On Your Sole Read online

  He gave me a sly little half smile. I couldn’t tell if he was flirting with me or not. I hoped that he wasn’t, though. This night was already complicated enough for me without him adding himself into it more than he already had.

  A woman in a polo shirt with a security company’s logo on it met us at the door. “Mr. Tobit?” she asked me, extending her hand toward me as soon as I was in the building.

  “Hillary?”

  She smiled at me, and I shook her hand.

  “This is Casey. My employee.”

  She smiled at him too, though they didn’t shake hands, or even try to.

  Hillary turned and we headed right to my father’s shop. “Thanks for coming down so quickly. Now, I should warn you, the state of your store, Mr. Tobit… It’s not good. Please don’t feel like you have to contain your shock on my account. I have three brothers, all of whom work for me, and they swore enough to make ears bleed when they saw the state of your shop.”

  I wasn’t normally prone to outbursts like she was describing so I thought I’d have no problem holding back on anything. Casey apparently didn’t have my self-control, however, when we came around the corner and saw the shop for the first time. He immediately gasped out a quiet “Fuck” that sounded so much like how he would say it while he was having sex with someone—and enjoying every second of it—that I stopped short and simply stared at him for a few seconds.

  Casey never cursed around me. I’d known him less than a week, but someone who cursed a lot usually let it out in the quiet moments when they became frustrated. As long as I’d known him, I’d never even seen him get frustrated, as far as I could remember. But in that moment, he looked more than frustrated. He looked angry as we both stared at the store that had belonged to my father for over a decade, and was now completely trashed.

  Of all the awful, gaudy things belonging to the store that hadn’t been destroyed, I was not thrilled to see the neon sign still hanging there above the front entrance, completely intact. Everything else, from the front doors to the horrible high heel shoes that were chairs—it was all destroyed.

  “Who would have done such an awful thing?” Casey asked beside me. He looked both angry, and also afraid, as if he was warring with himself on whether or not he wanted to move closer to the ransacked store.

  “Doesn’t matter,” I grumbled, already thinking about insurance paperwork, deductibles and lost business. Then there was the matter of Casey. I looked over at him. When he seemed to make up his mind of whether or not he’d be going into the store and stepped forward, I grabbed him firmly by his shirt, right above his waist. He could hurt himself on all the broken glass. “You’re off until this all gets fixed. You’ll still get your normal pay, and your benefits, but there won’t be anything to do while this is getting cleaned up and the store is being put back together.”

  He frowned up at me as if he was the only person on the planet who didn’t jump at the chance to have a few paid days off unexpectedly. “But… Paperwork?” He looked over at the store again and his frown deepened. “I could help you clean up.”

  I laughed, but I still hadn’t let go of his shirt. “The insurance company covers all of that. It’s why I pay the premiums I do. Go home, Casey. Get some rest. Go out of town. Just do something. I’ll call you when the store is ready again.”

  He didn’t look so sure, but I wasn’t ready to argue with him. I didn’t have the energy, or the desire, to do that with him or anyone else at this point.

  “What if I could help you, though?” Casey was suddenly serious, but I just shook my head at him.

  “You can’t. I’m just going to fill out paperwork. Go home.” I hated to repeat myself and tried not to snap at him when he was just trying to be useful in a situation he couldn’t do anything about, but it was a hard thing to pull back my anger. I didn’t want the store, or even like it, but I wanted to make my dad proud of me, and letting it go and just saying to hell with it and taking the insurance payoff wouldn’t go with that idea. My dad would be more disappointed in me than ever if I chose to go that way. So I was stuck with the idea that I’d be spending the rest of my night filling out paperwork for a store I couldn’t stand, and hating every minute of it.

  I started to walk away from him, but Casey grabbed my arm, stopping me before I could take another step. I looked back at him and wondered what the hell he was doing, but he was just staring up at me with his big eyes and his perfect mouth set into a pout. “I know you don’t trust me, and maybe you don’t even really like me, but I can help you do this. I just need one thing from you first.”

  If it was to play more mind games with him, I was absolutely out. As it was, I was ready to walk away from him completely. My dad had told me that I wouldn’t want to fire Casey, and that I couldn’t anyway, but right then I was so tempted to. “What do you think you want from me?”

  He tightened his fingers on my sleeve and didn’t break eye contact with me. “A date?” He sounded so meek and helpless while asking me to go out with him that I shouldn’t have laughed at him. That might have even been a bit cruel of me. But I couldn’t help it.

  “Casey?”

  He started to slip his fingers from my arm. “Yes?”

  “Go away.” I was no longer in the mood to tell him to go home like a nice person. Now I was simply done with him completely.

  He nodded and took a step back. “If you change your mind…”

  The poor boy didn’t need to beg, or to act so pathetic. He was cute enough to get most people to notice him, and I was sure half the people his age shopped with us just to be close to him. I shook my head and knew I had to be firm about this. “I won’t. I’m sorry, but you’re just not my type. Now go.”

  His expression fell and for a moment there, I really hated myself for hurting him. But he only nodded, then spun on his heel, leaving me in peace inside that mall to fill out piles of paperwork for the insurance claim.

