never use anything against you. I would appreciate the same respect from you.”
His brow flattens. “I respect you, Tori. And I trust you. I wouldn’t have told you all the shit going on between my friends if I thought you’d blast it all over social media just to make me look better. You proved yourself when you weren’t willing to do that to Alex last season even though it would’ve been much easier than what I gave you to work with.”
“It would have,” I agree, straightening my shoulders. “Don’t think this little trip to New York City is getting you out of holding up your side of the marketing bargain either. Just because you’re trying to distract me with this whole closure thing with Ben doesn’t mean I’m going to forget you also promised me some actual shots of you in the Big Apple today.”
“Damn,” he mumbles, but there’s a smile on his face. “You figured out my evil plan.”
“You’re darn right I have.”
Mike laughs. “That’s another thing I’ve learned about you that I didn’t find out from your social media. You never curse unless you’re seriously drunk. Why is that?”
I latch onto the fact that he cares more about my sober vocabulary than what I look like stark naked. “My Dad was a captain in the Navy—something you did learn about me through social media. He forbade cursing as long as we were under his roof. Said it was an unimaginative way of showing displeasure, and he expected better of us.”
Mike glances at me with a raised eyebrow. His gaze never strays south of my eyes. “There are plenty of studies that suggest otherwise. People who curse frequently are generally more intelligent and quick-witted.”
“I’m not going to argue either perspective. My dad put food in my stomach and kept a roof over my head. He raised six kids all on his own and gave us all the love in the world even if he was stricter than most of my friends’ parents. I did what I was told, and it just kind of…stuck.”
“Kind of like you did as you were told by doing whatever you had to do at the wedding reception to keep me out of trouble?”
My cheeks flame. Not in embarrassment but anger. Mostly at myself. “It’s my job to keep you out of trouble because you have a bad habit of getting yourself into it. The methods might need some work, but they get the job done.”
David’s similar words echo in my mind. He’s poised and waiting in Albany with a marketing campaign of his own to elevate Mike to the status the team is paying us to accomplish.
Mike pulls into a parking garage on the Jersey side of the river that he’s apparently familiar with from visiting Evie’s apartment nearby. Even though he makes millions every year, he still prefers not to overpay for parking in the city. The very idea makes me chuckle, but I appreciate the knowledge that his substantial pay raise hasn’t changed who he is at all. At least not yet.
I guess I’ll know for sure if he ever decides to hold my sins against me.
He shuts off the engine but doesn’t unbuckle or make any move to exit the vehicle, instead staring out the windshield that’s facing a dilapidated building across the street. “I appreciate you being willing to get your hands dirty in the interests of keeping mine clean. That’s why I’m never going to say a word to anyone about what happened in the hotel room that night. I’m sorry I put you, myself, and the team in this position at all. I need this job. I love this job, and I’m not going to do anything else to jeopardize it. I’ve been stuck on this rollercoaster with Rob, Evie, and Alex since senior year of high school, and it’s…” He blows out a breath. “It’s fucking hard. I’m supposed to be the stable one, the problem solver, the man with all the answers, but the fact is I’m struggling as much as anyone. I’ve never been very good with change, and it’s been a hell of a lot of change over the past year or so. New city, new faces and names, new plays to learn, new…everything.”
I’m so shocked by this level of sharing while we’re both sober that I can’t form a single word even when he pauses.
“I have a hard time making friends because I don’t trust anyone. I learned that lesson a long time