“Ha-ha. Real mature.” Joking aside, their newest employee’s reaction to him really puzzled him. Gray admitted he was used to people . . . well . . . liking him. Growing up, he’d known part of it had been because of his family and their money. There were a lot of fake people out there who wanted to say they were friends with one of the Mathers kids. But as he’d matured, he’d learned to tell the users from the genuine people. And then he’d found his place here at Black-Gray. Or thought he had.
Lately, things had felt a bit stale. Same old same old. Same old problems at the club, same old issues in his personal life. He knew it was his own fault. He liked to help people. But sometimes it would be nice to have a bit of a break. To unwind.
Maybe you need a vacation.
Yeah, he could just see Hunter’s face if he suggested that. Who would deal with their clients? Hunter? They wouldn’t have any when he returned. Cady? Maybe, although she could be as blunt as Hunter when she got pissed off. Tiny? Right. Because he was so good at getting people to talk.
So, a vacation was out. Perhaps he needed to re-evaluate what he was doing, because it wasn’t working. Here he was inching closer to forty and the only real relationship he’d ever had had ended over three years ago because Liz hadn’t been able to deal with how much time his family and job demanded of him. Now she was married with two kids.
And he was still where he’d been three years ago.
Still at his mother’s beck and call. Still spending every Saturday night at the club, playing with different subs but never finding one that particularly called to him. Gray knew he was a good-looking guy, he knew there were plenty of women who’d jump into his bed given the chance, but none of them appealed to him.
He wanted real. He wanted it all. Kids. A wife. A home.
“Gray? You listening?”
Gray glanced around, seeing that everyone but Hunter had left. Damn it. He guessed there was no avoiding this talk.
“Yeah, of course.” Not at all. His mind swung to the issue of their latest employee. What was up with her? “You think she’s going to be a good fit? She seems kind of cold and standoffish.”
“I thought the same in the beginning. But our clients seem to love her. Cady likes her and she doesn’t like just anyone.”
And Cady meant everything to Hunter. Gray really liked Cady. She was smart, she didn’t take any bullshit, and she wasn’t afraid to stick up for what she believed in. She also had good judgement.
“Just because she doesn’t fall immediately under your charm doesn’t mean something’s wrong with her. It’s kind of refreshing to see you have to work for something for a change.”
Gray gave his partner a surprised look. “What do you mean? I work for stuff.”
“Yeah, right. Everything you touch has always turned to gold. And that’s fine. You make friends easily. You only have to snap your fingers and half a dozen people will come running to do your bidding. You’re not used to someone not instantly liking you.”
Was that true? Of course not . . . except he couldn’t remember the last time someone acted like Lacey did around him.
“You think I’m imagining there’s something wrong because I can’t believe she doesn’t like me?” He shook his head. “There’s more to it than that.”
“People look at you and they see someone who will take care of them. You let them take advantage. Look at all the subs at the club. As soon as you walk through the door, they mob you with all their troubles and complaints. And you listen, you tell them what to do, and they walk away happy because someone fixed their problems for them. She’s got problems, anyone can see that. Only, she isn’t running to you with whatever her issues are, and that pisses you off because you’re a fixer.”
“I am not.” What the fuck was Hunter going on about?
“Yeah, you are. You like solving everyone’s shit. Can’t understand why. Couldn’t think of anything worse than listening to other people complaining about their petty crap.”
“It’s not petty crap. Sometimes, you have all the sensitivity of a wart hog.”
Hunter surprised him with a grin. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Gray rolled his eyes. “Only you would think being called a pig is a compliment. The other day when I said you handled Mrs. Stepman with a surprising amount of empathy and compassion you threatened to hit me.”
“Them’s fightin’ words. Empathy and compassion.” Hunter snorted. “Who are you, Dr. Phil?”
Gray just shook his head.
“And you are a fixer. It’s who you are. You’re not happy unless you have something to solve.”
Yeah? If it made him so happy to solve other people’s issues, then how come he was so damn tired of it?
“She’s got problems that, unlike most other females, she seems to want to keep to herself and it’s driving you insane not to fix them. See? And you think I don’t understand people. I get people. I just don’t like them. That’s the difference.”
“Uh-huh, thank you for your wonderful insight. But you don’t know everything.”