Chapter Twelve
D re leaned over the seat and brushed his lips against mine. It was soft and pleasant, and I wasn’t choking on tongue for a change. I hadn’t always felt that way, but lately, his kisses reminded me more of a deep-sea diving expedition than well, kisses.
“I really should get going,” I said. “You’ll be at the Brewhouse around seven?”
“Yeah, and then we’ll start our weekend. We can leave right away, you don’t need to stay, right?”
“No, I don’t need to stay.”
“Good, because I have something special for you, baby.”
I smiled. “Okay, I’ll see you then.” I put my hand on the door.
“Wait, I need another one before you go.”
Dre grasped the back of my neck and pulled me close. That’s when I noticed Stephen walking towards the building. Of course, that guy was everywhere I didn’t want him to be .
He glanced at us just as Dre put his mouth on mine, and that time he wasn’t so gentle. It felt like my lips were being vacuumed off.
I pushed on his chest. “Dre, stop. I work here. I don’t want to get caught making out in the parking lot.”
“All right, babe. I can wait.” He stroked my hair. “As long as you promise me that you’ll make it worth my while later.”
I knew what he meant, and I knew I had to get my shit together and give it to him. We’d never gone even close to this long without sex, and it was understandable how much he’d be missing it. He’d only accept the whole ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ thing so long without thinking something was seriously wrong between us, and I couldn’t have my period more than half the month without him thinking there was something seriously wrong with me.
“Okay,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
He smiled wide. “My girl is back.”
I returned the smile. I was suddenly convinced that all I had to do was resume having sex with him and then I’d start feeling something again. I ran my fingers over his jaw. He was extremely attractive with a killer body. He wanted me. Sparks should have been flying all over that damn truck.
“I’ll see you later, Dre.”
I hopped out and went into work, feeling an uneasiness I couldn’t pinpoint, but one I was determined to get rid of. There was a plan, and I was sticking to it. Dre had driven me that morning so we wouldn’t have to worry about getting my car later. I was leaving with Kate after work to go to the Brewhouse, and Dre was picking me up there at seven. Whatever happened the rest of the weekend was in his hands. I had no clue what he’d planned, and I didn’t want to know; as long as I was willing to go with it, it was all good.
When I got to the room, I beelined straight to my station without acknowledging Stephen. I plopped my purse down and sent out a wish that the day would be so insanely busy, it’d be over before I could think straight.
“Good morning,” Kate said, glancing up briefly from texting. “You’re still planning on riding over with me later, right?”
“Yep. At least I hope so. I don’t have a car today.”
She finished the message, then set her phone down. “No problem. That was just John checking. We might have a few others coming along with us.”
Adam popped his head up. “If the car’s too full, she can always ride with me.”
“Thanks. I’ll keep that as an option.”
“We could swing by and pick up your hot roommate, whatshername.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“It’s Christa, and maybe next time.”
“Well, I’m just glad you’re able to make it this time,” Kate said.
“Unfortunately, I won’t be staying too long after Dre gets there, though.”
“What? You suck,” Adam said. “First, you didn’t come out with us last night, and then—”
“You guys didn’t even go out last night.”
“And then,” he continued, “you’re ditching us early tonight for some guy.”
“He’s my boyfriend.”
“Would that be your ‘complicated, more than a fuck buddy but not really a boyfriend’ boyfriend?”
I laughed and flung a pen cap at him. “Shut up.”
A throat cleared behind me. “Perry, can I have a quick word before the day starts?”
I felt it bubble up in me then. Everything that was swirling around deep inside had risen to the surface. Yes, he was my—temporary—boss, and yes, I had to show him a certain level of respect even if it made me want to ram my head through the glass, but enough was enough. I was pissed.
I marched into his office, arriving before him. He came in and shut the door.
“Something wrong, Perry?”
“Just tell me what code I violated this time, okay?”
“I’m not sure what—”
“There seems to be a new one every day. So what is it now? The ‘no throwing pen caps because that’s flirting’ policy or the ‘no boyfriends allowed within fifty feet of work grounds without DNA and prints taken first’ policy or—”
“Perry.”
I stuck up my hand. “You told me that I should come to you if I’m feeling harassed. Well, I’m feeling harassed, and it’s by you.”
God, even as I was saying the words, I knew I was stepping out of bounds, but I just couldn’t stop. And I knew I wouldn’t stop until I was so far out I’d be falling over the cliff.
“Harassed? Is that so?”
“Yes. Ever since that very first day when you called Dre a loser and you gave me a necklace for luck . Like you insinuated that I was going to need it or something. Then you tricked me into finding out my name and—”
“I tricked you into spilling your purse all over the floor?”
“You saw my badge and you never even told me who you were. Why is that?”
“You made it clear that you weren’t interested in knowing who I was.”
