Chapter 33: Thad

Chapter 33

Thad

Happy birthday to Thad. For your twenty-fourth birthday, you get to go to the unemployment office. Have fun!

I know I’m in trouble, but I’m hoping I can find a way to hold on to my job here.

Damon takes out his phone and hits a number. “Can you come take Kelley into my office and then book what flights he needs, go home to Philly with him and help him pack some things, and then go with him to California?”

Brady’s excitement can be heard where I’m sitting two seats away from Damon. I shouldn’t have hesitated when Damon asked if I was willing to go with Kelley to LA, but minus when we were in the Catskills, I haven’t been with Kelley on Damon’s dime.

I understand that with me being a representative of King Sports, a friendship with a client might be crossing lines. I didn’t set out to do that, but just because there was no intention behind it, that doesn’t mean lines weren’t blurred.

Kelley stands and leaves the room when Brady pops his head inside the door. I want to tell him I’ll message or call him later, but I don’t want to make this worse than it already is.

“Okay,” Damon says and opens his big black folder slash notebook on the table. “From the top. I need to know when, how many times, if you’re in a serious relationship, and if anything can blow back on the company when this all gets out. ”

“Umm …”

Damon’s green eyes meet mine, and it’s easy to see how Kelley is intimidated by him. He has this commanding presence that forces you into admitting things you’re not willing to just so you can get his approval. He’s got this whole Daddy vibe that I’m usually not into but for some reason is extremely attractive on him.

“The first time was in the Catskills,” I say. “It was the only time we were together while I was technically representing King Sports.”

“Don’t you understand that you’re always representing King Sports? You are part of this brand, which means you are King Sports. Always.”

“Sorry, yes. I understand that. I mean, it was the only time I was, I guess, being paid by you to be in the same vicinity as Kelley. All the other times, either he or I made the effort to see the other, knowing full well it shouldn’t happen, could look bad, and would put my career on the line.”

Damon runs his hand over his silver hair. “My main concern is the money. This bonus. It could be seen as payment for sex?—”

“God, no. It was nothing like that.” If I want to keep my job, I’m going to have to be completely honest. “I’m in no way complaining about the job you assigned me in the Catskills, but you have no idea how boring it was up there. It was cold and we couldn’t go anywhere and we didn’t have technology because Kelley couldn’t be around social media, so all we really had time to do was talk. And after I got over my bitterness that Kelley had everything I ever wanted, we … bonded.” I wince at the word “bonded” because could it sound any more like bondage ?

“Where was Brady? No, wait, knowing him … you had a threesome, didn’t you? He?—”

“No. He, uh, he might’ve invited his boyfriends to stay in a nearby cabin, so Kelley and I had a lot of alone time.” Sorry, Brady, for throwing you under the bus.

Damon doesn’t even flinch. “Of course he did. Okay, so the Catskills. How many times?”

“Do I really have to answer that? ”

“I’m preparing myself for a deposition if one should arise.”

“There won’t be. Kelley and I really have become friends. This isn’t a relationship. It’s been a …”

“Situationship?” Damon asks.

“Yeah. I guess. I would’ve loved to have seen if it could go further, but considering the distance between New York and Philly and now LA, it’s not exactly possible.”

“What was the bonus for?” he asks again.

I put my hands up. “I didn’t know he was going to do that, and if I was in the position to turn it down, I would have because I knew it was unethical.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“I, uh, might not have told you the whole story about my parents. I have a younger brother, and he stole their mortgage money from them and disappeared. They’re both still working full-time, they’re nowhere near set up for retirement anytime soon, and if they keep going the way they are, they’ll still be working when they’re eighty. Then Wylder goes and steals from them, putting them further in debt, and I wanted to help them out. Kelley overheard a phone call with my mother while we were trapped inside a tiny cabin for two weeks. I in no way tried to get money from him or trick him or anything. I wasn’t expecting the money, and I’d be happy to pay it back if it’s an issue. I mean, it will probably have to come out of my paycheck, a little each month, but that’s assuming I still have a paycheck, which now saying that out loud and considering you were talking about depositions, I’m not sure I’m going to have a job at all anymore.”

Damon taps his pen on his notepad. “I haven’t decided yet. I don’t like this whole situation. The money, the secrets, the sleeping with a client?—”

“I don’t want to pull you up on a technicality, but he’s not my client.”

Damon seems unimpressed by that. As he should be.

“I knew you wouldn’t like it, and because we didn’t think it was going to go anywhere, we didn’t think it would ever need to get out. I know that sounds like an excuse or a way to dismiss how serious doing something like this is, but there was never any bad intent behind it. We thought no one would find out, and even though we’d been talking about disclosing it all so we could properly date, with the LA move, it’s all moot now.”

“If you didn’t want it to get out, calling me and telling me you’re with our client when there was absolutely no reason for you to be with him isn’t the smartest thing to do,” Damon points out.

“I know. In the moment, I wasn’t even thinking about me. My only concern was Kelley and his panic attack. His trade. I was in agent mode.”

Damon smiles. “Not to throw your technicalities back at you, but you’re not his agent.”

“I’m not. And I still don’t want to be. I just … I want to be there for him. Any way I can.”

“Because you’re friends,” Damon says.

“Exactly.” Sort of. Not really. “Okay, so there’s a chance I could have serious feelings for the guy, but again, moot point, unless you’re firing me. In which case, I won’t be able to afford rent, I’ll get kicked out, and hey, maybe I can follow Kelley to LA, and he can be my sugar daddy with all that baseball money.” I forget who I’m talking to for a single moment, and that comes out. “That was a joke, by the way.”

He cocks his head. “Was it though? Or is it one of those jokes that holds fifty percent truth?”

“Joke. That maybe holds twenty percent truth. But my focus really does need to be on my career. Not following some guy I’ve slept with a handful of times. And with how Kelley’s season is going, he really needs to focus on baseball.”

“So, this is over, then,” Damon says. “Nothing more is going to happen between you two?”

My chest aches, and it’s hard to breathe as I say, “It’s over.”

“Okay, you’ve saved your job, at least, but if anything else happens between you two, you need to tell me.”

I’m relieved but also cautious. Like, would kissing Kelley goodbye be included in that? What if we had time for a goodbye fuck ?

As if Damon can read my mind, he adds, “After you say goodbye to him, that is.” He nods toward the door. “You better go get it over with before he and Brady have to head to Philly.”

I stand, but on my way out, he stops me.

“Happy birthday. Again.”

Yeah, such a happy birthday.

I might get to keep my job, but at what cost? I’m still losing Kelley, and I’m fairly certain I’ve lost whatever respect Damon had for me.

The only question left lingering is was it worth it?

As I leave the conference room and head for Damon’s office, where I can see Kelley sitting on Damon’s couch, his head buried in his phone, and the stress lines in his forehead … I have a resounding answer.

If I took away those stress lines for him at all over the time we were together, then yes, it was worth it. Anything is worth seeing him escape his demons and look happy.