Page 54 of Miles Apart
Zo pops in as Emma leaves.
“Ms. Douglass, what a surprise.” He extends his hand, his eyes shifting over her frame and then to me with a satisfied grin.
Asshole.
“I came to talk to Miles about a…business arrangement.”
The motherfucker can’t help but cheese. “Ah, yes. Let me not intrude.” He motions to the now open door.
“Actually, I was on my way out.” Emma tugs down her suit jacket. “Miles,” she says to me.
“Emma,” I toss back.
She struts out the office the same way she came in, leaving me with a giddy congressperson who has too much time on his hands.
“Don’t start about that serendipitous shit.” Zo mocks surrender at my pointed finger and rolls his lips to keep from laughing. “We’re spending more time together, or we will. I, um, won’t need your crib after all.”
I get two seconds before Zo cracks up. He contorts his blue suit folding over in laughter, and the interns rush into the conference room to see why their boss lost his fucking mind. Zo barely smiles in public but is always laughing at my expense. The shit isn’t funny. It just saves mileage and gas, when you think about it.
Your excuse for living with Emma is budgeting?
Fuck you too.
I shoo the entire office away and close the door. Zo wipes the tears out of his eyes and parks his foolish ass on the woodenconference room table. His laughter fades, but the tears in his eyes remain.
“Done yet?”
He puts a hand to his mouth and coughs. “Yeah. So how’s that gonna work?”
“What?” I frown.
“You two under the same roof, spending time together andnotcatching feelings.”
I shrug. “Simple. We come together when we need to come together and go about our business the rest of the time. I don’t plan to be up under her, watching movies and shit. People do these arrangements all the time.”
A situationship, friends with benefits, or whatever. I’m in town; we like to fuck. The end.
“Uh huh,” is all Zo says, prompting me to kick his ass out the conference room once all that cackling starts again. I don’t care if this is his office or not.
Emma and I will catch a cramp before we catch feelings. I like spending time with her when she doesn’t annoy me and will keep my distance when she does. Problem solved.
“Thought I had to send a search party for your ass.”
I grin at Terrence’s dramatics and get on the 10. “What’s good, bro?”
“Enjoying life and this woman finally back home.”
We laugh.
The shit isn’t a joke, but after seven months apart and Justice moving to the other side of Austin, I’m happy they’re happy.
“Glad things are working out.”
“Me too,” he says, grinning like a cornball with that smile in his voice. “What’s new with you? Haven’t heard from your ass in like a week.”
“And that was intentional. I’m not calling you the first Valentine’s Day you’re back with your wife. You probably just now let her up for air.”
Terrence’s laughter fills my rental car.Thought so. “Alright. How’s Cali?”
