Page 18 of Gray Area

“It’s not black and white,” he points out. I nod, still mulling the whole thing over as we get back into my car. “Let’s get out of here.”

We drive the rest of the way in silence, stopping off to catch Axel up to speed on our meeting before heading home. When we get there, I get out of my car and head to my tenement house next door. I turn to tell him good night and that I’ll talk to him later, but when I turn, I find him still getting out of the car. I make my way back to him slowly, watching him move.

“Dad, are you okay?”

He looks up, clearly struggling to get out of the car. “Yeah,” he says with a grunt, “I’m fine.”

I roll my eyes up to the sky. “Old man, can you just tell me the truth for once without me having to drag it the fuck out of you?”

On a huge groan, my father finally pulls himself up and out of the car. “Fine,” he says, slamming my car door before leveling his hard stare at my own. “I pulled my back today trying to move a machine at one of the bars by myself. And I am trying to hide it from you but you gotta be fucking Sherlock Holmes.”

I try to tamp down my temper before I answer him, but it’s an effort. “Dad, just tell us when you need our help and we will do it,” I say firmly, trying to keep my anger from seeping into my words. This isn’t the first time in the last few months my dad has done something alone and injured himself in the process.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” he says. “Sometimes your old dad just likes to feel young again.” I roll my eyes, and Dad laughs. “Alright, I’m going to relieve Slade from Roman duty.”

“Okay. Night, Dad, I love you,” I say, turning to my tenement again.

“I love you more, buddy.”

Chapter 8

VIVIAN

“It was brought to my attention that not everyone has time outside of class to devote to the group project,” Professor Edwards says. “And I do understand that many of you have outside commitments, so for the next two weeks I will allow the last twenty to thirty minutes of class for you to exchange information and ideas for your group project. After this time, I will have to insist that any other meetings be done on your own time or via email.”

I feel my pulse pick up at this news.

“So with that, let’s get on with our class today so I can be sure to leave enough time for your group projects,” Professor Edwards says and then starts the class for the night.

I secure myself a seat on one side of a large older man in the class, and lean back so that I am blocked by him. I am notinterested in being stared at by Declan again. And though he said he would stop doing it, I am trying to be proactive. But it isn’t just because it annoys me. On the contrary, I have done nothing but think about him since our last meeting, wondering if the staring means something else. And I blame Bailey and her crazy theories for it.

Just the night before as I got ready for work, I was complaining about Declan, and when I took a breath in my complaints, Bailey spoke up. “You like him,” she teased.

“What?” I asked, totally taken off guard since she had interrupted me mimicking Declan.

“You like this guy,” Bailey repeated, giving me a Cheshire cat grin.

I looked at her with complete disgust. “That is the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever said. I have been complaining about this weirdo since he stared at me for the entire time last week, and then when he was so rude to me when I confronted him about it. And you think Ilikehim?”

“Mm-hmm,” Bailey said, biting her lower lip and nodding, a wicked gleam in her eye.

“No, I do not like him.”

Bailey rolled her eyes and sat up cross-legged on the bed, facing me as I sat on the other side. “Viv, I love you, girl, but you are fixated on this guy. I think it’s not because of how much he annoys you, but about how much you like him.”

“Bailey,” I replied evenly, “I love you back, but you are delusional, and I think you may have inhaled too many cleaning fumes last night at work.”

Bailey rolled her eyes at me. “Viv, I’ve got way more experience on crushing than you do. You are too focused and matter-of-fact. I have been lovesick over every stupid trashcan of a man in a twenty-mile radius. This is fixation because you want to hate him, but you have fallen for his bad boy charm.”

I continued to deny it the entire time I got ready and left for work, where I could be found zoning out considering the possibility of Bailey being right. And now, twenty-four hours later, I am in class, avoiding the stare of Declan and trying to convince myself that it isn’t because I like him; it is because I don’t.

Yes, I may have described him as “sexy brooding type,” and I may have said he is a stupid bad boy fantasy, but I meant it as an insult.

Not as a turn-on.

“…and so what do we think is the root cause of this thinking?” Professor Edwards asks, and I realize I am letting this crazy asshole distract me from class. From my path. From my goals.

Nope, not gonna happen.

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