bought—a jumble of styles from expressionism to pop art.

I’d loved art for as long as I could remember—and I’d fit in as many classes as I could in high school and college alongside the required curriculum for my business degree.

I’d gotten an MBA so I could eventually take over the bank. It had been in our family for four generations now, and it was my duty to follow in Dad’s footsteps. But art would always be my happy place.

I made an easy dinner and flipped on the television while I ate. Here, surrounded by color and art and comfort, it seemed silly that I let Dallas rattle me so much.

As I finished up, my phone rang with a FaceTime call. Allison. I should have expected as much.

She’d been nearly as excited about Gray’s invite as I had.

I set aside my plate and hit the button to answer. Her face filled the screen. She was still at work; the generic wall art depicting flowers in a vase, probably purchased at freaking Walmart, loomed behind her.

I shuddered. “That pathetic excuse for art kills me every time, Ally.”

“Sorry.” She shifted, altering the screen view so I wouldn’t have to look at it. “Didn’t mean to offend your artistic sensibilities.”

“I die a thousand tiny deaths every time I see it.”

She laughed. “You’re so dramatic, and it’s a crime you have to work in finance. You should be curating museum exhibits or illustrating graphic novels, babe.”

This was an old discussion and one I didn’t want to cover tonight. “At least Dad let me hang real art at the bank.”

“It was that or put up with your whining for eternity.”

“Pretty much.”

She grinned. “Okay, enough small talk. Show me what you’re wearing to meet Gray tonight!”

“About that…”

“Nooo! Emory, do not tell me you’re going to stand up that gorgeous man.”

“I mean, he said to stop by if I wanted. It wasn’t like a date date .”

She arched an eyebrow. “Are you really going to hit me with semantics right now?”

I blew out a breath. “I saw Dallas on the way out of work, and he said some things…”

I recapped the exchange—minus my pathetic inner quaking. I’d eventually told Allison about the whole sordid night with him because she made it impossible to keep a secret. She’d noticed I was keeping something from her and pushed until I caved. She was pissed enough I was still glad I hadn’t told her the night of the gala. She might have hopped in her car and hunted him down. As it was, she still wanted me to file a report, even if his dad was the sheriff.

I was holding out because I didn’t want to stir up trouble, but trouble had come looking for me, anyway.

“Dallas is just giving you an excuse to bail out because it’s a scary step,” she said.

“He threatened to out me!”

“And he would have to out himself too. Not to mention, what he did to you was a crime. You could still report him.”

“It would just be my word against his. Besides, that would only start rumors…”

Allison nodded. “Well, maybe people would finally stop expecting us to get married.”

“Not funny.”

She smirked. “A little funny.”

My lips twitched. “Seriously, Ally. This guy is a creep, and I don’t know what to do if he starts shit.”

“Let your man go beat his ass?”

I rolled my eyes. “I’d have to have a man first.”

“Exactly. So go get him.”

My stomach fluttered at the idea of calling Gray my man. I’d done nothing more than kiss him. I liked the idea of trying more, but it scared me too. Once I opened this can of worms, I couldn’t close it again.

What would people think if they found out?

What would Mom and Dad think? They wanted me and Allison to settle down and have grandkids. I was bi, not gay, and I could still give them that with someone else, but… how disappointed would they be in the meantime?

“No,” Allison said. “Don’t do that.”

“What?”

“That thing you do where you let other people’s expectations keep you from what you want. You want to explore this side of yourself. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have ever gotten in the car with Dallas.”

I grimaced. “Wish I hadn’t.”

“Even if it means you wouldn’t have met Gray?” She leaned in closer, eyes boring into me as I squirmed at the truths she was unleashing. “Even if it means you’d never kissed a guy at all?”

I groaned. “Why do you always win every argument?”

“Because I’m a brilliant woman who sees right through you.”

“Thanks a lot.” I couldn’t fight the smile tugging at my lips. “It was a good kiss.”

“ Really good to hear you tell it,” she teased.

“Really, really good,” I said with a sigh.

“So, show me what you’re wearing tonight—and it better not be a suit!”

I laughed and stood up to head for my bedroom. “I think I’ve got a few things from college that might work.”

“Ooh, show me.”

I opened my closet door and pulled out a few shirts, displaying each one for Allison. She shot down the white one with a Dali print on it.

“This is a pool hall. You’re going to glow like neon if you wear white.”

I tossed it aside and held up a bronze-and-blue form-fitted button-down with a metallic sheen.

“Hm. Sexy. Let me see it on you?”

I propped the phone on the side table, shrugged out of my suit jacket, and unbuttoned my dress shirt.

Allison fanned her face. “Matteo is lucky I love him so much that I am totally unmoved by this striptease.”

I laughed as I pulled on the bronze shirt. “Shut up. You don’t look twice at anyone but him.”

She nodded. “Right. I’m only looking once.”

I buttoned the shirt, amused by her teasing but not really taking it seriously. If Allison had wanted to be with me, I probably would have caved to our parents’ wishes a long time ago. Which was actually kind of unsettling.

But now you’re going out to meet a man instead…

The cool fabric hugged my body, making me feel as if I was still half-naked. It didn’t leave a lot to the imagination, outlining my pecs—which weren’t even that built despite my regular workout regimen. I was too lean to add much bulk.

“It looks great, but I don’t think it really says pool hall, do you?” she asked.

“No,” I said with relief, stripping it off. “How about this one?”

I grabbed a graphic tee in shades of navy blue and gray with an abstract design. It molded to my body nicely, but it was cotton, and I felt a little less like I was wearing a neon sign that said, looking to get laid.

Even if I was kind of hoping to get laid…I didn’t want to come across as desperate.

“Perfect,” Allison said. “Pair it with some jeans. Tight, but not too tight. You want to say my ass is hot, but it’s not easy.”

I snorted. “You should start a dating advice column.”

“I totally should,” she said seriously.

I grabbed some designer jeans out of the closet. They were distressed and frayed at the bottom, so hopefully, they wouldn’t look too far out of place. I stepped out of view of the video call to drop my pants and pull on the jeans. We were close friends, but I didn’t need to show her how tightly my boxer briefs cupped my junk.

“You look fantastic,” she said, when I was fully dressed and back in view. “You know what this means?”

“What?”

“You can’t back out now.”

My stomach flip-flopped, nerves resurging. But there was excitement there too. A low simmer of heat at the idea of kissing Gray again.

“Yeah.” I swallowed hard. “I don’t want to back out.”

“Good. Because I want a full report tomorrow morning. Every dirty detail, my friend.”

“Not happening.”

She sighed. “Fine, just the highlights, then. Now, get going. Don’t make him think you’re not gonna show.”

Shit, this was really happening. I was going out to meet a man for a drink.

Probably more.

I grinned nervously. “Wish me luck.”

“Hell yeah,” Allison said. “Go have fun. You deserve it.”

I disconnected the call, grabbed my wallet and crammed it into my back pocket, then left before I could change my mind.