Just Friends

“You’re leaving?”

Rachel stumbled a little when she stood up. “Oof. Yeah. I don’t feel good. I drank way more than I usually do.”

“But it’s your turn to…”

“Eh. It’s fine. Like I said, I’m avoiding that stuff right now, so it’s for the best I don’t get tempted.” She said that last word with another glance in Zack’s direction. No temptations, huh? How cruel. The only thing Zack could think about was tempting her. “I’m gonna grab a Lyft home so I don’t fall on my face halfway there.” She showed him her phone. What Zack had thought was texting was her loading up her Lyft app and making arrangements with a nearby driver. “I’ll text you when I get home so you know I didn’t die.”

“All right.” Something swelled in Zack’s throat. He got up and steadied Rachel where she stood. “Let me walk you to the car, then.”

She waved him off. “No, no. I’ve got it. You go have fun with Big Blond Big-Tits.”

“Rachel…”

A small path cleared for her. “Night, Zack. Talk to you later. Use a condom.”

“Rachel!”

She waved at him and kept going. The bouncer opened the door after asking her how she was getting home. Rachel showed him her Lyft app and he nodded her through the entrance.

“So I’ve thought about it.”

Zack turned around. Bailey stood behind him, lips spreading into a devouring smile. A smile that devours me. Doesn’t happen very often. “What were you thinking about, exactly?” He had to play it cool. He couldn’t let Bailey know that he had been pining after Rachel just now. Hell, he couldn’t let himself know that. “Me?”

“Naturally.” Bailey tucked her clutch beneath her arm. She certainly looked ready to go. “How far is your place from here? What kind of view does it have?”

“Three blocks away.” Zack snorted. “Why do you want to know about the view?”

“Because,” Bailey slowly walked past him, making sure he had a grand view of her ass sashaying back and forth in her dress, “I want to know what I’m looking at when you take me from behind with those nice thighs of yours.”

Zack let out a low whistle.

Chapter 14

“I knew a man like you had a good view around these parts,” Bailey said upon entering Zack’s apartment. “Look at that. The marina.”

“Perfect for looking at while other things are going on.” Zack couldn’t be droller if he tried. He tossed his wallet and keys onto the table before showing Bailey into the living room. She went straight to the floor-to-ceiling windows and grinned at the twinkling lights of the city and marina below them. “Want something to drink?”

“Water, thanks.”

Zack pulled two cups down from the kitchen cupboards and filled both with filtered tap water. It was either the personal chef who stopped by once a week or the housekeeper who kept filling his fridge with brand-name bottled water, but the only time Zack bothered with those garbage-destined wastes of plastic was when he was heading out and needed bottled water anyway. He wasn’t about to offer one to a guest in his own home. Not when he paid for the best filtered tap water in the city!

Anything good enough for him was good enough for Bailey, anyway.

“So what do you do, Zack?” She accepted the water with batting eyelashes.

Damn. Normally I wouldn’t be able to control myself. Once they were in his apartment, the first thing on Zack’s mind was ripping his guest’s clothes off. Too bad every time he thought about ripping off Bailey’s dress he imagined Rachel’s disgusted face. I drank too much too. It’s making me sleepy. He had mostly sobered up already, but that effect was still there. Not bad enough to keep me from getting it up, but… what’s the point?

Bailey caught his gaze. “You were going to tell me what you do for a living, yes? Someone with a nice apartment like this… bet you do something pretty special.”

“I’m an artist.”

“An artist?” Her eyes widened in surprise.

“Yup. Don’t do too bad for myself.”

“I see that.”

Good. She had bought his day job. There were some women who insisted he couldn’t have possibly afforded this as an artist. First of all, Zachary Feldman was successful enough as an artist that he totally could… eventually. Second of all, he was uncomfortable talking about his family fortune with women who didn’t immediately recognize him. Women he picked up in bars and at clubs rarely knew who he was, unless they had a photographic memory and read the tabloids every day.

“Does this mean you want me to take off my clothes and model for you?”

“Why? Do you want to do that?”

