Fat Cat Liar

Floor by floor, I explain my vision, and his face takes on a new expression. Janice joins us, standing over my shoulder and pointing out special touches I’ve shared with her.

When I’m through, she’s beaming. My brother looks truly shocked.

“Holy shit,” he breathes out. “That is astonishing. This is absolutely the greatest work you’ve ever done.”

“I know.”

“You’ve got my support, in everything. I’ll bend the budgets to find you the money, even if it kills me.”

“Appreciate it. I’ll need that when I present to Rob, Grandpa, and eventually to the rest of the committee.”

“You’ve got this, Lawson.” Janice pats my shoulder with approval. There’s something in her tone that I’ve heard several times since she figured out I was seeing someone.

This doesn’t go unnoticed by Clay, who narrows his eyes. He looks between us, and I catch the wheels spinning behind his stare. He’s alert, which means I need to be ready for anything.

He leans back, lacing his hands behind his head, and smiles wide. “Good job, bro.”

“Thanks.”

“Now that business is out of the way, let me tell you about something funny that happened at the Simmons project yesterday morning.”

Now, it’s my turn to go on alert, trying to recall if anything was out of place when I led Greer out of the apartment the other night. I was careful to leave no evidence of us being there.

“What’s that?” I gruff, pretending not to care.

“Word is, when the construction crew showed up, there was an imprint on the windows in the master bedroom. It caused quite a stir.”

Fuck! I know where he’s going with this, but I remain stoic.

“There a problem with the windows?”

“Nope, they’re fine. But they were marred with the distinctive mark of an ass print.”

As hard as I try to remain emotionless, my dick lurches in my pants at the memory of fucking Greer against the wall of windows.

Janice sucks in an audible breath and makes an excuse to leave, her face turning pink as she scurries away.

Smooth, Janice.

“Don’t know what to tell you, Clay. I’m not up to date on the construction gossip.”

“Why don’t you cut to the chase and save us a lot of time and energy? Tell me what’s going on with you.”

I remove my glasses and squeeze the bridge of my nose, closing my eyes in irritation. He really is a dog with a bone. When I open them, I give him a hard glare.

“I think I’ve proven to you exactly where my head is at. When I had my ass handed to me, the expectation was to breathe, eat, and sleep this project until it consumed me. That’s exactly what I’ve done. You’re starting to annoy the shit out of me with your suspicions and skepticism. Can’t you do your job and get me the money?”

It was a dick thing to say, even for me.

He gets up without a word and heads to the door. When he grips the knob, I know I need to make this right because, even though he’s getting too close for comfort, he’s still my brother.

“Clay, stop.”

He glances over his shoulder, his expression motionless.

“Thanks for worrying, but it’s not necessary. Next week, I’ll be freed up earlier in the evenings. If you want to hit the gym or go for a run, let me know.”

It’s not an apology, but it’s the closest he’s going to get.