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“Be quiet,” I cut him off. “Here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to go back to your desk and get back to work. I don’t want to hear from you again. And I instructed Anton to get in touch with me if you ever reached out to him again. Consider this your one and only warning. Now get the fuck out of my office.”
Phil stands immediately. All the self-importance he came in here with is gone. He turns wordlessly toward my door and exits the office a lot quieter than he entered.
I let out a sigh and lean back in my desk chair. He’s not the first person to point out the fact that my brother appointed me this position right out of college, but it doesn’t usually bother me. I know I’m good at what I do, and Phil would be horrible at this job. But it annoyed me more than usual today. Because I remember the fear that flashed in Rhys’s eyes when Phil hit him. That handprint that slowly formed on his cheek.
Phil is in no position to be judging anyone. I want to bring him back in here and ream him even more for what he did. It’s no wonder Phil’s husband left him. If Phil was willing to hit a stranger he’d hired for the night, who the hell knows what he did behind closed doors.
The whole thing makes me want to call Rhys just to talk to him. But I stop before my hand gets halfway to my phone on my desk. He’d seemed so out of sorts after he talked to me about Tony and how he started in this life. We’ve already set up for the next time we’re meeting, and I don’t need to bother him in-between that.
Even after telling myself all of that, I still want to reach out to him. I just want to make sure he’s okay. I want to encourage him to get out of that life because he shouldn’t have to be around guys like Phil. But from our conversation the other day, it’s clear Rhys’s sense of self-worth was damaged a while ago. All I want to do is help him get it back.
Nine
Rhys
I don’t schedule Parker for another week. If a client starts showing up on my schedule regularly, Tony wants to know more about them. I don’t want Parker anywhere on his radar.
When I get to his apartment, he makes me put on one of his sweatshirts again because it’s cold out and then pushes a mug of hot chocolate in my hands.
“You realize I’m here to fuck you, not get babysat,” I tease, but I do take a sip of the hot chocolate, and it tastes fucking amazing.
“Just warm up for a minute,” Parker replies, taking my free hand and leading me to sit on his bed with him. “You’re here for two hours; we’ve got plenty of time. We can talk while you drink that.”
I shake my head, kicking off my shoes before turning to lean back against the headboard of his bed. “Someone really failed you when they taught you what hookers do.”
“You’re the one who told me to forget about the money,” Parker says. “That’s what I’m trying to do. Because if I think about the fact that I’m paying for your time, it makes me not want to do anything with you.”
“Okay, okay.” I surrender and take another sip of the hot chocolate, letting the mug warm my fingers. “What do you want to talk about?”
He waits a beat before asking, “If you could be anything else in the world, what would you choose?”
It sounds a little like the opening to roleplay, so I ask, “What would you like me to be?”
His lips press into a thin line. “I’m really asking you, Rhys. It’s not about sex.”
I pull my lower lip in to chew on it and watch his eyes darken. “I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “I haven’t thought about it much.”
His fingers brush my cheek, a feather-light touch that has my heartbeat jumping. “Why not?”
“Because you really don’t get out of this life unless you die.” I mumble the words as embarrassment heats my skin. I hate talking about this stuff. As long as Jack’s in danger, there’s nothing I can do to get out of this life.
He frowns, letting me know I’ve said the wrong thing. Before I have the chance to apologize, he asks, “Where were you before this?”
“We lived in Carmel-by-the-Sea.” Even speaking the name makes me miss it so much that it hurts. It was such a nice area—like something out of a storybook. The complete opposite of my lifestyle now.
“Is that where your family still is?”
“I think so.” Most of the pictures Tony’s shown me of Jack have him outside or getting off the school bus. Rarely in front of the house. And I haven’t spoken to them since the day Tony took me away. And that’s a time in my life I try really hard not to think about. Those days I spent at the training cabin were some of the loneliest I’ve ever experienced. They were full of nothing but pain and fear.
I stare down into the half-empty mug, trying not to think about how nice this feels. I haven’t had anyone concerned about whether or not I was warm enough in a really long time. My parents would love Parker.
“So Tony took you away,” Parker says when I’ve been silent a while.
I nod.
“Your parents had nothing to do with it?”
The question makes my stomach clench. It wasn’t something I ever thought about. Tony never mentioned it. If my parents had something to do with it, I’m sure Tony would’ve paraded that in front of me. “I-I don’t think so.”
