When I pulled in after work, I was glad I’d worn my favorite green top with a pencil skirt. I’d had a client lunch, and the outfit flattered my body while still being completely professional.
I walked around to the front and pushed through the front door of the club. “Show me what you’re working with,” I said.
Aaron snorted, and I realized that Miles wasn’t alone. I didn’t like the snort. It made my words sound vaguely dirty.
“Hey, Aaron.”
“Hey, Elle.”
That was a surprise. I didn’t think he even knew my name. But he didn’t look up from his phone, so that at least was normal.
“I don’t know how I can like three such different chair designs, but I do. I’m serious. This is what breaks me.” Miles placed his phone in my outstretched hand, his fingers brushing mine and sending tiny sparks through my palm.
I gave the screen a quick glance and handed it back. “You know what to do.”
He stared down at the options. “The first one?”
“Bingo.”
The brick was the only place he’d gone wrong. I could imagine everything else he’d shown me over the last few days in here, and I liked the way the pieces worked together in my mind.
“I feel better.” He slid his phone into his pocket. “I’m hungry for dinner. Want to grab a bite?”
Aaron’s presence changed the whole vibe, and for once, I probably owed him a thank you for snatching me back from a stupid mistake. I gestured down to my clothes. “I need to go change and get in a run but thanks for thinking of me.”
“Next time then.” Miles’s tone was laid back, like the rejection hadn’t stung at all.
“I’d better get going while I’ve got some light,” I said, turning toward the door. “Good luck with the rest of the renovation.”
“I’ll walk you out.” He held the door for me like a perfect gentleman. “Thanks for coming down. And Ellie?” he said, as I stepped past him to the sidewalk. “Seriously, feel free to come in through the kitchen next time.”
I gave him a polite, noncommittal smile and headed upstairs to change. When I came back down, Aaron was waiting for me at the back door.
“Hey, Elle,” he said. “Wanted to chat for a minute.”
A chat with a guy who’d never once tried to make conversation with me? This should be interesting. And probably annoying based on every previous second I’d spent in Aaron’s company.
“Can I help you with something?” I asked.
“Miles needs to focus.”
I blinked, not even knowing how to react to that. “Excuse me?”
“He doesn’t need any distractions right now.”
“You know he called me, right?” I knew it was in my best interests to placate Miles’s business manager, but I didn’t like his tone.
“His head’s not in the game, and he needs to get it back there.”
“Are you high? Because literally every single minute I’ve spent around him, all he talks about is the club.”
“That’s the problem,” he said. “He had a slump and some burnout, but he’s pouring all of his creative energy into this club, and he needs to channel it back into his music career.”
“It sounds to me like Miles knows exactly what he wants. Go have this conversation with him if you don’t believe me.” A desire to get away from Aaron, to bob and weave through the light sidewalk traffic until I reached the freedom of the river trail, pricked at me.
“He thinks he knows what he wants. His music sales have plummeted in the last few years, and he couldn’t book more than a small theater show if he tried. Which he doesn’t. And you want to know why it’s all gone to crap?”
I was hungrier than I should be for details of Miles’s life that I couldn’t glean from internet articles. But I wasn’t sure it was Aaron’s place to tell me. I shook my head. No. It didn’t stop him from telling me anyway.
“When he listened to me and the label guys, he had money pouring in hand over fist. Arena tours, merch sales through the roof, and a new album every eighteen months to keep it all running smoothly. But he lost himself somewhere in the process. I think it was the breakup with Anneke.”
“Anneke?” I asked in spite of myself. The model from the benefit, who according to Miles, was just a friend.
“Yeah. He’s had a hard time getting over her. They were inseparable for a year, and then they started