Page 88 of Between Now and Forever

“Yeah,” she says excitedly, and I can see the calculation in her eyes as she tries to read my expression.

“Yeah, but I’m no Jack,” I say knowingly. She covers my hand and gives me a conciliatory, patronizing smile.

“No one is. But you’ve got your own something special, too, Carter,” she says, and her voice drops and become seductive.

“Thank you so much, Chloe.” I smile like I’m touched.

She trails her hand up my arm.

“Hey, maybe we just got off on the wrong foot this morning. I mean, if you asked me to go get breakfast and then come back here for more, I wouldn’t say—”

I can see where she’s going and I’ve heard enough. “Sure, let's get something to eat first. I’m exhausted.”

I swing my legs over the side of the bed and pull my sweatpants on and walk to my bathroom and turn on the water.

I stick my head back out of the door to find her sitting on my bed, on her phone already.

“I can invite Jackson to join us.”

She shrieks and runs over to hug me. “Oh my God, I totally forgive you for being a jerk just now.”

I disentangle myself, say a chirpy, “Thank goodness. I’ll text him before I hop in the shower, okay?”

I pick up my phone, send a text and then stroll to the bathroom.

When I come back into the room she pounces.

“Carter, I love him so much. Do you think he’ll look at my portfolio over breakfast?”

“Yeah, sure. Who doesn’t love looking at people’s portfolios while they eat?”

While I get dressed she alternates between squealing and giggling as she texts furiously.

I order a car from the service I use and smile through her insane prattle while we wait.

We’re walking out the door to the waiting Uber before she finally stops texting and turns to me.

“I mean, I really feel like I know him, you know? And I could be such an asset to his brand.” She grabs my arm excitedly.

“Wouldn’t it be amazing if we fell in love and Jackson became like my brother-in-law?” she shrieks and I give her silent kudos for having a vision.

As we approach the car, my driver climbs out and holds the door open.

“I forgot you’re kinda famous, too. I mean, you’re not Jackson famous, but my grandparents bought season tickets again because of you, so, I mean, that’s good, right?”

When we get to the car, I open the door for her and she slides in. I start to get in and then touch my pockets to answer my vibrating phone.

“Hey, I forgot I had to take this call. You go ahead, okay? Jack's probably already on his way. You can have some one-on-one time with him, right?” I wink.

Her eyes widen in delight.

“Yeah. That would be great. Take your time.”

I close the door and lock eyes with the driver, Mick. It’s been a while since I’ve had to use him, but he’s helped me dispose of Jack’s groupies before. He knows the drill. I slide him a twenty and we share a grin.

“You know I’m running the car service now. My dad retired. Your little THOT disposal plan is way below my paygrade. But when I saw your call come through, I had a hankering for the good old days. It’s boring behind that desk.”

“Glad my suffering is going to do one of us some good.”

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