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“Oh God, Alessia,” I groaned, shaking my head. “The way you speak. Mom would clutch her pious, Catholic pearls.”
“Someone had to be the black sheep of the family, since it sure as fuck wasn’t going to be the golden boy.”
Her never-before-stated label of me had me sitting up straighter. “The golden boy?”
“Yes—you, Matty. You always behaved. Well, until now, that is. I can’t wait to see what Dad thinks about you boning a dude.”
“I’m not boning—” I cut off, shaking my head.
Alessia snickered. “Don’t worry, I’m not jealous. I am who I am, and I happen to love the shit out of myself.”
My smile returned, and I thanked Mom and Dad’s God that she’d had a strong sense of self that hadn’t been overcome by insecurities brought on by others. I’d never once heard our parents put her down or compare her to me, but my sister’s words proved that Sean too could grow his confidence in all areas of his life, not just his sexual side.
I hung up a few minutes later, my smile fading along with a heavy exhaled sigh. While my sister tended toward crass, she’d been on point in the way she’d warned me. I wasn’t independently wealthy and couldn’t afford to lose my income over my obsession, no matter how much I wanted to bone him.
But if Sean and I were meant for more than flirting and fantasizing, our time would come.
That truth, the fact I’d made strides in moving forward, had me reaching once more for my cell. It was time to text Katie’s sister and sever the connection that did nothing but stir up the past. I was ready to place grief in the backseat of my life.
Chapter 22
Sean
“Twelve hours,” Zerig snapped, and the line went dead.
“Jesus fucking Christ, that was too fast a conversation,” Micah muttered, rubbing a weary hand over his face. “Were you able to trace the call, Preston?”
“Hold on…” Preston responded from my cell on speaker where we’d had mine sitting beside Micah’s atop his desk.
Zerig had set a date for the cash exchange, but we grasped at straws while waiting for the police to locate his lying ass.
I sat across from my brother, his office door left open behind me. Both his secretary and BetsyAnne shared the reception area but had left for the evening. It was past seven on a Tuesday night, just shy of one week from my little lap ejaculation atop Teach that had made me miss an afternoon class.
I’d texted Matteo about his friend walking in on us, and he’d told me not to worry about it. But, he reiterated the fact we had to keep our distance from each other on campus grounds.
Respecting his boundary pushed against my instincts. I wanted to be his good boy, but the strong desire to lose myself in him so I could just stop thinking for a while poked at my naughty side.
“Fuck,” Preston muttered the nonanswer we hadn’t been hoping for.
Micah released a long line of curses harshly enough even I grimaced.
I swallowed hard, eyeing my brother who always had his shit together. Rarely did shit get beneath his skin and even more rarely did his face betray concern. He always had answers…
“What if we released the story first?” The idea left my mouth as I thought it since I kind of felt as though I’d been on a roll with doing things right for a change.
“Why the fuck would we do that?” Micah asked, sounding annoyed rather than interested in my suggestion.
“Hear me out.” I leaned forward so Preston would catch my words over speakerphone too. “You’re friends with that exec over at NBC, right?”
“Yeah.” Micah eyed me without a hint of trust in his frigid eyes.
“What if we gave him everything we have—unveil Zerig for the shady douche he is? What if we press charges for defamation or whatever? You know…turn the tables type shit.”
“He hasn’t committed any acts of defamation yet, and spilling the story ourselves still brings the unwanted attention we’re trying to avoid.” Micah’s disinterested voice—blowing me off—made me want to curl in on myself
“It was just a suggestion,” I muttered. So much for being helpful.
“I’ll keep searching. We’ll find him,” Preston said, his confident tone doing absolute shit to boost my spirits as I took it too as a brush-off.
