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Or in the three weeks after that.
Between my worry for Ash when he wasn’t at the apartment and the continued sleepless nights, I was still struggling to sharpen my mental acuity.
Seeing Ash every morning before he left for work and again when I went in to get my coffee usually helped ease some of the tension I was feeling. But today, that feeling was short-lived because the second I stepped off the elevator at work, all my anxiety came roaring back when I saw the man sitting in the lobby. If I could have avoided him, I would have, but he raised his head after the receptionist called out to me in greeting.
I let out an internal curse as I heard my stepfather call out my name. I pasted a polite smile on my mouth as he reached me.
“Keith,” I murmured. “Nice to see you.”
I’d disliked my stepfather, Keith Parrish, from the moment my mother had introduced him to Danny and me, and not simply because the man was the reason my parents’ marriage had imploded. No, I’d disliked him because he’d worked so hard to pretend he wasn’t the guy my mother had been cheating on my father with for several years. He’d also been intent on proving what a man’s man he was from day one. I’d been only seven at the time, but he’d insisted on playing catch with me on the very first day my mother had introduced him to us. Instead of easily throwing the baseball back and forth and trying to draw me into conversation, he’d lobbed it at me with growing intensity each time. When I’d finally told him I wanted to stop because his throws were hurting my hand, he’d called me a little nancy and had clapped me on the back hard enough that I’d almost fallen to my knees. It was at that point that he’d decided to break the news that he was going to be marrying my mother and that once he was my father, he’d show me how to act like a real man.
My dislike had quickly turned to hate when I’d come to the realization that my stepfather was a bully. Behind my mother’s back, he called me and Danny a whole host of derogatory names, but when she’d been around, he’d acted like he was vying for sainthood. As I’d gotten older, I’d learned to stand up to him and, like most bullies, he’d backed off and found himself a new target.
Unfortunately, his next target had ended up being Danny. And, unlike me, Danny hadn’t had the emotional strength to stand up to our new stepfather. I’d tried my best to protect my little brother, but his weakness had been like blood in the water for a shark like Keith.
Keith shook my hand. “Heard you’ve been busy filling my boy’s head with more nonsense,” Keith said.
“Not sure what you mean,” I replied, nodding him toward the conference room so I could be present when he met with Chase. “Would you like some coffee?”
As we made our way into the conference room, I caught Tomás’ eye down the hall and gave him a look. He’d worked with me long enough to know exactly what the look meant, and he scrambled into action.
I made a point to take my usual seat at the head of the large table and gestured for him to sit in the chair next to mine. He looked around, assessing the office furnishings and view from the large windows as if he hadn’t been there before. He finally looked back at me. “Bomber Flynn, Aiden. Really?”
“What’s wrong with Bomber Flynn?” I asked before I could stop myself. It was the immediate defensive question I would have blurted as a surly teen, not one I should have said as a mature adult.
“Always in the news flashing his wealth and celebrity status around, thinks he’s hot shit, regardless of the fact his pass completion percentage has dropped significantly in the past season. Hell, son, I’d be surprised if he gets his ego under control enough by next season to fit his goddamned head through the locker room door.”
I caught sight of Chase making his way toward us, but noticed Tomás cut him off before he could get here. Atta boy.
“Keith, Bomber Flynn is one of the hottest players in the NFL right now. We snatched his business away from Periscope Conrad and Hightower Associates, for god’s sake. It’s the biggest PR coup in town in months,” I said, my voice rising. Fuck, the man got under my skin and made me feel like a kid again.
“You mark my words, Aiden,” he said, pointing a finger at me. “That boy is trouble. He’s going to put this firm in a world of hurt come pre-season when he can’t keep his mouth shut or his dick in his pants.”
