Egomaniac

Something was going on.

Office doors had been slamming for the entire last half of my telephone counseling session. In the past ten minutes, yelling had started as well. One voice was a very pissed-off Drew, and the other was Roman, who’d recently arrived. He frequently did investigations for Drew, but whatever was happening seemed way more personal than just a case.

After apologizing again to my patients—lying and telling them I was going to have a word with the construction crew about their language—I hung up and started toward my closed office door. I stopped upon hearing my name.

“Emerie? What the hell has she got to do with this?”

“Alexa basically told the court that I’m sleeping with an ex-con.”

“An ex-con? What’d she do? Get a parking ticket?”

“It’s a long story, but she was arrested for indecency last month.”

“What?”

“Happened when she was a teenager. It was an appearance ticket for skinny dipping that turned into a warrant because she hadn’t paid it. It’s a misdemeanor…nothing more serious than a parking ticket. But, of course, Alexa is making it out to be something more. The petition calls her an ex-con with a penchant for indecent exposure. And she also added in that it was the same ex-con who recently caused Beck to get burned.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah. Fuck. That’s not the worst part. I could talk my way out of that in a New York court with the shit the judges hear here every day. But she filed the change of custody motion in Atlanta.”

“How can she do that when you both live here?”

“I just came from her apartment. She’s gone. Doorman said she left yesterday and gave a forwarding address. Her place is empty. She fucking moved!”

Drew wasn’t a heavy drinker. He had the occasional glass of whiskey or a beer or two, but slamming them back wasn’t something I’d seen him do.

Until tonight.

Even though he’d assured me that none of it was my fault, I still felt guilty as the catalyst for making him look like an unfit parent.

We sat in Drew’s apartment; both of us had cleared our afternoon schedules. I’d promised Roman that Drew would be at the airport for their flight tomorrow morning. The two of them were flying down to Atlanta to attempt to talk to Alexa, and I was really glad Drew wasn’t going alone. He couldn’t even say his ex-wife’s name without growling.

Closing the door behind Roman, I locked the top lock, picked up Drew’s drink from the kitchen counter and dumped the rest down the drain. Then I went to the couch where he lay with one arm covering his eyes. His legs were longer than the couch, and his feet dangled over the end. I unlaced his shoes and began to take them off.

“You trying to get me naked?” Drew slurred. “Fuck the shoes. Take off my pants.”

I smiled. Even loaded, the man was still himself. “It’s almost eleven o’clock. Your flight is in ten hours. I figure you need to get some sleep. The morning may not be too kind to your head.”

His large shoes clomped to the floor as I slipped them off, followed by his socks.

“I can’t lose my son.”

My heart broke, hearing the anguish in his cracked voice.

“You won’t. If you can’t buy her off, you’ll convince a judge that your son needs you and belongs with you.”

“There’s not much justice in our justice system. People like me twist it into a game every day.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that. I just wanted to do whatever I could to make him feel better. So I slipped off my own shoes, crawled up on the couch, and wrapped my arms around him, snuggling against his chest.

“I’m sorry this is happening. It’s so clear how much you love that little boy. A judge has to see that.”

He squeezed me in response, and a few minutes later, after I thought he’d drifted off to sleep, he spoke again, his words barely a whisper.

“You want kids, Oklahoma?”

“I do. I’d love to have a few and maybe adopt, too.”

“You’re going to be a good mom someday.”

“We couldn’t find her. The address she left for forwarding was her brother’s place. Guy’s a loser. Got to his place at two o’clock, and he was still sleeping,” Drew’s chuckle rumbled over the phone line. “Well, he was until he was suddenly dangling in the air from Roman’s hands.”

“You broke in?”

“Didn’t have to. Front door wasn’t even locked. Trust me, he doesn’t need to. Roaches don’t even want to go inside that place.”

“Did he tell you where Alexa was?”

“He didn’t know.”

“He’s lying for his sister?”

“Don’t think so. He would have given her up. His skinny little junky ass was so afraid of Roman, he pissed himself. Plus, I know the guy. He would have tried to sell me where she was for enough to buy his next fix if he’d had any clue. Guy would sell his mother for twenty bucks.”

“So what do you do now?”

“I got to the courthouse before they closed and filed an emergency restraining order asking the judge to force her to go back to New York. Our custody agreement doesn’t allow either one of us to take Beck out of state without permission from the other. They’ll add the motion to the calendar with her change of custody demand for the day after tomorrow. If we can’t find her by Thursday, she’ll have to at least show up for court then.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Nah. Thanks, babe. Just hearing your voice is good for me.”

I smiled. “Maybe later tonight I’ll call you and this voice will have some dirty things to say.”

“Yeah?”

I bit my lip. “I’m a team player. I want to help any way I can.”

“I’ll get rid of Roman for a while later. He likes to sit at the bar and nurse a few whiskies at the end of the day. Don’t think I’ll be doing that for a long time after last night. Much rather hear you come while you tell me how much you miss my cock.”

