Tempting Him by Isabel Lucero

32

We’reall frozen in place, shock stealing the words from each of us. I take a step back, opening the door wider, allowing Cal the opportunity to come in. Jay steps through the sliding doors, entering the suite and slipping the phone in his pocket.

The only silver lining here is that neither of us is in any state of undress, but just the fact that he’s here at all is suspicious and highly inappropriate from a business standpoint. There’s no way we’re talking our way out of this, and I’m not sure if I should be the person to speak first.

Calvin strides in, eyes focused solely on Jay. “What is going on here?” he questions, his body tense.

“Dad,” Jay starts, glancing at me for help. “I...uh. I came here for…”

I can tell he’s gonna try to lie. That’s everybody’s first instinct when getting caught doing something they know they shouldn’t be doing. Lie. Deny. Lie some more. I can’t blame him.

“This seems highly inappropriate,” Cal says, turning his attention to me briefly. “To be in your boss’s hotel. At night.”

The insinuation is there. Cal knows his son is into men, but he doesn’t know about me. That might be the only thing keeping him from instantly jumping to that conclusion.

“You're here,” Jay says defensively.

Cal pins him with an intense look. “I’m his friend. You are an intern. There should be no reason for you to be here.” He turns to face me, and I try to remain relaxed, sliding my hands in my pockets. “Unless you called him here for a specific, work-related reason. Is that it, Alek?”

He’s giving me an out, and I could take it. I should take it. It would be easy to say I needed him to pick up some papers for some project, but I think we’d all know that was bullshit. I inhale deeply, my eyes finding Jay. He gives me a shrug and a look that lets me know I can tell him if I want.

“It wasn’t work-related, Cal. I won’t lie to you.”

Calvin inhales deeply through his nose, his jaw clenched tight as his fists ball up at his sides. His chest heaves with each breath as he stares at me, but he quickly turns to his son.

“You...you’re sleeping with…” He can’t get the words out, and he takes in another breath as he tries to steady himself. “What the fuck is happening here? Is this how you try to secure a job?”

Jay’s face contorts. “That’s not what I’m doing.”

“Well, what is this?” Calvin faces me. “Alek, what are you doing? This is my son. My son!” he yells.

“Dad, I’m an adult. It’s not a big deal.”

“It’s not a big deal?” he questions, spinning back toward Jay. “He’s damn near my age, and he’s your boss. He’s my boss! This isn’t right.”

“Cal, it’s not a serious relationship. We’re just…” I trail off, not wanting to say what we’ve been doing.

Jay looks at me, his brows drawing in slightly. “Fucking. We’re just fucking. Did you think I was a virgin? I’ve slept with plenty of people. Do you want to know who they all are?”

He’s angry, and he’s pushing his dad’s buttons. Calvin explodes. “You need to watch it,” he spits, pointing a finger at him. “I’m talking about this situation specifically. You should know better. You both should,” he says, throwing a furious look in my direction.

“We met before he started working for me,” I offer. “I didn’t know he was your son when we first...in the beginning.”

“I don’t give a shit. You should’ve ended it the minute you saw him in that office. That’s the responsible thing to do. And you should’ve told me.” He turns back to Jay. “Or you should’ve.” Something dawns on him and his eyes widen and his lips part. “We all had dinner together. You both sat with me, eating and drinking, and neither of you thought to tell me you were sleeping together.”

I run a hand over my forehead. “We weren’t really...it’s complicated.”

“We had a fight. We weren’t talking then.”

“A fight? Couples fight. People who are just having sex don’t fight. Are you trying to tell me this is serious?”

“No,” I answer. Maybe too quickly based on the way Jay looks at me. “Fuck. I don’t know what to say here. You’re not gonna like it no matter what.”

“You’re damn right, I won’t.”

“I understand this is shocking, but you were never supposed to know. What we’ve been doing has been under wraps. Nobody knows. It always had a termination date. Alek goes back to Chicago soon.”

“Alek,” Cal says through a humorless laugh. “You call him Alek. He’s your boss!”

“He’s a lot more than that!” Jay fires back before taking a breath. “You don’t have to understand.”

Cal’s brows shoot up, surprised by his son’s words. He ignores them for now, focusing on me. “I didn’t even know you were into men.”

I shrug. “Not many do.”

“Jesus Christ,” he says, running a hand over his bald head. “Your mother and sister are here. They’re in our hotel room. What the hell am I supposed to tell them?”

Jay’s back straightens. “Whatever you want. Look, I’m not ashamed. I don’t know if you think I should be, but I’m not. I like Alek. We’ve had fun together and we haven’t allowed that to interfere with work. You know how he is, so you should know he’s kept everything professional. I’m not glued to him all day. He’s not giving me special treatment. I mainly work with other people, anyway. If you think I should care about the age difference, I don’t. So, I don’t see the problem. It doesn’t affect you or anyone else. You’ve preached to me about growing up and being an adult, and yet, you still act as if I’m a kid. Trust that you’ve raised me to make the best decisions for myself.”

Cal’s quiet for several seconds before shaking his head. “I can’t believe this. I really can’t.”

“I’m sorry, Cal,” I say. “I understand you feel betrayed in some way, but Jay’s right. We’re both adults and capable of making our own decisions. I know our friendship adds another fucked up layer to this, and I tried to cut it off but...well, it didn’t work.”

Jay smirks at me from behind his dad’s back.

“This ends now. Termination date is to-fucking-night. This is wrong on many levels. Jayden, come on.”

“You’re my dad, but you don’t control who I fuck, regardless of whether you know them or not.”

“Watch your mouth,” Cal snaps. “We’re here for the week leading up to graduation. You will spend most of your time with us anyway. When is this internship over?”

“Next week,” I answer.

“I know you’re the head of the company, but I can still report this. You sleeping with an intern is wrong.”

“Dad, stop,” Jay pleads.

“It’s fine,” I say. “He’s right and is entitled to his feelings. Cal, I’ll head back to Chicago early.”

“What?” Jay exclaims. “No. Fuck that.”

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not. That wasn’t the plan. What about my graduation? What about…” he trails off as his dad’s expression changes.

“Graduation? You want him at your graduation?”

Jay ignores him. “Alek, please. We had two weeks.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Then stay!” he says, storming toward me, clasping my wrist with his fingers.

I run my thumb over the back of his hand. “It was always leading to this. You’re about to graduate and start your life here. Maybe at MGD. My life is in Chicago.”

He presses his lips together as he stares into my eyes. His dad clears his throat, reminding us of his presence.

“Jayden, let’s go. Alek needs to start packing.” He levels me with a look. “I know you could fire me, but I hope considering the circumstances, you’ll allow me to keep working, but I think we can agree our friendship is effectively over.”

I nod once at him before looking back at Jay. With his father here, it really messes up the moment. I probably shouldn’t kiss him, but I want to. We only got the one in, and regret settles deep in my core. There’s so much I want to say, but Cal’s fuming and staring holes into both of us.

“Bye, Jayden.”

He shakes his head slightly, like he doesn’t want to say bye. “I wouldn’t change a thing,” he says before storming out of the room ahead of his father.