Caught Up in Us (17 page)

“He’d been skulking around here
too. My place as well. Last night, he kept calling both of us all
night, saying nasty things. That’s why Bryan sent his car for you
this morning. To keep you safe all day.” Nicole noticed my wet
cheek and wrapped her arms around me. “Hey. You’re okay. Everyone’s
okay. Wilco’s in police custody now for assault and battery. And
the attorneys dropped him as a client, so there’s no more
lawsuit.”

“For now.”

“For now. But really. That’s all
there is. Right now.”

“Where’s Bryan? How is
he?”

Nicole tipped her forehead to the
staircase. “Upstairs on the living room couch. He’s a little loopy
right now. We took him to the hospital to get him checked out. His
hand was pretty messed up, so they gave him some pain meds. Then he
kept asking for you.”

I felt some of the fear leave my
body. “He did?”

Nicole nodded. “He said he wanted
to see you. He wanted me to call you.”

She gestured to the stairs, and I
followed her, unsure of what to expect. When I reached the living
room, Bryan was stretched out on the couch, his head resting on a
pillow, the TV on a low volume. He was wearing a checked
button-down shirt and dark gray pants, but his shoes were off,
kicked onto the hardwood floor. The sleeves on his shirt had been
rolled up a few times. There was a bruise on his cheek. He smiled
at me as if I were the answer to any question. “Hey
you.”

I melted at the sound of his voice
and the way he looked at me, his eyes so warm, his smile so soft. I
liked him even more when he was a little loopy from meds. I walked
over to him.

“Sit down.”

I sat gingerly on the edge of the
couch, not wanting to hurt him. I pointed to his bandaged hand.
“Does it hurt?”

“Not now. Those little white pills
have worked their voodoo magic.”

I laughed once. “I bet. Are you
okay?”

“Yeah. And if I’d known all I had
to do to get rid of a lawsuit was let him land a few punches, I’d
have done it sooner.”

“Don’t say that.”

“Kat, do you
want something to drink?” The question came from Nicole.

“I’m okay.”

“Bryan? More water?”

“How about a beer? When can I have
one of those? Or maybe we should get champagne to celebrate the
suit being dropped.”

Nicole rolled her eyes, and headed
upstairs.

“So.”

“So,” he replied and flashed me
another one of his woozy smiles.

“Those pain meds must be
good.”

“Not as good as you.” Then he
reached his un-bandaged hand into my hair and pulled me to him,
bringing my lips to his and kissing me softly. It was the last
thing I expected, but it was the thing I wanted most in the world,
and I gave in to the kiss, to the way his lips knew mine, to the
way he tasted sweet and salty at the same time. “Now I feel much
better.”

He closed his eyes and fell
asleep.

*****

Nicole didn’t know everything. But
she knew enough.

“It wasn’t that hard to figure
out,” she said, as we sat on the metal stools in Bryan’s kitchen
while he dozed. Nicole’s feet dangled; she looked even tinier on a
stool.

“Really?”

“I noticed how he talked about
you. And I think you’re pretty brilliant too, but there was
something else in his voice. It was always more vulnerable at those
times. And then yesterday in my office when you looked at him as he
walked away, it all clicked.”

I dropped my head in my hands.
“I’m so obvious.”

“No. You’re just
in love.” Nicole sounded like a gruff, tough chick doling out
truisms with that husky voice of hers.

“I guess it’s obvious. But we’re
not supposed to be.”

She waved a hand in the air. “When
are we ever supposed to be? I mean, does it ever happen at the
right time? I met my partner on a work project too. There are
always complications in every relationship.”

“So what did he say?” I was
fishing for information, but I didn’t care. We’d been so careful. I
couldn’t just accept the notion that suddenly all his concerns had
flown out the window.

But it was more than that. I
wanted to be something with him. I didn’t want to be his phone
booty call. I didn’t want to be the girl who always had to lie low.
I wanted to be out-in-the open and for real with him. All or
nothing. That’s what I wanted.

“I just asked him point blank at
the hospital if he had a thing for you. He said yes.” My heart
fluttered, and even with Bryan banged up downstairs I couldn’t help
but grin wildly. “And he was all worried about the board and how
they’d look at this because of Wilco’s affair. And then there’s
Caldwell, who’s Captain Conservative.”

“Right, and those are all still
true.”

“Yes, but you’re twenty-three and
not an employee.” Nicole reached out and took my hand. She had this
satisfied look in her eyes, like a good matchmaker pulling off a
match. “So when I asked him if it was the real thing with you, and
he said yes to that as well, I told him I’d talk to the board and
to Caldwell in particular. The guy’s conservative as hell, but he
didn’t freak out when I brought my partner to the holiday party
last year so I think I can convince him.”

This was all I wanted. To be more
than just playmates. To be a real thing. A rush of happiness warmed
me all over.

“What about NYU though? And the
mentor program?”

“I told Bryan that as long as he
recused himself as your mentor, everything should be
fine.”

Ah, there was a catch. There was
always a catch. Without this class how would I graduate?

Chapter Eighteen

You know when they tell you that
you can have your cake and eat it too?

They’re wrong.

You always have to pay the piper.
You can’t take the money and run.

As Nicole returned to her home,
leaving me with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy, all
I could think was Bryan might be free and clear, but there was no
way I could come out of this unscathed. Not now at least. Whatever
we might be would have to go back on hold once again. I couldn’t
have him end the mentorship. I needed to finish school for a
million reasons.

