“Not at all, that’s how it went. You didn’t even try to avoid this.” He shakes his head, swiveling back and forth slowly in his seat. “You’re not going to be able to gloss over it. There’s no going back. You’re going to have to find another way to deal with it.”
“We’ll be friends,” I compromise. “That’s what we’ll do. We’ll sit down, we’ll have dinner, and we’ll talk about how we have to be friends. I can be friends with a client. Just look at Demarcus and I. If he lived in California I’d be hanging out with him all the time.”
“Not the same.”
“It’s close enough.”
“Not even a little.”
My phone rings in my hand, making me jump. I hadn’t realized I was carrying it. I look down nervously at the screen, terrified it’s my dad calling to tell me that he knows and I’m fired and I’m a whore.
“It’s Trey,” I whisper in shock.
Hollis waits for it to ring again. “Are you going to answer it?”
“He just left. Why is he calling me right now?”
“Probably to tell you he wants to be friends. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
I glare at him as I nervously swipe my finger over the screen, lifting it to my ear. “Hello?”
“Hey,” Trey replies, his voice calm and deep. “Sorry to call you like this already, but I’ve got a problem.”
“Don’t we all?”
He pauses. “Yeah, well, I need to ask you a favor.”
“What do you need?”
“A ride. I can’t get home.”
“How’d you get here?”
“My truck.”
“And your truck is…”
“Gone. Towed.”
I stand up, heading for the door. “Why did it get towed?”
“Good talk, Sloane!” Hollis calls after me. “Goodnight to you too!”
I wave at him over my shoulder before I disappear into the hall.
The sound of traffic echoes behind Trey’s voice in my ear. “I might have parked it illegally.”
“How illegally?”
“On the curb in the fire lane illegally.”
I laugh before I can stop myself. I press the back of my hand over my smile to quiet it. “That’s… that’s a choice, Trey.”
“I was mad,” he replies defensively, but I can hear him smiling too. “I was in a hurry to yell at your dad for being a dick.”
“Let’s be sure to expense the cost of freeing your truck from impound to the agency.”
“Fuck it. Let them keep it.”
I grab my purse out of my office. I lock the door behind me as I leave and I hope to God it doesn’t smell like sex when the janitors come by tonight. Of course the used condom in my wastebasket might be a dead giveaway. I consider going back for it but wonder what the hell I’d do with it? Walk out of the building with it in my hand?
I’d rather roll the dice with the janitor.
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” I ask Trey excitedly. “Are you finally buying a new car?”
“I’m saying I need a ride tonight. That’s all.” He drops his voice until I can barely hear him. “What do you say, Sloane? Will you save me?”
“I’m already on my way. Where am I taking you?”
“Magnolia Apartments.”
“You’re still living with Cummings, huh?” I ask, cruising through the lobby and out the door without making eye contact with the receptionist.
“You know, if you weren’t my agent, the amount of shit you know about me would be really creepy.”
“If it makes you feel any better, for every scrap of knowledge I have on you, I’ll give you the same on me. Call it trust building.”
“You have a lot of scraps. That could take a while.” He pauses, the sound of the traffic fading away then coming back with a roar. “How about we swap scraps over dinner? I’m starving.”
I smile at the elevator door, my distorted reflection smiling back at me. She looks like an idiot. “So am I. I’ll be down in a minute.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
I drop my phone into my purse feeling strange. Feeling light and off kilter, like I’m floating. It’s dangerous, what I’m doing. I won’t lie to myself and say I think this dinner is going to be all business, but I promise myself I’ll make a point of laying down the law with us. For both our sakes.
What happened in my office can never happen again. Not as long as I’m his agent. And I’m not about to give that up, not for anything. Not when I’m so close to making both our dreams come true.
Wurst Bar
Los Angeles, CA
“Worst Bar?” I ask skeptically. “That’s for real. That’s its name.”
Sloane smiles. “Vurst Bar. It’s German. They pronounce the W as a V.”
“That’s weird.”
“Blame Latin. They started it. Anyway, it’s delicious. You’re going to love it.”
“I would have loved a burrito from Taco Bell.”