by Alexa Davis
“Now, I know this isn’t going to be easy for either of us, Milo, but we have had a better offer, and the boss does want us to take it.”
No way... No fucking way...
“So doesn’t loyalty mean anything, then? We have been working together for years. I have gone out of my way to keep you guys on. Now you’re about to throw this shit at me?” I pumped my fists by my side, causing my knuckles to turn white. I wanted to scream and yell, but I needed to keep it locked away. I had to.
“It isn’t like that,” Leon tried, but we both knew that wasn’t the case. “This is business; you know how it is. You could just up the money and that would be the end of it.”
“I’m not going to. I’m not going to fucking bow to you. There are a million and one security companies in Vegas – this isn’t something that I need to be putting up with. You got a better offer? Then fucking take it, but don’t come crawling back to me when you’re fed up with another shit boss.”
I was done, and I would find someone else. It didn’t matter to me. Leon tried to argue with me, to draw me back into conversation, but I was done, so I hung up on him, effectively terminating the contract we had. Fuck him, fuck the lot of them. I don’t need any of them.
Bill wasn’t going to be happy, though; he would be annoyed by the extra workload. I would tell him to get a temp company in for the time being, while I did my best to sort out someone else in the meantime. He would be fine; he would just get on with it, like he always did. That was why I hired him in the first place – because, under the grumbling and groaning, he always got the job done.
But before I got the chance to do that, I felt a little prickle on the back of my neck, as if there were eyes upon me. I snapped my head up and spun around slowly, a weird feeling overcoming me.
That was a pretty standard business disagreement, and anyone in my position would know what it was like, but if that was Eliza behind me, then she might look upon me differently. The nice guy image might have been shattered.
I turned and saw her there, with Veil standing right by her side, giving me an odd look. I couldn’t decipher her emotions at all, which left me totally speechless. I opened and closed my mouth a few times, willing something to come out, but nothing happened. We were in this weird standoff, facing one another, neither of us able to move.
Chapter Twelve
Eliza – Thursday night
I stood in the doorway in shock, just staring at Milo, wondering who the hell this version of him was. I’d seen the quiet and mild-mannered version of him, I’d gotten to know the friendlier version of him, but I’d never seen this ruthless, business side of him before.
I kind of liked it!
It helped me to see him as the high-powered, in-control businessman that he had to be to have made all the money that he had. It allowed me to picture him putting people in line, and weirdly, that image turned me on. He was just so unlike weedy Josh and any other guys that I’d dated, and it made me want to know more.
I couldn’t help but wonder how it would feel to have him controlling me in the bedroom. If he dominated me and took total control of my body, how much would I like that? It didn’t help that all day long Laynee had been making snide comments about the pair of us living alone, stirring me up to the point that I could barely think straight anymore.
As he turned to face me, my whole body flip-flopped inside. I did my best to keep my expression stoic, but I wasn’t sure that I totally pulled it off. The air felt thick, the atmosphere teeming with emotion, and for a few moments, neither of us said a word. We simply stared at one another in stunned silence.
“I’m sorry that you had to hear that.” He eventually shrugged, breaking the magic of the moment. “The security company is doing its best to kick my feet out from under me, and I need to keep them in line. Or get another one; we’ll see.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” I blustered, my cheeks heating up as I spoke. “I know what it’s like. Business is business.” Luckily, I hadn’t been too screwed over in that respect, but if I thought about my landlord, then I knew how sometimes there was only one way to deal with things. “Everything all right?”
“Yeah. I think so.” He furrowed his eyebrows as he spoke. “It will be anyway. It’s just not always easy to run a company from long distance, you know.” Oh, God... My heart ran cold. Does that mean he is about to leave? “Anyway, it’ll be fine. I have an awesome manager.”
Everything loosened as I realized that I was actually about to have some more time with him. That was good, amazing actually, and it made me grin like crazy. “Well, I’ve brought some stuff home for dinner, and a movie, too. It’s a chick flick, I’m afraid, but a good one. I think you’ll like it.”
“Sure...” he replied cautiously. “Is this going to be a mushy film?”
“You’ll love it, honestly.” I dismissed him with a grin. “It’ll be fine.”
He gave me a look that suggested he was only going to go along with it for my benefit, but that was all right. I was pretty sure that he would enjoy himself no matter what. I certainly would, especially with his company.
“Right, sure; okay, so what’s for dinner?”
As I cooked, I asked him a little bit about his company and his life in Vegas. Now that the subject had been broached by the phone call, I felt like I could dive into it a little bit and learn more about him. He was so closed off, so hard to read, and I wanted to get a better picture of him.
Also, I wanted to know if he had just had his heart broken, but I wasn’t quite sure how to tackle that subject.
“Yeah, so I did love the casinos at first, but now they have become more like hard work.”
“That’s why the teachers at school lie to you; you should never do what you love as a career. It’ll suck the fun right out of it,” I teased, happy to see him smiling at my silly joke.
“So, you don’t love hairdressing anymore?”
“Oh, I do,” I insisted. “But it wasn’t what I wanted to do when I was young. I assumed that I would be a ballet dancer, dancing my way around the world!”
