by Josie Kerr
They settled back into silence, but Em continued to gaze at Mick with a thoughtful look on her face.
“Did you cut your hair and beard because of what I said?” Em asked. “Be honest with me.”
Mick grabbed Em’s left hand, raising it to his lips. She squeezed his hand in return.
“No, not really. I’ve been contemplating a change for a while,” he answered after a long pause. “You’re scarily perceptive, though.”
She was very nervous. This date seemed monumental for some reason. Maybe because they had already been intimate? Not just the physical intimacy, and Em flushed at the memory of that, but at Mick’s emotional honesty in telling her about his family. She knew that there was more, but she surmised that Mick wasn’t one to share things easily.
She squeezed his fingers again and was rewarded with one of his panty dropping smiles. Em loved the way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he grinned. She could feel herself getting wet and her nipples hardening. She exhaled. This dinner was going to be hard to get through.
She watched him come around the car to open her door for her, his long legs clad in what surely were bespoke trousers. The fit of those pants was just too perfect. He reached into the car to help her out, and they entered the restaurant, holding hands.
*****
The dinner was wonderful, both the food and the conversation. After the emotional intensity of the past few days, the light “getting to know each other” topics were a welcome change. They lingered over dessert, hands clasped on the table. Mick stroked Em’s cheek as he softly kissed her fingers.
“Are you ready to get out of here?” Mick asked.
Em’s lip quirked. “Yes, if you are.”
Mick’s gaze burned through her. He kissed her fingers again, adding a nip to the tips. Em’s breath caught in her chest. Mick looked around impatiently for the waiter.
A figure approached them and Mick got ready to hand his credit card over without even seeing the check. “I’m ready to take care of….” His voice trailed off at the look on Em’s sweet face.
“Hello, Em. I knew you worked with a criminal now, but I didn’t realize you were fucking criminals as well,” came a smarmy voice from behind Mick.
Mick didn’t know who this guy was, but he wanted nothing more than to punch him in his smug face for clouding Em’s expression like that. Arse. And what the actual fuck, the comment about fucking a criminal. How crass could you get? How did he know about that crap back in Boston?
And the dig about Rory. Who was this guy? Rory’s record was expunged. While Rory never denied his past, he didn’t necessarily advertise that he’d once been involved with illegal sports betting. There hadn’t been an issue for years.
Tripp didn’t extend his hand. “I’m Edmund Holbrook III,” he said importantly.
Mick rolled his eyes. “Honestly, I don’t care you are, except that you’re interrupting our dinner and upsetting Em. That I do care about.”
Seeing Mick’s hand form a fist on the table and his shoulders tense up, Em put her hand on Mick’s arm. “Mick, can we just go?”
Tripp continued smiling smugly and Mick counted backwards from 100 to try to calm down. The air crackled with tension, which increased when Bailey came to the table.
“Tripp, I thought we were leaving….” She caught sight of Em.
“Em! How are you?” Bailey said brightly, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the air. “You look so good! I love that blouse.”
Tripp’s eyes swiveled back to Em. “Yes, Em, you sure look fat and happy. Why is it that all the criminal element are attracted to the fat ones?”
Bailey’s jaw dropped. “Tripp Holbrook! I can’t believe you said that. What on Earth has gotten into you?”
“You need to keep your mouth shut about things you don’t know about,” Tripp hissed through clenched teeth.
Mick turned suddenly cold eyes to Tripp. “You don’t talk to her that way,” he said in a low, dangerous voice. “Actually, you don’t talk to anyone that way, but you especially don’t talk to the woman who’s having your child that way.”
Tripp barked out a laugh. “She’s not your concern, Mick. But I guess that’s what you and that brawler friend of yours do, isn’t it? Stick your nose in other people’s affairs.”
The tables surrounding them got very quiet. The other diners weren’t hiding their interest in the confrontation happening at Mick and Em’s table.
Mick looked at Bailey. “Remember this, sweetheart. When you’ve decided you’ve had enough, call Em and we’ll sort this arse out.”
