Page 16 of Addicted

“What? Why can’t I say hello to the people I work with?” he shot back, still smiling. He couldn’t help himself; he feltgreat. The Vicodin had worked wonders. Instead of making a blanket burrito out of himself and sobbing on his floor, Liam had cleaned everything in his place, put the boxes away, and gotten a terrific night’s sleep. This morning he’d woken up feeling positively buoyant. Whatever strength the fives were was more than enough.

Marci squinted at him. “Because your hellos are usually grunts or silence. Unless...” her squint turned into a conspiratorial wink, her lips turning up deviously, “You’re excited about your first day with Owen?”

“I think that’s my cue,” Dylan slipped away, probably glad that he wasn’t the one in Marci’s crosshairs.

“He told me that he’s borrowing you for a few weeks and I saidfinebut that he owes me. Andhesaid that he’d give me anything I wanted as long as he could have you.Interesting.“ Liam didn’t like the insinuating tone of her voice as she latched onto his arm. “Anyway, he’s yourneighborhuh? Details please.”

“Wasmy neighbor,“ Liam answered, trying not to cringe at how tightly she held on. “And he is -was -married. To a woman. So, your gaydar is off.”

“It’s never off.” She flapped a hand at him. “At the very least he’s bisexual but let’s backtrack for a second, you saidwasmarried?”

“He’s in the middle of a bad divorce,” Liam frowned, remembering how uncomfortable Owen seemed when he spoke about it. “So…don’t push him.”

Marci put a hand over her mouth in shock.

“Who would divorce him?” she gasped. “Excuse me but he’s perfect. Not only is he thenicestguy, but he’s also super easy on the eyes-”

“What about your bartender Isaiah?” Liam tried to divert her before she listed all the things he was trying not to think about while trapped in an office with Owen for the next few hours. “Besides, you can’t crush on the boss.” Because clearly that was his job. “It’s bad news. What is the saying?”

“Don’t shit where you eat!” Dylan walked across the foyer, coming back to them with a sly grin on his face. “Marci, the florist for the four o’clock ceremony is outside and they wanna know where to set up the chuppah.”

“Ugh.” She pointed at Liam. “I want details at Bar None later and don’t think you’re getting out of it.” Then she flounced off, her ponytail waving back and forth behind her.

Dylan whistled low. “Duuuude, whoever she marries is gonna have their hands full.”

“Yeah,” Liam agreed, his arm still aching from where she grabbed it.

“By the way,” Dylan raised one dark eyebrow. “Good luck with the new Bossman, he’s a cool bro. But you lived next door to him so you know that.”

“News travels fast.” Liam was not surprised by that but he wasdefinitelysurprised by how much he didn’t mind talking to Dylan when Vicodin was there to help.

Dylan shrugged with a lopsided grin. “On brand for The Pointe.”

“True. But I’ll only be up there half the day so I’ll just miss setup-”

“You won’tmisssetup.“ Dylan’s grin got bigger.

“No, I won’t,” Liam laughed. “It’s just for a few weeks. I should be back downstairs in no time.”

“I saw that backlog. Emails, voicemails, a mountain of snail mail. And his phone hasn’t stopped ringing since Brian replaced it with a working one an hour ago. It might be longer than a few weeks,” Dylan started walking backward, in the same direction as Marci, and gave Liam a two-fingered salute. “Have fun!”

Of all the things a job as Owen’s assistant would be,funwas not one of them. The fluffy cloud that held Liam’s emotions turned a little gray.More than a few weeks?For the thousandth time, he wondered if he could weasel out of it but not now. Not on the first day. He’d have to put in at least a week before coming up with an excuse. By then, Owen might have a handle on a lot of things and he wouldn’t need Liam to help him. Or maybe Liam could find someone else to take over.

At least the Vicodin was keeping him afloat and he clung to it as he walked up the stairs, hoping that the ghosts might give him some time to breathe before they began to haunt him.

“Do you still have the Honda?”

Three minutes. It took three minutes for Owen to slap him with a memory so, in a way, the ghostsdidgive him a breather. And maybe Liam was sensitive because of the photo he’d recently unpacked and repacked but it took a lot not to wince as he opened the top drawer of the filing cabinet. It turned out to be empty and he slammed it shut. He didn’t want to take anything out on Owen, who’d lit up when Liam had walked in. It made all kinds of feelings flutter around in Liam’s gut and he wanted none of that, so he’d put his stuff in a corner, refused coffee, and started poking around, hoping that Owen would tell him what he should do. Instead, Owen did exactly what Liam didn’t want. He asked questions.

“Um, yeah. Yeah. I have the car.” Liam opened the drawer underneath. There was a phone book and a box of envelopes in there. He slammed that closed too.

“I’m so glad!” Immune to the noise, Owen continued cleaning out his desk. All the paperwork strewn across it yesterday was now stacked on the floor and he was currently pulling things out of the drawers, putting whatever he found on top. It wasn’t a big pile, certainly not as big as the one down the hall, but it was an unusual one. Aside from the pens, staples, and other standard office supplies, Owen had found two ties, an orange safety vest, more than a dozen bottle openers with the names and dates of wedding couples emblazoned on them, and a few flip flops. “It’s a good car, it’ll run past two hundred thousand miles. When did you last change the oil?”

“Um…” Liam opened the bottom drawer and found a printer inside. It had seen better days so Liam took it out gently, putting it on the floor next to the cabinet while trying to think of an answer. “I don’t know?”

He really didn’t. He’d brought the car in for a tune-up at some point in the last three years but he couldn’t remember where or when.

Owen pulled another tie loose from the back of a drawer. “No worries, once I’m a little more unpacked I’ll have you bring her to my place for a checkup!” Owen added the tie to the pile, not looking at Liam, who breathed in sharply and pretended to inspect the printer.

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