CHAPTER 20 #2
“Um, I think it has to do with that guy over there,” Bennett says, clearly able to track my inability to hide my feelings.
“Yeah, I think you nailed it, dude,” OC says. “So who is he?”
I stare off at them and in a low voice, I say, “Slutty Little Glasses.”
“Nooooo,” OC drags out, turning to watch them.
“Fuck, really?” Bennett says, turning as well.
And together, we watch them all the way until they take a turn out of view.
“Shit,” OC mumbles. “This is not good. I think we need to assemble the Gladdy Daddies.”
I turn to him and nearly reach out to choke him. “We are not calling ourselves that.”
“But you want to call us something…” He smiles brightly as Bennett cuts in, turning me around.
“From the way you reacted to seeing them together, I’m going to guess you’ve started to realize that you might have feelings for her.”
I adjust the hat on my head, huffing out in frustration. “I don’t know what the hell I’m thinking. I just know I don’t like what’s happening between them. He’s such a fucking weasel. Like, way to be a stalker and find a job in the same zoo as her. Get a fucking life.”
“Could not agree more.” OC nods. “Screams pervert.”
“Exactly. The zoo just hired a fucking pervert. How are we supposed to support a zoo that hires a pervert?” I gesture to where Maple and Slutty Little Glasses walked away.
“It’s a great point,” OC says, feeding into my anger. “I say we bring it to their attention and demand they fire him, right here on the spot, for being a pervert in slutty little glasses.”
“Yeah, we should,” I say, looking around to find someone official.
“You know, as much as I feel like Slutty Little Glasses should be fired, I don’t think we have the evidence for him to be fired for being a pervert,” Bennett says.
“Yeah, we do. Just look at his face,” I say irrationally. “Pervert.”
“Could not agree more,” OC says, making me like him more and more.
“Although justified, I don’t think it will stand. And the last thing you want is word to get around that you’re crying out ‘pervert’ without substantial evidence. None of us need that kind of press.”
“Who needs evidence when we can smell it on him?” OC asks, wafting his hand toward his face. “Smells like retch with perv juice.”
Okay, now he’s going a little far.
“You didn’t even get close to him,” Bennett counters.
“Close enough to recognize the vibes he has going on. I demand he’s fired.”
“Okay, lower your voice,” I say, my anger knotting together as people around us start paying attention to our conversation. “We shouldn’t talk about this here.”
“No, we need to reconvene the Gladdy—” OC stops himself as I glare at him. “I mean, we need to reconvene later. Charge your phones, boys, because we have some work to do.”
“You done for the day?” I ask as I push off the wall of the flamingo building, catching Maple walking out with her bag and water bottle.
“I am. How was your media day?”
“Shit,” I answer as I take her bag from her and hoist it over my shoulder. She smiles softly up at me, and I have the distinct urge to take her hand in mine, but I hold back, because Jesus, man. Not going there.
“Hey, Maple,” Slutty Little Glasses calls out, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. “You forgot this.”
She turns, and he hands her a piece of paper. “Oh, thanks.”
He keeps his eyes on her as he asks, “Do you need a ride home?”
“I got it,” I cut in before she can even answer.
Slutty Little Glasses looks up at me. “Are you sure? I’m not that far from where she lives.”
How the fuck does he know where she lives?
“I’m four blocks,” I say.
“Really?” Maple asks. “I didn’t know that.”
“You live in her area?” he asks. “Not quite the kind of upscale living I’m sure you’re used to.”
I rub my lips together, trying not to shove his glasses through his skull. “Why don’t you mind your own fucking business?”
His eyes widen, and Maple quickly moves in close to me, placing her hand on my chest. “It’s fine, Hank. I have things to discuss with Graydon.”
He eyes us, and I dare him to challenge me.
Fucking dare him.
After a few seconds, he nods and then takes a step back. “I’ll catch you tomorrow.”
“Yup, see you tomorrow,” she says and then nudges me in the direction of the parking lot, but I give him one more glare before I take off with Maple at my side.
We make our way in silence until we reach my truck. I move to the passenger side and open the door for her, then offer my hand to help her up into the truck, not expecting her to take it, but when she does, there’s a sense of relief that pushes down the anger in my chest.
