“Mark?”

He looked up from his computer.  Chloe was standing in his doorway.

“Hey.  Come on in.”

“Thanks.”  She sat down and gave him a curious look.  “You feeling okay?”

“Fine,” he said.  He tugged at his earlobe and then cracked his neck.  After Amy had kicked him out of her bed last night, he’d gone home and tossed and turned until morning.  He was exhausted and already wishing he would be back in Amy’s bed tonight.  This time he would keep his fucking idiot mouth shut and maybe she’d let him spend the night.

It’s Monday, asshole.  You won’t even see her tonight.

“Mark?”

He shook away the cobwebs and reached for his mug.  The coffee was cold, but he drank down a gulp of it anyway.  “Sorry.  Didn’t sleep well last night.”

“That’s okay.”

“How’s the new job going?”

“Good, I think,” she said.  “I’ve started on my marketing plan for how we’re going to debut the new digital storefront.  I’ve been going over inventory and making a list of our best sellers.  I need to talk to Ms. Dawson about the new line coming up.  I was thinking we could debut the new digital storefront at the same time as the new line.  It’ll give us extra bang for our buck, you know?”

He nodded, only half listening.  He’d sent Amy some BDSM sites by email this morning.  She had replied with a short ‘thanks’ and nothing else.  He wondered if she’d looked at them yet.

“I’ll come by later.”

He jolted in his seat and drank another swallow of bitter coffee.  “Chloe, wait.  Sorry, my head isn’t in the game today.”

“That’s okay.”  She hesitated.  “I came here to ask you for a personal favour anyway, not talk about work.”

“What do you need?”

“A ride to the meeting on Wednesday night,” she said.  “My car is in the shop and I think you live downtown, right?  I’m downtown too so if you don’t mind giving me a ride, I’d really appreciate it.”

“I don’t,” he said.  “I’ll pick you up around 6:30.  Text me your address.”

“Thanks so much,” she said.  “I didn’t want to miss the meeting.”

“It’s no problem at all.”  He hesitated and then said, “I told Amy about going to Al-Anon.”

Chloe gave him a puzzled look.  “Um, okay.”

Shit, what was wrong with him?  He couldn’t talk to Chloe about Amy.  He was losing his fucking mind.

“Sir!  Sir, you cannot go in there!  Sir!”

Chloe swung around in her seat and stared at the man who stumbled into Mark’s office.  Brenda, their receptionist, was right behind them and she gave Mark a flustered look.  “Mark, this man insists on seeing you.  He wouldn’t wait for me to call you.  Should I call security?”

“No,” Mark said.  “It’s fine, Brenda.”

“Yeah, Brenda,” the man said.  “I told you it was fine.  He’s my goddamn brother.”

“Michael!  Lower your voice,” Mark said.

“Sure, Mark.  Sure.  Hey, I need to talk to you.”

Brenda walked away, giving Mark one last uncertain look.  Chloe stood up as Michael looked her up and down.

“Well, hey there, pretty lady.”

“Michael, enough,” Mark said.

Michael held up his hands.  “Whoa, okay, little brother.  Is this your lady?  Is that why you don’t want me talkin’ to her?  Afraid big brother’s gonna steal her away like I stole your girlfriends when we was kids?”

He burst into loud laughter and Mark winced before moving around his desk.  As he drew closer to his brother, the smell washed over him.  A combination of stale cigarette smoke, sweat and old pepperoni.  He tried not to gag and was impressed by Chloe’s stoicism when Michael moved even closer to her.  Her small nose wrinkled a little, but she smiled at Michael when he stood in front of her.

“My baby brother gets real touchy about me goin’ after his women.  Mom always said I had the looks in the family and Mark had the brains.”  Michael grinned at Chloe and Mark winced again.

At some point in the last two months, he’d lost his front teeth.  Either all the drugs had rotted them out or he’d lost them in a fight.  His pupils were blown out and his too-thin face was covered in scabs.  At one point, he had been a handsome man but that was years ago.  Before the drugs took control.

