Eli

by Shaw Montgomery

  Devin moaned. “Don’t get me started on that gaggle.”

  He’d started calling my mother and her sisters “a gaggle of nosy geese” when he was in high school. It was a good fit for them. Devin and I had about the same level of patience for it, which was how he’d ended up so far from the rest of them. It was working out in my favor.

  “The center is going great, but I refuse to give them any more gossip. You wouldn’t believe the shit I had to hear about Aunt Deedee’s oldest. Somebody needs to call her and warn her. She’s going to hit the roof when she finds out what her mother is saying.” I could almost hear Devin rolling his eyes.

  “I’m not getting involved. I’m finally off the hot seat, so I have no desire to rock the boat.” My phone had rung off the hook for weeks after all the drama had finally exploded. From my mother worrying about “where she’d gone wrong” to her sisters calling for good bits of gossip under the guise of helping, I’d had about all the family bonding I could handle for a while.

  Devin laughed. “They’ll come back to you eventually. You have a job now, but once they find out you’re not working for a clothing company, they’re going to lose their shit.”

  “I am working for a clothing company.” Fuck, that was all I needed. “You tell any of them, and I’ll tell your mother you want kids.” Tossing some clothes on the bed, I started gathering up everything else I wanted to bring with me.

  He sucked in a breath. “That’s low.”

  “Two words…biological clock.” They’d be so focused on him, I’d never hear from any of them. “I’ll tell them you were drunk and crying that you didn’t have a family and kids. You were so upset about not being married that you were hiding it from everyone.”

  “Ass.” Then Devin chuckled. “We’ve still got Stevie to throw under the bus. His mother still doesn’t know about the tattoo or those two girls he’s living with.”

  “Yeah, we’ll keep him in reserve. But I’m surprised nobody else has used him yet. We wait too long, and all the good shit’s going to be out in the open.” Blackmail material was the only reason to have a big family, as far as I was concerned.

  Devin scoffed. “In this family? Not a chance.” I heard what sounded like a car door slamming. “I’m late for a meeting, so I’ve gotta hang up. But when my mother asks if you’re fine, will I be lying if I tell her you’re good?”

  Probably.

  “No, everything’s starting to work out.” As long as I left out work, my personal life, my finances, and my sanity.

  “Alright. Just let me know if you need anything.” He wasn’t going to argue, but it was clear he didn’t believe me.

  “You already did more than enough.” Letting me stay on his couch long enough to get my first check, and even putting up with my grumpy ass, was more than I could have asked for.

  Not telling my mother how bad things got was enough that I was going to owe him, eventually.

  “Just let me know. You can always work with my monsters if you want.”

  “No chance in hell.” He laughed at how serious I was. “Helping out sometimes is fine. That’s it, though.”

  “I’m hurt.” The laughter made that statement unbelievable.

  “Would you want me there all day?”

  “Enough said.” The smile in his voice made me almost angry. But his next words pushed me well into insane. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but I think you deserve to know.”

  Shit.

  “What?”

  “He called me.”

  There were only two men I referred to as “he.” But in this situation, there was no other “he” it could be. My ex. “Why?”

  “I got some line of crap that he missed you and realized how badly he’d treated you.” Devin’s voice said he thought it was a load of shit.

  I tried to mentally shrug it off. “I guess all the money is gone.”

  Devin didn’t respond to that; he just kept going. “I told him where he could shove his apology and said you weren’t interested. That was what you wanted me to say, right? You didn’t want him back or anything, did you?”

  “Hell, no. I’m not that stupid.” I almost smiled at his sigh of relief. “He fucked my entire life up for ten seconds of internet fame.”

  Devin just started grumbling, no longer nervous that I’d lose it. “He called the other night around three in the morning or something crazy like that. He’d been drinking and rambled on about how sorry he was.”

  “Bullshit. If he’d been that upset it wouldn’t have taken him months and all my money to realize it.” I hadn’t been rich, but I’d been comfortable, with everything in my life planned out.

  “Good. I was worried once I woke up completely and realized how fucked up it was that he’d even called.”

  “How did he even know to call you?”

  “I don’t know, but you might want to be careful with what kind of stuff you put online. Your name and even the business stuff for a while.”

  Great. “I can’t stop my life. If he calls, I’ll deal with it. Hopefully, he’s smart enough to know that tracking me would be a bad idea.” In this day and age, no website meant no business, especially for a job like mine.

  Devin snorted. “Yeah, understatement of the year. Okay, really got to go this time. Talk to you later.”

  Tossing my phone down on the bed, I started stripping off the sweatpants I’d been lounging in and began getting ready. It felt more like I was putting on armor and less like jeans and a nice button-down. But with Eli around, it always felt like I needed one more layer to keep him away.

  Not that he’d ever done anything overtly sexual to me specifically. While he hung on the rest of the guys and flirted, no matter what he was wearing, with me he kept his distance physically. I still had to watch everything else he was doing, but it was nothing I could complain about.