She giggled. “Maybe.”

“Too bad. I’m too tired for that tonight. Maybe if I like what I see…”

Zack was following the script. Because the more he thought about sleeping with Bailey, the more unappealing it became. Shit. And she made it into my apartment. This rarely happened. Having a woman in his apartment that he didn’t want to sleep with, anyway.

But his script had all these wonderfully seductive zingers that were good at getting women out of their clothes and under his body. My three happy places are in my studio, on the water, and between a woman’s legs. That last one was becoming more disagreeable as of late, however, and he couldn’t figure out why.

He had hoped that bringing Bailey home would rejuvenate him. More like the opposite.

Damn you, Rachel. He was obsessing over her. It wasn’t just her turning him down. Honestly, it’s not. I’ve been turned down before and quickly moved on. It was her ongoing presence. Getting to know her on a deeper level. Damnit, it had only been two or three weeks, and he was considering her one of his closest friends. How did that happen?

Could he help how well they got along? How much chemistry they had? That kiss… it had nearly knocked him off his ass. Sunday morning he woke up thinking about Rachel in his arms, and remained eternally glad that she hadn’t been awake enough to notice how happy he was beneath that tent he pitched.

Fuck. They were accelerating much too quickly… and yet not at all!

Zack needed to get out of this. Now.

He woke up his phone and pretended to find a message. “Oh, damn,” he murmured. “It’s my dad.”

Bailey held her clutch closer to her chest. “That so?”

“Shit. Yeah. He’s got really bad diabetes and is apparently heading to the ER.”

“Oh my God!”

“Oh, yeah, he’ll be fine, but I really should go over there to help take care of things.”

Bailey reached into her clutch and pulled out her phone. “Tell you what, Zack. Give me your number and we’ll raincheck.”

“Sounds good.”

They swapped numbers before Zack showed Bailey out. “Tell the concierge that you need a ride home and they’ll put it on my tab. No worries.”

Zack was soon alone again. Alone in his big, quiet apartment.

His lonely apartment.

After a quick shower, he flopped down on his bed and checked his phone. There was a flirty confirmation from Bailey that she had received his number. Oh, and she wished his father well, too.

Then there was a text from Rachel.

“Got home safe. Have fun.”

Zack opened the reply box. But what the hell could he say? “I told her to leave because I couldn’t stop thinking about you.” “I’d rather be with you right now, Rachel.” “Nothing happened. Don’t feel well. Have a nice night.” Yeah, that one would have to do.

Rachel didn’t respond.

***

“Thank you for signing off on this, Ms. Taylor,” the health director from Rachel’s mother’s nursing home said. “I know it’s a big inconvenience, but we really do think that putting your mother back on an anti-depressant will make it easier for you to come visit her again.”

Rachel sighed over her breakfast. Breakfast at noon, no less. Slept in because I’m a little hungover. Or at least I think I am. Rachel had never been hungover before. Was this what it felt like? Massive headache and a terrible disdain for the world? Sounded about right. “No problem. Thank you for letting me know.”

Of course, Rachel had power of attorney over her mother. So whatever they wanted to do with her medications, they had to go through Rachel first. Even better if she could stop by the memory care facility, but that hadn’t been possible recently.

Because she cries herself into oblivion every time she sees me. And Rachel cried too, because her mother had lost a hundred pounds and was barely recognizable these days.

“By the way, we really need to talk about her upcoming quarterly payments…”

“I already went over this with your general director. Her insurance is supposed to take care of it.”

“I know, Ms. Taylor, but…”

“I’ll call them again and see if they can’t speed up the process a little bit.” She hung up. The last thing she wanted to talk about was financials. Between rent, student loans, and paying her mother’s exorbitant rent at the memory care facility… bah. It was a miracle she could even afford to eat.

Zack would be able to afford all of this. Rachel’s job barely covered her expenses. She overdrafted more than once, which was horrifying when she had so many loan payments and could barely keep track of them. Consolidating hadn’t worked out for her. That’s what happened when most of her loans were private.