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I brooded about Tav for a while, which was what I’d been up to for most of the day. Since I’d gotten out of the car this morning, I’d been going back over the relationship we’d had when we were younger. Had I been a condescending shit? What was Tav going to tell me before we were interrupted? A sharp spike of old grief renewed by the last two days dug into my heart. This was all unfair. If Tav had just told me what the problem between us had been at the time, I’d have moved the entire world to fix it. Tav hadn’t given me a fucking chance to make things right. To change, if I’d needed to do that.
Be better.
Do better.
Fuck, speaking of Tav, what had he been up to all day?
I had just tugged my cell phone out of my pocket when Colleen Heizler came up to me. Her gray hair was cut in a short bob and her skirt suit was a relentless gray, but a simple emerald glinted on a necklace at her throat, allowing a small sliver of her personality to shine in her wardrobe. Dad was the one who required a strict dress code at his company, but she’d never loosened up.
“Your father is going to be so tickled pink by this,” she said quietly, glancing around the room at the others from our department as if they were too stupid to realize that my last name was also Dailey. “Your mother will be pleased, too. She’s taught you so well.” Colleen grabbed my wrist, and some warmth alleviated the cold dread that had been building up in me. She was almost as close as family, and I stuffed my phone back in my pocket to give her a short hug.
She tittered and gave me a hearty squeeze back.
“Mom’s CFO for Dailey Enterprises. If she wasn’t able to teach me all the tricks of the trade, that would be pretty sad.” I swallowed the rest of my champagne and wished it was something a little more potent.
She smiled and nodded.
God, I couldn’t stand another second of this party. I made a show of checking the time on my phone. “Oh! Please, excuse me. I have a phone call with Canada.” I waved around my phone. “I heard that one of the Trudeaus might be willing to talk about how my tires saved them from an accident later this coming winter.” I rolled my eyes. “Who knows how much it’ll cost.”
“Which one?”
I lifted the phone higher. “I’ll find out.”
She shooed me toward the door. “I’ll let everyone know they should get back to work.”
“No! No. The workday is done. I just couldn’t reschedule this.”
She nodded, and I widened my eyes at her until she laughed.
People clapped for me as I walked out the door, and I waved, feeling a bit like an ass, remembering once again Tav’s innocent observation that all I happened to be was the man with cash. I sighed as I noticed I’d carried the empty glass along with me. I made it to my office door, then realized I wouldn’t be able to get any work done. I set the glass in front of my door, hoping someone would find it and get it where it belonged, then took the elevator downstairs.
Judah
Where are you?
My text sat unanswered as I got off the elevator, and I scowled around the classic lobby. There was a wide half-moon desk on my left and thick black leather couches across the room. I’d never seen anyone sitting there, but a nice amount of decorative foliage surrounded the seats anyway. I caught sight of Tav’s wide shoulders outside the bank of floor-to-ceiling windows at the front of the building, and he was standing there with his arms crossed, laughing with Merlin, our doorman.
All at once, acid seethed through my veins. Merlin was attractive. He had a nice smile and wide blue eyes. He wasn’t a small man, but he was a good bit shorter than Tav. The way he leaned toward him, intently saying something with both hands gesturing, made me want to toss him into the street. I stormed toward the doors and shoved out the right one into the blinding sunshine.
“Tav! Upstairs. We need to have a discussion,” I called, rather than going anywhere near Merlin, because with the way my heart was racing, I was sure I would fire him on the fucking spot. He worked for the building, not me, but I’m sure I could make it stick.
Tav leaned to the side to have a clear view of me, and his eyebrows slipped up toward his hairline. He pursed his lips and nodded once, the amusement that had been making his face glow dying. Anger clawed harder at me. Why was he happy to talk to Merlin and not me?
We rode the elevator up in silence. I didn’t say a word to him as I escorted him to my office, and when I got there, I was so fucking angry that I kicked the abandoned champagne flute down the hall. It hit a wall and shattered with a high tinkling sound that wasn’t nearly satisfying enough.
He sucked in a deep breath.
I glared at him and shoved open my office door, then waited for him to come inside before I slammed it. The crack made his shoulders stiffen.
“Were you having fun talking to Merlin?” I asked, my voice low and gravelly because it kept trying to stick in my throat.
“I have a good time everywhere I go,” Tav said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. It was clear that he was forcing himself to relax, at least to me. His jaw was tense despite the way his shoulders fell down and back.
“Do you?” I snarled, pacing around him.
I wasn’t sure if Tav trusted me or what, but he didn’t track my movements the way someone with less of a spine would’ve. He simply stared at my desk until I stalked back around into his line of sight.
“Oh yes,” he said, tipping his head forward. “What is this display about? You think I’m goin’ to go fuck your doorman first chance I get?” There was a teasing tone to his voice, but it set me off. I grabbed his face in both hands, and he struggled against me a little, but not much.
