Chapter 7
Alex
When I get homethat night I send a text off to Drew and my publicist Sam, explaining the situation. He’s unhappy in his reply, and he asks for a meeting with us both tomorrow. Now I have to get her on board with that, and I doubt she wants to see him. Not that I blame her.
Can you do an emergency meeting at Drew’s office tomorrow morning?
SAINT:
I guess. I assume he’ll be there then?
Unfortunately. Him and my publicist. They want to have a game plan and get our side of the story before the week starts.
Okay. I’ll see if Violet can meet me for mimosas after.
You can put them on my tab.
Deal
I smirk at my phone before I tuck it back in my pocket and stare out at the view from my window. I’m fucked with this whole game we’re going to try to play. I knew the second I saw her at that party that everything felt as unresolved as it ever has, and the fact that she’s no longer his? The one thing that kept me at a distance—I’m fucking doomed. I don’t have the kind of self-control required. Especially when she looks at me the way she does. The little comments and hints of jealousy.
But I can’t fuck this up. It’s too important for my career and I can’t imagine that she needs any extra stress or problems when she’s fresh off a divorce and fighting to save her own job.
I pace in front of the window a couple more times, but I’m too unsettled to sit at home right now so I text Tobias.
Gym?
TOBIAS:
Run instead? Trail up by my house?
K. Be there in a bit.
An hourlater Tobias and I are hitting the trail near his house for a run. He always likes being outdoors for workouts, and I can’t say I hate it. At least if it’s not raining and making the trails slick. This particular trail is quiet enough that we don’t run into too many people and with hats on and heads down, they don’t usually recognize us anyway.
We take our first loop around and then pause at a bench to stretch and catch our breath. He glances over at me and gives me a mocking grin, like he’s about to give me shit and wants to warn me.
“So what’s got you so strung out?”
He already knows the answer. He just wants to hear me say it. I give him an irritated look.
“This is your fault you know. If you hadn’t fucking said that she was my girlfriend…”
“He would have called the cops and reported you for assault? Yeah. I’m a terrible fucking friend.”
“Might have been a better fate.”
“What’s the deal? A little bit before that you were talking shit about going after her anyway. Asking what the mourning period was.”
“I was running my fucking mouth. I would’ve talked to her a bit. Seen where she stood with things before jumping in headfirst.”
“Yeah. Well, where does she stand? She not over him?”
“She seems over him.”
“Not into you?” He stretches his calves as he talks.
“I never know with her. She looks at me like she wants me one second and is disgusted the next.”
“I mean you do have that effect. Kind of your brand, isn’t it?”
“Look who’s fucking talking.”
“I own up to it.”
“So do I. Just with her…”
“Yeah. She seems much more straight and narrow than you. I’ve always wondered what the appeal was.”
I shrug. I didn’t know how to explain it. It’s just a thing I feel around her. Like I’ve known her forever. Like we just fall in together without trying. At least when I can get past her walls. But the appeal? I have trouble finding something I don’t like.
“She’s…perfect.”
“Perfect?” Tobias looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “I’ve had a lot of really fucking amazing women. I wouldn’t describe any of them as perfect.”
“Not literally. But fuck… whenever I talk to her. When we’re in the same room. It’s like all the other shit fades away.”
“Like your reason and better judgment when you slammed your fist into your teammate’s face?”
“It was ill-advised. I know. But fuck if I’d let anyone touch or hurt her if I could stop it.”
“I gotta say it’s weird as fuck to see this side of you.”
“Don’t worry. It’s gonna be short-lived. She has a whole list of reasons she wouldn’t touch me with a ten-foot pole. Us being shoved together like this is just going to make all of that surface faster than it would have otherwise, and she’s going to tell me exactly where I can fuck off to.”
“Or she’s gonna decide you’re a perfect rebound.”
I grunt a response. Some of her might be better than none of her, but it’s bound to leave my ego bruised if that’s all she wants out of me. Not that I was going to get that deep into my feelings on the subject.
“You think you’ll ever find a woman that makes you want something more?” I look over at him while I stretch my ankle. It still locks sometimes over an old injury if I don’t keep it loose.
“Doubt it. I’m not against it or anything. I just… What I’d consider perfect is a long and very specific list.”
“Do I want to ask?”
“Probably not. But let’s just say so far, I can find women who fit the intellectual side, and I can find women who fit the sex side, and there is a fucking gulf in the middle that neither can seem to cross.”
“Have you—”
“I’ve tried. Trust me. There were even one or two who made me think I could live without it because they were that fucking good, but in the end…” He shrugs. “I’d rather be alone than unhappy. You know?”
“That much I get.”
“You thinking you’d settle down?”
“With the right person. I’m getting too fucking old for all this, I think. It’s fun in the moment but the next morning when I wake up to that empty fucking ass condo? That’s getting old.”
“Don’t fucking talk about being old. We’re the same fucking age and I’m not getting old.”
“If that’s what you wanna believe.”
“Yeah? Gonna be like that? Let’s see who fucking beats who on this trail.” Tobias takes off.
“Asshole!” I yell after him, because no way my lumbering ass beats his receiver legs but I’m still going to try.