The restaurant manager walked up to Mick and quietly said something. Mick nodded in agreement. He stood up and went around the table, helping Em with her chair. She stood up and said, “Bailey, it was nice seeing you. Please call me for anything at all.”
“Em, let’s go, love.” Mick’s hand was on her lower back again. It wasn’t the hot pressure of desire any more, but the urgent tension of promised violence. Mick’s jaw was set, his eyes cold.
“Brennan.” Tripp caught Mick’s upper arm. Mick looked down at Tripp’s hand, then back at Tripp, his lip quirking in a small, mean smile.
“I would really think on what you’re going to do next, Holbrook. I have absolutely no qualms about laying you out, right here, right now. The only reasons I’m not are because it would upset Em and I really like the dessert here, so I’d like to be able to dine here again.”
Mick pulled his arm away from Tripp and pushed past him, making sure to bump the other man’s shoulder.
“You talk a good game, but you’re nothing but a pussy, Brennan.”
Mick stopped cold. Em pulled on his hand, but Mick turned to Tripp. He pulled Em to his side and leaned his face into Tripp’s. “You are what you eat.”
Mick and Em drove home in silence. Em could tell that Mick was still furious because both of his hands gripped hard on the steering wheel. Once home, Mick sat in the driver’s seat, eerily still, his only movement the clenching and unclenching of his jaw.
“Mick, calm down, please.”
Mick sucked in a deep breath and slowly blew it out. He closed his eyes and said, “I’m sorry I ruined supper.”
Em frowned. “You didn’t ruin dinner. That assclown Tripp ruined dinner.”
Mick chuckled. “‘Assclown’ is a good descriptor, isn’t it?”
“Did you know him, Mick, before he introduced himself?”
“No, but he obviously knows me and Rory, Em. I figured out pretty quick that he was your ex, though. There’s…stuff…in our past that’s not relevant in any way to our lives now. But it’s Rory’s story, and it’s not my place to tell it. You’ll have to ask him.”
“And what about you, Mick?”
Mick exhaled noisily. “As I said, it’s not relevant to our lives now. I’ll tell you...sometime. Not tonight.” Mick’s eyes grew tired and sad.
Em nodded. Mick reached for her across the car to put both hands on the either side of her face. He softly kissed her forehead, her cheek, and then her mouth. While he stroked her hair, Mick looked deeply into her eyes. Em kissed his palm.
“So should we go in or do you want to sit in the car all night?” she asked, leaning her cheek into his big hand.
“We can go in.”
Mick walked Em to her upstairs apartment. She turned to look at him when she got to her front door. “Well, this is not exactly how I expected our night to end,” she admitted.
“Me neither, but I think it needs to end here, at least for right now.” Mick breathed in deeply through his nose. “Look Em, I don’t know what’s really going on. I know that I really like you. A lot. But I don’t know if I’m ever going to be ready for anything. So….”
“Oh my God, Mick. You’re giving me the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech after one blow job and a semi-unsuccessful dinner date? Jesus Christ, man. And after that little scene at the restaurant? You two were practically swinging your dicks at each other. You’re not two drunken college
idiots with something to prove.” She sounded disgusted. “I know you don’t think you know what you want, but I think you do, and it terrifies you. Come get me when you get your head straight. You know where I am.”
She turned around and went through the door of her apartment, making sure that he heard the deadbolt engage.
Em stormed into her bedroom, tearing off her clothes as she went. She caught a glimpse of herself in the full-length mirror. She knew she looked damn good tonight. Damn good. She’d even put up with the ridiculous, tiny underwear that Ashley convinced her to buy. Why was it that the smaller the panties, the more expensive—and more uncomfortable—they were?
Ugh. Men.
Em’s phone rang. “Ashley, what do you want?” she answered irritably.
“Uh, Em, you aren’t supposed to be home. Or if you were home, you’re not supposed to be answering your phone. I was just calling to remind you to that you owed me scoop. But things obviously went awry, so let’s talk.”
