by Parker, Ali
She shook her head. “Guess you can never tell what’s happening under the surface, can you?” She clucked her tongue before she headed back to take care of the filing she had been working on.
When it came time for me to leave, I headed straight down to Reed’s office, wondering how he had managed to get through the day without losing his mind. I had had a hard enough time keeping focused when Harry was just failing to reply to my texts. I couldn’t imagine how useless I would have been for anyone or anything if he had actually dumped me.
Ugh. I couldn’t even think about that without feeling a little jolt of panic running through my system. I was so glad that we had worked things out. I knew there was still a lot to handle going forward, but I had every confidence that we could do it, as long as we were both still there and committed and willing.
But tonight wasn’t about me and Harry. It was about Reed, and I helped him out of the office and back to his apartment while he tried to half-engage with the conversation I was keeping him in. His brain was still so obviously stuffed full of Lizzie, of what had happened between them.
I wished I could reach inside and lift it all out for him, but I knew it didn’t work like that. The best I could do was offer my support and hope that he didn’t get too drunk tonight to keep him from going to work the next day.
“Okay,” I announced, clapping my hands together as soon as I was inside the apartment. “Where do you want to get started?”
“I don’t,” he muttered.
I shook my head. “You know that’s not an option,” I reminded him. “We need to get everything out of here as soon as we can. No waiting around, all right? You don’t want to be sitting about with all these memories of her still following you, and I’m not going to allow it.”
“I have some boxes in the storage unit,” he offered.
I nodded. “There you go. You’re already getting the right idea. Go grab them for us, would you? Then we can start clearing what’s left of her out of this place. Do you have any beer in the fridge?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Because this is going to be a whole lot more bearable if we have something to drink,” I pointed out. “Grab us both a bottle on your way back, all right?”
“Will do,” he agreed, and he already seemed to have perked up a little at the very mention of adding some beer to the equation.
I put on some music to fill the apartment with noise, and he returned with a couple of beers and some boxes to make all of this seem a heck of a lot easier.
And with that, we got started. It wasn’t exactly a pleasant task, and I could tell that Reed was struggling every step of the way. I caught him a few times just standing and staring at some trinket that represented some of their relationship, his eyes blank and his body hunched over like he was trying to protect it, or at least the memories it contained. But he made it through, bless him, especially once we had a couple of beers in us and had turned up the music way louder than it ever needed to be.
I knew that the neighbors would likely be annoyed with the loudness, but they would have to handle it, if just for tonight. Reed needed this. He’d just had his whole life and everything he’d imagined for his future pulled out from underneath him. He deserved at least one evening to blow off the steam that this kind of catastrophic nightmare left behind.
We turned off the music, and he sat on the couch and called her to leave a message and let her know that all her stuff was waiting for her in the storage unit of the building. I could hear his voice shaking as he spoke, but he didn’t much seem to care. When he hung up the phone, he let out a long sigh, as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
“Thank you for this,” he told me. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.”
“Anytime,” I replied. “You know that. I’ve got your back no matter what.”
He smiled at me and shook his beer bottle to indicate that there wasn’t much left. “I think I could use another few of these, don’t you?”
I grinned. “Agreed,” I replied, and I gestured for him to lead us to the fridge so we could try and actually turn this evening into something that was close to fun.
And I think we managed it, sort of. It might not have been the greatest night we’d ever had, since Reed was still a little wobbly around the edges, but it was a lot better than it had any right to be. We laughed and turned up the music loud, and while I cut myself off at just a couple of beers since I had work the next day, Reed took it to the next level and had a few more. He was pretty drunk by the time that I put him to bed, and he passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow.
I poured him a glass of water and left that, along with some Advil, next to him for when he woke up. And with it, I wrote out a quick note. Nothing serious. Just wishing him a good day the next day and telling him that he was worth more than some fiancée who didn’t even want to be with him.
One night of drinking was more than understandable, but he had to make sure not to let his ex win. He was better than that. Our family was better than that.
I pulled the covers over him, tiptoed out of his bedroom, and headed back to my apartment, and hoped that I had at least made a little dent in his sadness.
Chapter 53
Harry
“All right, buddy, you go hang with your friends,” I murmured to Tink as I sent him through to the office so he could spend time with the rest of the dogs who were visiting us on this particular Friday.
It was going to be the first full day I had spent at work since I had heard the news about Allison and Nico. Yara had been holding down the fort here for me while I was away, but I knew I couldn’t keep hiding from it. At least I had chosen a Friday to come in so that I could enjoy the presence of all the other dogs too.
Yara pounced on me practically the moment she spotted me in my office. Darting in, she closed the door behind her and raised her eyebrows at me.
“So, how did the meeting with Raina go?” she asked with interest. She had known how nervous I was about it, but as it turned out, I’d had no reason to be.