“It’s nice to meet you, Michael,” Chloe said.  She held out her hand and Michael studied it before shaking it with his dirty one.  “My name is Chloe.  I’m not Mark’s girlfriend.  I work with him.”

“Oh.  Nice to meetcha’.  I like your hair.”

“Thank you.”

Michael reached out to touch a lock of her hair.  Mark hurried toward them and grabbed his wrist in a hard grip.  “Don’t touch her, Michael.”

He gave Mark a hurt look and yanked out of his grip.  “Jesus, ya asshole, that fucking hurt.”

“Chloe, can we talk later?”  Mark asked.

“Of course, I - ”

“No, stay!” Michael bellowed.  “I ain’t gonna be long and I hate to interrupt your meeting.”

He grinned again at Chloe.  “You’re real pretty.”

“Michael.”  Mark gave his brother a warning look.

“Fine.”  His voice was petulant.  “I just need to borrow some cash.”

“No.”

“C’mon,” Michael whined.  “I just need like six hundred to get me through the next week.  My rent is due and I ain’t got no food.  You want your brother to starve?”

Mark shook his head.  “Any money I give you will go straight up your nose or into your veins.  I told you the last time that I wouldn’t give you cash for drugs anymore.”

“It ain’t for drugs,” Michael protested.  His tone turned wheedling, “I swear it ain’t for drugs, Mark.  C’’mon, man.  You want your big brother freezing to death on the streets?  I know you got the cash, you’re swimming in it.  Loan me some and I’ll pay you back next month.  Swear to God.”

His stomach churning, Mark said, “No, Michael.  I’m done supporting your habit.”

Michael’s face twisted, turned dark and ugly.  “This how you gonna treat your brother?  The guy who looked after you when mom and dad died?  I quit school and the football team to take care of you, didn’t I?  Got a job to keep a roof over your head so you could be somebody.  And this is how you pay me back.”

What Michael was saying was a distortion of the truth, but it still sent a hot blade of guilt through Mark’s stomach.  He took a deep breath.  “I want to help you.  Let me get you into that rehab facility.  They can help you to - ”

“I don’t want to hear about the fuckin’ rehab facility no more!”  Michael shouted.  “Jesus Christ, are you gonna give me some cash or not, ya big fuckin’ crybaby?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Asshole!”  Michael’s hands clenched into fists.  Mark stepped between his brother and Chloe, keeping Chloe tucked behind his broad body.

“Leave, Michael.”

“Dad was right about you,” Michael said.  “You’re a big whiney ass bitch who ain’t never cared for his family.”

“It’s time for you to go.”  He took Michael’s arm and steered him toward the door.

His brother stumbled over his own feet before yanking his arm out of his hand.  “I don’t need you to fucking hold onto me.”

He stormed out of the office.  Mark followed him to reception and pushed the elevator button.  Thank Christ, the doors opened immediately.  Michael staggered into the elevator but when Mark went to follow him in, he shoved him hard in the chest. 

“Fuck off!  I don’t need your fucking help!  Stay in your office with your little redheaded fuck doll, you asshole!”

The doors shut on his brother’s livid face and Mark rubbed at his chest before turning around.  “I’m sorry, Brenda.”

“Uh, that’s okay,” she said.

Embarrassment creeping into him, he headed down the hall and back to his office.  Chloe was still standing there.  She gave him a small smile.  “So, that was Michael.”

“I’m so sorry,” he rasped out.  Shame and embarrassment pulsed a hard beat in his chest.  “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Chloe said. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he lied.  “What Michael said wasn’t true.  He had problems with drugs before mom and dad died.  He was kicked off the football team two weeks before the car crash and the house was paid for by the life insurance.  He didn’t – he didn’t give up his dreams for me.  This isn’t my fault.”

“Hey,” Chloe hurried over to him and hesitated before putting her thin arms around him.  He stiffened and then wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in her neck.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to explain,” she said as she patted his back.  “You’re right.  None of this is your fault, honey.  None of it.  Michael makes his own choices.”

“I can’t keep giving him money.  I can’t keep enabling him.”  His voice was muffled against her skin.

