Percy still felt some pangs of guilt even using the chauffeur service. It felt like too much of a waste, too much of a draw on CJ’s good nature. Although knowingwhySidewinder was willing to pay so much assuaged some of that guilt. If nothing else, he wanted to apologize to the driver every time he used the service.
After the third time, pulling into the mall’s parking garage, the driver sighed and finally broke from his cordial agreements and thank yous. “This is my job, and I’m paid well for it. I promise, driving you around is much preferable to sitting around doing nothing, or dealing with someone who never would have thought to apologize. But you don’t need to worry about it.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “Again, no need to apologize.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone, waving it back and forth. “I’ve been catching up on my reading, so feel free to take your time.”
The urge to question what the guy was reading rose up, but Percy quashed it. He could ask on the drive back if he really wanted to. Hydrangea Hollow wasn’t exactly replete with hardcore readers…other than the tiny church-going book club. He’d tried sticking with them, but they all had a serious taste for westerns, Christian romance, and western Christian romance. Preferably those published in the seventies.
They hadn’t exactly meshed.
“I won’t be long.” He should have left it at that, but couldn’t help alittleconnection to a fellow reader. “But if I come back and you’re in the middle of a good chapter, I can stretch my legs a while.”
The driver grinned, the expression tight and restrained, but his eyes sparked. “Shouldn’t be a problem. But I’ll keep it in mind.”
Then Percy was off, heading to the stairwell to the right. As soon as he walked through the door, tinkling Christmas music met his ears, a lightweight rendition of Sleigh Ride. He climbed the short flight of stairs up into the street-level lobby of the mall. Escalators took up the middle of the space, opposite the sliding doors that led to the sidewalk. A huge Christmas tree towered behind them, festooned in ornaments and lights of all different colors.
It was easy to forget about the season, sometimes. Hydrangea Hollow wasn’t known for any big tree-lighting ceremonies or city-sponsored decorations, and rare was the house that put any effort into decorating the outside. Percy’s house fell into that camp; lights were just a hassle, for the most part.
But standing there, he couldn’t help but grin a little.Maybe I could put some of those light-up reindeer in the yard. No need to get my ass up and down a ladder, then. And he could do something at the coffee stand, too. It couldn’thurtsales. And for himself, as he stood surrounded by Christmas decorations, he felt his own wallet loosening a touch, so maybe it would work just as well on his own clientele.
Then again, that could have been something unrelated—he was here to buy something for CJ. That seemed like as good a reason as any to spend a little more time and attention…and money. At least so long as he had the remainder of that cash burning a hole in his pocket.Try not to focus on the fact that I’m spending the money CJ gave me on a gift for him.
He scanned the map set against the side of the escalators, looking at the shops on the ground floor. A couple jewelry stores, a high-end kitchen supply place, a chocolatier. That had potential if he couldn’t find anything else, but chocolates really felt like a fallback, impersonal sort of gift.
So does everything else. He didn’t know what CJ actually liked, which made this a hell of a lot harder. Well, aside from blow jobs. But Percy had already given him two. One more wouldn’t exactly be special.Plus, really hard to wrap.
Percy scanned over the other shops up on the second floor. A little better options there: he could pick up a nice scented candle or some body spray, hit upthisbook shop, pick up something from the little high-end grocer tucked in at the back end of the hallway.
He’d end up at all of them before he headed back to the car, he was certain. For one, this was his plan for the entire day. But also, those all sounded like thingshewould enjoy as well. Even if he was just window-shopping.
As he ascended the escalator to the second floor, Percy chewed over what he knew about CJ. At the end of the day, he probably didn’tneeda scented candle—if that was something he liked, he could get exactly the smells he liked just fine—and Percy couldn’t help worrying that buying him cologne or body spray would send completely the wrong message, coming from someone who had been very up close and personal with his naked body.
He didn’t know if CJ had any allergies, either. It would be a real shame to buy him an expensive treat only for him to not even be able to touch it. Plus, their first meal had been cheap, frozen junk food. Was it even safe to assume that CJ would want or enjoy rose jelly or aged balsamic vinegar or expensive tea?
And books were so personal. Clearly, from his experience with the book club.
By the time he reached the landing of the escalator, Percy’s every option felt completely flaccid.I think the driver is going to have plenty of time to clear out his book backlog. Percy felt like he was basically back to square one, except now with a healthy dose of anxiety.
Gift-giving anxiety for his current fuck buddy.
Totally normal.
Chapter 12
CJ sat, tapping his fingers on the underside of the table as the board continued to argue back and forth. Eddie, of course, took the side of making as few concessions to public opinion as possible. Daniel and the older white guy, Norman, grew consistently more heated as the fight continued. Not particularly threatening from Norman, who had about as strong a foundation as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. But Daniel was built like a nuclear fucking silo, absolutely stacked and taking slow, looming steps toward Eddie as his voice grew louder and louder.
The only other one still sitting was Dolores, the young Hispanic woman with red streaks in her hair. When Eddie slammed his fist on the table, then stumbled his ass backward as Daniel took another step toward him, Dolores dragged her hand up to cover her mouth, very ineffectually hiding her amusement.
CJ figured he may as well engagesomeoneat this meeting. “How often does this scene play out?”
She sucked on her teeth for a few seconds, glancing at everyone in the room, before responding. “Daniel usually stays more level-headed, but the other two boys get into it almost every meeting.”
CJ gave a very pointed look to the balding stick that was Norman. “Boys?”
“Anyone who thinks they’re going to get their way with a tantrum isn’t a man.”
CJ grinned, still listening to the conflict just enough to keep up on the important bits of information: Eddie was belligerent, wanted to get out of this without having even awhiffof blowback against him or his reputation, Norman was spittingly angry, berating Eddie for somehow not realizing everything online lived forever, and Daniel was…playing peacekeeper wasn’t exactly the right turn of phrase, considering the roiling anger flooding off him, but he mostly seemed to be trying to drive reality home with Eddie.
