Boy in the Club a boy & billionaire novel - Rachel Kane Page 0,40

“Why are you both giving me such a hard time about this? It’s done.”

“You don’t even know the kind of trap you’ve set for yourself,” says Daniel. “You have a history with this guy. One wrong move, and he’s going to go straight to his lawyer, and how’s that going to look? You’ll be signing over a fat check to settle the lawsuit.”

“I’m not worried about that,” says Hawk. “I’m worried about Colby. Look at him, Dan. He has feelings for this boy.”

“What? No I don’t!”

“You do.”

“You’re projecting. You’re probably still mooning over that big giant you abandoned me for, the first night at the club!”

At least now Daniel is laughing at Hawk instead of me. Hawk is sitting there blushing furiously, I wasn’t even expecting to catch him out, but apparently I have.

His face sours. “Frank is the giant’s name, and no, I promise you that I am not interested in him. I won’t be seeing him any more.”

There’s clearly a story there, and I want to pry. At least it’s better than having the guys focus on my life. “What happened?”

“Yeah,” says Daniel, “I thought you bottoms were so desperate for tops, you never turned anyone away.”

“Where we should have gone is that club with the masks,” insists Hawk. “Then nobody would know who anyone else is. That way, Frank the Giant couldn’t show up at my goddamned apartment last Saturday, asking if I could loan him a little money.”

“Oh god,” I say, shuddering.

“How did he get your address?” asks Daniel.

Hawk shakes his head. “He knew a guy who knew a guy who had been to my New Year’s Eve party. I’m not saying he threatened me, exactly, but… Well, it was uncomfortable. I wrote him a check and told him never to show up on my doorstep again.”

“You see?” says Daniel to me. “This is why you can’t give your little friend a job. Boys like that are only good for one thing, hitting you up for money.”

I think about the fight Finn had put up. He would’ve walked right out of the office, jobless, penniless, if I hadn’t insisted. He had a lot of pride, that one. I knew I’d picked the right guy. He’d never come up wanting a handout.

“Colby would never do that,” Hawk says. “Colby would’ve thrown Frank out on his ear. Wouldn’t you?”

“Are you kidding?” says Daniel. “He gave his guy a fucking job! When did the two of you become such pushovers?”

I just shake my head. “This kid…he needs me, okay? I had a job, he needed a job, that’s it.”

They both hear the softness of my voice, and I realize what they’re thinking. I can practically hear their thoughts.

Poor Colby, he’s been so closed-off since his dad died.

We try to get him out into society, try to make sure he has a good time, but all he does is get weird on us.

“Just promise me you’re not going to do anything stupid,” says Daniel.

“Stupid like what?” I ask angrily. The waiter silently glides in and swaps out my glass for a fresh one. I dismiss him with a nod.

Daniel knows I’m mad…but he’s one of my best friends. He doesn’t want to fight. If someone were to listen in to us tonight, they might think Daniel and I were at each other’s throats, or that his sarcasm was meant to hurt me.

They wouldn’t have seen the way Daniel propped me up after my dad’s funeral. The way he threw himself into helping me, making sure I ate, bringing pizza to the office when I’d be working all night. Hawk was there too, giving me someone to talk to, but Daniel was a doer rather than a talker. All action.

So now he has to slow down, because he knows he’s about to piss me off, and even though we’d both get over it, I think he knows what kind of state I’m in right now.

I might look normal…but I’m not my old self.

Not anymore.

He breathes through his nose, nods, takes another drink. “I mean, don’t get tangled up in this guy. You want him around to replace Mary for a while? Fine. You want your conscience clear? That’s great, do that. But all joking aside, don’t touch him. Don’t talk to him. Don’t… Don’t give yourself illusions about him.”

“I don’t know what kind of illusions you think I’m going to get.”

Now he sighs and looks over at Hawk for moral support.

Hawk just shakes his head. “You’re in a vulnerable spot lately,