Getting by (A Knight's Tale) by Claudia Y. Burgoa Read Free Book Online

made it. Grandfather left us enough money to begin a few ventures, and by the age of nineteen Mitch and I had started a few businesses. Our game was to start businesses and then sell them at a high price. While my brother tended said ventures, I went through special training and worked for a specialized agency; the easiest term to apply was spy.
    I did the gig until a tender loving asshole blew a whistle and compromised my mission, killing my unit and barely missing me. The said unknown agency made me retire, and I went back into the business world while my body recuperated. The hero gig ended and my years as a civilian began, though when I recovered the itch to open my own operation and claim part of who I wanted to be pushed me to open a high security company. Liam joined our business ventures when he graduated and now we owned a sizable amount of places, including an advertising company—where my lovely Emma worked.
    In a foul mood, I parked close to the emergency exit, got out of the car and headed toward the bar. Mom yelled something about breakfast behind me, but I ignored the woman. What were the odds that Emma would be Gaby’s friend? Serendipity had a fucked up sense of humor; the odds increased five percent with each step I took toward the bar of the hotel. And Chloe’s little sister, fuck, no way would I get tangled with the freak case Gavin had described for years. Hold on, yes, I was with her for more than twenty four months.
    Liam sat next to me and ordered two scotches. “Emma’s on vacation,” he said. Was this a conversation about Gaby’s friend? Because I had come to the bar to numb myself, not rehash my screwed up life.
    “So?” I shrugged, gulped my shot and ordered another one.
    He shook his head and continued talking. “I sent a general email to the creative department to see who’ll pick up your project.” I gave him a glare. “She’s out.”
    “Emma is never on vacation. She might still answer,” I responded. Emma didn’t respect her free time. She craved work, needed it, her drug of choice, like Gaby said. I told him to give it to whoever he thought directly, not… fuck. I worried, because why was she on holiday? The wedding? “Why is she off, is her grandfather sick, again?”
    “I don’t know,” Liam answered, and Mitch arrived from wherever he had been and sat on my other side. Why were they flanking me? I didn’t need babysitting. “Though, I heard she moved them from their house to an assisted living community. Again, not much information, you know she keeps to herself. But you’re over her, right?” Liam, who adored Emma for her amazing talent, kept my relationship and her job separate. “I think she’s Gaby’s little friend, Jay. We saw her. Here, today.” The words were said with enough pause so they would sink in.
    I gulped two more shots ignoring the conclusion Liam gave me. Clearly I was going to run into her, wedding or not. The question was what the fuck was I going to do when I saw her?
    “One week of unadulterated awkwardness,” Mitch finally spoke. I wanted to punch the smirk off his face. “So, you getting drunk again?”

Chapter 6
    Emma
    NIGHTS MEANT SLEEP and dreams—my archenemies. The Crowley to my Dean Winchester, the Green Goblin to my Spider-man, the list of superheroes and their opposites was long, and so became the analogies I used on a daily basis. My lack of sleep began with Dad and his conditions for me to continue my art. Then came my parents’ deaths. Those took a toll on me because I mixed dreams with realities and hopes. Not once did I have a nightmare, all of them were sweet and real. Seeing Mom and Dad on those nights filled my gut with nails, and my head pounded with the reminder that they were gone the next morning. Those had been merely fantasies that would never become a reality.
    For the past three months I had been evading sleep and working overtime, over the overtime. The dreams of elevators, trips to sophisticated-secluded