The receptionist lets out a breathy laugh but straightens up and drops the smile as soon as Wilder, Talent, and I look at her. She holds her hands up in surrender and mouths sorry before making herself busy stacking papers and picking up the phone that wasn’t ringing.
“I’ll just check the voicemail.” She waves us off. “Nothing to see here.”
I like her.
“Are you done?” Talent asks his brother. His jaw muscles are tight, and he’s cutting off blood circulation to my hand.
Wilder shakes his head in disapproval. “You’re going to let this happen? If the wrong people find out who she is, Talent—”
“Let me handle it,” Talent answers in a clipped tone.
“That’s not going to happen,” Wilder says, but the fight drains from his body. “You’re my brother.”
As irritated as Talent seems by Wilder’s refusal to mind his own business, I’m envious of the solid relationship they share. Family is an unknown idea to me, not only because I was born an only child or because my mom has been dead for ten years, but because I haven’t shared a vulnerable connection with anyone in a long time.
Inez does her best to make me feel like family, but we’re lonely wanderers who built an unlikely alliance on a foundation of convenience. I needed guidance, and she needed a successor. Our relationship is precious to me, but it lingers along the edges, susceptible. I trust Inez with my life, but I can’t confide in someone who sells my body with my whole heart.
She can’t be my mother and my pimp.
But Talent might be the start of something new.
If he can stomach me after he knows the entire truth about who I am.
“Don’t forward my calls, Sonya,” Talent tells the mousy girl behind the desk busying herself with voice messages that may or may not exist.
Wilder steps out of our way, sliding his hands back into his pockets. He regards his brother with warm regard, but his expression is icy when turned on me.
“Tell her what she’s in for, Talent. It’s the only way to keep this from going bad,” he calls out as we pass through the double glass doors. “If you trust her, you’ll tell her.”
We stand on opposite sides of the elevator on the way down, non-stop and alone together thanks to Talent’s bypass code. The time to clear the air has arrived, and we both know we can’t continue to dance around the truth any longer.
“Talent, even if I stop now, it won’t change who I am.”
“I can protect you.”
“You can’t protect me from myself. You’ve said so yourself,” I remind him of the night he showed up at my apartment with my favorite Chinese food and I turned him away. “I am who I am.”
“I won’t let you sabotage what we have, Lydia,” he says, exasperated. Ignoring the truth must feel like constant running.
“How come your brother can see where this is headed, and you can’t?” There’s nothing I’d like more than to cover my mouth with my hands to keep the reality of our situation behind clenched teeth. My arms stay at my sides, and I say, “Go ahead and tell me what I’m in for. Will we have to keep our relationship a secret, so I don’t ruin everything you’ve worked for? Your family will never accept me, because if Wilder knows who I am, we can assume your dad does, too. He called me Cara, Talent.”
Exhaling, Talent closes his eyes and scratches the back of his neck impatiently. “My brother knows everything about you, Lydia, but that’s not what he was referring to. He’s more concerned for your wellbeing than you realize.”
Taken aback, I ask, “What the fuck does that mean?”
Before Talent can explain, the elevator comes to an abrupt stop and the doors open to the main lobby. A group of people waiting to board the elevator recognize Talent right away and make a path for him to walk by. He motions for me to go ahead of him, and the magnitude of the gesture is not beyond anyone waiting to get on the elevator.
Like a deadly virus, their gossip will spread through the entire building at an unprecedented speed, and there isn’t a vaccine available that will shut them the fuck up.
Talent places his hand on my lower back and follows me out, and that’s all it takes to introduce ourselves to the world.
I’m disappointed Talent drove his BMW to the office today, but I’m more disappointed in myself for being a