  ****

  I spent two hours at the mall that night, then another four the next morning while the insurance adjuster walked around all the debris and kept making notes on his tablet. Every so often he would tsk or frown, or shake his head ever so slightly while I sat in a chair and watched him go through my father’s store.

  “I can have it cleaned up and ready to get you back to work within two weeks,” he said when he was finally through.

  That seemed like an awfully long time to sweep up, bring in some trash bags, and replace some shelves and some glass. “You can’t do it any faster than that?” And during those two weeks I’d still be paying rent, having shoes delivered that couldn’t be cancelled since they were already on a truck, and still having to pay Casey since it wasn’t his fault that the store had been demolished.

  The adjuster shook his head and I sighed loudly. “Okay. Two weeks. Thanks for coming out so quickly.”

  “Of course.”

  He was gone after that and I took out my phone to text Casey. My dad already knew what had happened to the shop, and he was pissed. And I would have rather not have even bothered to talk to Casey at all after what had happened last night. But he deserved to know that he’d be off work for the next two weeks because of the clean-up and repairs.

  Insurance adjuster said the store won’t be up for two weeks. That’s paid time off for you. Have fun.

  I sent my text and figured that I’d sounded nice enough. He certainly couldn’t have said that I’d been rude to him. Last night I’d felt like I’d been a bit mean to him in how quickly I’d turned him down, but that didn’t have to transfer into this morning.

  Thanks, he texted back to me, and I left the mall to get on with my day.

  Chapter Three

  My unexpected day off had been filled with binge watching TV shows, eating corn dogs, and wondering if I should repaint the walls in my living room. They were pale blue, but I was thinking that going something closer to
a light brown would be better. My ex-wife had picked out the blue, and since nothing of hers was still there, I thought her colors shouldn’t be either.

  By nine o’clock that night I was ready to get out of the apartment and over to my favorite gay club in the city. I had on my darkest jeans and a basic gray T-shirt. I wasn’t going out to get laid so I didn’t want to try too hard, but it was still nice to at least be in my most comfortable jeans. I figured I’d have a few drinks, maybe meet some friends, then head home somewhere around midnight.

  All that changed, though, when I walked into the club and saw Casey sitting there at the bar with some bright blue drink in his hand and a guy obviously trying to get into his pants beside him.

  He looked up at me when I walked in. I nodded to him and thought that would be the end of it. However, he smiled at me and waved me over. The guy next to him looked over his shoulder at me too, but he looked far less pleased to see me than Casey had. I wanted to sit at the bar, alone, and well away from him. But if he needed help getting the guy to take a hint to leave him alone, I couldn’t very well just leave him there. With a sigh, I walked over and sat down in the empty seat on the other side of Casey.

  “Hi,” I said as I tried to feign interest. “Who’s your friend?”

  Now that I was there, Casey seemed even less interested in even pretending to pay attention to the guy, who didn’t look very happy about it as Casey turned fully toward me, giving the guy his back, and smiled at me.

  “Who, him? Oh, he’s just leaving. Because I don’t let pervs buy me drinks.”

  I tried not to care when the guy put his hand on Casey’s shoulder, but when Casey didn’t even react, that was really weird. I watched him closely, but he didn’t seem to care, or notice, that someone was touching him. And even stranger was how the guy just released his shoulder and walked away without a word.

  I shook my head and ordered myself a bourbon on the rocks.

  “Most people drink whiskey straight,” Casey told me when I started sipping my drink.

  I shrugged. I didn’t care what most people did or what they thought. “I like how it changes flavors as the ice melts. It’s strong right now, and it burns a little, but as the ice starts to melt it turns more mellow until it’s borderline watered down at the very end. If I let it sit that long.”

  Casey smiled at me and crossed one of his legs over the other. That’s when I noticed his shoes. Or, more appropriately, his heels. They were bright purple, they sparkled, and the heels were at least five inches tall. I stared for a few moments before I was able to look away again. “I didn’t know that you wore heels,” I told him.

  He sipped his bright blue drink, then licked his lips clean. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me. But that’s probably because you refused to go on a date with me.”

  I smirked and gave him a quick nod. “Yeah, that’s true. You’re cute, Casey, but you’re not really my type, like I told you.”

  “And I’m not asking you to marry me,” he said with a snort. “But I get it. I’m younger than you. And I love the store whereas you don’t so much.”

  I took offense to that, but why I was bothered I didn’t know. He was right, I didn’t love the store. I didn’t even really like it.

  “I could really help you, if you’d let me.”

  “I don’t need your help, though,” I told him. I really didn’t. He was a good guy, and he worked really hard, but he couldn’t do anything for me besides keep coming to work on time.

  But Casey wasn’t that ready to give up on whatever he was trying to get at. “Do you like my shoes?”

  I shrugged. “They’re heels. I don’t really care about women’s shoes at all.”

  He laughed and put his drink down completely. Before, he’d just been hanging onto it. “First of all, these aren’t women’s shoes. It’s a feminine style, but they’re made for a man’s feet. And if you think men don’t notice a person in nice heels, regardless of their gender, you’re dead wrong. The guys here like butts, and heels really help with that. And this is all stuff I was going to talk to you about on our date, if you had agreed to go on one with me.”