Em burst into angry tears. “I don’t know what happened, Ash. We were having dessert, we were flirting, and then Tripp showed up. He called Rory and Mick criminals and essentially called me a fat slut. And Bailey was there, looking really cute and pregnant and happy.” Em hiccupped. “Though she did defend me and called Tripp rude.”
“What was Mick doing during all this, Em? Didn’t he say anything?”
“He didn’t say much, but Ashley, it was scary. Like the eye of the storm scary. He got so still, like he wasn’t even breathing. His eyes got so cold and hard. I never want to be the recipient of that look.” Em shuddered. “He did put Tripp in his place, though.”
“Em, you wouldn’t be so upset if that was all that happened,” Ashley prodded gently.
“No, after we got home, Mick gave me the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech and I kind of flipped out and slammed the door in his face. He didn’t even get to see the magic panties, much less tear them off.”
“Oh, Em, honey. I’m so sorry. He seemed like a really good guy, too.”
“He is a really good guy, Ashley. He’s had an emotional couple of days. Oh, just stop,” Em said when Ashley tried to interrupt. “I’m not making excuses. Well, I am, but how would you feel if it was your 45th birthday AND your wedding anniversary AND the anniversary of the day that your pregnant wife and two children were killed in a car accident?”
“Wait, what? That was all today?”
“No, not all today, but yeah, October 18th is pretty emotionally loaded for Mick. I think part of his reaction to Tripp was because of the emotional shitstorm of these past few days.”
Ashley whistled through her teeth. “I’ll bet it was. My God. So what are you going to do, Em?”
“I’m not going to do anything. I told him that when he got his shit sorted to come see me.”
“I hope, for both of your sakes, that he gets his head out of his ass soon, Em. I like you with him, and I think you like you with him as well.”
“I do, Ashley, and I hope he does, too.”
Chapter 26
November
Mick was trying his damnedest to not throttle the man in front of him. All he wanted was a pack of cigarettes and this guy was intent on looking at and touching every single type of lottery ticket on the counter at the gas station.
In the end, the guy got a simple scratch off and, son of a bitch if he didn’t win $1000, which of course he tried to redeem at the gas station. Mick pinched the bridge of his nose and debated giving the guy a grand of his own money just to get him the fuck away from the counter.
The clerk finally convinced the guy that he couldn’t redeem the ticket and he moved on, allowing Mick to buy his precious tobacco and nicotine fix.
“Those things’ll kill you,” a familiar voice said. Mick closed his eyes and sighed.
“Hello, Ashley,” Mick said. Janey Mac, can this day get any more frustrating? He ripped off the cellophane from the pack, took out a cigarette, and lit it.
“You’re an asshole, you know,” Ashley said, stepping around to face him.
“Never said I wasn’t,” Mick said, taking a deep drag. He blew out the smoke, but turned his head so he wouldn’t blow it in Ashley’s face.
“Finish up your cancer stick, asshole, and meet me at the Waffle House. We’ve gotta talk.”
Mick huffed a laugh as he watched Ashley stalk through the parking lot and go into the Waffle House across from the gas station. He finished his cigarette and went to face the wrath of Em’s best friend.
Ashley was silent as Mick slid into the booth. Her eyes wandered over his face, coolly appraising him. She cocked her head at Mick, considering him. There was something about his quiet intensity. She could see why he had gotten under Em’s skin.
Mick turned his coffee mug over and Ashley poured him some coffee from the carafe.
“What the actual fuck, Mick?” was the first thing out of her mouth.
Mick had to laugh. “Did you get that from Em or did she get that from you?”
“What do you think?” Ashley groused. “That’s 100 percent Em.”
Mick chuckled but didn’t say anything else and didn’t meet Ashley’s eyes.
“How is she?” he asked quietly after a long moment.
“How do you think she is, dipwad? She’s fucking miserable.”
Mick cringed.
