Page 84 of Sing For Me

He pours the glasses, not looking up. I consider asking him what happened today, but I don’t have to. Because he hands me a glass and holds it up for a cheer. “To fuckups.”

I laugh. “To fuckups.”

I take a sip of wine, letting the warmth of the alcohol spread through me, instantly undoing the last of my nerves. “You want to elaborate?”

Eli looks at me almost a moment too long, then he says, “I don’t know if I should.”

Which is cryptic and slightly worrisome too.

Then he scrubs his jaw with his hand. “There are several shitty things happening at once, honestly.”

“Okay… How about one thing?”

Eli sighs, then leans back against the counter and tells me about the billboard and his brother.

“It’s not your fault,” I say, when he’s done. I know he won’t agree. But it isn’t, really.

“I should have caught it,” he says, just as I thought he would. His arms are folded, the arm on top holding his wineglass. He takes a sip. “The thing is, I don’t even know what Griffin does, exactly. No one does. So, are the pictures a serious security risk? Have we put someone in danger? Or does he just generally not want to be perceived?”

I smile. “I don’t know Griffin very well at all. But from what you’ve said about him, I’m sure he’d have acted differently if someone was in imminent danger, wouldn’t he? Like get everyone to drop everything to take them all down?”

Eli nods. “Yeah. He would have.” Another moment passes, then he says, “Hey, Reese?”

“Yeah?”

“I want you to stay away from Neil.”

“What? Why?”

“He and Kelly aren’t getting along, and I think”—Eli looks down—“he’s just not himself. I don’t want you in the middle of that.”

“Okay,” I say, confused.

“I’m sorry,” he says, his voice rough. “It’s been a shit week.”

I decide not to press him. Mostly, because I don’t want to be thinking about Neil and Kelly right now.

“Anyway. I don’t want to talk about them. Or work,” Eli says, like he read my thoughts. More likely he read the room. “Because it’s not just work that’s put me in a shit mood.”

His eyes meet mine, sending a flurry of butterflies exploding in my stomach.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, Reese.”

I lift my glass to my mouth, taking a bigger than necessary sip.

Eli drains the last of his glass and sets it down. He props his hands behind him on the counter, pinning me with his eyes.

“I’m in a shit mood because I can’t stop thinking about a woman. That’s what it all boils down to.”

My stomach does a full-on barrel roll. He might as well have pinned me physically, because I can’t move as his eyes bore into mine.

“Is that right,” I manage. I finish my wine too, but don’t let go of the glass, holding it tight.

“Yeah. I’ve been having an incredible time with someone I care about. A lot. And the other day, I could have sworn she felt the same way, too. Because she got down on her knees and took my cock in her mouth.”

His words are shocking. They send a rip-roar of heat through me. I swallow hard, the wineglass threatening to shake in my hand. I hold it to my chest. “Maybe she got carried away,” I whisper.

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