  I had no idea what he was getting at and I definitely wasn’t following this conversation with him. “You were going to talk to me about shoes on our date?”

  Casey gave me a slow nod. “Clearly, I’m going to have to show you for you to even start believing me. Wait here, but watch the guys I walk by. Ready?”

  I shrugged. “Whatever you want to do.” I was beginning to think he was straight up crazy. But, as he slid off the stool he’d been perched on and started to walk between people, I saw men noticing him. Or, rather, his butt. Of course he was right. He did look great walking like that.

  I thought he was just going to walk straight to the wall then back to me, but he apparently had other ideas. I watched him take some guy’s hand, I couldn’t even tell if they knew each other, and Casey barely looked at him as he tugged him behind him and onto the dance floor. I was pretty sure the guy was fairly stunned just to be noticed. He kept looking at Casey like he couldn’t believe his luck as they started dancing together. And I wasn’t the only one noticing Casey as he rocked his hips in time to the music. He laughed and I found myself smiling along with him.

  Casey spent two songs on the dance floor with the guy before he moved away and came back to me. Poor guy, though—he tried to follow along behind Casey until he saw that Casey was coming right toward me. He probably had thought he’d have some kind of a chance. But Casey had only been having fun. I knew that without having to ask him, because the smile he gave that guy wasn’t the one he had for me. And I was sure, then, that Casey really did like me, for whatever reason. It was probably because he really was crazy.

  “Did you see?” he asked me excitedly.

  “Yeah. I saw. So, men’s heels?”

  He smiled and took a big drink of his drink, finishing it off. When the bartender asked him if he wanted another, Casey gave him a nod. “Yes. We’d be the only people within a three hour radius who would have shoes for men that aren’t sneakers, work shoes, hiking boots, or God awful flip flops with beer logos on them.” He cringed.

  I actually owned three pairs of those.

  “And you think there’s a real market for them?”

  Casey rolled his eyes at me. “Yes. I do. I know so. And besides, the manufacturer is willing to give us a few dozen pairs, in various styles, sizes, and colors, on consignment so that we don’t risk any upfront costs if I’m wrong. Which I’m not.” He got his second drink and smiled at me over the sugar-coated rim before he started sipping it.

  I tapped my hand on the bar as I thought. “How’d you manage that?” I wondered what kind of lies he’d had to tell to get a deal like that.

  “I know a guy. He owed me a favor.”

  He was started to make even less sense to me. “And you chose to use that favor on getting shoes for the store? One which you work at but don’t actually own in any capacity?”

  “Are you always this skeptical?” He leaned toward me and rested his hand on my thigh. His heat seeped through my jeans and I felt like I should have moved his hand away. He knew I wasn’t interested in him, after all, and I didn’t want to send him mixed messages and get his hopes up. But I kind of liked having him touch me like that. It must have been the bourbon. I was nearly done with my glass.

  I finished it off. “Yes. No one just does something because they want to. Good deeds always come with strings.”

  “What if I said I only wanted to help you out?”

  I snorted. “I’d call you a liar.”

  “So it’s better that I want a kiss or something from you instead?” He rolled his eyes.

  He should not have mentioned kissing. I didn’t want to go on a date with him, but I wasn’t above watching him and wanting him. And his mouth was one of the sexiest things about him.


  I nodded and reached out to touch his mouth. I expected him to pull away but instead he slipped his lips around the tip of my thumb and flicked his tongue against the pad.

  I pulled back quickly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

  “Because you don’t like me?”

  There was more to it than that. “I don’t dislike you. But I won’t be dating you.”

  He sighed and leaned away from me, taking his hand off my thigh. “It’s the age difference, isn’t it?”

  I laughed. He sounded so annoyed right then. “No, it’s more that you’re my employee and I don’t want this to get awkward when things don’t work out between us. I’ve been married, and now I’m divorced. I know how these things work. And my dad has already said that I can’t fire you so that leaves me left at not dating you at all because I can’t really make you quit.”

  “Are you open to making a bargain with me then?”

  The way he said it, like I was agreeing to something more than a simple arrangement, sent up a red flag in the back of my mind. But I brushed it off as nothing. I was being stupid. It was the bourbon. That was why he looked so beautiful and why I couldn’t seem to stop looking at him. “Sure.”

  “We’ll have to kiss on it.”

  I was so close to kissing him right then that I didn’t even hesitate to nod. He smiled at me and tilted his head to the side. “Good. Then here’s my deal. You give these shoes a month. If you aren’t making more money with the store in that month than you ever have in a month before, then I stay on and you’ve lost nothing. If you are, then I quit and you and I go away for a weekend, just the two of us. I know a little cabin I want to take you to. Indoor hot tub, s’mores, bad movies, watching the stars at night.”

  “That’s all you want?” I couldn’t believe it would be that easy. There was no way his shoe idea was going to bring in that much money. But a part of me was kind of disappointed I wouldn’t get to go on a date with him, since that meant he’d have to quit at some point in the future and he might have moved on from whatever had attracted me to him by that point.