I detected a slight smile as he leaned casually against his desk. I hated that. He looked like he owned the room, and maybe he did—temporarily—but he didn’t have to look like it.
“You could’ve at least told me we worked at the same company.”
“I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. Starting a new job can be nerve-racking enough.”
“Bullshit. I’m not buying it.” He raised an eyebrow, and his lips followed suit. His amusement wasn’t so subtle anymore. Screw him and his smug smile. “Then you somehow take over the department here and all of a sudden there’re all these fake policies—”
“Fake? I’d be happy to forward you the company manual if you need to review.”
“All right, maybe not fake but not regularly enforced. Until I showed up. Rather, until you showed up.”
“So, let me get this straight. You consider it harassment because I’m enforcing standard company-wide policies that Krismer never enforced?”
“Well….”
When he put it that way, I was unsure. Then even more pissed off because this whole thing was so idiotic. He technically wasn’t doing anything wrong. Actually the opposite. Following policy was right; it just felt wrong. But no one else seemed to be affected. Why did it feel like I was the target here?
“Look, I know I’m just a little peon and you’re the big bad boss, but I deserve to have my say here.”
“Does it look like I’m stopping you?”
“Well, you did interrupt me before.”
“And you interrupted me, but I’m giving you the full floor now. Feel free to share more of your insights.”
More sexy smirks. Argh. Flustered. Damn cocky bastard. The fact that he just had to be attractive irked me into a whole new stratosphere. Who the fuck does he think he is?
“All I know is that I loved working here before and now… now you’re fucking it all up.”
His expression was unreadable. He wasn’t the one fucking it up—I was. I was the one swearing at my boss and screaming harassment when I was told to follow rules. I still felt pissed as hell, but once again, it had redirected more towards me.
We remained in silence just staring at each other when I spoke up again. “That’s all. I should get back now.”
He nodded and I turned for the door. I was halfway out when he finally opened his mouth.
“Perry, that reason I called you in here? I just wanted to congratulate you on another job well done. I got a report from TeleServ in the UK who stated, and I quote, ‘Our time-sensitive matter was handled with the utmost efficiency and directed swiftly to the correct chain of command. If not for Perry Sommers’s proper follow of procedures, we would have suffered an even greater financial loss. As it stands, the fallout was minimal.’ End quote. Great job, Perry.”
I took a deep breath. “Thank you.” I couldn’t even look at him, so I just continued walking out and went back to work.
“Holy shit,” Kate whispered when I neared my station. “What was that about?”
My stomach twisted. “Could you hear anything?”
“No, but it was obvious that you were upset by the way your hands were flying all over the place. Lover’s quarrel?”
“You’re hilarious.”
“So, what happened, then?”
“What happened is that I’ll be lucky to still have a job on Monday.”
“I’m sure you’re overreacting.”
“Yeah. Who could possibly stay mad at you?”
I moved my eyes from a grinning Adam over to Kate and her husband. Man, they made a striking couple. It was just the four of us sharing the table since John’s friends ended up not coming .
“You weren’t there, guys, but thanks for trying to make me feel better.” I dropped my head and shook it. “It’s like I open my mouth sometimes and shit just falls out.”
Stephen hadn’t spoken to me the rest of the day unless necessary. Even Adam and his flirtatious antics didn’t land either of us an office visit. I was actually relieved about that, until I was worried. I was almost certain that I’d be let go, or at the very least put on some kind of probation. I couldn’t go around throwing out the H-word with nothing to back it up. Companies took that shit seriously now.
Kate patted my hand. “The day’s over and the weekend has officially started. Try not to stress so much, okay? I’m sure everything’s fine.”
“I’m not sure what’s going on,” John said, “but I agree with my wife.”
“Aww, isn’t he a keeper?”
Kate wrapped her arms around his neck and I smiled. She was absolutely right. It was Friday, the work day was over, and my friends and I were hanging out at the Brewhouse. Too bad I didn’t like beer.
The table next to us had Susan, Vicki, and Rob from our department. I pretty much got along well with everyone, but Adam and Kate were the ones I’d clicked with. The table over from them was a group of guys I vaguely recognized, except for the loudest one: Matt. He’d left Client Operations to go to Telecom right after I’d arrived, and I was happy about that. The guy seemed like a total dick.
“God, he’s irritating,” I said, nodding towards Matt. “I wish he’d shut up already.”
“At least you didn’t have to work with him,” Kate said. “I wanted to muzzle him daily.”
“Eh, he’s all bark and no bite.” Adam waved his hand. “Don’t worry about him.”
“Is there anything you worry about?” I asked. “You’re like Bozo on crack. ”
“Wanna see my baby monkey?” He gave me his signature eyebrow-waggling move, stuffing half his brat in his mouth. I cringed. Not because of the mustard dripping down his chin but for the monkey comment.
