Page 52 of Bull's Boy

“I have to sit this round out,” Houston said, waving a hand without looking at any of them. “There was nothing wrong with how I met Kenneth… unless you count following him into a parking garage at night and eavesdropping on his phone call with his sister.”

Bull covered his mouth to muffle his laughter.

“What I meant to say,” Marv said, enunciating each word, a touch of pink highlighting the kind of cheekbones some people would kill for, “was that I’m not interested in him, so it doesn’t matter if it’s appropriate or not.”

“I’m not buying it,” Tank said, then turned to Six. “You?”

One corner of Six’s mouth tipped up, and he shook his head. “Not a word.”

Draining the last of his bottle, Bull chuckled and set it on the ground. When he glanced up, Marv was smiling at him.

This wouldn’t be good.

“Speaking of inappropriate, let’s talk about how Bull’s fucking one of his straight employees.”

Shit. He should have seen that coming.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“Hey, are you clocked— Jesus, what’s wrong with you?”

Malcolm’s hand was slapped over his pounding heart as he stared at Dahlia in the doorway. “You just scared the crap out of me!”

Snickering, she stepped farther into Sally’s office and plopped onto the other end of the small couch. “You think because you’re sleeping with the boss, no one else is allowed in here now?”

He rolled his eyes and nudged her with his elbow, tucking his phone under his leg and pretending he hadn’t checked it every spare moment all day. Or that he wasn’t disappointed each time there wasn’t a message from Bull. It wasn’t like he didn’t know that he was busy helping his brother, but he really had missed working with him and wished he’d been brave enough to go with him.

“No, jerk, but I thought you were Sally.”

Dahlia raised her eyebrows. “It is her office, you know. Though I think she left for the day.”

“That’s the only reason I’m in here.” Malcolm grimaced. “I’ve been avoiding her all day. She keeps trying to talk to me about Bull.”

“Oh, shit,” Dahlia said, mouth twisting. “That’s so awkward. You didn’t tell me he’d told his family about you two already.”

Malcolm shrugged, picking at a loose string on the seam of his jeans. “I didn’t think he had, but I never explicitly asked. He must have, though, because every time we got slow today—and one time on my way back from thebathroom—she was there, trying to pull me into a conversation.”

“Shut up! On your way back from the bathroom?”

“Yup. I was horrified.”

“How do you know it was about Bull?”

“Oh, she made that very clear,” Malcolm said with a light laugh. “‘Malcolm, I just want to make sure you understand how sweet my son is.’ ‘Malcolm, did you know Bull graduated magna cum laude?’”

Dahlia smiled. “Okay, that’s actually really sweet.”

“I don’t know.” He made a face. “It didn’t feel sweet. Maybe it would’ve in another circumstance? But at work, it just made me feel weird about…”

“The fact that you’re sleeping with your boss?” she finished dryly.

“Yeah,” he sighed. “Do you think everyone here knows?”

She snorted, so he slapped gently at her arm. “Sweetie, everyone in this place is a horrible gossip. You know that. Of course they know.”

“Great,” he muttered, one more thing for him to worry about. All his coworkers talking about him behind his back and being judgy about his and Bull’s relationship.

Dahlia touched his wrist, giving it an affectionate squeeze, then stood, straightening her apron. “I should get back out there. We’re slow now, but it’ll probably pick up soon for dinner.”

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