Chapter 4
Bianca
My feet pounded a rhythmic sort of comfort on the track.
One of the selling points of the apartment complex for me was the gym.
It was enormous and pretty state-of-the-art, even though it didn’t have a ton of equipment.
The climate-controlled interior had a running track all around it, and though the pool was outside, it was covered and heated. Score.
I’d planned on hitting the stair stepper, but someone was on it. They only had one. It was a nice one, though, so they made up for quantity with quality. And the landlord had assured me they had a monthly budget that they were accumulating to add more equipment. That was cool.
As I mused about the gym, trying my damnedest not to think about Wayne and what a jerk he’d been, I realized the stair stepper was open. Awesome.
Hurrying over, I let myself get distracted with setting the electronic keypad and didn’t remember to not think about Wayne.
Damn it. Damn him! Was I spoiled? Yes. Probably so.
But he made it seem like I was hopeless and far too annoying to be around him.
It had put me in such a bad mood that I’d spent the weekend doing admin stuff, editing, and sorting out ideas for videos instead of actually filming like I should have. I was just too grumpy to be on screen.
Being bratty wasn’t my best personality trait, but it wasn’t like I did it on purpose. I liked things a certain way, and if I had the money to pay for people to do the things I didn’t like to do, was that my fault? Um, no! I was giving him business.
And what the hell, he didn’t have to take the job if he thought I was so damn unlikable. He could’ve said no, gone with another client. From what I heard, Wayne was pretty sought after.
All I’d wanted was to keep him talking. I liked the sound of his voice. It was almost soothing. Like it connected to me somehow deep inside.
Instead, I’d made him think I was a complete moron. A dunce who didn’t know what a sheet pan was.
Hello, I’d made cookies before. And pizza. I rolled my eyes at the display on the stair stepper. He must’ve been in a bad mood or something because he’d reacted like I’d insulted him or… Sigh.
Something.
Now I had a chef, who would be coming to deliver meals, and who I didn’t want to be around at all.
And no way I was telling my dad what happened, either.
I’d just do my best to stay out of Wayne’s way.
I wasn’t sure there even was another meal delivery service like his in the area, and if I told Dad, he’d try to fire him and maybe go off on him. Dad was pretty protective of me.
Better to just let Wayne in, then steer clear of him. I could eat his food without liking him very much. I didn’t think he’d do something like mess with my food. That really would ruin his reputation.
Sweat began to bead on my forehead, indicating the stairs were doing their job. Good. I wanted to keep eating that delicious food, which meant time in the gym every day.
I stayed on the stepper as long as I could stand it, then headed for the weight machine to work on my arms. It was positioned close to the locker rooms, and as soon as I sat down, shouting from the locker rooms made me pause in resetting the weights.
It sounded like a couple of women, but they were shouting something fierce.
While I wanted to mind my business, I also pulled the bar down and eased it back, doing my repetitions much slower than normal so they made the least amount of noise possible, and so the weights didn’t clink together when I released them.
Still, I couldn’t make out any specific words. Too bad. I was too nosy for my own good, but what if I needed to call security?
After a slam made me jump nearly out of my damn skin, everything went quiet. I hesitated, but what if that slam had been someone being hit or hurt? I had to at least peek in there to see if anyone needed help.
Setting the weights down quietly, I climbed off the bench and tiptoed toward the locker room door. At least it was the women’s and not the men’s. There weren’t any men in here today that I’d seen. I would’ve been really uncomfortable peeking in there.
Still moving as quietly as I could, I pushed at the door and peered inside.
A woman sat on one of the benches, sobbing into her hand.
“Hey,” I said. Moving carefully into the room, I looked around to make sure nobody was going to jump out and scare me. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
The woman looked up at me with tear-tracked cheeks and big green eyes. Her bright red hair frizzed around her pale forehead. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m not physically hurt, no.” She stood and grabbed her bag. “Can you do me a favor, though?”
I nodded and walked forward. “Of course, what is it?”
“Can you look out the door and make sure my roommate is gone?” She nodded her head toward a door that led to the pool area. Oh, that must’ve been the slamming sound I’d heard.
