Page 85 of Outcast
I hadn’t hooked up with Gray all week—aside from that one steamy phone sex session. The man had been elbow-deep in bike repairs, working his tail off to build up a new side of the business.
By the time we wrapped up the meeting and Brenda left, I’d devoured a burger, fries, and MoonShake. My gut was protesting the abuse, but my mouth was too happy to stop me from eating one last fry.
Brenda hadn’t actually eaten, so we had leftovers.
Allison tried to pawn them on Esther, but she refused, pulling out a healthy-looking salad she’d brought from home.
“You take it,” Allison said, pushing the bag into my arms.
“What? I ate more than you!”
“So give it to your dad or your grandpa,” she said. “Someone over there will eat it.”
“Well, Grandpaisa sucker for Jerkers,” I said.
She smiled. “There you go, then. I don’t want it to go to waste.”
“Fine.” I took the bag and shouldered my laptop bag. “If you’re sure Matteo won’t want it?”
She scoffed. “As if I’d get the chance to see him before it was old and moldy.”
I raised my eyebrows. “No?”
“It’s not easy to get together when I have to keep it a secret, and his dad is discouraging anything but work and discipline.”
“That sucks.”
“It’s why he wants a job so badly. He wants his own place, wants some independence. But that’s hard to do when his dad keeps him so busy.”
I nodded in sympathy. “I wish I could do something.”
“The bank would never hire an ex-con, not to work around all that money,” Allison said. “I get it. Besides, that kind of job wouldn’t suit him. He prefers to work with his hands. Always has. He loved shop class in high school. He did a stint on a construction crew, and he could probably do that again, but he doesn’t want to get sucked back into hanging with the people who landed him in prison.”
“Right, yeah. I can see that. Well, I can’t offer him a job, but Icanoffer you guys a place to meet up. If you ever want some time together, you can use my apartment. I’ll go out for a while or whatever.”
“Really? That won’t weird you out?”
“No. Just…wash my sheets before I come home,” I said with a laugh.
Allison threw her arms around me, hugging me tight. “You have no idea what this means to me. Thank you. Even a couple hours away from his dad would be so good for him.”
I drew back. “As long as it’s good for you too. Don’t take all his stress on yourself, okay? You deserve to be happy.”
“He makes me happy. Really. It’s just a rough time for him.”
I nodded. “Good, then. Just let me know when you want to come by, and I’ll make myself scarce.”
Her smile turned devious. “Maybe you’ll have something better to do? Or should I saysomeone?”
“Maybe.” I bit my lip, thinking about the phone sex and how much I wanted the real thing with Gray again. “Unfortunately, Gray has been busy with work too. I haven’t seen him this week. He’s pretty much working around the clock to get these bike jobs done.”
“Well, it sounds like he could use a little TLC, then.”
“I don’t want to bother him. The work is important…”
“Don’t think of it that way. You’d be supporting him. Take him dinner and give him a little stress relief.” She wiggled her eyebrows enough that I got the picture. “Then send him back to work feeling like a million bucks.”
“You think? He’s on a deadline.”
