Page 18 of Forever Only Once
“What else does he do, other than what I could be overreaching with?”
“You’re not overreacting. If you feel uncomfortable with him at all—something you probably should have told me about before so I didn’t put you in that situation, or maybe something I should have just noticed—then that’s a big thing. As for what I’m going to do with Chris? I don’t know. I don’t know if he’s going to make it easy for me to dissolve the business. Right now, I’m the one making the bigger deals.”
“I thought he wanted to make more money with those weird deals of his?”
“True, he does, but he isn’t in the studio as much lately. Maybe he’s working at his home studio like I sometimes do, but I’m in the main place far more than he is. His pieces make good money when he sells them, but he’s been focused on different kinds of commissions recently. Not what we started with.”
“And you’re sure he can’t take any money from the business for himself?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yes. I work with our accountant monthly to go through our expenses. I know what goes into the business and what comes out. He literally can’t take any of the money I make on commissions. It goes back into the building—any percentage that comes off our base price, that is. As long as he didn’t fuck up any of the paperwork before he sent it in.” That was something I would have to look into. Hell.
“That’s good. At least you had the foresight to put that into your contracts.”
“I shouldn’t have worked with him at all. I fucked everything up.”
“No, Chris is doing that. I just hope you can get out of it soon.”
“I hope I can, too. I need to figure out exactly how to approach that. Because at first, I thought maybe I could find a way to work with him, only in just a different aspect. You know? Make it easier. But I don’t think I can. Especially given that I want to kick his ass for daring to touch you.”
“He’s never actually touched me, but he does encroach on my space and is sometimes inappropriate in what he says. I’m sorry for bringing that up.”
I shook my head and drank some more water. “Don’t be sorry. I’m pissed that I didn’t see it before. And leaving Chris has been in the back of my mind for a while now.”
“Let’s talk about something else. Something happier. Have you been on a date recently? I know it’s been a while.”
I froze, blinking. How the hell had she known? I hated that she could read my fucking face even beneath the beard.
“Oh my God. You have. Tell me about it.”
“How can I help you start dinner?” I asked, changing the subject. Not that she would let me.
“No, no. You went on a date? With who? Tell me. How did I not know this? I mean, I knew it had been a while, though none of the others really made fun of you about it. But tell me. Tell me more.”
“It wasn’t really a date.” I frowned. “It didn’t start out as a date, but I think it ended as one.”
“You’re going to have to explain that because I’m a little confused.”
“I met someone. Thanks to Chris, actually.”
Her brows shot up again. “Really? Chris? Am I not going to like this woman?”
“She doesn’t actually know him.”
“I’m confused again.” I laughed and leaned against the counter. “So, Chris decided to force me to meet with a potential client down at 59th.”
“That’s where he meets his clients? What is he, a gigolo?”
I laughed. “I don’t think there are actual gigolos or paid escorts there.” I paused. “Not that I know of anyway.”
“Wait, are you dating an escort?”
I held up my hands. “Let me finish.”
“Then start talking. Because all I know right now is that I’m thinking of Chris as a gigolo, and it’s making me want to vomit.”
I groaned. “Thank you for that mental image,” I said. “Anyway, I had to meet up with one of Chris’s clients because my partner is a piece of shit, and then it turned out that she didn’t even come.”
“Really?”