I went to the kitchen, feeling a
bit like an intruder as I rooted around for two spoons. I’d never
been in his place before, and now here I was, for all intents and
purposes, taking care of him after a trip to the ER. I found a
white wood-paneled drawer that held utensils. I grabbed two spoons,
then two cloth napkins from the holder in the island and returned
to the living room. Bryan was awake now, reading a book on his
tablet. Night had fallen, so the only illumination was the screen.
When he saw me, he put the tablet on the table. I surveyed his
living room once more. The hardwood floors in his home were a
polished blond, and the walls were eggshell, giving the room
warmth. There were a few pieces of art on the walls — reproductions
of the Magritte with an apple in front of a man’s face, and one of
Mark Rothko’s abstract images in solid red. The couch was
comfortable and classy in a dove gray color, and the coffee table
was made of a sheet of sturdy glass atop two brushed metal blocks.
His tablet rested next to his wallet, and I noticed the crinkled
edge of a tiny white bag sticking out of his wallet. The bag was
well-worn, as if it had set up camp there for years. Something
about it felt vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place
why.

I joined him on the couch, opened
the pint and presented him with a spoon.

“My favorite. How did you
know?”

“Nicole knew, silly.”

He tapped his forehead with the
spoon. “Still a little slow on the uptake tonight.”

“It’s a good thing you haven’t had
the ice cream yet or you’d have a huge chocolate spot on your
forehead.”

He dug into the ice cream, and I
joined him. We ate quietly for a minute. After a few bites, he put
the spoon down on the coffee table. I placed my spoon and the pint
next to it. “Did Nicole tell you?” he asked.

“Tell me what?”

“Anything interesting?”

I shifted so I could look at him.
“Maybe you should tell me something interesting.”

He swallowed, and the soft
sleepiness of the crazy day disappeared. He was Bryan again. Strong
and in control. There was no hemming and hawing. No lengthy
preamble. He was direct and clear, as he looked me in the eyes.
“I’m totally in love with you, Kat.”

I was speechless for a moment.
Overcome. This was the movie-like moment I’d wanted my whole life.
Only it was real. It was happening. And I was no longer sitting in
the theater in the dark, watching. I was the girl in the scene who
was crazy for the boy.

And the boy loved me
too.

I was a flood of colors. I was the
center of a sunburst, as my heart beat faster, and happiness rushed
all throughout the freeways of the intersecting veins inside my
body, filling me with everything good in the world.

“I’m so in love with you,
Bryan.”

He kissed me again. This kiss was
deeper, closer. I was careful with him, sensitive to his damaged
hand, and the tender spot on his ribs where Wilco had slammed a
fist. But the painkillers must have muted all that, because Bryan
seemed only to be enjoying every touch, every movement between us.
My arms wrapped around his neck, while my hands worked their way up
into his soft hair. His good hand pressed firmly onto my back,
while his bandaged one rested by his side. I felt hungrier than I
had that afternoon many weeks ago at the factory, but maybe that’s
just because I hadn’t eaten anything for dinner. Then there were
Bryan’s lips on mine, sweeter than the ice cream that would surely
turn to a puddle if we kept going like this.

But we couldn’t keep going like
this. We had to stop. We had to put the whole thing on ice for real
this time. No kissing. No bathroom trysts. No phone
calls.

I pulled back. “We need to
talk.”

He tensed, but then shifted to a
sitting position and to his standard business voice.
“Okay.”

I was reminded how quickly he
could segue from one mode to another. I wasn’t sure if this was an
admirable trait or not.

“Nicole told me the advice she
gave you. That we could pursue a relationship or whatever.” I found
myself blushing and looking away when I said those
words.

He smirked, then flashed that
lopsided grin. “A relationship or whatever? Is that what the kids
are calling it these days? Relationships or whatever?”

I pretended to punch his
arm.

“Hey. I’m damaged goods now. Be
careful.”

“Anyway. So yeah. Relationship or
whatever.”

“Do we call
it
boyfriend-girlfriend
these days? Or is that too high school?
Lovers
just seems so
weird. Especially, since, you know, I haven’t seen you fully naked
yet.”

“Okay. I thought
we were being serious,” I said, but it occurred to me that maybe he
was avoiding the serious conversation.

“Fine. I’m serious.”

“But we can’t
right now. You have to tell her that even if we’re —” I stopped
talking. I couldn’t bring myself to say
in
love
out loud. I was too afraid the words
were a fragile bubble that might burst.

“In love,” he
said, completing the phrase.

“Yes. That we
can’t be involved until I graduate. Professor Oliver won’t stand
for
hanky panky or else an
F
, as you know. And I have to get my
degree. Not just to get the investment, but because I want to. So
we have to really, truly, for real this time put everything on
hold. Yes, we could sneak around. Yes, we could try not to be
caught. And maybe we’d be successful, but I just don’t want to take
the risk, especially with all that happened with Wilco. I feel like
we only narrowly escaped. I want to do things the right way. I want
to start over with you in the open, not in
hiding.”

I’d always swayed with him, bent
to my own wishes to be with Bryan no matter the cost. But there was
more at stake now than us. “So I guess what I’m saying is you kind
of have to be my mentor. You can’t recuse yourself or I might not
be able to finish school.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so
you’re kind of giving me an order.”

“Kind of. Or more like a request.
Can you please let Nicole know you have to stay as my mentor for
the next several weeks, and that we’re going to be good boys and
girls, and then when I graduate, we can…”

“Be together?”

“Yes. But we really have to cool
it til then. No taking chances. No calls. No nothing.”

“I think I could be amenable to
waiting for you under one condition.”