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Kate said.
I laughed, my eyes drawn back to Matt’s table when I heard him shouting something at the waitress, making her flinch. He couldn’t have been there more than an hour, but he already seemed plastered.
Kate noticed where my focus had gone. “Just ignore him.”
“I’m trying to, but he’s being a jerk to that waitress. I hate when people act like they’re better than someone else.”
Before I knew what I was doing, I stormed over there. I arrived just in time to hear Matt belittling her for being too slow and for overcooking his burger.
“She’s not the cook, you idiot.”
“Hey, it’s the new girl.”
“How can you talk to people that way?”
“You take offense to ‘new girl’?”
“I’m talking about your waitress, bonehead. She doesn’t deserve to be treated like that from you.” Yeah, I realized that I wasn’t treating him respectfully either, but unlike the waitress, he did deserve it.
“Hey, that’s what they’re there for. It’s their job. I’m keeping her on her toes.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Everyone at his table was cracking up, but I disregarded them. I wasn’t trying to put on a show here. “It’s not her job to put up with shit from assholes like you. If you haven’t noticed, it’s busy in here. She’s doing the best she can.”
“Whoa, I bet you’re hot in the sack.”
I flipped him off. “And I bet you have a stubby little pencil dick that can’t stay hard for more than thirty seconds. Men who treat people like garbage usually do. I know it might be too big of a word for you, but it’s called overcompensation. Look it up. ”
“Damn,” one of the guys said, clapping his hands. “Told you.”
I wish I had some evidence to support that claim, but that’s how it’d be in my perfect world. The good guys would get to be the ten-inch sex gods, and the jerks would suffer from premature ejaculation and crabs.
I didn’t want to be over there anymore. I’d unleashed some more of my pent-up stress on someone who’d asked for it, and now I was done.
I headed back to my table where Adam had his palm up in the air. “That was fucking awesome.” I didn’t high-five him because I didn’t want it to seem like I’d done it as a performance. Matt had just rubbed me all wrong, that’s all. Kate slapped his hand instead. “I’d ask you to marry me but been there, done that. My heart couldn’t handle another rejection.”
While he was making some dramatic chest-clenching gesture, I’d shifted my eyes and saw him . Great. Just fucking great. He was sitting with a guy I didn’t know, the two of them at a small table pulled up very, very close to ours.
Kate noticed me noticing. “They just got here. Adam invited him.”
I yanked my head and mouthed, “What the fuck did you do that for?” Stephen wasn’t at our table, but he might as well have been. I’m sure he’d be able to hear everything we said.
Adam shrugged. “I asked him earlier, before I knew about your little spat. I didn’t even think he’d show. Isn’t that right, boss?” Adam held up his beer and nodded, then put his arm around me. “But don’t sweat it. It’s all good. Our room will be a much happier place on Monday if we all just kiss and make up. Here, I’ll start.” He made a loud smacking noise.
I couldn’t not laugh when I was around this guy. I ducked out from under his arm. “We’re not the ones fighting, you goof. ”
I could sense Stephen paying attention to us, even though he was talking with his friend. I felt like I should go apologize or something, but I still felt that irritation, like he’d crossed a line somewhere and made it personal. Maybe that stemmed from us meeting before I knew his identity, but…. Argh. He made me question things and I didn’t like that.
I decided just to bide my time until Dre arrived. It shouldn’t be much longer now. My mango margarita sat mostly untouched in front of me since I didn’t know what we were going to be doing after this. It was the first weekend of the rest of my relationship life. Yay.
On second thought, maybe I should’ve been pounding the drinks. Shut up, Perry. Rah-rah, you can do this . This was Dre here, not some blind date that my mother was setting me up on. I knew this guy better than almost anyone. I just didn’t know him as boyfriend material, but I’d already made the determination to change that. Rah-rah .
“Perry?”
“Huh?” I turned my head towards Kate.
“I said your phone is dinging.”
“Oh, thanks.” I picked it up off the table and saw a text flashing from Dre. It was only six thirty. Maybe he was early and out there waiting already. He couldn’t at least come in and meet everyone? Well, everyone except for one. They’d already had the pleasure.
Hey, babe. I hate to tell you this but something unexpected came up. I’m not sure if I’ll be back Sat or Sun but it won’t be tonight. I trust you’ll be able to get a ride home. I’m sorry.
He’s sorry? What the hell could’ve suddenly come up a half hour before he was supposed to pick me up? And he couldn’t even call to tell me—he had to text? He’s sorry?
Another text came through while I was still processing the first.
One more thing. I left my truck in your lot so you could keep an eye on her for me. You know I don’t like to take her certain places up north. I’ll see you as soon as I get back. Thanks for understanding. Have fun tonight but not too much fun. Save that for me, eh? ;)
Up north? He fucking stood me up to go fucking fishing?