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“Jack’s PA.”
“What if she says no?”
“Then you’re right back here again, and you can call me to bitch about it,” Channon said. “But Jack said he’d take care of you, so…so you do have the right.”
It would take some guts, Channon thought, but Ewan was all guts. Too much guts, sometimes.
After a moment Ewan said, “All right.”
Channon relaxed, letting go of a breath. “Okay. Text me?”
“I’m hanging up.”
The call went dead. Channon stared at Nate’s phone for a long moment and then tucked it back in the pocket of his blazer. He pulled out his own, tapping out a short message.
Whatever Jack did, it could hardly be worse than Ewan brooding by himself. Right?
?
Client meetings had their irritations, but something Jack particularly enjoyed about them was forcing a certain kind of man to show him respect. Today he’d met with exactly that sort of client: an older man with old money and old-fashioned values, exactly the kind of person who wouldn’t have given Jack the time of day had things been different. But instead, he’d had to play the game, had shaken Jack’s hand and thanked him for his time with all the sincerity Jack could have asked for.
Even after all these years, that was extremely satisfying. Respect was something he felt particularly important, vital to his sense of self. He’d worked so hard for it, after all.
Which was probably why he found Ewan so aggravating.
Ewan McKinney was the least respectful submissive Jack had ever met. Not content merely to be a smartass masochist, Ewan was an out-and-out brat. Apparently, Nate loved this—it meant he got to beat the sass out of Ewan. Jack found it grating and tedious.
And, of course, there was the fact that Ewan had stolen Nate’s attention.
No, that wasn’t fair. Jack’s own attention had already been firmly fixed on Channon by the time Ewan slunk into their lives like a stray cat. Nate had simply found a way to occupy his time, and then discovered that Ewan was, somehow, as vital to his happiness as Channon was to Jack’s. If Jack wanted to keep Nate’s friendship, then he was going to have to get along with Ewan. He knew this. He just didn’t know how to make it work.
Now, with Nate and Channon away, Jack wondered if he ought to seek Ewan out. Nate wanted Jack to take care of Ewan. Should he then take Ewan out to dinner? Make sure he was eating properly? Sleeping? It wasn’t immediately obvious what Jack should do with him. What did caring for Ewan look like, in this case?
Jack thought with amusement that he would have had a better idea of what to do with Ewan if he really were a stray cat, hissing and spitting and hiding under the sofa.
He had to do something. He feared there had been a distance growing between Nate and himself for some time, and he’d missed it. He hadn’t felt Nate pulling away, and now there was this…tension. Jack’s first instinct was to blame Ewan for that, but when he was honest with himself, he knew who was truly to blame.
I did that to him. I pulled away first. I just didn’t realize I was doing it.
Jack considered this on his way back from the client meeting, and thought, Fine. Let’s get this over with.
He would take Ewan out to dinner. With any luck, Ewan would say no, and he would himself be absolved of all responsibility.
Jack resolved to find Ewan just before the end of the work day to issue the invitation, and then he put the whole thing out of his head, settling in at his desk to go over the operational reports. Generally, he only needed to read the executive summary, but he liked to skim the rest just in case anything jumped out at him, and he was about halfway through when the intercom chimed. Jack hit the speaker button.
“Go ahead, Cynthia,” he said.
The crisp tones of his PA’s voice seemed a little strained. “I have Ewan McKinney here to see you, if you have a moment.”
It was so unlikely that Jack needed a moment to parse the request. Ewan? To see him?
On the desk, his cell phone buzzed. Channon had messaged him.
sorry 2 bother u Sir but ewans freaking out n I told him 2 go c u sorry
And then: please can u take care of him Sir?
Well. Jack told Cynthia, “Sure thing. Send him in.”