“Are you always this much of a chickenshit, big man? Because if you are, I’m surprised that Rory hasn’t kicked your ass.”
“Rory’s kicked my ass plenty of times, both literally and figuratively,” Mick said with a chuckle.
“Good. I think he needs to do it again.”
Mick cleared his throat. “Rory’s not speaking to me.”
“What?” gasped Ashley. “Y’all have been friends forever.”
“Apparently he agrees with your ‘Mick’s an asshole’ assessment. I haven’t talked to him since the day after we ran into Tripp.”
It was Ashley’s turn to not know what to say.
“Tell me about Tripp, Ashley. Em won’t talk about him.”
“What’s there to say? He’s a privileged jackass who took advantage of Em’s good nature for way too long. You know Em by now, Mick. She’s sweet and caring. I mean, she can bust some balls if she needs to, but that seems to only apply in her professional world. When she started dating Tripp, the professional and personal lines blurred and that’s where the problem started. She wanted him to succeed and unfortunately, it came at her expense. She let him take credit for her ideas and solved a lot of problems that he created.” Ashley shook her head. “And that’s not to mention how shittily he treated her when she needed him most. He showed a total lack of compassion during that whole thing.”
At Mick’s look of confusion, Ashley realized that Em hadn’t told Mick about The Surgery. Fuck.
“Look, Mick, I’m gonna lay it on the line. Em is a nurturer. She’s going to try to ‘fix’ you and she probably doesn’t even realize that she’s doing it. She’s told me about some of your...challenges.” Ashley placed a hand on Mick’s wrist. “Honey, I am so, so sorry. I can’t imagine what that was like for you. But you need to either let Em go or go all in. She deserves to have someone that’s going to be there for her as much as she’s there for him.”
“You’re absolutely right, Ashley. I know this. I just don’t know if I can ever be that man.”
Ashley gave him a hard look. “I’m calling ‘bullshit’ on that, Mick. You know you can. As a matter of fact, I will go so far as to say that you need to be that man. You just have to realize that you’re actually brave enough to rise to the occasion.”
Mick continued to sit silently in the booth, his hands splayed on the tabletop. Ashley sighed and shook her head.
“Okay, I’ve said my piece, now it’s up to you. I hope I don’t have to kick your ass.”
And Ashley got up and walked out.
*****
“I don’t give a good goddamn what you think! I’m the expert and you need
to make sure that I can do my job easily. I am tired of your bullshit, so cut it out! So yeah, you go tattle to Rory. He’ll agree with me!” Em slammed down the phone with such force that she was sure she had broken it. “Jackass.”
“Please tell me that wasn’t Lawson,” pleaded Rory, stepping into Em’s office.
“No, that was that asshat Billy in Accounting. He was giving me a hard time about a $200 fare difference between a direct flight and one that had three connections.”
“Yeah, he’s an idiot, but you don’t need to shriek at him like that.”
Em took a deep breath. She knew she was out of line.
“Em, I’m going to not talk to as your boss right now, but as a friend.” Rory shut the door firmly behind him. “Okay, what the hell happened between you two? You’ve billed 80 hours this week alone. This can’t go on, love. You’re exhausted and miserable and even more foul-mouthed than usual. Mick is a moody bastard on a good day but he’s been unbearable lately. He won’t talk to me about this and we have way too many years of sorting through bullshit together for him to shut me out. I don’t know what’s going on, but I do know that he can’t handle another broken heart.”
“You think I broke his heart?” she said softly. Em’s lip quivered. “I don’t really know what happened, Rory. One minute we’re having dessert and then next minute he’s like some sort of seething caveman and is all up in Tripp’s face. He scared the shit out of me.”
“Wait, Tripp? Fucking Tripp Holbrook? Where’d you run into him?”
“So you do know Tripp.” Em stared at Rory. “Rory, what’s going on? That night, Tripp called you a criminal and accused Mick of being a criminal as well. I’m working very closely with you. Don’t you think that I deserve to know what I’m getting into?”