  Preston, I need you to make Eli stop flirting. Yeah, that would go over well. And it wasn’t like I hadn’t realized how they dealt with each other or the total lack of inhibition, so I couldn’t really complain. It was maddening.

  He was unprofessional.

  He was annoying.

  He thought he knew better about everything.

  He had opinions on everything.

  He wouldn’t shut up.

  He was constantly turned on and loved to rub it in my face—well, not exactly rub. But the constant arousal and general level of desire coming from him was frustrating. How was I supposed to concentrate with his dick waving everywhere?

  A certain level of professionalism should be expected in a workplace.

  It didn’t matter what the hell they sold. None of the other guys I’d photographed had given me the same level of insanity. Some were more cautious than others and some seemed to have settled on Eli’s side things, but they’d all done their best to make the shoots go smoothly.

  By the time I was ready to go, even I could feel my stress level rising. Heading out the door, I tried to take a deep breath, but all I could focus on was the impending drama. Even I had to admit the photos would turn out incredible, no matter what he was wearing, but I wasn’t sure if it was worth it.

  The constant temptation and failure that the brat represented was too much.

  ****

  “I’m not doing this with you today. Just take the goddamned picture like I tell you to so we can get this done. Some of us have better things to do than argue with your sorry ass all day!” Eli’s anger would have touched me more if he hadn’t been hard and naked.

  Nearly naked.

  Somehow the panties, stretched out with his erection straining the fabric, made it harder to take him seriously.

  That was the only reason I could think of why the crazy shit popped out of my mouth. That, and he made me want to shout at him to put some fucking clothes on. “I’m sorry if you have a street corner to go prowl, but some of us have actual work. If you could get your dick under control and look more like a professional model and less like a hooker, we could’ve
been done with this an hour ago!”

  Eli’s heaving chest, flushed with frustration and anger, should have made the lingerie look even more absurd; instead, somehow the contrast made me want to stare at him. Continuing to take pictures, because that’s what I was there for, I couldn’t help trying to capture the unique look.

  All while silently damning the man for looking so hot.

  Why couldn’t brats be ugly? Hell, I’d even take plain. No, brats always had to have a fire inside them that pulled people in. Eli didn’t see the comparison as well as I did because he just started screeching at me again, stalking toward me with those long stocking-clad legs and the high heels making sharp sounds on the wood floor.

  “We’ll be done with this when I say we are. It’s my blog, remember, asshole? My readers want to see the things I liked from the new line, and that’s what I’m going to show them.” He reached down and traced his fingers over his erection. “And I’m not going to hide what I like.”

  The implied “unlike some people” was clear in his voice.

  “Hiding and being a goddamned professional are two different things.” The camera was going crazy as I tried to capture every movement and flash of anger. I wasn’t hiding a damn thing. Just because I wouldn’t give in didn’t mean I was denying anything.

  It really was too bad he wouldn’t let his face be on the site. He was an ass, but I knew the full pictures would be even better.

  “Not in this business, baby. When there’s nothing to hide behind, you have to be honest with people!” He stalked across the set, glancing around for something to throw at me, more than likely. “Unlike some people with a stick up their ass who can’t manage to do their fucking job!”

  “Well, I’ve done my fucking job for today! You have enough slutty pictures to post all over the internet if you want. This was supposed to have been a short shoot to see how the new clothes looked, not an excuse for you to prance around naked all day!” Storming over to the table where all my stuff was laid out, I set my camera down, trying to ignore the flood of emotion running through me.

  “I don’t need an excuse around here to do that! It’s a goddamned fetish and lingerie company, moron!” Eli’s anger echoed throughout the room, making our audience pull in a breath.

  They weren’t helping the situation.

  I wasn’t sure if it was a quirk of the company, or just my luck, but everyone in the building would walk through the room at least once during a photo shoot. There was no concept of privacy or modesty. They changed clothes in front of one another, and Eli would run up to almost all of them stark naked and give them a hug.

  It was enough to make anyone insane.

  Packing everything up, I turned to give him another piece of my mind but stopped as Preston entered the studio. He came in once in a while, usually right before a shoot to point out something or give me a direction he was thinking about for the photos, but usually, he left the studio portion of the building alone.

  “Eli, when you have a moment I need to see you.” Preston gave Eli a long look but didn’t say anything more before he started heading over for me.

  Gripping my bags tighter, I tried not to look as nervous as I felt. I needed the job, and even if Eli made me crazy, I needed to learn to keep more of it inside, or I was going to end up fired. I thought he’d say something about the argument, but he either ignored it or hadn’t heard it. No matter the reason, I was relieved.

  “I’d like to see how these turn out as soon as you get some of the edits done. The company is breathing down my neck, and I want to be able to give them an answer soon. I like the quality that they’ve sent, but I need to know how it shows up on camera.” Preston’s even tone made it hard to stay angry.

  “I think they’ll look good. I’m not sure about selfies with a few of the fabrics, but with the right lighting, the colors are going to pop.” I wasn’t sure how well they’d sell or even if the shades they came in were something people would buy, but the photos were going to be amazing.