“It went well,” I replied with a nod. “I told her everything about Allison and Nico, and she seemed to take it pretty well. I know this must be intense for her, but she’s doing a good job pretending it’s not. Said she’d stick around no matter what, which was good to hear.”
“I knew she wasn’t going to flake out on you,” she replied, leaning against the door. “So what are your plans now? How are you going to move forward with this?”
“I’m going to let Allison take the lead there,” I replied. “I think she knows better than I do how to handle all this stuff. I’m not really qualified to get involved, not unless she invites me to.”
“That’s fair,” she agreed with a nod. “But what about now that you’re back at work?”
“I want to pick up where I left off with the shelter,” I explained. “Something to keep my mind busy. I figured it couldn’t be a bad idea. I need to focus on something that isn’t... all of this.”
I paused for a moment and tried to quell the swell of panic that came upon me every time I thought about all that I was trying to handle right now. It was as though I was spinning a dozen plates on sticks and they might come crashing down at any moment.
“Hey, you know I have your ass covered here,” she promised me. “You have nothing to worry about, all right? But you should give George a call to let him know how everything went. He called earlier today, wanting to check in with you about the state of things.”
“Thanks,” I replied, nodding. “I think it would do me good to talk to him. I bet he knows what to do.”
“I don’t think anyone could have predicted something like this happening,” she pointed out. “Even George. And I know he’s been around the block a little.”
“You could say that,” I agreed. “Watch out. If you spend much longer on the phone with him, he’s going to start flirting shamelessly with you.”
“Hey, nothing wrong with a girl boo
sting her ego, is there?” she replied, patting her hair playfully like she was preening just for him.
I grinned. “Hands off my grandfather,” I warned her, and I shooed her out of the office so I could give him a call.
George picked up at once. “Harry, good to hear from you,” he greeted me. “Was worried that you’d gone AWOL there for a minute.”
“Sorry, it’s just been a heck of a few days,” I replied.
“I can imagine,” he agreed. “Tell me about them? I want to know everything that’s going on with you and this kid.”
Even though I had recounted this story so many times already, I told it to him once more, glad that I could get it off my chest to him. He might not have experienced anything exactly like this, but I knew that he had been through a lot in his life, and if anyone could give me the direction I needed, it was him.
He listened on the other end of the line, quiet for a change, until I had finished speaking. When it was all out of me, I actually felt like a weight had been lifted. I had thought that telling all this again was just going to get exhausting, but if there was anyone I could confide in, it was George.
“I’m sorry to hear about that poor woman,” he said, speaking slowly, carefully. He knew just what to say and always had the right thing to impart.
“And I think you’re doing a great thing by being there for her,” he continued. “Let me know about the DNA test, all right?”
“I’m sure this kid is mine,” I told him again. “I don’t think she’s trying to get one over on me.”
“Still, for my peace of mind,” he replied firmly. “I’d like to know about my second grandchild, and I’d like to know that he’s ours for sure before I do that.”
“I will,” I promised. I let out a long breath.
“Well, now that that’s out of the way,” he started anew, “I was thinking about the shelter charity. I know it’s not where your mind is right now, but we have to talk about it sometime.”
“I was actually just thinking about that today,” I agreed. “I want to get back to it as soon as I can. I don’t want this to get in the way of the rest of my life.”
With that, the two of us had started planning on the charity work once more. It felt good to be doing something practical again. Hell, it just felt good to be back in my office.
Once Tink had utterly exhausted himself hanging out with all the other dogs, he came back in to see me and curled up on the chair next to the door to get some rest. A good reminder of just why this dog shelter was such an important cause for us to support.
“Anyway, I should get back to bed for a nap,” George told me eventually, once we had about exhausted all the ideas for how we were going to move forward with the charity. “But let me know how things go with Nico, okay? I want to be updated every step of the way.”
“And you will be,” I promised. “Rest up. I’ll speak to you again soon.”
“Take care of yourself, son,” he told me, and I smiled. I was lucky to have family who were there for me, no matter what, even through the surrealness of what I was handling right now.
I had just sat back at my desk when there was a knock on the door. A moment later, it opened, and to my delight, Raina was standing on the other side.
“Oh, hello,” I greeted her with surprise, unable to keep the smile off my face as I got up to say hello to her.
She kissed me, winding her arms around my neck happily. “We didn’t have a lot to do at the office today, so Rita gave me the rest of the afternoon off,” she explained. “I thought we could get lunch together, if you’re up for it? If I’m not interrupting anything?”
“Oh, you totally are, but I’m sure I can live with it,” I replied, and I kissed her again. The door to the office was a little open, and I knew people would be able to see inside, but I didn’t much care.
“I thought I could make it up to you for canceling on you the other night,” she explained finally—and apparently reluctantly—pulling away from me.
“Oh, yeah, how is Reed doing?” I asked, recalling that her brother had been dumped suddenly by his fiancée. I couldn’t imagine how much of a blow that must have been for anyone, let alone someone as social and outgoing as Reed.
