Gage’s mouth drops open, and he pulls his sunglasses off. “Fucking finally.”
“What do you mean, finally?” I ask, shocked.
“Come on. There is so much sexual tension around you two, and it’s not even fucking funny.” I narrow my eyes at him and push my door open. I stride to the building, Gage right on my heels, laughing. “You don’t see it, do you?”
“See what, Gage?” I ask without turning around. I key in the codefor the backdoor, and when the lock pops, I swing it open. “There’s nothing to see.”
I keep walking down the long hallway that leads to the offices. The only door on the other wall is the back entrance to the club. This part is for employees only. I unlock the door to my office, shutting it behind Gage. I take my place behind the desk, and he drops into a chair in front of me.
“You’re a smart woman, Les.” He sits forward in his chair. “You can’t tell me you’ve never thought about kissing him.”
I throw my hands in the air. “Of course I have. When we were both hormonal teenagers around each other twenty-four seven. We aren’t teenagers anymore.”
“No, you’re two consenting adults fighting your attraction to each other like toddlers,” he retorts.
“Do you want to get shot in the face today?” I threaten. That’s the second time he’s said something smartass in the past five minutes.
He snorts, “You wouldn’t shoot me. What’s holding you back?”
I sit back in my chair with a sigh. He isn’t going to let this go. “Twenty-five years of friendship.” I swallow. “Leo.”
He waves his hand in the air. “If anyone can make a relationship work and keep the friendship intact, it’s you and Ryder.” He sinks back in his chair with a thoughtful look, and I’m immediately suspicious. “As for Leo, do you still want to be with him?”
“I don’t know,” I say miserably. “I love him, Gage,” I whisper.
He shrugs. “Duh, or he would be dead.” Sometimes, I do want to shoot him. “What if you didn’t have to choose?”
“This isn’t a book, Gage, and it doesn’t work that way in real life.”
“Why?” he asks, looking genuinely confused.
Is he fucking with me?
“For one, there is no way in hell Ryder is the sharing type.” I open my laptop. “This conversation is done. I’m not doing this with you.”
He gets up from his chair, striding to the door. He pulls it open. “I never took you for a coward, Les.”With that parting shot, he shuts the door behind him, leaving me gaping at the door.
A coward? How does wanting to save my friendship with Ryder make me a coward?
Pushing everything out of my head, I get to work. I don’t want to be here all day. No matter how hard I try, my mind keeps returning to what Gage said. We can’t have that type of relationship. Can we? Do I even want a relationship with Ryder? Do I even want to stay in one with Leo?
“Fuck you, Gage Murphy Lawson,” I mutter. “Fuck you for putting this shit in my head.”
He just has to add to it like I don’t have enough going on. I’ve have three guys I thought I could be serious with in my life. It started with Dex until all that went up in smoke, then there was Zane until I found out he was a traitor, and now Leo, who I just found out had been lying to me for months. I didn’t have a stellar track record with relationships. It would eventually blow up in my face, and I would lose my best friend. Right?
It isn’t unknown in the Mafia world for a family of mostly men to share a woman; it happens more than you think. Polyamorous relationships are common for made families, like the one I have with the guys. None of us are related by blood, but they are still my family.
Two hours fly by before Gage cautiously sticks his head back in. “Do you have weapons?”
“Step into the room and find out.”
He walks in with a grin, popping them damn dimples out. “You wouldn’t hurt me.” He falls into the chair with a sigh. “I’m bored.”
“Go flirt with one of the girls,” I tell him, gesturing towards where my bar manager, Gia, and one of my bartenders, Katie, are taking stock.
He wrinkles his nose. “Not feeling it.”
I clutch my chest. “Gage, isn’t feeling flirty?” I lean up on the desk. “Are you okay? Did they turn you down?”
