Page 50 of A Crazy Kind of Love
He grew serious. “If I could carry it for you, I would, Josie. I hate that you have to work so hard just to hit normal. And you gave me a scare last week. And then again last night . . .”
“I was fine, Zion. You totally misread my reaction.” I dropped my voice a little. “If you’d heard what Micah had said to me . . .”
He sighed. “I heard enough in the car. You sure he doesn’t have a gay brother somewhere? Beautifulandthoughtful.”
“Mmm, yeah, he is.”
The toaster dinged, and Zion plated our breakfast. I tested my blood sugar while he set everything down on the table.
Micah returned, looking like he’d also tried and failed to salvage his hair.
I’d already taken a bite of my toast when he sat beside me. “By the way, I’m having lunch with your sister today. Should I tell her you said hey?”
He sipped his coffee for a second before responding. “Can you maybe not mention this to her until I have a chance to? I mean, I don’t think she’ll get bent out of shape, but I’d rather be the one to talk her down.”
“Won’t she be mad that I lied by omission?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll explain everything.”
Before I could probe further, Zion sat down and cajoled Micah, hoping to convince him into coming to the office with us. “Imagine the look on Andy’s face if you walked right in with us. He’d piss himself.”
Micah wisely excused himself, saying, “That’s like asking a murder suspect to just stop into the precinct for a couple of questions.”
“But think of the hijinks!” Zion changed course. “Could I take pictures of you eating breakfast with Josie?”
I choked and coughed. “NO! God, no!”
Micah leaned back, smiling. “Let me crawl into her bed first.”
Zion laughed. “Maybe if you draped her blanket over your bare body?”
My eyes bugged out. “Now you’re trying to take advantage of the boy for your own sick entertainment.” I acted put out, but the image of Micah half-naked in my bed left me regretting my decision to put him off the night before. On the other hand, I loved that he hadn’t made any attempt to convince me to change my mind. And that was worth a little morning-after regret. Better than regretting the reverse.
Micah’s poor beleaguered driver arrived and carried him out of my life. But I was armed with his phone number, his email address, and a promise that he’d contact me later in the day.
When Zion and I got to the office, Andy had assembled everyone together for some kind of stand-up meeting. The second we came through the door, he said, “Are we all clear?”
Everyone nodded and went to their workstations. I glanced at Zion. “What was that about?”
Andy said, “With me, Jo.”
Somehow I’d devolved to rank newbie in a little less than a week. I entered his office, unprepared for whatever he had on his mind. “Sir?”
“I’ve asked Derek to cover anything regarding Micah or Eden Sinclair from now on. I think you have a conflict of interest.”
“What? Why?”
He pushed his iPad toward me, and I saw the back of my head as I ascended the stairs in the bar, a couple of steps above Micah.
“Did you expect me to take pictures? I wasn’t even on the clock!”
He rolled his eyes. “Jo, you’re paparazzi. You’re always on the clock.”
I fumbled in my bag for my camera. “I did shoot some pictures from last night’s show.”
“Are you kidding? Micah’s a pretty face, and we can always use provocative pictures of him. But his band is low interest news.”
“I’ve got some with his fans in a private meeting after the show.”
