A Million Miles Apart (Wish 4)

18 - A text

By afternoon on Monday, Ben was officially on the IL or the injured list. Online articles were analysing the team's chance of a playoff run without Lynch. The consensus was they didn't have a strong replacement at first base. Sloane would miss seeing him play.

Their work prevented Dom from saying anything else about her revelation. They finally finished for the day and she prepared herself for his reaction.

"How about dinner?"

"Am I good enough for you?" He looked confused and hurt.

She pushed his shoulder. "You're my very best friend. You're too good for me."

"Damn right, I went to a baseball game for you."

"Jett said we can go again if we want."

"Count me out." They took the elevator down to the lobby. "So tell me the truth. Do you live in an enormous mansion?"

"I told you I just moved into an apartment."

"You know that's not what I mean."

She nodded. "My house is large and we have maids. Is that what you want to know?"

"I'm picturing a swimming pool and theater room and..."

She smiled. "We have a pool, but not a theater room. Our neighbors have one and a ballroom."

"Neighbors? What a mile away?"

She shook her head. "We can walk between the properties. We played like normal kids running around the grounds."

"Normal kids don't use the word grounds. They have yards."

"Fine. I get it." She wasn't oblivious. "You should come home with me. We can talk to my Dad about our idea."

"You want me to meet your rich family?"

"Why not? They already know about you. About us." They had teased her about her partnership with Dom. At first, Tori thought there was more to it. Sloane had to reveal Dom' sexual preference excluded her. Her family knew he was an important part of her professional life.

"We need to have some answers before we meet with your father. How are we going to get clients?"

"We can hack into companies and then tell them how we can fix their weaknesses."

"We could go to jail too."

Dom could be too serious. "Fine. I can ask some people I know if they need security services. My father wants me to work for him, but maybe he'll hire us and my brother and Petersen Shipping and Whitby Enterprise."

"Whitby! You know Whitby and Petersen?"

"Yeah, the Petersen's live next door, and I dated Monty Whitby in high school. He saved me from Ben Lynch twice."

"Do I even know you?"

She laughed. "Let's go for burgers. You know I love them."

"And hot dogs."

"Only at ball games."

They both laughed. The car delivered them back to the hotel, so they could change clothes.

"Meet me in thirty."

She waved. Once on her own she googled Ben. She hoped to get a glimpse of him to confirm he was okay, but couldn't find a photo. She was leaving her room when her phone rang. It was Kenzie, and her desire for an update led her to answer the phone. Gnawing at the back of her mind was Ben's warning about his family.

"How is he?" She didn't bother with a greeting. Nothing she could watch or read would tell her what she really wanted to know.

"He's disappointed. He hid it, but I can tell it hurts."