Finn gains control of himself and sits again. “Trey, there wouldn’t be an RDA without you and if you leave, there probably won’t be one for much longer. You've shed blood and tears over this company. I’m not going to let you throw away your dream… our dream over one stupid newspaper article.”
“Fine, but—”
“No buts.” Finn stands again and slaps Trey on the arm. “Go home, spend the rest of the day with Sim, build a city or something."
Trey smiles at his statement, but once again I’m left clueless at what’s so funny.
“I for one am going upstairs to waste away my Sunday watching mindless television.” Aspen’s head rolls to the ceiling, but when Finn holds his hand out for her, she stands and they walk out of the office together.
Trey sighs again and my heart breaks a little. Even though it’s not my fault entirely, I’m the catalyst that started Mari’s crazy episode and I'm partially responsible for Trey’s distress.
“All right, Mari’s fucked with our day enough. Do you want to go back to my place and hang low for the afternoon?”
“Sure.” I smile up at him and he looks a little calmer. I’m not gullible enough to believe the fallout from this is over, but at least Trey knows where we all stand.
“Where’s your coat?” he asks as he takes my hand.
I look to my left to try for some fake innocence. “Um, my apartment.”
We reach the employee entrance. He shakes his head at my lack of acceptable attire but doesn’t make me go upstairs to grab it. I laugh at his reaction and we push through the back door together to be blinded by the flashing of lights.
At least five people stand out on the back stoop with large cameras in front of their faces, the flashbulbs flickering. We both freeze and it opens the opportunity for the reporters to yell questions across the space.
“Trey, is this the secretary?”
Trey pulls me back into the building and waits until the door clicks in place. His tight closed fierce expression has me worried he’ll go back out and say something he’ll regret later. My hand raises to his jaw, and I place a soft kiss on his cheek. His extra-long stubble tickles my lips. His missed morning trim is probably a sign he read paper first thing. I’m starting to repeat the kiss when Trey lets out a large breath and opens his eyes.
“What about we spend the day at your place?”
**
“Do you think it’s too early for wine?” I call out from my small rectangular kitchen as Trey hooks the game system from the main office to my smaller flat screen TV.
“Not today.” His words startle me by how close they are and I turn to find him standing next to me.
I turn back to the fridge. “When did you become a ninja?”
“One is born with the skill. One must only seek to use the skill.”
“Dork.” I smile at his small show of nerdiness even if he can’t see it with my head in the refrigerator. “So you want a pop then?”
“It’s so cute how you call it pop.”
“Whatever.” I pass him the cold can of pop I’ll never be able to call soda and reach toward the cupboard to get two glasses.
Trey beats me there but stops. He turns and in his hand holds the neon green cat cup from the little bar where we were met.
“You kept yours?”
I turn a little red for some reason. “Yeah.”
He sets the cup in question on the counter and opens his pop pouring some in. “I still have mine too.”
I laugh, but it sounds nervous for some unexplained reason. “Yeah, I know.”
He looks up from his pouring business and cocks his head at me.
“I saw it during sweatergeddon. It wasn’t a good night to bring it up.”