“Sure, of course.” I walked over and opened it, looking around. “There’s a dude in the pool,” I said over my shoulder. He was underwater and wouldn’t hear me.
The woman breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. Thank you so much.” She inched past me and sat down at one of the wrought iron tables near the pool stairs with a sigh. The way she closed her eyes and sat straight made me think she was fighting not to cry again.
“It’s none of my business, but you look like you just lost your best friend,” I said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
The redhead sniffed and sucked in a big breath. “I’ll have to be.”
“You wanna talk about it?” I didn’t want to intrude, but this poor girl looked like she was going to fall apart at any second. “My name is Bee. Bianca, but everyone calls me Bee.”
She smiled, and her pale cheeks bunched up, revealing a cute little dimple. She was like a little pixie, small enough to put in my pocket. “I’m Liza. Elizabeth, but everyone calls me Liza.”
I stuck out my hand and she shook it. “Nice to meet you, Liza. You want to talk about it?”
Pulling out a chair, I stuck my nose in where maybe I shouldn’t have, but my heart just couldn’t leave this woman to be sad all alone.
“I was arguing with my best friend and roommate, Shelby. She just confessed that she’s in love with my boyfriend.” Tears filled her eyes again. “Damn it,” she whispered. “I’m one of those people who cry if I’m mad, cry if I’m sad, cry if I’m happy. It’s so annoying.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m a mad crier, for sure.” And all the other things, but the mad thing was the most infuriating. “That’s horrible. Were you and he very serious?”
The tears spilled over Liza’s cheeks as she nodded. She held up her left hand and hiccupped a sob. “Engaged.”
My jaw dropped. “Shit,” I whispered. “So, you’ve lost your best friend and fiancé in one swoop.”
Liza nodded again and pursed her lips, her nostrils flaring as she fought for control. “According to Bethany, they’ve been sleeping together for weeks and trying to find a way to tell me.”
I couldn’t imagine having to return to her apartment after a revelation like that. “Hey, Liza, would you like to come to my place for a glass of juice and a box of tissues?” I asked. “I’d offer to put vodka in the juice, but…” I tapped my smart watch. “It’s only nine in the morning.”
Liza’s lip quivered again. “That’s so sweet of you. Yes, please, that would be amazing.”
I stood and waited for her to grab her bag and get up. “Come on.”
She followed me to my building. “Do you live in this unit?” I asked.
Liza shook her head. “No, I’m the next one over.”
I walked us to my door and unlocked it. “If you ever need anything, you know where I am now,” I said. “Please, sit. Would you like a soda, juice, water?”
“Water sounds nice, thanks.” She sniffled and sat on my couch. I grabbed a box of tissues out of the bathroom and the little garbage can, too, then a bottle of water.
“You know, I do have ice cream. It’s too early for the hard stuff, but it’s never too early for the cold stuff,” I offered as I handed her the tissues and water.
Liza giggled and pressed a white square to her nose. “I can’t believe this. I didn’t see it coming, like, at all. Not even a little.”
“Have they been sneaking around?” I asked and plopped down on the other side of the couch, giving her some room.
She shook her head. “Not at all. Well, it didn’t seem like it. And I was thinking, they say when a man cheats, he becomes more attentive to his wife or girlfriend, but I can’t think of anything he’s done that would be considered more attentive.”
I sipped my water. “No gifts or extra dates or anything?”
She shook her head again and dissolved into tears, covering her face with a handful of tissues. This poor girl. She’d had the ultimate betrayal. Losing a best friend could feel a lot like a breakup, and her man on top of it. It was a crime, truly.
The doorbell rang a few minutes later. Oh, shit. I’d forgotten about Wayne. At least Liza had been a nice distraction. “Sorry,” I said as I got up.
“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were expecting guests.” She started to get up, but I held out my hand.
“Stop, stay. It’s my chef. Not a guest.” I opened the door before she could protest and stepped back so Wayne could get in with his many bags of food. “Come in,” I said in an extremely polite voice.
Zero urge to flirt today. Not after what he said to me last time. That didn’t stop my body from reacting to how incredibly gorgeous he was, of course. Traitorous nipples hardened when he turned his gaze on me. Thank goodness my sports bra was thick.
