Chapter 34: Kelley

Chapter 34

Kelley

“He’s getting fired because of me,” I say.

Brady doesn’t even take his eyes off the computer screen to tell me I’m overreacting. “He won’t get fired. Uncle Damon has put up with a lot from some of his agents, and they haven’t been fired yet. Sleeping with a client is probably right up there with sleeping with another agent or having a public throuple relationship.”

“H-how long have you known? About me and Thad?”

He grins and looks over at me. “I didn’t until just now, but I assumed. You were at his place on a Sunday morning. It wasn’t a stretch to get there. Plus, also, I suspected something in the Catskills with that whole bear bullshit, but I couldn’t decide if you were fucking or fighting.”

Thad appears in the doorway, lazy smile on his face as he leans against the doorjamb. “To be fair, it could’ve been both.”

“I always knew your hatred for Kelley was too emphatic,” Brady says and gets back to work.

I stand from where I’m sitting on the small couch in Damon’s office. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m not fired if that’s what you mean, but, uh, we do need to talk.”

I gulp.

We need to talk is never good news.

Brady continues to type away on the computer. “You have about fifteen minutes until we have to leave if we’re going to have enough time to get you back to Philly to pack a bag and go. Use your time wisely.” He smiles. “Oh, and whatever you do, don’t use the stairwell to hook up. You think that is private, and it’s not. I can recommend the bathrooms though. No security cameras in there.”

Damon breezes in while his nephew is talking, and instead of getting angry, all he does is say, “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear any of that.” He holds his hand out for me to shake. “Kelley. It’s always a pleasure to represent you. I guess I won’t be seeing you around these parts as much anymore, but we’ll keep in touch.”

He sounds professional, but part of me wonders if he’ll be happy that I can’t jump in my car and come talk to him when I have a concern about my contract or Merek or my whole brand.

“Thank you. I know I’m a lot to deal with.”

Brady snorts. “You think you’re a lot? You haven’t met my brother, have you?”

The famous NFL quarterback? Nope.

“Peyton’s only a lot because he’s your brother,” Damon says to Brady.

While they bicker back and forth, Thad takes my hand and drags me to the elevator.

“Where are we going?”

“For a walk. I was hoping we’d have time to go back to that cafe to have coffee, but if you have to go, you have to go.”

Even though it would be socially acceptable for him to drop my hand when we reach the elevator, he doesn’t. If anything, he holds it tighter.

“I wish you were coming with me instead of Brady.”

Thad wears a sad smile. “Me too, but Brady’s the right choice. He’s your agent. Well, your intern.”

“Yeah, but you’re my …” He’s my, what?

“I’m just the guy you were catching up with every now and then and sleeping with occasionally. And once you’re in LA, I’m still going to be your friend.”

He has been so much more to me than that, but I’m relieved he still wants to be friends. “So, we’re going to keep in touch? ”

The elevator doors open in the lobby, but before we step off, he turns to me. “I want you to know you can call me anytime you want. If you need something—reassurance, advice, anything—I’ll be there for you. I promise. I’m only a phone call away.”

Or a shortish flight, I want to say, but I don’t. Because there’s something about the way he’s acting, something in his tone that has me questioning his sincerity.

I follow Thad out onto the street, and without a direction in mind, we wander. “What really happened with Damon?” I ask.

“At first, he kind of implied that I was your whore.”

I stop dead in my tracks. “He what?”

Thad laughs and keeps pulling me along. “I set him straight, but I’m on thin ice with him at the moment.”

“This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have given you that money.”

“I shouldn’t have crossed that professional line and suggested we sleep together.”

“Okay, yeah, that too. Though … I have no regrets.” I bite my lip and let that linger in the air.

“Neither do I,” he says softly.

“None at all?”

This time, it’s his turn to stop. He turns to me and pulls my body flush against his. “There might be one.”

Before I can panic about what it is, Thad moves in closer, his lips nearly touching mine. “I regret not having time to give you a proper goodbye.”

I touch my forehead to his and breathe him in. “You mean you don’t want to come to Philly to help me pack? I’m offended.”

“No.” His voice is full of sadness. “I’m saying I can’t. Damon said I get to say goodbye, but that’s it.”

Ah. “So this is all we get?”