“I could so see that! Why did that dream fall apart?” He was laughing at me, but in a kind way that warmed my heart up. I liked bringing any kind of happiness to him. In a weird way, it had become a sort of mission for me.
“When puberty hit, and I realized that I didn’t quite have the body for it. Or the grace... Or the ability to move right!”
“Oh, well...” That silenced him for a moment. “Yeah, I suppose the ability to dance is one of the things that they look for.”
I placed the plates down on the table, and as we ate, that fun-loving, easy-going aura remained. I never wanted that to go; I didn’t enjoy it when he retreated back into his shell.
“So, where does the investment fit into the casino business?” I asked him curiously, still not getting it. I just had the one company, and that was hard enough to keep on track of. Though, Milo clearly had a lot of other people to do it for him.
“I used to invest a lot. It was how I made a lot of my money, but I fell out of it.” He pursed his lips for a moment, clearly lost in thought. “I got so sucked in by the Vegas lifestyle that everything else just fell away. Then, more recently, things changed, my priorities changed, and now... I guess I want something more.”
I held my breath, waiting for the confession to follow, something heartfelt, something important... But after a second, the moment passed, and his expression returned to stoic.
“Anyway, sorry for blathering on so much about the business. It must make me so boring. I guess I’m just at something of a crossroads and I’m trying to work out which way to turn. Are you ready for the movie?”
I nodded sadly, wishing that we could go back to that moment where he was more able to open up to me, but I had to be glad that he had done a bit. “I like hearing about your life,” I told him, maybe a little too honestly. “But yeah, I’ll pop the DVD in.”
He sat on the couch, and as the credits rolled, I sli
d in next to him. I felt comfortable, happy to be by his side, but my eyes kept glancing toward Veil sitting meekly on the floor.
“Come on, boy.” I patted the seat next to me, trying to get him to join us. “Come and sit with us.”
“Oh, he won’t.” Milo shook his head seriously. “He knows not to come up on the furniture. And will you stop talking to him? You know he doesn’t understand.”
I smiled secretly to myself, now wanting to wind him up. Now that I knew him better and was aware that he wasn’t the grumpy guy he seemed to be at our initial meeting, I didn’t mind creating that reaction.
“Oh, well, you can at least come and sit at my feet, can’t you?” I lured him over and started to pet him. “And boring old Milo thinks that you don’t understand me; what a fool! We’re besties, aren’t we?”
Milo sighed and shook his head at me, but there was still a happiness there, too. “You are crazy, you know that, right?”
“I have been told,” I shot back nonchalantly. “But then I’ve also been told that I’m awesome, too, so who knows?”
“Oh, you’re that, too!”
As he chuckled at me, those butterflies started flapping all over again. He was still teasing me, that much was clear, but I felt like the compliment was genuine, too. And, I didn’t think he said things that didn’t need to be said, or that he didn’t mean, so how the hell was I supposed to take that?
I wanted to ask him more, to press him to tell me what he thought, but I couldn’t. Not without sounding like a crazy person, so I simply slid back further into the couch instead, ready to watch the movie.
***
This was absolute torture – hell, in fact. Sitting that close to Milo without being able to reach out and touch him damn near killed me. I felt acutely aware of his every single movement, every shift, every time he brushed my arm, even every breath. I was so involved in him, it totally distracted me from the movie, but luckily I’d seen it before. It was a simple enough plot so when he asked me a number of questions about it, I could answer them, making my very clear attraction less obvious to him.
“So, why did her best friend say that thing at the end?”
“Weren’t you listening? Because of the diary she found at the beginning.” My heart was pounding in my chest, my mind whirring, but on the outside, I hoped that I looked normal... or as normal as I could be.
“Oh, right. So, she did want them to end up together? I thought that bit was confusing.” I felt like it said a lot that he was so closely watching, even though it clearly wasn’t his thing. It made me feel... Well, like the mess I’d already become.
“Of course, it’s a happily ever after. Everyone always wants everyone else to be happy in movies. It isn’t like real life at all.”
“And, who was the guy with dark hair? The one who walked her down the aisle?”
“Are you kidding?” I all but screeched. “That was her stepdad, the man who raised her. She asked him to walk her down the aisle because... Oh, you know why. You’re winding me up now.”
“Oh, right... so...” He wouldn’t be derailed by my accusations, which made it very hard for me not to burst into hysterical laughter.
“Will you stop?” I chuckled, pushing him playfully. “The plot was so obvious; don’t be so crazy. Plus, it’s late. My eyes are tired. I need to sleep!”
“Oh, right,” he pouted jokily. “Okay, well, I’ll store up all the questions and ask you them in the morning.”
“Sure, sounds good.”
I had to tear myself away to move toward the bedroom, but I just couldn’t sit there anymore. Everything was so confusing; everything was so hard to resist. I was scared that if I didn’t make my escape soon, I would end up doing something that I regretted. I shot him one last, lingering look as I walked away, desperately wishing that things could be different.
That I could just jump on him and kiss him all over.
