full of strippers at any given time for their exclusive use.
I park in a space marked ‘Visitor’ and turn my car off. I reach for the bag on the seat that contains all my files and exit the vehicle. Ford walks over to meet me from where he parked in another aisle. I can see him clearly because the garage is practically empty. Besides the Bentley he just arrived in, there’s only another three cars parked in here.
“It’s a little creepy how empty this place is,” I say, walking to meet him halfway. My heels click on the cement and the smell of concrete surrounds me.
He chuckles. “I might not have mentioned it, but the other Classholes and I are the sole owners of this building. We each have our own level to park our vehicles on. Have our own level to live on as well.”
My stomach pitches as if I’m standing on a small boat in rough seas.
“You boys really don’t like to share, huh?” I ask.
Ford must see something on my face, because he quickly follows his earlier statement with “Don’t worry, we’re going straight up to my level.”
A relieved breath leaves my lips. I haven’t directly discussed my interaction with Garrin at the party with him, but he’s no idiot. And given my past with Asher, I’m sure he assumes I’d rather not run into him either. I managed to avoid him the entire party last week, which I’m sure he noticed.
“Want me to take your bag?” Ford offers.
Always the gentleman. “No, I’ve got it, thanks.”
He leads me to an elevator and presses the button for the sixty-eighth floor. The pad shows there are seventy floors in total. This has to be one of the tallest buildings in the city, if not the tallest.
“If it’s just the five of you who live here, what’s on the other floors?” The rumor is they own the top half, but I guess I assumed that the people that live in the bottom levels help pay for this place. How naively stupid of me to think they would ever need a dime other than their trust funds.
“They’re empty.” He looks a little chagrined. Probably because of the kind of wealth it implies that they can afford to build a structure like this and leave the majority of it unoccupied. “Each floor is set up to be turned into condos eventually, if and when we decide this arrangement no longer works for us, so we prefer to think of it as an investment rather than an indulgence.”
I can’t help the smile that comes to my face. “You will make a good politician.”
He knocks me with his shoulder just as the elevator dings, announcing our arrival on the sixty-eighth floor.
“My friends don’t play well with others. You know that.” He winks. “Come on in. Make yourself at home while I go change.”
I walk in behind him. He mindlessly tosses keys in a dish on a giant round table with a flower arrangement blooming in the middle as if the president just died. Everything is darker than you’d expect for a bachelor in his twenties. Reclaimed wood on the ceilings, dark walls, big inviting gray couches. A wall of shelves lined with books.
I walk to the edge of the open living room and look out at the expansive view. Because they built at the edge of the city, there are no other buildings obstructing the view. Lights twinkle far below in the dark, indicating other neighborhoods. I bet that during the day, the mountain range can been seen far off in the distance as it can most places.
“Can I offer you a drink?”
Ford steps back into the room wearing a pair of black athletic pants and dark gray T-shirt.
“Maybe just some water if you don’t mind.” I step away from the window and move farther into the room, wishing I felt comfortable enough to lie down on the couch with a blanket and fall asleep.
“Coming right up.”
He returns a moment later with a bottle of water in one hand, an open beer in the other. “Here you go.” He passes the water to me.
“Thanks. Where do you want to set up?”
He shrugs. “We can work in here if you want rather than my office. It might be more comfortable.”
“That works.” I attempt to keep the giddiness out of my tone. I take my bag over to the oversized couch and take a seat, placing the bag beside me and the water on the coffee