Page 24 of Something Unprofessional

A muscle in Ev’s jaw jumped as he clenched his teeth and took a steadying breath. “Don’t. Don’t call me that. I’m not your ‘boy.’”

Wonderful. This was going swimmingly already. “Fair enough, Ev. Let’s start with you explaining why you kept your identity a secret. Or should I guess?”

Ev puffed up, his eyes narrowing. “You’re one to talk. When did you realize it was me? ’Cause it definitely wasn’t tonight.”

“The night we watched Max’s demo,” Gabe answered easily. “I’ll admit the tattoos and piercings threw me off at first, but I’m not blind.” He brushed a finger along the stem of Ev’s glasses. “And you’re not Clark Kent,” he teased.

Ev flushed to the tips of his ears, and Gabe wasn’t sure if it was from embarrassment or anger. “That was two weeks ago.”

Gabe shrugged. “I figured I’d let you take the lead.”

Ev surged to his feet and started pacing around the small living room, which amounted to four steps in any direction before he needed to turn. “Take the lead? What does that even mean?” He threw up his hands, then dragged them through his hair, making it stand on end. “Fuck.Fuck, this is such a fucking disaster.”

Gabe stood and put himself in Ev’s path, catching him by the shoulders to stop his increasingly frantic movements. “Talk to me. I need to understand what you’re upset about. It can’t be that I didn’t come clean, because you knew before I did.”

Ev pulled back halfheartedly but gave up when Gabe didn’t let him go. “I swore I wasn’t going to sleep with you,” he snapped, turning his face away and glaring at the wall.

Gabe’s brow arched. “Swore to who?” He couldn’t imagine Xavier had anything to do with this. If he’d had concerns he would have approached Gabe about it, not Ev.

“Myself,” Ev bit out, his blush deepening until his face nearly matched his hair. “I fucking swore to myself I wouldn’t do thisagain.” His voice cracked on the last word and he ducked his head, but not before Gabe saw the way his eyes went misty. Shit. Gabe wasn’t qualified for tears.

“I assume ‘this again’ is sleeping with your boss?”

Ev barked out a laugh. “Good guess.” He swiped at his eyes, and when he looked up again, the tears were thankfully gone. “I freaked when you took your mask off, but then you didn’t realize it was me and I thought everything would be fine. I could just forget it ever happened. It was nothing.”

Ouch. Gabe tried not to take that personally.

“But then it happened again, and I thought, ‘No more. That was the last time.’ Except when I looked you up on Exchange to block you, I fucked upagainand sent you a message.”

“I see,” Gabe said, even though he didn’t.

Ev shook his head. “No, you don’t.” He pulled away and started pacing again, his words getting faster, emphasized by his flailing hands. “Back in Chicago, I was in a relationship with my boss. I thought things were good. He wasn’t a perfect Daddy, but he tried.” Ev snorted. “I thought he was trying. But then Ifound out it was all bullshit. He cheated on me every chance he got. Then, when I broke things off, the asshole fired me. Some Daddy, right?” He gave a harsh laugh. “I swore I wasn’t putting myself in a situation like that ever again. And what do I do first chance I get?” He waved an arm in Gabe’s direction. “I fuck it all up.” Ev’s voice shook. He was doing his best to hide behind a wall of cynicism, but Gabe could still hear the bubbling hurt.

Gabe took a calming breath and bit back the rant that he wanted to unleash. If there was one thing he despised more than infidelity, it was someone calling himself a Daddy who had no right to the title. It wasn’t surprising that Ev was still recovering from the betrayal. At the same time, Gabe wasn’t pleased to hear he was being lumped in with Ev’s former boss. He would turn himself over to Max’s tender mercies before he betrayed a partner like that. But how Gabe felt was neither here nor there. His word wasn’t the reassurance Ev needed. “All right,” he said, returning to his spot on the sofa, leaving space next to him. “What do you propose we do?”

Ev hesitated, flicking his tongue against his lower lip and scrunching his nose in indecision. Finally, his shoulders slumped and he sighed. “Maybe I should find a new job,” he suggested as he dropped down onto pile of blankets next to Gabe.

“No,” Gabe said easily. “That’s not an option.”

Ev stared at him, incredulous. “Uh. Yeah. It is.”

“You’re a good PA, and I don’t feel like going through the hassle of replacing you. What else?”

Ev’s mouth twisted like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or scowl. “Well. Then I guess we just need to keep things professional. Stop messaging on Exchange. Stop seeing each other at the Edge. Stop—” His cheeks flushed.

“Stop fucking?” Gabe offered with a wink.

Ev huffed a laugh, but it held more bitterness than humor. “And stop calling you ‘Daddy’ in my head.”

That was a splash of cold water that Gabe would have preferred to avoid. Sadly, Ev was right. Gabe would need to think of him by his name and not ashis boy. Because he wasn’t. Not anymore.

“I suppose it’s for the best. You really are excellent at your job. I would hate to lose you over a silly misunderstanding.”

Ev shifted and looked away, fingers gripping the blanket he was sitting on until his knuckles went white. “Right. I’m glad we agree.”

Gabe shut down the warning bells in his head. He hadn’t been looking for a relationship—they were messy and time-consuming. But despite his initial reluctance, he’d gotten attached to having a personal assistant, and finding someone to replace Ev would be inconvenient. Particularly right before the event in LA. Stopping things now, before they got in too deep, was the best of both worlds.

Gabe was on his way to the door when he paused and turned back. Ev was still on the sofa, head down, his shoulders hunched as he picked at a thread on one of the blankets. “One last question,” Gabe said, making Ev look up in surprise. “Whyhide yourself at work? You’ve seen some of the others. Neither Xavier nor I have an issue with piercings, tattoos, or…interesting fashion choices.”

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