“Almost. There’s just one more thing I want to do.” And then his mouth is on mine, right here in the middle of the street in New York City. For maybe the first time in my whole life, I don’t care who judges me. Because if this is all we can have, I’m taking it.

If this is our last kiss, I’m only going to pay attention to him, to the way his tongue tangles with mine, and to the sound of his soft moan that reaches my soul.

He might be kissing me to set me free, but all it’s doing is locking up my heart and throwing away the key.

I’m not free at all.

I completely and wholeheartedly belong to him.

I’ve stopped looking at whatever I’m throwing in my suitcase by this point. We have to leave for the airport in five minutes, and I have no idea how a boy who grew up straddling the poverty line accumulated so much crap in a year and a bit, but I have.

“Want me to Marie Kondo this place while you’re gone?” Brady asks, holding up a Hawaiian shirt I got from fuck knows where or why.

“Marie Kondo?” I ask, emptying a whole drawer of underwear on top of the pile of clothes already overflowing out of my suitcase.

“Yeah, you know. Go through everything and ask if it gives you joy. If the answer is no, you throw it out. Or donate it. Like this.” He holds up the Hawaiian shirt that’s covered in baseballs and palm trees. Because those things often go together, of course. “I’m offended on behalf of my Hawaiian boyfriend.”

I laugh. “Go for it.”

“I’ll put this in the donation pile. The donation pile I’m going to send Prescott to piss him off.”

I stop dumping stuff and get to my knees to try to squash everything into a space or at least get it in some kind of chaotic order. “You said Prescott and Kit are in LA?”

“Uh, yeah. I didn’t want to make a huge deal of it—having two boyfriends—because I thought it might affect my clients, but Damon assures me it’s not a huge deal.”

“How do you make it work? New York to LA?”

“With a lot of frustration and sexting. I’m lucky in the sense Kit is in between jobs so he can flit from one city to the other, so I have one of them with me a lot, but it’s been forever since I’ve seen Pres. I just can’t wait to be transferred to the LA office after my internship. It’ll be handy for you too, seeing as Damon’s talking about letting me take over your account completely once I’m a junior agent.”

“You’re moving to LA too?”

“Eventually. I’m learning everything I can from Uncle Damon until he says I’m ready to transfer over.”

I want to ask if that’s an option for Thad too, but distance isn’t the only thing that is in our way. Damon has told Thad we can’t be together, so even if he was in LA, we couldn’t go back to how it was.

“Long distance is hard but doable,” Brady says. “Might even be easier for, say, a baseball player who gets sent all over the country for nine months of the year. You know, could meet up in nearby cities after games …”

“Might be possible for others, but not for me. Not with Thad, at least.”

“Bummer. He not into it, or?—”

“Damon said it can’t continue.”

“Huh. Want me to beat him up for you? I can. He might be our boss, but he’s my uncle first.”

I laugh. “Thanks for the offer, but no. I don’t want Thad to get into any more trouble than he’s already in. Maybe things would have been different if we told Damon as soon as something happened between us, but because we didn’t, there’s not a lot of trust there.”

“Okay, fair enough. I won’t hurt him, then. I’ll just threaten to.” Brady’s alarm goes off on his phone before I can tell him not to threaten Thad’s boss on his behalf. “Ope, we need to head to the airport. You ready to go?”

I stare down at my suitcase, which is still in disarray. “Uh, maybe? Help me get this closed.”

It’s difficult, but once Brady sits on top of it, we’re able to zip it up.

“Ready.” I stand .

“Are you sure?”

This is a big deal. It’s huge.

Tomorrow, I’m meeting a new team, settling in somewhere new, and probably living out of a hotel for a few weeks before I can find something more permanent. All the while, playing baseball a billion days in a row and trying to move on from the brief but amazing tryst I had with Thad.

“Kelley?”

I snap out of my melancholy. “Am I physically? Yes. Emotionally? Maybe ask me again in a few months.”

I hope it doesn’t take that long to settle in to my new city, but as we drive to the airport and check in through security, it’s all too overwhelming.

Saying goodbye to Philadelphia is like saying goodbye to a part of me, but it’s nowhere near as hard as saying goodbye to Thad.

I give myself the six-hour flight to wallow over what could have been, and then after that, I’m just going to have to let him go.

My conscience scoffs at myself: Sure. Because letting go is something I’m so well-known for.

I hate that the loudest voice of doubt is my own.