“Okay, but like, you know you can always talk to me about anything right?”
“Yeah, I know.” The words almost get stuck in my throat.
We hang up shortly after, some of the tension seeping from my body as the sun continues its ascent. The sunlight spills between the cracks of the white blinds, casting a bright glare across the room.
Maybe this will be the answer to all of my problems. But the idea of being around Caleb’s dad every day has my mouth going dry. I’ve only met Alek once, at my brother’s engagement party about eight months ago, just as I was about to start the last few classes I needed for graduation, and the memory of it makes my stomach swoop. Surely, I imagined the way his icy-blue eyes heated as his gaze roamed over my body, right? I imagined the way his big hand enveloped mine as we shook, the way it lingered just a moment longer than strictly necessary.
Shaking my head, I blink the thoughts away. I can’t go there for a multitude of reasons. Sure, I’ve been questioning my attraction to Alek since I first met him, wondering what it means for me. My daydreams often leaving me breathless. But it doesn’t matter—shouldn’t matter—how I thought about those broad shoulders and the well-defined muscles later that night when I went home. It doesn’t matter that I drank away my woes following a very messy, very public break up to my ex-girlfriend by driving to the nearest club and grinding up against a strange man with a similar body type as Alek.
And it definitely doesn’t matter that I fantasized the hard body pressing up against mine was his. Because I have bigger problems to worry about.
The image of Eve’s face, her lips tipping into a disappointed frown pops into my mind. So does my brother’s face, his eyes lit up with anger. Even if this works out—even if I can finally manage to help get her sober—I don’t know how I’ll ever break the news to Jax.
And despite the fact he’s the one person I want to call right now, I can’t because Eve swore me to secrecy. When I crossed paths with her a year and a half ago, she begged me not to tell him yet. Said she wanted to get sober first, so she could be the mother she was meant to be. Maybe I should have taken that for the red flag it was, but even then, I knew if I didn’t agree she would most likely disappear again.
Nausea churns through my stomach when I picture how much this will hurt my brother. Bile burns a path up my throat, and my fingers dig into the metal encasing the window. My eyes flutter shut, and I drag in a lungful of air as my foot begins tapping.
How would that conversation even go?
“Hey, big bro, remember how Mommy Dearest died—supposedly—while laboring with me?
Psych! Dad’s a lying liar, pants on fire and all.
She’s definitely alive.”
Mother. That’s the word I hate.
Alek
“Can you just give him a chance?” Caleb implores me.
“I set up an interview, didn’t I?” I retort.
Caleb snorts. Even though the sound is muffled through the phone sitting on my desk, I hear his incredulity. “A real chance.”
“Is he even qualified? I thought he dropped out of college,” I fire back, leaning back in my office chair and propping one leg atop the other. On the mahogany desk in front of me sits Luke Parker’s resumé. Sunlight spills into the room from behind me, castinglight right over his name. I slide the paper across the sleek surface of my desk, picking up my black-framed reading glasses and slipping them on.
“He took two semesters off and went back. He only graduated a year and a half after me,” Caleb amends, ever the loyal friend.
I grunt noncommittedly, still peeved at the way Luke used my son to weasel his way into an interview at my company, although I also respect his hustle. Peering down at the neatly-typed resume, I glance over his information. Luke Parker: twenty-four years old, currently working at the Touchdown Tavern. Recently graduated with a bachelor’s in graphic design. He doesn’t have much work history or relevant experience…but I suppose heisqualified.
With some on-the-job training.
I know exactly what kind of training he needs.
Nope, not going there.
Christ, how do I admit to my son the real reason I don’t want to interview the Parker boy is completely unfair to Luke? The one and only time I met him, at an engagement party, was enough for me to know I should steer clear of him. He’s trouble with a capital T. A party boy, impulsive, indecisive, and reckless, if rumors are to be believed.
And…gorgeous. So damn gorgeous.
But I can’t tell Caleb how unfairly attractive I find his best friend. So attractive I don’t know how I’ll keep my sanity if I have to work with him day after day.
This is a new low for me. Lusting after a man nineteen years my junior, my son’s best friend, and my prospective employee.
And a straight man at that, according to Caleb.
Luke Parker is a walking caution sign.
