Read episode 19 here: http://bit.ly/compulsionsserial
“Of course,” I replied with a nod.
He sighed, seeming to brace himself. “I need advice on how to deal with a situation.”
That much I’d already gathered but I remained silent, waiting for him to continue.
“Remember my intern? Demitra?”
I nodded. “Stephen’s daughter, of course.”
Dorian grabbed his glass of water and nearly drained it in one gulp. I raised my eyebrows, more confused than ever. “Okay. Well, here’s the thing. We’re . . . seeing each other.”
“What the fuck?” I put my coffee back down, deciding against ingesting anything right then. I stared at Dorian, wide eyed and trying to make sense of how he of all people had gotten tangled up with a nineteen year old.
A nineteen year old that was the daughter of his dead father’s best friend.
For fuck’s sake, Stephen practically helped raise Dorian. I thought my situation with Livana was messed up, but this was on a whole other level.
“I know,” Dorian said, scowling. “I tried to fight it, I did. But it was inevitable. And two weeks ago—”
I leaned forward, interrupting him. “Does Stephen know?”
“No. Demitra wants to keep it secret for another few weeks until she turns twenty and starts her next semester of college. She won’t be working for me anymore by then. I hate lying to him and keeping it from him, but I don’t know how else to go about it. He’s going to fucking kill me when he finds out. It’s what I would do. I’m not even a father, but I know for a fact that I’d murder me on sight.”
I inhaled, running a hand down my face. “She might be right. At least then you can pretend that this started then.”
Dorian looked at me, his eyes studying me. “Wait a second. Why aren’t you judging me for being with a nineteen year old?”
“Because,” And I inhaled again, bracing myself for my own confession, “I just started seeing a twenty-two year old.”
The little bit of his water that was left got knocked over. “Fuck!” Dorian moved back in his seat, grabbing his napkin and rushing to dry his pants.
I watched silently, waiting for him to give me his attention again. When he did, I raised an eyebrow, daring him to judge.
“I’m confused. Wait. You. You’re in a relationship with a girl twelve years younger than you? You?”
“Shall we return to the issue of you and Stephen’s daughter?”
That shut him up. With a mock glare, he ran his hand through his hair again and I picked up on the fact that it was a nervous habit. One I had never seen before then. “Fine. You can tell me all about this girl you’re seeing later.”
“First off,” I said. “We both need to agree that we’re going to hold off on telling my brother about this. He’s not good at handling sensitive information very well.”
“He’ll find out eventually. Not that he’s anyone to judge,” Dorian said with a shrug.
“What exactly does that mean?” Oh, but I knew. I’d accepted the inevitability of it, but that doesn’t mean I’m any less angrier about it.