Offensive Behavior

“It’s worse than it was before.”

“Good days and bad days. You’d better be going.” She was staying on Kathryn’s airbed tonight. Would that be worse than Gavin’s trundle?

“And today is a bad day?”

“What’s it to you?”

“Nothing.” Reid looked at Zarley, his expression a mixture of fondness and meet me at the dining room table, be naked. “But it’s something to Zarley and she’s something to me, so why do you limp and what can you do about it?”

Something to him. Hopefully more than a pretty bauble, a sexual spirit guide, a fellow traveler on his lonely road.

Cara glared at Zarley. “You two should go.”

Zarley took the hint and slipped her hand into Reid’s. He grasped it and squeezed but didn’t take his eyes off Cara.

“Why is it such a secret?”

“It’s not a secret. It’s none of your business.”

“You’d rather I assume, so I’ll assume. You were a gymnast like Zarley. I can see it in your body. You got hurt. How hard would that be to tell me?”

Cara ignored him and pointed the remote at the TV.

“You don’t have insurance. I could help you out.”

That got Cara’s attention, but not in a good way. “It’s not something you can buy, Reid. I can’t be fixed. Don’t step on the dress or manhandle it. Close the door on your way out and have a great night.”

He frowned. He didn’t respond to the yank Zarley gave his hand.

“What was the job you lost?”

Cara folded her arms and puffed her hair with a huffed out breath. “He does not give up, does he?”

Zarley squeezed Reid’s hand. She’d come to learn that month in Lucky’s where he wallowed was uncharacteristic, because Reid didn’t give up. “Cara was help desk for a tech company,” she said.

Cara snapped, “You want to hope I didn’t leave any pins in the seams when you sit down, Zar.”

“I’ll have the HR director of Plus call you. Her name is Sarina. If they have anything going she’ll let you know.”

Cara’s mouth dropped open. “I’ve been a bitch, why would you do that.”

“It’s not a job, it’s an in.”

“Thank you.”

Reid gave Cara a nod, dropped Zarley’s hand as if he knew the girls would want to talk. He went up the hall to the door. They heard him open it.

“He’s a pain in the neck. You’re not keeping him,” Cara mouthed, but she was smiling.

Zarley mouthed back her agreement. “Only for the sex and parties.”

Cara laughed and made a shooing motion. “Have a wonderful night. Do my dress proud.”

She blew Cara a kiss, scooped up her borrowed clutch, Kathryn’s groovy gran again, and met Reid at the stairs, pulling the door closed behind her.

He was leaning on the banister, looking down through the stairwell. “I keep thinking I’ve already seen how beautiful you are. On your pole, in your jeans and hoodie, in the videos of your floor routines, on my bike.” The glance he gave her made her heart shimmer. “In my bed.” And then triple salto, backward layout. “But you keep surprising me and I’ve never been a guy who liked surprises. I don’t have the words to describe how insanely gorgeous you are. But it’s not the dress and your hair, how good you smell. I don’t care what you’re wearing.” He straightened up and she didn’t feel so much like a decoration anymore. “It’s you, Zarley. To the bone and back.”

Better, she felt appreciated, respected, above and beyond the sex.