Page 86 of Seductive Scoundrel

Even though I stand in the hallway for a good ten minutes – waiting – there’s no reply. And I don’t blame him.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Dean

Hours after Miaproved she’s nothing but a liar – again – I was feeling very dramatic sitting in a wingback chair and staring into the fireplace with a whiskey in hand.

A text from Dex brought me to the Jelani Okiro Museum for reasons still unbeknownst to me. I’m raw enough to just go with it, though, and hope this night doesn’t turn even worse, or make me look like more of a fool.

Not exactly the image I was going for where Dex is concerned.

“Fuck am I doing here?”

Dex chuckles and the sound brings a half-smile to my face. “I see you’re just as chipper as always.”

“Would you be chipper in my position?”

His face is full of sympathy, but at least it isn’t pity. “No. Come in.”

He opens the doors to the museum like he owns it – maybe he does. But why on earth would he want to?

“I’m going to tell you a story,” he announces.

“Sure. I’ve got all the time in the world.”

I don’t want to work. It’s my usual escape, but my mind is all over the map, and there’s no way I’d be able to focus. Mia fucks with me even when she isn’t here. Even when she isn’t my girlfriend anymore.

Glad our union lasted so long.

And right after I made a pretty damn grand gesture going to the fucking boondocks and –

“Dean?”

“Sorry, man. I’m here.”

It doesn’t escape my notice that he’s spending his night with me and not his beautiful wife. He’s a good friend. I don’t realize that I’ve said it out loud until he shoots me a genuine grin.

“I was going to fucking kill you when I saw you with the auditor, but now that we have that mess cleared up, I agree. You’re a good friend, too.”

We walk around the museum in silence for a good twenty minutes looking at – what the fuck am I even looking at? – little wooden carvings with plaques underneath explaining their significance.

“Have you ever had someone change your life?” Dex asks quietly.

Mia immediately comes to mind, but I don’t want to think about her anymore, so I adamantly shake my head. “No. Not if you mean her.”

He rolls his eyes. “I meant in general.”

“Sure. My old man, influential professors in college, business and thought leaders, that kind of thing. What are you getting at?”

“Jelani Okiro was that person for me. As you know, I didn’t have a great role model in my dad. When I met Bianca, I lied about who I was. She had a preconceived notion about me, that I was just some rich douchebag who wasn’t worth her time.

“So I pretended to be someone else. And because I couldn’t think of any appropriate hobbies for this fake persona to have, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Whittling.”

“Whittling,” I repeat, not sure I’ve ever even heard that word. It surely wouldn’t be the first fake hobby that popped into my head. “Why not hiking? What about beer pong?”

Dex shakes his head. “I don’t know. Maybe I was just supposed to meet Jelani. He was a true artisan, and I bought a giraffe from his shop to give Bianca, pretending I was the one who carved it. I was committed to this lie because I wanted to be with her and couldn’t see a way out. But the shitty thing is that Jelani was dying.”

He recounts all the time he spent with his whittling mentor, and how his perspective on the fragility of life changed. Bianca eventually forgave him, and she got to know Jelani, too. His carvings were too beautiful not to be displayed, so they opened the museum to share them with the world and honor his legacy.

---