36. Beck
CHAPTER 36
Beck
My new celebrity client, Tyler James, turned out to be a real asshole.
It happened. More often than I’d like to admit. Luckily, I knew how to handle it, and I taught my team the same thing. We were not there to be “yes” people. To jump and take care of all the wants and wishes of our clients.
No. We were there to protect. Not to be a glorified assistant.
We were there to protect our clients at all costs. That level of commitment demanded respect.
Tyler balked at the idea of Margot as part of his detail. And if he didn't get on board and show her some respect, then I would refuse to work with him. I had no capacity for bullshit.
I explained all of this very clearly up front with any new client, and sometimes it bears repeating. If it continued, I could preemptively end our contract and have them pay me out for breaching our agreement.
Usually that little threat cleared things up real nice. I took the integrity of my business seriously and nobody would want to work for me if they thought clients could get away with their bullshit.
“Beck, you have your next client here to see you,” my assistant announced.
“Send them in.” I scrubbed a hand down my face. It was going to be one of those days. I hadn’t even had my second cup of coffee yet and shit was already hitting the fan.
I’d slept like shit after Luna snuck out of my bed in the middle of the night.
I watched her from my bedroom window as she went out the back door and crossed into her house using that connecting gate. The one she hated with a passion of a thousand suns and yet made her little early morning escape route extra easy and made me worry just a little less.
Someone knocked on my open door.
I stood, expecting to see my ten o’clock. It was just Sebastian.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I got up and shook his hand, bringing him in for a quick pat on the back.
“Do you have a minute?”
I lifted a finger. “Let me just che?—”
“Your meeting got moved to next week. You’re free,” my assistant yelled from just outside my office.
“Well that clears that up.” I shut the door. “Tell me what brings you here. Is everything okay with Faith?”
Sebastian revealed a small smile. “She’s great. I’m actually here to invite you to her next show.”
I lifted a brow. “You want me to go to an art show? Is there another security threat?”
I mentally flipped through my list of staff who might be able to make it happen depending on when the event took place. It wasn't ideal, but in a pinch I could step in.
Sebastian held up his hands. “Nothing like that. Things have settled down now with the press. Turns out, it's not very exciting to report on Faith now that she's busy upstate painting and being a dog mom.”
I settled back in my chair, happy to hear that. More importantly, I was glad my friend was letting up a little. He took his partner’s safety so seriously that I worried for them at times.
Not that I'd ever say that to his face.
If caring for Luna had taught me anything, it's that loving someone can make you do crazy things.
Like right now I was running through my mind all the ways I could convince her to move in with me and Alice.
I stood. “Let's get coffee.”
Sebastian gave me an odd look. “Sure.”
When we got to the street, I shoved my hands in my pockets.
Sebastian glanced at me curiously. “You're quiet. You're never quiet.”
We headed toward the nearest coffee shop, and I ordered two cold brews without bothering to ask Sebastian for his order since he usually drank the same thing as me.
I dropped into a chair at the only remaining table and Sebastian raised a brow. “What the hell is going on with you? I've never seen you like this.”
My elbows hit the tabletop. “I slept with Luna.”
Sebastian choked on his drink.
“I'm in love with her.” It felt good to share this with my friend. Cathartic even.
Sebastian nabbed a napkin from the holder in the center of the table and started cleaning up the mess he made. “I don't understand.”
I lifted my head. “I thought I was very clear.”
Sebastian crumpled up the coffee-soaked napkin. “I'm not sure why you think this is big news. Everyone knows you’re in love with Luna Marks.”
I frowned. “Everyone?”
He nodded emphatically. “Everyone.”
“What about Dominic and Daisy?” I hadn't spent much time with them recently.
Sebastian tilted his head.
“Fuck, really?”
Sebastian laughed as he sipped his drink. “You guys have been bickering like a married couple since you reconnected.”
“We barely bicker anymore.”
My friend shook his head. “Not true. Last time we were all together you were going back and forth. I hadn't realized I’d purchased tickets to a tennis match.”
“We're neighbors.”
Sebastian stared at me like I’d grown a second head. “Again, I know this.”
“I bought that house because I wanted to be near her.”
Sebastian waved his hand. “Again, you're just stating the obvious.”
I leaned forward. “Is that not a little crazy?”
“Why are you second guessing this now? I've never heard you unsure of anything. You're the surest person I've ever met. It's annoying really.”
I ignored that last little comment. “We slept together. It's more real now. I’d completely put that part of me on pause after Alice was born. I hadn't so much as looked at anyone else. Then she reappears in my life?—”
“And you do everything you can to be near her.” Sebastian stated the obvious.
“Be near her. Antagonize her,” I countered.
But he plowed right ahead. “ Protect her. Care for her.”
We sat in silence for a few long seconds.
“What if I'm not enough?” I asked quietly.
Sebastian fully glared at me. “You can't be serious?”
I waved a hand in the air. “I have a child.”
Sebastian blinked. “And has Luna ever given any indication that she has a problem with you being a single dad? That she doesn't like Alice?”
I almost flinched. “Hell, no. She's great with Alice, even if she doesn't think she is. My daughter adores her.”
“Then what the fuck is the problem? Luna is a grown woman, with a life and a career. She doesn't do anything half assed, and she's one of my best friends. I'm going to let you have whatever the fuck this is, this doubt for just a second, and then I need you snap the fuck out of it. This is Luna we're talking about. The woman you never forgot about. The woman of your literal dreams.”
I scrubbed a hand down my face. “You're right. It's just the sex. It made it real. It made it?—”
“You won't lose her again, Beck. As long as you treat her well, and be patient with her, just like you already are, you'll be just fine. I promise.”
My heart thudded painfully in my chest. The idea of living another day without Luna would physically pain me. The idea of losing her forever would be unfathomable. “How can you be so sure?”
He shrugged. “Because Faith can tell, and I trust her. And because I've seen you and Luna together.”
His confident response immediately dissolved the panic.
I hadn’t experienced this level of uncertainty since Alice was born and I was left with a newborn and no clue how to take care of her. I now had a second chance with the woman I loved, and I would do everything in my power not to fuck it up.
“She’s coming over for dinner tonight with me and Alice.”
Sebastian shrugged. “You’ve had dinner with her before.”
“This feels different.”
He clapped me on the back. “Do yourself a favor, and don’t overthink it. Just spend time with her, enjoy it, and see what happens.”
“I want to marry her,” I said just as Sebastian was taking a sip of his drink.
He spat it out all over me.
I snagged some napkins from the center of the table and began wiping away the worst of it. Well, there goes my white shirt. “What the fuck, man?”
Sebastian wiped his face. “Sorry about that. I know you’ve been in love with Luna for all these years, I just wasn’t expecting marriage yet. Took me by surprise.”
“You’re not the only one who wants marriage, my friend.” Sebastian would have put a ring on Faith’s finger months ago if she’d have let him.
“We’ve never talked about it.”
Sebastian tilted his head as if he was carefully considering my words. “To be fair, you’re just getting to know each other again.”
“I feel like I know her, and I like what I know.”
Sebastian released a rare laugh. “Then take care of her, wait for her, and everything will be alright.”