“You did and said all the right things,” she said.

He lifted his head and she reached up and cupped his face.  “You did the right thing, Mark.”

“Holy hell!  What is that smell?  Did you kill something in here… oh shit.”

Luke, followed by Amy, had walked into his office.  Mark immediately pushed away from Chloe, but it was too late.  Her face pale, Amy turned around and walked out of his office.

“Ames!  Hey, Ames – where are you going?”  Luke called after her.

He couldn’t hear Amy’s reply, but Luke nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

Chloe was already slipping by him and Luke said, “I can come back if I’m interrupting something.”

“You’re not,” Mark said.

“No, seriously, it’s fine,” Luke said.

“I need to get back to work,” Chloe said.  “Nice to see you again, Mr. Dawson.”

“Bye, uh,” Luke hesitated.

“Chloe.  Chloe Matthews.”

“Of course.  Bye, Ms. Matthews.”

Luke waited until she was gone and then closed the door.  He grinned at him.  “Guess I’m not the only one banging an employee, huh?”

“I’m not having sex with Chloe,” Mark said.

He returned to his chair and dropped into it as Luke sat in one of the other chairs.  “She’s pretty.”

“I’m not having sex with her.”

“So you just randomly hug female employees in your office?  Seems a little dangerous to me.”

“I know Chloe from outside of work,” he said.

“Oh.  But you’re not dating her?”

“No.  I don’t want her.”

“Why not?  She’s hot and seems into you.”

“I said I don’t want her!”

“Okay, chill out,” Luke said.  “Still doesn’t explain why you were hugging her.  Or why your office smells so fucking bad.”

“Michael was just here.”

Luke gave him a sympathetic look.  “Shit.  That sucks.”

“He was high and demanding money.  He scared the hell out of Brenda and he kept trying to touch Chloe.  He looked so bad, Luke.  So old and, I don’t know, faded, maybe?  Like there’s nothing left of the Michael I knew when we were kids.  He’s just gone.”

Luke leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.  “I think the old Michael has been gone for a really long time.”

“Yeah, probably,” Mark said.  He glanced at his watch.  He needed to talk to Amy.  To somehow explain why he was hugging Chloe, without breaking his promise to Chloe to keep the Al-Anon thing between them. 

“Do you need to skip out on the meeting?  I can come up with an excuse.”

He stared blankly at Luke. “Meeting?”

“With Macy’s,” Luke said.  “It’s been on our calendars for weeks.  We’re going to discuss the new line.”

“Right,” Mark said.  “Sorry, I forgot.”

“It’s fine.  Why don’t you go home?  I’ll cover the meeting on my own.”

“I appreciate that, but no.  I need to be at the meeting and we both know it.”

“True,” Luke said, “but – and don’t take this the wrong way – if you can’t concentrate on the meeting then there’s no point in you going.”

“I can do my job,” Mark said.

“All right.  C’mon, we’re meeting them at their office.  I’ll drive.”

 

* * *

 

Amy stared out the window of her office.  Her mind replayed the scene in Mark’s office until she wanted to scream.  Mark’s arms around Chloe’s slender waist.  Her hand cupping his face.  The way she looked at him.

It was only three, but she couldn’t stay in the office a minute longer.  Mark would be here any minute to try and explain what she had seen, she knew he would, and she wasn’t interested.  She was a fool for thinking that –

“Ms. Dawson?”

She whirled around and stared at the redhead standing in her doorway.  “Now isn’t a good time.”

“We have a meeting at three.”  Chloe stepped into her office and shut the door.  “To go over the designs you want to showcase with the new digital storefront.”

Amy bit the inside of her cheek.  “Reschedule it.”

“Sure, I can do that,” Chloe said.

She turned to leave and Amy said, “So sorry I interrupted your moment with Mark.”

Amy!  Stop it! You sound like a jealous little bitch.

She did.  She totally did.  But, hell, she was a jealous little bitch.

Chloe was studying her silently and Amy flushed.  “Is there anything else?  Because I’m very busy and I’m sure you want to get back to Mark’s office.”