She shrugged. “I left him drunk off his ass and asleep in bed,” she replied. “So I think I did my sisterly duty. Come on. I’m starving. Let’s get out of here.”
We headed down to a little hole-in-the-wall place not far from the office. I had never noticed it before, but Raina spotted it and at once dragged me in that direction. I liked it when she found little details in my life like this. It made me feel more alive than ever. She could always shine a light on those things that I might have missed out on if it hadn’t been for her. Which was what being in love was all about, right?
We chatted over soup and bagels about what had happened with her brother, and she admitted that she wasn’t too gutted to see his now-ex go. She had never much liked her by the sounds of it, and I couldn’t exactly blame her, judging by the stories she told me about what she was like.
She pulled faces as she recounted this girl, and I wondered how long she had sat on all these feelings for fear of upsetting her brother or getting in the way of his relationship.
“If there’s anything that I can do to help Reed, just let me know,” I told her. “I haven’t been in much of a relationship lately, apart from you, but if he needs a guy around or something...”
“Hey, I think I did pretty well getting him all that beer and helping him pack up,” she replied. “I’m sure I filled out any guy needs he might have had.”
“I’m sure you did,” I replied. “But just in case he should have any left over.”
“I’ll make sure to let him know,” she agreed, and she grinned widely.
Her knees were against mine under the small table that we were sharing, and I reached underneath and put my hand on her leg. I could see the shiver that ran down her spine as I touched her. Fuck, if I didn’t have to go back to work today, I would have—
“So tell me about you,” she said, pulling us out of the moment before it went any further. Which was lucky because I was on the brink of tossing everything off the table and getting down to it with her right there and then. I doubted we would have been allowed back after that.
So instead, I told her about the shelter, what I had been talking about with George, and how we planned to move forward now that I was back at work. I avoided mention of Nico or Allison, just wanting to keep this between the two of us. It was nice just to spend a little time remembering why I loved her so much.
The conversation was light and easy, flowing simply and with pleasure, and I noticed that her eyes were following the movements of my mouth a little too much for this to be totally innocent. Not that I minded one little bit. In fact, it was only a fun little nod to what was to come as soon as I got her alone again.
“I guess I should be getting back to work,” I remarked reluctantly, checking my watch as time went on.
She pulled a face. “So soon?”
“Sadly,” I replied, and I leaned over the table and planted a kiss on her lips. That, alone, was almost enough to get me to forget about what I had planned for the rest of the day, but I managed to pull back without going any further.
“I’ll see you soon,” I promised her, and I leaned my head against hers for a moment and squeezed her hand under the table. I meant it. I wasn’t going to waste another second away from her, not if I had the choice.
Not another moment.
Chapter 54
Raina
I was giggling as he led me up the stairs to the empty office. I couldn’t believe that we were actually doing this. But there was no way that I was going to stop it now that we had started.
As soon as I had seen that feral look in his eyes, I had known that there was no way he was going to head back to work just like that. We had too much heat between us in that moment, too much tension that had been building over the last few days that had
gone utterly unresolved.
I needed to be with him. I needed to be near him. I needed to feel those strong hands all over me, and I didn’t care if we were risking getting caught in the process.
He had suggested bringing me back here, and I had agreed as soon as the words had left his mouth. I had never thought of myself as much of an exhibitionist, but perhaps I was wrong. There was a lot that I was finding out about myself since I had come together with him, though. A lot that I never would have imagined myself capable of if it hadn’t been for his presence.
There was an empty office on the top floor, he told me, somewhere that we could make it off to without being busted by anyone else at the office. I knew it was risky, no matter what he said. He was the boss, and what he got up to was always going to be of interest to everyone else in his office, but I had to take that risk. I had to.
The thought of going back to my apartment with all those itches unscratched was impossible.
We took the elevator, and he put an arm around my waist as we were whisked upward. His fingers trailed across the small of my back in a way that made my heart beat faster. He knew just what he was doing to me. He had known just what he was doing to me as soon as he had touched my leg under the table. He knew that I was helpless when he put those offers out in front of me, helpless to resist, helpless to stop him.
As soon as the doors opened on to the floor with the empty office, he pulled me into his arms and kissed me ravenously. It was like he had been starving for me since the moment he had seen me. It had been so long since I had been able to have him like this. With everything that had happened, I supposed that our minds had been stuck on other things, but God, it felt good to have him back.
He pulled me over toward a desk that was standing in the middle of the room. He hitched me on top of it, and I sank against the wood and wrapped my legs around him, pulling him in close. I knew we didn’t have long until someone noticed that we had been away for far too long, and I didn’t want to get busted in the act. Though I had to admit, the thought of that made my blood run a little hotter. Maybe I was a little crazier about this stuff than I had allowed myself to realize.