“You got it. I’m going home soon.”

“Okay, babe. Call me later when you’re settled in.”

“Drew?”

“Yeah.”

“Just so you know, I miss you and your cock.”

He groaned my name. “Hurry up home.”

I’d never had phone sex, and I was really looking forward to calling Drew. So much so that I’d put on a cute little silky shorts-and-camisole set and some perfume for the occasion. It was a little after ten, so I figured he’d probably be settling in for the night, too. Picking up my cell, I dialed his number and smiled when he answered with a gruff voice.

“You naked?”

“No, but I can be.”

My hand was on the kitchen light switch, ready to turn it off and take my cell phone to bed with me, when there was a knock at my door. Drew heard it, too.

“Someone there?”

“I think so. Hang on a second.” I walked to the door and peeked through the peephole even though I knew who it was without looking. It wasn’t like I had many friends in the city, much less ones who would just drop by.

“Can I call you back in a few minutes?”

“Do I want to know who it is?”

“Probably not. Give me a few minutes to get rid of him.”

After I ended the call, I grabbed a sweater from the closet and pulled it on before opening the door.

“Baldwin? Is everything alright?”

“Yes, fine. I just wanted to check on you. I knocked last night, but you weren’t home. So I tried this morning, and you still weren’t here, and then you didn’t answer my texts today. I was beginning to get worried.”

My feelings for Baldwin had been so jumbled, I’d forgotten he was a good friend to me for a few years.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worry. I’m fine. Everything is fine. Just a crazy day yesterday, followed by a hectic one today.”

He didn’t seem convinced, so I decided to be honest.

“I’ve started seeing someone; I stayed over at his place last night.”

“Oh.” He gave me a sad smile that seemed forced. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay.”

When I didn’t offer to have him come in, his eyes roamed over my face like he was looking for something. I waited in awkward silence, clutching my sweater shut as I stood there.

Eventually, Baldwin gave me a curt nod, and his eyes dropped to my bare legs. “Is it the lawyer?”

For some reason, it rubbed me wrong that he called him the lawyer and not by his name. “Drew. Yes.”

He looked into my eyes. “Are you happy?”

I didn’t even have to think about the answer. “I am.”

Baldwin’s eyes closed briefly, and he gave me another silent nod. “Maybe we can get coffee this weekend and catch up?”

I smiled. “Sure.”

Coffee at Starbucks was probably the best way to reset our friendship. The reset was entirely on my end, because Baldwin had never really been interested in me the way I’d been in him. But now that I was seeing someone, it wouldn’t feel right to go out with him for dinner. Maybe someday in the future, when more time had passed between the feelings I had for Baldwin and the start of a new relationship, but right now it would just feel wrong.

After we said goodnight, I took a minute to regroup my thoughts before going to the bedroom to call Drew back. It had been a long time since my feelings for Baldwin had grown. I couldn’t turn them off completely, but something had definitely changed. Even though I knew part of me would miss the unrestrained comfortableness I’d enjoyed with Baldwin when there was nothing holding me back, I realized it was more important for me to respect the boundaries I knew Drew would want me to have—like not inviting a man into my apartment this late while I was in my cute little pajamas.

Feeling content, I turned off all the lights and slipped into bed as I dialed Drew’s number on my cell.

“Hey,” I said.

“Visitor gone?” Wariness had crept into Drew’s confident voice.

“It was Baldwin. He wanted to check on me. Apparently he knocked last night and this morning and was worried because I didn’t answer his texts today either.”

“What’d you tell him?”

“I told him I’d slept at my boyfriend’s and had been busy, but everything was fine.”

“Your boyfriend, huh? Is that what I am?” There was relief in his voice.

“Do you prefer to be called something else?”

“I don’t know. What else you got?”

“Hmm…let’s see…how about man who gives me many orgasms?”

“That sounds like my Indian name.”

I laughed. “How about landlord with benefits or Captain Prolactinator?”

“Call me whatever you want to Professor Putz, as long as he knows you’re mine.”

Mine. I liked the sound of that. I wasn’t sure how it had happened. Knowing us, it had started to blossom in the middle of a fight and flowered while I was bent over his desk, but regardless of how we got here, somehow we had. And I realized there was nowhere else I’d rather be.

“Are you alone?”

“Roman’s down at the bar. Bartender is a woman. Don’t think he’ll miss my company.”

“Okay, good.” I reached over to my end table and opened the drawer. “Did you hear that?”

“Don’t tell me he’s knocking again.”

Slipping my vibrator out of the drawer, I decided Drew needed a little distraction from the last two horrible days. I switched it on and held it close to my cell for a few seconds before lowering it down my body.

“Is that—”

“My vibrator. It’s been lonely the last few weeks.”

Drew growled. “Fuck. I wish I was there to watch you.”

“I think I’d like that. Maybe when you get back.”

“Not maybe. I’m coming straight to your place from the plane.”

His reaction fueled me. I rubbed the vibrator on my clit and spoke as my voice strained.

“How about you come a different way first?”