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“I’ll call you,” he said, before leaving me there in the cold. His departure felt like a film being paused, like we had unfinished business. I stood there confused, not knowing if I needed to wait or go. Not knowing who he’d left me to run to.
I went home to Daniel, and while he made love to me that night, I imagined all the ways Cole could be fucking Leland, wondering if he was taking his body in the same ways and positions he’d once taken mine.
I was so caught up in my envy, caught up in the way it was killing me, I missed the moment when Daniel left my body and our bed.
The shower came on, and I blinked at the tufted headboard, my jaws aching from the tension I’d placed on it in my anger. I felt…nothing. If it weren’t for the slight ache in the place Daniel had been seconds ago, and the empty condom wrapper on the bed, I would’ve thought nothing had happened.We were done?I thought stupidly.
I peered down my chest, and my cock stared back at me angrily, hard and unsatisfied. And the towel Daniel had placed between my hands and knees was bone dry.
I swung my disbelieving gaze at the cracked bathroom door.Danielwas done, but I had been forgotten.
In all fairness, he’d been forgotten, too.
Cole
WORKING FROM HOMEhad always been too much of a distraction. I preferred the stillness of an abandoned office space, and the lack of personal effects. Made me work harder and faster to get things done and get out.
I’d needed to go over some urgent paperwork before meeting up with Leland, and so killing two birds with one stone, I’d gotten my workout in by running the four-mile route from home to the office that Saturday morning. So much for getting in and out. It was five in the evening., behind me the sun was fading fast, and I had an hour to get showered and dressed for my appointment to get smashed at the first bar in sight with my friend.
The notes of “Clair De Lune”sifted through my phone. Jasper’s favorite piece. He’d said it reminded him of the calm before a storm, and then being at the apex of it. The analogy wasn’t lost on me.
I tapped the screen to silence the alarm, then rubbed the tiredness from my eyes, which had little to do with lack of sleep and more a weariness of the soul. I’d considered going as is, but then remembered I still wore my workout clothes. The sweat had long dried up, but the stench remained. “Shit.” I hurled my face away from my raised armpit.
Shutting down my computer and scooping up my phone and keys, I bolted for my office door while pulling up the Uber app because I hadn’t had the sense to have Mark waiting outside for me, and there was no time to wait for him now.
Hustling past the row of offices and through the labyrinth of cubicles to the reception area, I skidded to a stop upon seeing Daniel studiously at work in his temporary office. With Parker & Mitchell’s headquarters being on the other side of the city, and our need to work closely on this deal, it made sense for him to split his time between both locations, so Nexcom provided him with office space.
What the hell?
“Shouldn’t you be getting ready for the fundraiser?” I asked in lieu of a proper greeting.
“Cole,” he said, jerking upright. “I didn’t realize you were here.”
“Yeah. I prefer getting work done in the office when possible.”
“Same here,” he said. “I hope you don’t mind me being here after work hours. With the marathon happening so close to the Parker & Mitchell office building, it was more convenient getting here. I made some leeway with the negotiations. I’m reviewing their counteroffer and making minor adjustments of my own before sending it off to you for approval.” He continued typing, caught up in what he was doing.
“Daniel,” I said, markedly, to which he peered over the rim of his reading glasses, flushing at having realized he’d dismissed me without another word. “Does Jasper know you’re here?”
“Yes, the fundraiser,” he said, removing his specs. “I told him I’d meet him there after I got this squared away.”
From the number of stacked legal texts, piles of paper, the steaming cup of coffee, and the hairs standing on end atop his head, it seemed more like he was just getting started. I checked my watch, and he should’ve been hailing a cab or meeting his driver at this very moment if he expected to get to Brooklyn on time, yet he was decked out in wool trousers and an argyle sweater.
“He promised,”Jasper had said with childlike hope. He’d be devastated, and while I should be celebrating Daniel disappointing him, all I could muster was my own heartbreak for what this would do to him. Not like this, I didn’t want to win him like this. I didn’t want him more broken than he already was, because I loved him more than I wanted him.
“It’s okay,” I said. “This can wait. I appreciate all the hard work you’re putting in, the extra mile you’re willing to go, but tonight is important to Jasper. You should be there for him.”
“He’ll understand,” he assured me. “He wants to support me in this. He knows how much this position means to me.”
Of course he’d make this about him. I wanted to punch him right between his unibrow.
“I’m your boss.” One of them at least. He still answered to Parker & Mitchell, but Parker & Mitchell answered to me. “And I’m telling you, you can go.”
Daniel found himself in a weird position working for me. I was the man he needed to impress, I held his professional future in my hands, so to speak. But I played a pivotal role in his personal life, too. Walking the line between treating me with the utmost respect, and telling me to mind my damn business couldn’t have been easy.
“With all due respect, Cole. I know Jasper in a way you don’t, and I’m telling you, he’ll understand. Please respect my decision to stay.” He’d said it with an assuredness that made him a stellar attorney. A powerhouse, even. I had a line to straddle as well, and Nexcom couldn’t afford the lawsuit it surely would receive if I scratched the itch on my knuckles with his face. Their relationship shouldn’t be my concern. Not when we were within company walls. And maybe not even when we weren’t.
I nodded, jaw nailed shut, as I marched back to my office.
