Max
“SO, ARE YOU putting me up for the weekend or what?”
“I guess,” I huffed, annoyed my meeting with Amber was fast approaching.
“Look, if you’re gonna be a dick about it, I can get a hotel.”
“No. Sorry. It’s not you.” A moment of silence passed. “Swing by my office and I’ll give you a key. I’ll text you the address.” We hung up without a formal goodbye.
My brother, Hal, was visiting and while I was looking forward to spending some time with him, I had so much shit going on with work I wouldn’t be able to let loose, not like the good ol’ days. The firm kept me busy, and the parts of my brain that weren’t focused on my cases were all too consumed with Alina.
Speaking of . . . I hadn’t seen her in two days. Not since I left her house pissed off and horny as hell. That kiss. It was all I could do to try and forget, but nothing worked. Not even chastising myself for chasing another man’s woman, and certainly not rationalizing why it was a bad idea to get involved with someone I worked with.
Still, with all the negative things that could transpire, I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to barge into her office, slam her against the wall and take what was mine.
Delusional, I knew, but there was no more room for rational inside my fucked-up brain.
The knock on my door drew me away from my irritating thoughts. Linda poked her head in. “Mrs. Sotter is here to see you.”
Against my better judgment, I told my secretary to send her in, and for the next hour and a half, I dodged multiple sexual advances, went over the couple’s list of assets, and told her if there were any skeletons in her closet, she’d better give me a heads-up so there were no surprises.
When nine o’clock finally rolled around, Linda having gone home hours prior, I was finally done for the evening. For once, I wasn’t bringing any work home with me, instead meeting Hal for a drink at Carlyle’s, praying he’d be the distraction I so desperately needed.
“What’s wrong with you? That’s the fourth time you made me repeat myself.” Hal turned in his seat to look behind him. “Is there some hot chick here you’re obsessing about?” If he only knew.
Hal was two years my junior, and while there was a physical resemblance between us, he took after our mother while I took after our father. The biggest difference was our hair color. His a lighter brown and mine almost black.
“What? No,” I placated. “Nothing like that. I just have a lot on my mind, that’s all. Sorry.” And I was sorry. Sorry I wasn’t paying attention to my brother the way I should’ve been. I was too busy chastising myself for doing the one thing I swore I’d never do. I was pursuing another man’s woman. His fucking fiancée to be exact.
“Anything you wanna talk about?”
“No. Just dealing with the typical shit.”
“Speaking of . . . how’s Charlotte?” I almost choked on my drink. Not that the comparison wasn’t true, but I hadn’t been expecting him to say what he did.
“How should I know? We haven’t spoken in months. Last I knew she was shacking up with some tattoo artist.”
“That’s not the guy, is it?” he asked, draining the rest of his drink and leaning back in his seat, his eyes carefully watching me.
When Charlotte and I separated, I didn’t talk much about what happened, other than she fucked some other guy. Our marriage had been on the rocks, but at least I’d stayed faithful. The same couldn’t be said about her, unfortunately.
“No, it was someone else.”
I’d come home early from a business trip when I caught my wife and some guy in bed together. Or rather, some kid. He was barely twenty, and from his reaction, I figured he didn’t know the bitch he was banging was married. It was the only thing that stopped me from beating him. Although I did threaten if he ever came near her again, he’d regret it. I moved out of my house that same evening. It wasn’t until after a couple months of reflection did I realize I wasn’t heartbroken over my wife cheating; it was that my ego had been severely bruised.
Charlotte and I hadn’t had the perfect marriage, not by any means, and as the years wore on, we drifted further and further apart. I worked long hours in order to provide the best lifestyle I could, and she took full advantage with shopping sprees and weekend getaways with “the girls,” which I later found out to be a lie as well. Turned out Charlotte had slept with one of her friend’s husbands, and that friend told me everything after she found out. Thankfully, I’d already left Charlotte, so the wound of hearing about yet another one of her indiscretions didn’t cut as deeply.
Hal flagged down the waitress to order another round for both of us, and initially, I was going to pass, but as soon as I saw Harris enter the place, I knew more alcohol was needed. Thankfully Alina wasn’t with him, both a blessing and a curse.
“Hey, do you know that guy?” my brother asked, snatching his drink from the waitress’s tray.
I knew exactly who he was referring to, although I was curious why he asked. “The blond guy by the bar?”
“Yeah.”
“He works at the firm. Why are you asking?”
“Because I swear he’s glaring at you. Then again, I‘m seeing double, so what do I know?” He attempted a laugh but failed.
“Speaking of, wanna slow down a bit? Pace yourself. I don’t want you puking all over my place when we get home.”
“Don’t worry about me. I know how to hold my liquor.” Suddenly, there was tension in his expression I hadn’t noticed when we first sat down.
“What’s going on?” I prompted, giving him my undivided attention for the first time that evening.
“Nothing.”
“Don’t give me that shit. I know there’s something going on.”
“I don’t wanna talk about it.”
“Does it have anything to do with a certain brunette waitress?” Hal had been dating Stacey for close to a year. I’d only met her a handful of times, and I didn’t think much of her. She reminded me too much of Charlotte for some reason.
“She’s a bartender, and yes, but I don’t want to talk about it. Everything got fucked up last week, and I just needed to get away to clear my head.”
“Hence the impromptu visit?”
“Yeah,” he answered with reservation, finishing off the rest of his drink and lifting his chin toward our waitress once more.