Amy!

She could almost see the light turn on in Chloe’s face and she groaned inwardly.  Fuck, Mark was going to kill her.  He didn’t want a relationship with her, it was just sex between them.  If he was thinking of trying to have a relationship with Chloe, her acting like a jealous girlfriend was a real shit thing to do.

It’s a real shit thing for him to fuck you and date Chloe at the same time.

“My sister is an alcoholic, Ms. Dawson.”

She jerked and stared at Chloe.  “What?”

“My sister is an alcoholic.  I go to an Al-Anon meeting every week.  Specifically, I go to a Wednesday night meeting.  That’s how I know Mark.  I asked him not to say anything to my new coworkers.  But, Mark and I are just friends.”

Dismay and relief ran through her at once.  She groped for her chair and sank into it as Chloe moved closer to her desk.  She eyed the beanbag chair then settled for leaning her hip against the desk.  “I’m not romantically interested in Mark.”

“Oh God,” Amy buried her face in her hands.  “I am such an idiot.”

“I don’t think so,” Chloe said.  “Just in love.”

“You can’t say anything to anyone,” Amy said.  “Especially not to my brother.”

“I won’t,” Chloe said.  “Does Mark know you love him?”

“Yes.”

“And he loves you?” 

“I don’t – no, he doesn’t,” Amy said.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive,” Amy replied.  “Fuck.  I’m so sorry for what I said and the way I acted.  I swear I’m not usually like this.”

“It’s fine.  What you saw – it was just me comforting Mark from one sibling of an addict to another.  I was in Mark’s office when Michael showed up.  He was high, and he demanded money.  Mark said no, and Michael said some terrible things to him.”

“Oh God.  Poor Mark.”

She sighed and rubbed at her temples.  “Is your sister doing better?”

“She was in rehab but left and relapsed.”

“I really am sorry.  You must think I’m a terrible person.”

“I don’t,” Chloe said.  “Actually, I’m a really big fan of yours.”

“You are?”

“Yes.”  Chloe hesitated, “I’m in marketing, obviously, but I love design.  I spent most of my childhood drawing and creating dresses for my Barbie dolls out of fabric.”

“Me too,” Amy said.

“Yeah?”  Chloe gave her a look of delight.  “Anyway, I applied to a few of the design school but never got accepted.  I needed a degree, so I went into marketing.  It’s been good and I like it, but it’s not my passion, you know?”

“I do,” Amy said.

“I was really excited to get the job here.  Not that I’m involved in the design or anything but just working at Dawson Clothing and getting to meet my idol has been incredible.”

She stopped as her cheeks went pink.  “Oh God, I sound like a crazed stalker.  I’m not, I swear.”

Amy laughed.  “I don’t think you sound like a stalker.  Do you still design?”

“I do,” Chloe said.  “Just like, for fun.”

“Bring your sketches in and I’ll look at them.”

“What?  Oh God, no.  No.”  Chloe backed away from the desk.  “No, they’re not good enough for anyone, let alone you, to look at.”

“How do you know that?”

“I was rejected from five different design schools,” Chloe said. “I know.”

“So was I,” Amy said.

“What?”

“I never went to design school.  Couldn’t get into one if my life depended on it.”

“Holy shit!”  Chloe went pink again and covered her mouth. “Sorry, that was unprofessional.”

“Cursing is allowed in my office,” Amy said with a small grin.  “I know the feeling of rejection well, believe me.  My day is busy tomorrow but bring your sketches in on Wednesday and I’ll look at them.  Okay?”

“I don’t know…”

“What’s the harm in letting me look at them?”

“I’ll die of shame if you think they’re terrible?”  Chloe said.

“I doubt I’ll think they’re terrible, and if I do, I’ll keep it to myself.  I have a fantastic poker face,” Amy said.

“Um, okay,” Chloe said.

“Great.”  Amy pointed to the beanbag chairs.  “Have a seat – they’re super comfortable, I swear - and we can talk about the digital store.”