I set her bag down next to her feet and then shut her door as she buckles up.
When I get settled on my side, I start the truck and pull out of the parking lot.
“You know, he’s a good guy,” Maple says, making me want to twist the steering wheel in half.
“I’m sure,” I say through a clenched jaw because he’s the last person I want to talk about.
“He was one of the reasons why I was able to adjust so easily when I was in Peru,” she continues, ramping up the jealousy that I didn’t even know I possessed until this fucking woman came into my life.
But I swallow it back because I know for certain that it won’t help the situation. I’m not even sure what I want to get from this, from her, but what I do know is that showing jealousy and telling her how I want to rip that fuck’s nuts off won’t help me in any way.
So I decide to go for a different tactic that is way out of my wheelhouse.
“You’ve never told me about Peru.”
I can feel her eyes flash to me in surprise, because yeah, I guess we haven’t really talked about anything too personal. We’ve just been barking at each other.
“Oh, what do you want to know?”
I shrug. “Why did you go in the first place?”
“It was the opportunity of a lifetime,” she says in a dreamy voice. “When I was studying in college, the dream was always to get out in the wild and study the animals in their natural habitat, so when the opportunity came about, I was beside myself, hoping I would get picked.”
“How long were you there, again?”
“Three years. Life was so different. Slower, less chaotic. It made me see how…cluttered my life was here. Hence why my apartment was sparse in your eyes.” Colorless and empty would be my chosen descriptors, which simply don’t match this woman.
“There were many days when I would just sit and observe, feeling nature surrounding me in the best way possible. Of course, there were days when I missed home, missed my family and friends, and that’s where Hank filled in and kept me comfortable.
” Don’t like the sound of that. “So yeah, we have a bond because we went through such a unique experience together.”
I nod, not really wanting to talk about him at all.
“He’s protective,” she continues. “He was in Peru, and he is here now.”
“I can see that,” I say, keeping my eyes on the road.
“I told him that you were a good guy.” That causes my brow to raise. “Because he was asking about you. Wondering what I saw in you.”
“He asked that?” I shoot my eyes toward her. “Did you tell him it was a PR relationship?”
She shakes her head. “No, I signed an NDA, so I didn’t tell him. But he was confused because he didn’t understand what we had in common.”
“That’s none of his fucking business. Did you tell him that?”
“No,” she answers. “But I told him I saw a kindness in you that you don’t always show to everyone. That you’re protective as well, and even though there might be a preconceived notion of the person you are from your appearance alone, you’re not who you seem.”
I shift my jaw, letting her words sink in.
“And I believe that,” she says as I pull in closer to our neighborhood. “I believe you’re so much more than the facade you try to hide behind.”
“It’s not a facade,” I say. “This is who I am.”
“Maybe, but there’s another side of you that I’m sure you don’t show many people.”
“What side would that be?” I ask while I pull up to the front of her apartment. I put the truck in park and turn toward her.
She smiles softly, her goddamn face so beautiful despite the cut above her eye surrounded by bruising. She undoes her seat belt and scoots closer toward me, tilting her head as her gaze matches mine.
“The side that will pick me up by the waist, put me on a counter, and touch the side of my face to make sure I’m okay when he sees my bruised eye.
” She moves in even closer. “And the guy who makes sure I have medical attention when he knows how expensive it is. The guy who makes sure my apartment is comfortable and stocked full of food.” She moves in the last few inches, sitting right beside me now, stealing the air from my lungs as she brings her hand to my face.
“And the guy who makes sure that I have a ride, no matter where I’m going, and makes it his personal mission to drive me himself when he can. That’s who you don’t show to everyone.”
She smiles one more time, then leans in, placing a very gentle kiss on the side of my face. “Thank you, Graydon. For everything.”
I’m so stunned.
So goddamn out of my own body that I don’t move an inch as my heart beats in my chest rapidly, pounding, thrumming with excitement as she moves away, picks up her bag, and then exits my truck.
Before she shuts the door, she looks me in the eyes and says, “See you tomorrow, Graydon.”
Then she winks and shuts the truck door before taking off up the stairs to her apartment, my eyes fixed on her ass the entire time.
Fuck.
Me.