Chapter Two
Bowie
The buzz through the building continued with the news about Derick and Lane Starling retiring and their eight sons returning home to pick up the mantle. Bowie had worked hard to stay away from the office gossips as all the chatter made him feel like he’d put ants in his pants. Today, Hollis had explained his reasoning behind the allocation of PA roles to the returning alpha sons and how he had a new role. Thankfully, he was staying as Bowie’s boss. He really liked Hollis because he explained everything in ways that he understood… most of the time. He knew that sometimes he got a little confused with the way folks talked about things, but his other PA friends, Frey, Lennon, Monty, Isley, Ziggy, and Wilder, were good at helping him out when it happened. Not that he couldn’t do the work. He had a degree in advertising. It could apply to anything, and that was why Bowie had chosen it when he had no clue what he had wanted to do after college.
He'd come across an advertisement for Starling Enterprises just after he’d finished his degree and got a spark of interest from the ad copy. Intrigued enough to apply, he’d met Lane Starling, the nicest man on the planet as far as Bowie was concerned, and everything had lined up. Then he’d learned that Lane liked to bake, and Bowie thought he’d landed in heaven.
Lane retiring left him feeling a loss in ways he would never voice to the others when it sounded creepy to say he thought of Lane as his family.
His maudlin feelings, which could creep up on him when he wasn’t paying attention, made him go to the restroom after leaving Hollis and the others.
He hid in the bathroom stall and gave himself a talking to. “This is good for Lane and Derick. Lane assured us he isn’t disappearing, and he’ll still be here if I need to talk.”
He pressed his feverish forehead against the door and released a shuddery breath. “It’s all gonna be okay. Kari is nice.” He was.
He really was nice and kind. Bowie had noticed these things when he had worked on projects with Kari in the past. Bolstered by this, Bowie moved to open the door and leave the restroom, deciding to show some initiative by going to see what Kari needed from him. It was good to start off on a positive footing, wasn’t it? Frey always said that, and he was confident and self-assured in ways Bowie wanted to be.
Another thought followed on its heels. Would Kari see this as Bowie being a brown-noser? Not that he knew what that meant, but he’d heard Wilder say it in a context that fitted what Bowie was doing.
Oh…
Now that he thought about it, maybe Wilder hadn’t mentioned it like it was a good thing.
Already in the elevator, he dithered about his decision when it dinged, and the doors slid open onto an empty corridor. Shouldhe just go back to his office and wait for Kari to contact him? But wouldn’t that be bad because it would make him appear as if he weren’t interested?
Second-guessing himself was a habit Bowie had, and nothing ever really changed it unless he was told to behave by anyone that wasn’t him.
His nose wrinkled with uncertainty about where his thoughts were traveling. He blew out a breath and blinked rapidly to stop the thoughts from wandering off without him.
“Bowie?”
As Monica, Derick Starling’s personal assistant, said his name, Bowie’s lips curved into a small smile. Before he realized he remained standing neither in nor out of the elevator, like he couldn’t decide what he was doing. His cheeks heated with embarrassment at getting caught like that.
“You… okay?”
He stepped out of the elevator but remained just in front of the doors. “I came to see Kari.” Why did he sound like he’d asked a question?
She flicked the long strands of her onyx hair over one shoulder. It shimmered like a cape of black silk over her red blouse. Her gaze softened as she walked to him and patted his arm.
“Ah, so he got allocated the cake genius.”
A warmth filled Bowie’s chest, and a genuine smile removed his uncertain expression. When it came to baking, a hobby he discovered he excelled at, he had all the confidence in the world. It turned out to be the best distraction from the lack in other areas of his life and made him feel wanted when his friends gushed over what he brought in for them to eat.
“Let’s hope he’s got a sweet tooth.”
“Hey if he hasn’t, you know I’ll be your guinea pig.”
“Aren’t you a vampire bat?” Bowie asked in confusion, frowning when Monica giggled.
“It means I’ll test all of your cakes,” she said through the giggles. Her smile wasn’t mean, so he grinned back at her.
He never got why folks said stuff that made little sense to him. Straightforward was always best, so Bowie knew where he was. He didn’t say that though because he didn’t want to upset Monica, she was nice.
“Okay,” he replied blandly.
She patted his arm once more and strode off in the opposite direction on heels that looked like they’d hurt a person’s feet the way they made them arch.
Alone, it was hard once again not to second-guess himself when he glanced down the corridor towards Kari’s office. His sneakers dragged on the carpet as he walked in that direction. He slowed his stride and chewed the inside of his lower lip. As he passed the secretaries desks, he offered nods if they looked up.
