Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
TONY
Seeing Greg get along so well with everyone was nice.
I knew he was lonely. I suspected his ex had isolated him from his friends in the past. Well, now he had a whole group of people who were eager to hang out with him.
At the moment, he was having an animated conversation with Liam.
Marco handed me a bottle of water. “He’s gotten more relaxed around us. ”
“Yeah,” I replied. “It’s good to see.”
He leaned in closer. “That guy definitely threw that frisbee at Greg. Do you think there’s something to it?”
I wanted to say no, it was nothing, but something niggled at me. I didn’t get a good look at the guy. He left in a hurry after I showed up. I knew Greg thought nothing of it, but I wasn’t so sure. “I don’t know. It seems harmless enough, but my gut is telling me something is off.”
Marco hummed in agreement. “With any luck, it was just some random trying to be cute.”
“From your lips to God’s ears,” I said.
“You know,” my brother continued, “Greg is playing that show this week.”
“I know. He told me about it when he got the call.”
“What do you think about all of us going to the show? You know, to support him.”
His smirk did nothing to disguise the mischief in his suggestion. “We can go, but you can’t embarrass him. This is his job.”
“Of course not,” he protested. “I would never do anything to jeopardize his job. But we can sure rag on him after the show.”
I sighed. “Just be gentle. He’s not one of your teammates.”
“I know. He’s squishier than Liam was when I first met him.”
I snorted. “Don’t let your fiancé hear you call him squishy.”
“Who are you calling squishy?” Liam asked from behind us.
Marco turned and pulled his man into his arms. “We all know you’re not squishy, sweetheart.”
Liam put his hands on Marco’s chest. “You got that right, He-Man.”
When my brother slid his hands down to Liam’s backside, I took that as my cue to leave them to it. I pulled a soda out of one of the coolers and went to sit next to Greg. “How are you doing?” I asked.
He smiled. “Good. Liam was very excited about me playing in the show. I didn’t know he played the piano.”
I nodded. “I’ve heard him a couple times. He’s not bad. Marco said he plays guitar too.”
A complicated expression crossed Greg’s face. “I guess I missed all that. But then again, Liam is four years younger than Sean and me.”
“That’s right,” I said. “I forgot you and Sean went to high school together.”
Again, he looked…sad. I gestured to his face. “What’s that expression? Did something happen when you were in high school?”
At first, it looked like he wasn’t going to answer me.
Then he blew out a breath and said, “My mother is an addict. It wasn’t too bad when I was younger and my father was still around.
But he left when I was in eighth grade, finally tired of picking my mom up off the sidewalk or from the police station. ”
My gut twisted. “Wait. He left you alone with an addict?”
He nodded. “Well, me and my younger brother and sister.”
I already knew where this was going. “Don’t tell me, let me guess. You ended up being in charge of your younger siblings.”
Greg tapped the end of his nose. “Got it in one. I ended up making sure they got ready for school and had something to eat in the morning. I made their lunches and most dinners.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Jesus Christ. How did you manage to get any schoolwork done? And what about piano practice?”
He pursed his lips. “A couple things happened. First, my middle school music teacher found out I was struggling and would let me practice during lunch period. Then, someone called child services on my mom after my sister went to school in January with no coat because hers was too small. They threatened to put us in foster care if she didn’t clean up her act. ”
“Oh shit. What happened?”
He shrugged. “That worked for a while. She stopped using and even went to meetings. But as we got older, she started to slip again. She had a new boyfriend every other week. Scumbags, every last one of them. I had to put a lock on my sister’s door.
I almost called child services myself, but my brother and sister begged me not to. They didn’t want us to be separated.”
I stared at him in awe. “With all that, you still managed to get accepted to Rutgers Mason Gross?”
This time, the sadness in his expression was so profound that I wanted to wrap my arms around him and hold him close.
“Yeah. I worked hard for that. Any free time I had, I spent preparing for that audition. My academics were tight. I had straight As in everything except math, but it was enough to get me a full scholarship.” His eyes got glassy and he took a few deep breaths before he spoke again.
“And then I threw it all away two years later because my boyfriend didn’t want me going to school and spending time with anyone but him. ”
“Fuck.” I put my arm around his shoulders and pulled him close. “I’m so sorry. That must have been so hard for you.”
He nodded mutely and turned his face into my shoulder. Michael looked over at us with a question in his eyes. I shook my head and kept a solid hold on Greg. It was official. If I ever met Greg’s ex, I was going to beat him to a pulp.
After a few minutes, Greg lifted his head. “Sorry about that.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” I said. “We’re friends, remember?”
“But I kind of had a meltdown on you.”
I snorted out a laugh. I gestured toward the team members. “I’ve lost count of the number of meltdowns these guys have had.”
“Hey!” Gabe objected.
I stared at him. “Do I have to remind you about the office coffee machine?”
“It was one time! I was undercaffeinated,” he grumbled. And then the six-foot-four former Navy SEAL pouted. He fucking pouted.
Nico kissed the side of his head. “It’s okay, baby. We all know about your caffeine addiction.”
Beside me, Greg snickered and then covered his mouth to hold back his laughter. His whole body was shaking. He gasped, “Sorry. I don’t know why I’m laughing so hard.”
“It’s not every day you see a big bad Navy SEAL pout like a five-year-old,” Liam snarked.
“I thought you lived with Marco,” Gabe retorted.
Marco threw a wadded-up napkin at Gabe. “Stuff it, coffee boy.”
The conversation quickly devolved into jibes and insults. Greg sat up and rolled his shoulders. “I’m going to head home.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I know these guys can get out of hand.”
He shook his head. “Oh, it’s not that. I worked at City Lights last night. I woke up earlier than I’d planned and couldn’t get back to sleep. It’s catching up to me. Plus, I have to wrap up the work on that website. I told the customer I’d have it ready by tomorrow for them to look at.”
He rose, and I stood with him. “How about I walk you to the subway station?”
He glanced over at the rest of the men. “Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to take you away from everyone.”
I shrugged. “Eh. They’ll hardly miss me.”
Liam caught on to our conversation and came over to join us. “Are you leaving, Greg?”
“Yeah, I have some things to do before tomorrow morning.”
“Well, you can’t leave without saying goodbye to everyone,” Liam replied. The rest of the men got up to say goodbye to Greg with handshakes or slaps on the back. Liam would settle for nothing less than a hug, which Greg seemed happy to give. That too was a change I was glad to see.
We talked the entire way to the subway station. Greg didn’t mention his mother or ex-boyfriend again, and I didn’t push. I had a feeling he didn’t talk about it much, especially given how isolated he’d been up until recently.
It occurred to me that I’d missed talking to him.
Whenever we got together, we always had plenty to talk about.
It made me realize that maybe I was lonely too.
I mean, I had my brothers and the guys who worked for me, but they all had their own lives.
All I did was work. Although that was changing too.
Marco and Michael sat down with me and demanded that I start delegating responsibilities for the business.
In the end, the three of us decided to hire a full-time office manager to take on a lot of the tasks I’d been doing myself.
Liz, my executive assistant, practically threw a party when she found out.
When we got to the station, I gave Greg a hug. “I missed talking to you this week. How about we do lunch or dinner tomorrow so we can catch up?”
He smiled brightly. “I’d like that. I’ll check my schedule when I get home and let you know what works for me.”
“Sounds good,” I replied. “See you tomorrow.”
As I headed back toward the park, I thought about how our friendship had grown.
The last time I had a good friend like this was when I was a cop.
That had gradually ended when I left the force and moved up to New York.
I had to admit, my brother had been right.
Making friends with Greg had been the right way to go.