Still awkward as fuck, though.
“Are you going to do something with that phone or just stare at it?” I heard Marc ask, and I looked up in surprise before grimacing to see the amused look on his face. “Penny for your thoughts?”
“Even you don’t have enough money to make me share my thoughts,” I told him, and then regretted it when he looked even more amused and this time, knowing. “Don’t.”
He held up his hands. “I agreed to keep my silence unless certain requirements were met, which they haven’t…yet.”
I grumbled and stabbed at my food, chewing thoughtfully. “So, did Jude convince you?”
“He convinced his mother, if you can believe it,” Marc said with a disbelieving shake of his head. “Honestly, when you put that challenge to him, I didn’t believe he would actually succeed. Charlene is…well, stubborn is certainly an accurate, if somewhat lacking, way of describing her.”
I snorted. “He has two hard-headed people who don’t know how to take no for an answer when they have their hearts set onsomething. I’m really not surprised he found a way when there was none.”
“I feel like even you can’t decide if that’s a criticism or a compliment,” he said wryly. “You realize, of course, that means we have to follow through on our end of the bargain, right?”
“Yes,” I said with a sigh. “Thankfully, I had a little more faith in Jude’s abilities than you, which means we’re actually set up to have him here. With one last detail that I haven’t dealt with yet.”
“Checking to see if the men are okay with the arrangement,” Marc said slowly.
“I didn’t see the point; no need to make them worry when it wasn’t a concern yet,” I admitted with a shrug. “I’m of the mind that he shouldn’t be in any therapy sessions.”
“Agreed,” Marc said, and then thought about it. “Group ones, I see no point in denying him the chance to talk to a therapist in a one-on-one session.”
“Good point,” I said, and then raised a brow. “And considering how the hot springs are a bit of a meat market?—”
Marc’s expression went blank before he gave a heavy sigh. “He’s eighteen. Legally an adult and nakedness is probably no stranger to him considering he goes to the gym regularly. And if not, well, he’s an adult.”
Being an adult in this facility also meant something else. “He would be unsupervised in most of the resort.”
Marc stared at me. “Are you trying to get me to address the possibility that my…that Jude might be propositioned for sex or participate in it?”
“I was trying to be tactful, but c’mon, we both know this place has a weird track record of bringing out the gay in people,” I said with a shrug. “And it’s not like I was going to ask about Jude’s sexuality. Like, I don’t know if he’s straight like his dad or what.”
A strange look came over his face. “Now, who said anything about my being straight?”
I stiffened in surprise. “I…fucking what?”
He sighed, dropping his hands to the desk. “I’m aware of the possibility, Reggie. I’m also aware this isn’t just a chance for him to understand applied therapy and psychological treatment either. I suspect this is more a chance for him to get away from his mother and experience a sense of freedom before he goes off to college and hopefully does good things with his real freedom. This is probably a test run.”
“Okay, we’re going to just skate right on by your mention of possibly not being straight, that’s cool,” I said blithely.
“I had a few…incidents, but nothing serious or long-term,” he said, waving it off like he hadn’t just dropped one hell of a bomb into my skull.
It wasn’t like he had just told me he was secretly gay and had been yearning for me for years or anything dramatic. No, what he’d done was crack open a door I had sought to keep as closed as I could for a few years now. To know he had been with men in the past, even if it was nothing serious, meant there was a chance, however small and out of my reach, for him to be willing to?—
No, we weren’t going there. Well, we weren’t going there while I was sitting across the desk from him, where everything I felt and thought could be seen on my face. It wasn’t as if I thought he could read my mind and know that I wondered if the accidental display I’d made of myself the other day had been a little less perverse for him and maybe…interesting.
Agh, no!
“Can you unbreak your mind for a moment?” Marc asked dryly. “Or should I leave you to your thoughts?”
“No thoughts,” I added quickly…too quickly.
He noticed, and his brow arched. “Maybe I’d be willing to throw out real money to get a peek into whatever thoughts are clearly bothering you right now.”
“Thank God money still can’t buy telepathy,” I muttered, fighting like hell to make my face not change color.
It was one of the few times I’d ever felt uncomfortable under his gaze. It was as if he could peer into my thoughts, and while he couldn’t tell what I was thinking, he was certainly intrigued by what he saw. Intrigued enough that he’d forgotten how uncomfortable he’d been talking about Jude. As much as I hated to bring it back to that subject, it seemed the only way I was going to get some measure of peace.