  “Great. I’m going to talk to Eli about the actual pieces, but once you have some of the photos done, if you could send them to me and to Eli I’d appreciate it.” Preston nodded and started to head toward the door, his business casual look at odds with the eclectic looks the models and staff were wearing.

  In any other office, I would have expected some kind of comment about getting back to their jobs or wasting time, but Preston smiled and shook his head. He said something quietly to several models that were heading out the door with him, but they just nodded and gave him beaming smiles, so it couldn’t have been anything about work.

  As I turned to go, I caught Eli out of the corner of my eye as he started to strip off the clothing. Watching him peel down the thigh-high hose wasn’t something I was willing to do, so I started walking away. Brats were my drug of choice, but I knew how bad they were for me, and I wasn’t willing to crash again. I was in recovery and I was going to stay that way.

  No matter what it took.

  Chapter 4

  Eli

  Before I could even slam the door, Preston started to speak. He took the fun out of everything. “Business is up ten percent, traffic to the site has increased dramatically, we’ve already sold out of the panties you posted about yesterday, and your rant last night about him almost caused the site to crash.”

  Taking the wind out of my sails wasn’t fair.

  “He’s an ass.”

  Preston nodded. “I’m not going to argue about that.”

  “He’s judgmental.” And he thinks I’m a slut. I didn’t say that part, though. For some reason, I didn’t think I could voice the words without it hurting more than it should.

  I had a lot of people in my life who judged, and a lot of trolls online who made stupid comments, but coming from Roman it just made me angry. For someone who took photos for a living, he certainly couldn’t see very clearly.

  “You’re right. He’s already caused enough havoc to justify firing him.” Preston gave me a look. “In fact, I tried to do that last week when I walked in on you two screaming at each other. You made it dramatically clear that you didn’t want him gone.”

  I’d vetoed him—on the mouth.

  Preston had been frustrated with me, but it’d sent Roman right over the edge, so it’d been worth it at the time. “The pictures are good.”

  Preston couldn’t argue about that. “You’re right.”

  And my blog had never been busier. From the posts to the comments from my fans, it was going nuts. “The panties sold out in twenty-four hours?”

  “Yes.” Then Preston finally cracked a smile. “And Merrick immediately stormed in and said that someone else would have to take over the computers or the marketing department was going to revolt.”

  “Three people can’t stage a coup.” It had to be at least five.

  “They can if they’re the only ones who can run the servers and whatever magic actually runs the website.” Preston and I had both given up when the site had moved past the basic five dollars a month plan that we’d initially signed up for to host the damned thing.

  At first, trying to do it ourselves had seemed like a good idea, but as the company had grown, we’d both thrown our hands in the air and said we didn’t care. He could make sense of the spreadsheets and data, and I understood the clothes and the marketing side of things, but the computers were Greek to us both.

  It’d made me feel better in the beginning when I’d realized I wasn’t the only one who didn’t like them and didn’t really want to learn how to run the actual website, but I was starting to wish I was more help. However, taking anything else on my plate was impossible, and Preston had even said that if I looked at one more responsibility, he’d send me on a vacation—to my mother’s house.

  The threat still sent shivers through me.

  Plopping down in my chair, trying to ignore how good it felt to sit, I shrugged. “We knew it was coming soon. You started putting out feelers when he started saying the s
ame thing the last time sales went up.”

  Preston nodded. “This time he’s serious. There are evidently some upgrades that need to be done, and I sadly had no idea what a lot of it meant. But the basic threat was that it’s all going to explode if we don’t get a full-time IT guy.”

  Letting my head rest against the back of the chair, I tried not to close my eyes. It wasn’t late enough in the day for me to even think about sleep. “You wanted to wait until the numbers looked good enough to support the additional payroll. IT doesn’t come cheap. Can we actually afford the new position and the money that’s going to go into whatever he does with the computers?”

  “Yes.” Preston answered without having to think. “We started planning for this last year when we hit our goals so early. Don’t you remember that conversation?”

  “No.” I lifted my head enough to give him a you’re-insane look. “I start tuning you out after about twenty minutes in those budget meetings.”

  Sighing, he shook his head. “Eli.”

  “You know better than to complain about that.” I was doing a lot better than I had when we’d first started the company.

  He chuckled. “It was in the same conversation where I made you start taking your salary.”

  “Oh.” It was starting to ring a bell now. “Yeah, okay. Didn’t we say we needed the new IT position set up a few months ago, then? You set a new goal and said that once we met it that it was a priority. Right?”

  “Yes, we just never did it.” Preston propped his feet up on his desk and leaned back. “It’s one of the to-do list things that kept getting pushed back because we got such terrible people applying.”

  “Ohhh, that’s right.” Preston had handled the initial interviews a few months back, but then had decided to pull the position. “You said none of them would work.”

  That was code that they were all too boring to tolerate us for long.

  We were a colorful bunch, and even Preston with his conservative look and business clothes didn’t want to change it. He might look boring on the outside, but inside, he was just as interesting as the rest of us. He’d always said that it was to give a professional look to the company since I’d made him say he was the owner, but I’d always thought it was some kind of armor for him.