Parker was startled awake at the sound of his phone. With a groan, he rubbed his eyes and then reached for the device, squinting at the screen and then seriously debating whether to ignore it when he saw who the caller was. Fucking Carter. “Do you have any idea what the fucking time is?” Parker growled into the phone. “Yes, which is why I am calling you and not one of the others,” Carter said, sounding a little less than his usual cool, calm, and collected self. “I need your help.” Parker sighed and rubbed his eyes again. He squinted at the time and made the calculation. Two hours. He’d only been asleep for two hours and he would have to be at work in four. “How long is this going to take?” “I’m not sure,” Carter replied. “But it is important.” “Important enough that I don’t have to be at the morning meeting?” Parker asked. “Sure,” Carter replied. “In fact, you can take the entire day off.” Parker paused. Carter never willingly let anyone out of
“Spit it out, Carter. Where do you want me to take your sister?” “Can she stay with you for a few days?” he asked. “What?” Parker cried, and the woman in his arms stirred, snuggling into his chest. Parker had to close his eyes for a moment. She stank like regurgitated alcohol and looked like she’d been on a week-long bender, but he couldn’t deny the way it felt to hold her in his arms. It had to be some repressed part of his teenage brain that recognized her and was suddenly ready to remember all those dirty thoughts he’d once had about her. In control of his anger and the rogue teenager in his head, Parker let out a breath and opened his eyes, glaring at Carter. “You want her to stay with me?” “Do you have another option?” Carter asked. Parker groaned. “Not right at this moment.” “Right, so, I think the best solution is for her to spend the night at your place.” “But just tonight,” Parker said. “And I’ll be sleeping at your place.” “What?”
Carter shook his head before handing Parker’s phone back. “Nope. The first I knew about it was when she called me and asked me to pick her up. I could tell she was shit-faced, but she didn’t give me any clues as to why. I was hoping to get more out of her before she passed out.” Parker sighed. “You know I am going to have to post about this, right?” Carter raked a hand through his hair. “Can you…not?” Parker flattened his mouth and gave Carter an expectant glare. “No, I suppose you’re right,” he said with a sigh. “But can you maybe not write about the vomiting and the staying in your apartment and the fact that she’s my sister?” “Fine, but you owe me some answers.” “Sure,” Carter said. “But not now. We’ll talk in the morning.” “No, we won’t,” Parker said. “You gave me the day off, remember?” “I remember,” Carter said. “But you are going to have to come here so we can do the Talia hand-over,” he said. “And I need to introduce her to you at s
Present DayParker slowly opened the door to his apartment and stuck his head inside. He could smell her. In the three weeks since she had been living in his apartment, Talia Jane had permeated his entire space. He didn’t know if it was her deodorant, her shampoo, body wash, or body lotion, but there was a distinct ‘otherness’ about the smell in his apartment…and that otherness wasn’t limited just to the smell, either. The very fabric of the atmosphere in his home had changed. Parker had grown up in a male household. He and his two brothers were the apples of his parents’ eyes. Fathers’ eyes, as in two fathers. He and his brothers were biological siblings, and one of their fathers was biologically their uncle, but Parker, the youngest, had been too young to remember his biological parents. They died when he was a baby and his dads had adopted all three of them. There had been controversy at the time, his uncle was, after all, a gay man living in an openly gay relationship when th
Parker took a breath. He couldn’t argue with her. She was right. But at the same time, didn’t she have a responsibility to those girls who looked up to her?Talia tightened her arms around herself and pressed her lips together in an attempt to stop herself from saying anything more. She might be making perfectly valid points…but it wasn’t like Parker would listen to a word she said. He was a man, after all. She bet he probably hadn’t had to sit through lectures about carrying his keys in his hand on his way to his car or house so they could be used as a weapon if he was attacked. He also probably hadn’t been made to kneel on the ground so a teacher could check the length of his shorts. And someone had probably never sent him home from school because he was wearing a sleeveless shirt. Okay, she hadn’t had those things happen to her either—she had never attended school—but her characters had. Her characters had been subjected to those humiliations and made to feel like she was the
Parker stood in the kitchen, keeping out of the firing range of Talia and Carter. He was torn. His journalistic persona was lapping up the inside information he was hearing, but the more human side of him was struggling with the same information. “You have got to be fucking kidding me!” Talia yelled for about the fiftieth time since she’d come out of her room. “Calm down—” “Don’t you fucking tell me to calm down,” she spat at Carter. “That arsehole just violated so many privacy laws that I want to throat punch him and then kick him in his inconsequential ball sac.” “No, he didn’t,” Carter said with a sigh. “What?” Talia’s voice was low and controlled, but that was what made it so alarming. “You’re both celebrities—” “So that means he has the right to talk about our sexual relationship and even release photos of me, and it’s okay? Isn’t there a revenge porn law or something? I’m sure I remember reading about something like that.” Talia’
Parker entered the conference room and slumped into his seat. Another night of very little sleep, but at least this time it wasn’t because he had a hard-on for his roommate. He still had a hard-on for his roommate—that pretty much went without saying—it just wasn’t the cause of his sleepless night this time. No. That honor belonged to Coby Thorn and what Parker would like to do to the little shit if he ever got his hands on him. “Look who decided to turn up,” Finn said, smirking at Parker. Parker lifted his chin in greeting, giving Finn a smirk of his own. “Long time, no see, bro,” Liam said, nudging his shoulder. “Yeah. I’ve been busy.” Jack looked at him across the large conference table but said nothing. The last time he’d seen Jack, he had been a little manic. It actually surprised him Jack hadn’t come knocking on his door to find out what was going on. Finn, Liam, Jack, Carter, and Parker were all best friends who’d met at university. Parker and Liam were the youngest
“Yeah, but it’s so tiny, it might be too small of a target,” Parker replied. Talia snorted out a laugh. Shit. Had she even laughed in the past three weeks? She tossed the dart, missing his Coby’s eye but getting it in his ear. “That was just a practice one,” she said, lining up another dart. She tossed her second one and missed the board completely; the dart hitting the door and dropping to the ground. “Oops.” Parker crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. “Have you never thrown darts before?” he asked. “Hello?” she snarked. “Child actor who wasn’t allowed to do anything that wasn’t written in a script.” Parker looked at her for a moment, shock registering in his eyes for a brief moment before he hid it. Fuck. It was true but, even so, she didn’t need to tell everyone just how shitty her life had been. Okay, so maybe compared to other people’s lives, her life wasn’t really shitty, but tell that to a preteen girl who had to diet constantl