“Who’s this?” he whispered.
I narrowed my gaze. It wasn’t really his business to ask who I had in my home. “A friend,” I said evasively.
He nodded at Liza and walked around the coffee table to disappear into the kitchen.
I sat back down and smiled at Liza. She widened her eyes. “Who is he?” she whispered.
If I’d known her longer, I would’ve told her the whole story about how I’d been trying to flirt without totally hitting on him, then he treated me like the world’s biggest idiot.
But I didn’t know her at all, so I kept it vague. “My friend Kaylee recommended him,” I said without lowering my voice. I also didn’t compliment his food, though he probably deserved for me to. It was damn good. Too bad it was too soon since he’d insulted me.
“You have a chef?” she said in a hushed tone, then looked around. “What in the world do you do for a living?”
I chuckled and sat back. Maybe I could get her mind off her troubles for a while.
“I’m a bit of a mixed bag,” I said. “Until several months ago, I worked dead-end jobs and lived over my parents’ garage.
But I started doing makeup tutorials for people of color and I’m becoming a bit of an influencer. ”
Her jaw dropped. “That makes enough money for a personal chef?”
I shrugged. “My dad wants me to save money for if this thing goes belly up, so I’m saving while he pays for my meals, but yeah.
I couldn’t pay Wayne and save at the same time.
” I didn’t want to sound braggy, but I was doing pretty well for myself.
“I also don’t have a car payment. It’s my mom’s old car.
And I’m on my parents’ phone plan. So, I’m extremely lucky and blessed that my overhead is low. ”
Hopefully soon, I’d be making enough to be completely independent. Very soon, the way things had been going.
“Well,” Liza said. “Fingers crossed nothing goes belly up.”
I chuckled and nodded. “For sure.”
She wiped her eyes one more time and threw the tissues away. “I’m going to have to go home sometime,” she said in a forlorn voice. “I’ve got to start packing and figure out where I’m going to move. Sure as hell can’t stay there.”
“Make her move out,” I said, my voice tinged with outrage. “She’s the one who is screwing you over.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I would, but I can’t afford this lease alone. I’m in school to be a nurse and I serve at Miss Olivia’s Table to make ends meet until I’m done with my bachelor’s.”
“I love that restaurant,” I said. “You’ll have to let me know when you’re working. I’ll get my sister and friends together and we’ll come in for brunch.”
Liza nodded excitedly. “Sounds great.” She hesitated but then walked around the coffee table and pulled me in for a hug. “Thank you so much for being a friend when I desperately needed one. I won’t forget how you treated me today.”
“You’re very welcome. I couldn’t leave you there hurting so much.” I pulled out my phone and opened a text message. “Here, text yourself from my phone. I’m here if you need a friend again, okay?”
She put in a quick text and handed it back. “Thanks again.”
As soon as Liza shut the door behind her, Wayne scared the shit out of me. “You didn’t know her before today?” he asked.
Slowly, I turned on my heel and glared at him. No doubt he had some kind of something to say about it. “What of it?”
Blinking rapidly, he mouthed at me for a second. “But you brought a stranger into your home.”
I arched one eyebrow and put my hand on my hip. Was this man really about to tell me who I could or couldn’t have in my home? “And? Why do you care?”
“You’re not a child. You shouldn’t behave so recklessly. You put yourself in danger and, really, me, too. What if it had been some sort of setup? She could come back later and rob you blind.”
“Good lord, you’re being awfully dramatic about something that isn’t in any way your damn business,” I said in a low, even voice. I was so damn mad, he was lucky I didn’t find one of his frying pans and knock his ass out with it.
“I’m being realistic,” he spat back. “Maybe you should be less na?ve.”
“Listen here, sir,” I said, inflecting the sir so it was anything but an honorific.
“This is my home. You are being paid to do a job, and that job is not judging me on my cooking skills or my guests. You’ve now insinuated that I’m spoiled and called me na?ve.
That’s two strikes. You don’t get one more. ”
Brushing past him, I headed up the stairs toward my room. He didn’t get the chance to reply, he didn’t deserve that much.
Asshole. I had no idea what I saw in him before, but my little crush had completely disappeared.