CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Tate
My fingers drummed on the top of my desk, keeping time with the clock on the wall. A clock with three hands, one ticking the seconds away, all three going around in an endless circle, marking the hours of the day. Currently, they were moving aggravatingly slow. The clock read six minutes after nine. I’d been in my office exactly five minutes before Alec walked in, shutting my office door behind him.
He presented his rebuttal to an email I’d sent him the previous evening, in less than a minute, while I continued drumming my fingers, now a tad more angrily. “He goes or I go,” I stated. “Your choice.”
Alec huffed under his breath and stood, making his way to the large window. “The two of you weren’t at work when this happened, Tate. I can’t fire Tyler for something he did outside of the work environment while with you.”
“He was beyond reprehensible,” I argued. “And in a public sphere, for fuck’s sake.”
“Tyler claims you suggested the visit and that he was afraid to decline your invitation.”
I jumped out of my chair and walked to the center of my office, slapping my thigh. “That is bullshit!” I protested. “He mentioned going there to cruise the men that work there, Alec. I wanted to look at furniture.”
Alec spun around. “What is it with that furniture store, Tate? Why are you so hellbent on shopping in that specific store?”
Alec was my boss. In fact, he owned the place I worked, but I, so badly, wanted to tell him to fuck off. Maybe I should tell him how Tyler had offloaded his entire sordid dating history.
“If you remembered correctly, it was you who suggested I go there,” I defended. “That visit was a disaster as well.”
“Why?” he asked. “Because of the country bumpkin kid that works there? You were offended that I referred to him as a Moonie; is that why you deemed the visit a disaster?”
“It wouldn’t have mattered who worked there. Tyler was rude,” I stated. “No wait. That lets him off too easily. Tyler was obscene.”
Alec made his way back to the chair in front of my desk, motioning for me to return to mine. I sat down and we remained quiet. He stared at me while I moved my eyes around the room. I knew the one who spoke first generally lost the argument. I was a lawyer. So was he.
“Tyler seems to think you have a crush on the boy who works there,” he said, breaking the impasse. “Says you seemed overly protective of the kid, even knew his name, and acted familiar with him.”
Now Alec had me wondering who it was that was truly interested in the answer to that insinuation. “Tyler knows nothing of my personal life, if that’s what you’re asking, Alec. And either do you.”
“Well, do you have a crush on that kid?”
“I met the kid at another of his jobs and barely know him. That’s how I know his name. Besides, he had a nametag on. Anyone could read his name,” I defended. Alec appeared nonplussed by my defense, seeming to want more of a definitive answer from me regarding Luke. “I only work here, Alec. What I do outside of here is my business.”
My blood was boiling. Part of me was pissed at myself for getting into this situation. Part of me blamed Tyler for his crude behavior in public, and his cruelty to Luke hurt my heart, but I couldn’t mention that and defend my stance at the same time.
“I’m in an impossible position, Tate.”
“Same here, Alec,” I said. “I will not work with Tyler. That’s my final offer. Period.”
“What do I get if I agree to relocate him to another department in the firm?”
My eyes tripled in size. “What?” I asked. I was dumbfounded. “You cannot be serious.”
“I’ll move Tyler to help you, and then what do I get?”
“You get to keep me as an employee,” I stated. “I want him terminated, so you moving him to another department and not firing him; that’s what you get.”
“And you and me?” he pushed. “Where does that leave us?”
Tread carefully, Tate. Proceed at your own peril.“Nothing has changed, Alec. I work for you and we’ve hung out outside the office as friends, which I have no problem doing again, so I don’t think our friendship has been harmed.”
Alec’s mouth twitched ever so slightly, and his body stiffened as he sat up in his chair. Was he angry? I couldn’t discern what his body language was telling me. We’d had the, I’m not looking for a relationship, discussion many times, but after learning more about Alec’s dating history, I wasn’t sure he listened all that well. In fact, I’d begun to believe that the man who had it all wasn’t used to not getting what he wanted.
He unhurriedly nodded as he let my friendship statement sink in once again, locking eyes with me. Truthfully, he frightened me with his dead stare, especially after learning what I’d learned from Tyler about his alleged stalking of a former lover.
“I’m not sure you’ve been listening, Tate,” he began, uncrossing his legs and leaning forward in the chair. “I don’t know how transparent I need to be, but I see you as more than a friend.”
As hard as it was not to shrivel under his stare, I knew this was a pivotal moment regarding my employment at the firm, so I remained laser-focused on him. He needed to hear me.
“After seeing what happened during a friendly night out with an employee, and in light of what is currently happening in my office, Alec, I think the two of us entering into anything other than a friendship is completely ill-advised for both of us,” I declared.
“Even if I fire Tyler?”
“Even if you fire Tyler,” I replied.
He continued staring at me, I assumed testing my ability to stand up to him. He didn’t blink. I didn’t blink. Good thing he couldn’t see my legs under the desk because they were bouncing around like I was barefoot on glass.
Alec stood, sliding his hand along the edge of my desk as he moved away from it. I watched as he walked to the door, taking his time. Once at the door, he remained facing it, his back to me. I swear time stood still as I waited for him to do something. Open the door. Pound the wall. Say something before he left. Anything. I glanced at the clock, the same one that pissed me off a few minutes earlier. Tick. Tick. Tick.
But he said nothing and walked out.
I remained seated, wondering what the ramifications would be after our meeting. One obvious result was that Tyler was completely untrustworthy. He’d spilled the beans about Alec to me, and I was certain he’d done the same with Alec regarding our visit to the furniture store.
If Tyler recalled properly, we’d just arrived at the furniture store and had barely finished introductions when he turned the visit into a shit show. There was no chance he could have picked up that I was interested in Luke. There’d been inadequate time for that sort of conclusion.
If anyone was interested in Luke, it was Tyler. His direct and unfiltered approach to a complete stranger like Luke was a total shock to witness. Not to mention this was in a business setting. The more I thought about the interaction, the more blame I put on the fact that it seemed people around these parts had zero respect for the people from Luke’s community.
Luke had mentioned weeks ago at the bakery that people made a daily habit of belittling his community of people with names like Moonies and Weirdos. Witnessing Tyler jumping straight into trying to pick up Luke for a date, as well as attempting to obtain his sexual preference, was plain awful.
Tyler, like Alec, and I assumed, like many folks in town, seemed to have an unreasonable disdain for Luke’s community of people, and it made no sense to me. In my opinion, Tyler’s actions were so abrasive because he flat-out didn’t respect Luke.
Two more things had occupied my thoughts after dropping Tyler at his apartment. While driving home from Tyler’s, I couldn’t help but focus on a surprising turn of events earlier at the store. The surprise was when I returned to the store after exiting briefly to calm down.
Heading back to check on why Tyler hadn’t followed me out, I stood outside the glass door, looking in, and saw Tyler on his knees. Luke’s face was expressionless as he had Tyler’s hand bent back. There was zero doubt Tyler was in excruciating pain. Luke’s eyes were locked on Tyler. He didn’t seem happy. He didn’t seem angry. What he seemed was empty.
But the thing that had really stuck with me was when Luke said being a homosexual was a sin, and that he wasn’t a homosexual. Had I read him wrong? Was the connection I felt from the moment I’d met him at the bakery just a made-up fantasy I’d carried in my mind for weeks?
Luke had a right to be upset, but a physical response? I wondered what had happened after I walked out the door. Had Tyler made a move on him? Luke, who appeared to be a quiet and kind soul, had Tyler on his fucking knees.
Was Luke who I thought he was?