to not really be worried about it, easily matching my stride.
I forgot that we’re basically the same height. The same everything, truth be told. I slide him a glance, realizing that though our faces are a little different, it’s a little like looking in a mirror. His long legs wrapped in dark slacks could be mine; I’m every bit as broad as he is, although I wouldn’t be caught dead in that boring button up.
“What do you even do for a living?”
The question takes him by surprise. He looks at me with a frown. “I’m about to start working as a college professor.”
My brows fly up. “Really?”
Carter looks mildly offended. “Yes, really. I have my phD in biology.”
“Shit. And here I was, just assuming that you dressed like that because you’re a complete fucking tool. Turns out, you’re a geek.” I squint into the trees. “Well, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not a tool too. That would make you a geek-tool hybrid.”
He rolls his eyes. “I bet you didn’t even go to college.”
I scrunch up my face. “Nope. I went into the Navy instead. While you were pushing papers, I was already in the real world, dodging actual bullets.”
He pauses for a second, absorbing that information. “I see.”
I shake my head, a humorless huff of laughter leaving me. “I bet you do.”
The next thing he says is unexpected, though. “Thank you for your service.”
I slow, looking at him uncertainly. “Are you fucking making a joke right now?”
He shakes his head, somber as sin. “Nope.”
“Oh.” I mull that over for a second. It’s not my favorite thing, having civilians say that. It usually seems pretty fake and superficial. But right here, right now, it seems okay. “You’re welcome, I guess.”
“My dad was in the service. The Marines, I think.”
I want to stop in my tracks. I want to ask for more information. But as we leave the party behind, the house looming large in the nighttime, I don't quite know what to say to that.
“Do you happen to know what unit he was in?” I say, trying to keep my tone light.
Carter glances at me, his uncertainty clear. “I don't know. All I know is that he won some awards for valor. That was all when I was a little kid, though.”
We’re both quiet for a few beats as we begin walking through the woods once more, down the path that leads to the staff quarters. I’m thinking of how much I would love to know more, to see if I really was closer to my dad than I’d ever thought. “Didn’t your family always have money?”
Even in the darkness, I can see Carter’s smile. “Yeah. My dad didn’t go for that reason. He went into the military because he thought he could piss off my grandad. As it turned out, it worked really well. I didn’t really even grow up around here until I was about five. It was sort of a shock, realizing that I was from money.”
My lips twist at that. “I’ll bet.”
He glances at me, his expression curious. He’s probably wondering whether I came out of poverty as a child. Let him wonder, I figure.
We step out of the woods, the staff quarters standing in silhouette. It’s only then that I realize that I completely forgot about Olivia. I was so caught up in fishing for info about my father, I sort of let everything else slide away.
“Later,” I say gruffly. Carter seems not to notice; he is making a beeline for Olivia’s apartment.
I suddenly realize that Olivia could not only ruin my relationship with Grayson, she has the power to ruin anything I hope to have with Carter too. Though I doubt that she’ll go back on her word, it still gives me a reason to sweat.
I see Carter banging on her door for a second before I push through the door to my own apartment. Feeling a little nauseated, I head straight for the record player. After dithering for a minute, I put on James Brown, nice and low. As he croons to me about what a man’s world is for, I drop my shoes and help myself to a glass of whiskey.
I can hear faint voices over the song that’s playing. I swallow and turn the record player up, wishing I was different than I am.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Olivia
Boys are stupid. Aiden is no exception. That’s what I’ve determined in the days following my deflowering.
Almost a week passes after Aiden and I have sex.
His words keep