I let out a deep sigh and rested my back against the door while everything ebbed away from me. Having Milo open up to me more than he ever had before, even if I didn’t get any of the real in-depth information that I wanted, had made me feel incredibly special. It made me feel like he liked me, possibly in a way that wasn’t just about friendship.
Laynee kept telling me not to be so serious, to actually have a bit of fun with Milo, but I just couldn’t do that. Even if I wanted to. There were too many potential complications...
He would be gone soon enough.
Chapter Thirteen
Milo – Friday
“No, stop it,” I mumbled as the whining sound got increasingly louder. I was in that weird place between dreaming and awake, and I wasn’t quite sure what was real. “Be quiet now.”
It took me far longer than it should have to recognize that noise as Veil wanting to go outside. He never messed in the house, for which I was obviously extremely grateful, but sometimes, like when it was far too early in the morning, I found it a massive pain.
I slid my weary body out of bed and grabbed a nearby pair of sweatpants. I wasn’t usually comfortable with wandering around with no shirt on, despite the fact that I’d worked hard for my body, but judging by how the last few days had gone, Eliza would already be on her way to work.
I sighed deeply and rubbed my sleep-filled eyes, but Veil was becoming more and more insistent, which meant that he was desperate. I shoved the door open and watched him race away but instead of heading straight for the door like I expected him to, he propped himself up by the window instead.
What is that crazy dog doing? I shook my head bemusedly and followed him, wanting to see what had him so fascinated, expecting to see some form of animal, but what I actually noticed was Eliza’s car slowly moving out of the driveway.
Shock tore through my body. Is Veil that attached to her? I knew he liked her more than most people, and I was sure that she felt like they had a bond... but did they?
That was so bizarre, it actually made me feel bad for the fact that eventually, we would have to return home, and I’d be forced to tear them apart. Worrying about the impact that would have on Veil was preferable to thinking how the whole thing would affect me. I had no idea how I was going to take it.
“Okay, buddy.” I patted Veil’s head, trying my best to do what Eliza did. If it had made Veil like her so much, then maybe I was the one in the wrong. Maybe I should have spent the whole time talking to him, however dumb it made me feel. It wasn’t going to be easy to totally change my habits, but it had to be a start. “She’ll be back soon.”
I heard a strange tinny sound coming from the bedroom, and in my still sleep-deprived state it took me far too long to recognize that it was my phone ringing, trapped under the sheets somewhere.
“Fucking hell,” I muttered to myself, racing back into the room. Who the hell is calling me at such a ridiculously early hour? If it was someone from the security company again, I might just lose my mind. I would have to scream at them all over again.
But it wasn’t; it was Justin. As I looked at his name, I felt bad for abandoning him for so long. Sure, I knew that he wasn’t exactly sitting by the phone, waiting for me to phone, but I probably should have put in some sort of courtesy call. We could have met up for drinks or whatever.
“Hey, how are you?” I asked, happy to be answering the phone now that I knew it was someone I wanted to talk to.
“Good, good, just wanted to give you a call... see how things are going in Florence?”
“Unexpected,” I replied with a small smile playing on my lips. “But good. Are you here at the moment? Did you want to hang out?”
“Not now, I’m in Portland, but I’ll give you a call when I am. Have you had a chat with Landon yet, seen the fishing company?”
Oops, I’d been so distracted by Eliza that I honestly hadn’t thought about it. “Actually, I was going to give him a call today,” I bluffed. “I just haven’t had a chance yet.”
“Things have been good, though, yeah?” He sounded genuinely concerned. He w
as a good friend, and I felt bad that I’d ever doubted him, even for a second. He did seem keen on this fishing business idea, so I was going to have to do him the decency of at least taking a look. “You’ve been, you know, feeling okay?”
“I have,” I told him honestly. “I had some bad days when I first started to recover, and it made me wonder if recovery was worth it, but now I barely notice that I was ill at all.”
That was at least true physically; of course, the mental side effects were still there, but there wasn’t any reason to bombard Milo with that information. “It’s good, and Florence was a good idea, so thank you for that one.”
“Well, I’m glad. Now, you keep me up to date with Landon, and I’ll give you a call when I’m around, okay?”
“Yeah... Thanks, man, bye.”
As I hung up the phone, I felt chastened. I hadn’t bothered with the fishing company at all, and for some of the days I’d been here, I hadn’t done anything. If I didn’t start taking action, then I wouldn’t get anything done, and I’d end up back where I started. I needed to at least give this Landon character a chance.
I gripped my phone between my fingers, deciding whether or not to actually call this guy right now, before another idea hit me. I would just go and see him; why the hell not? That way I could get a real view of how his business worked.
If I gave him notice that I was coming, then I would be presented with the version of it that he wanted me to see. I needed to fully know what I was in for.
So, with a newfound burst of interest, I made my way toward the bathroom where I could get ready for what the day held.
***
As I parked my car and walked down toward the harbor where I knew the company was located, I felt warm and positive inside. Speaking to Justin had given me the kick in the ass that I so desperately needed, and now I was looking forward to getting started.
This was definitely the best way, too. I would get to see the business owner and the company without anyone trying to impress me. They would just treat me like any other client.