Chapter Seventeen
I padded down to the kitchen, parched and needing water badly. I rarely woke before the sun but something had roused me that morning. And now that I was awake, I had to get liquid down my throat ASAP before it closed up.
I was guzzling my second glass when I noticed movement out the window. The lights were still on in the lot, and I could see a shape darting around from lane to lane in the visitor’s area. I chuckled. It appeared that someone had forgotten where they’d parked the night before.
Just before I turned around to go back to bed, I saw the car pull out and then pass through to the street. As it went under the lights, I recognized the blue Jeep and the man driving it.
Adam? Christa brought him here ? Oh, I so need to talk to her.
I lay down on the couch instead of going back to my room so I could be sure to hear her before she left for work. Lately, she’d been gone before I even woke up.
I must’ve dozed off because the next thing I recalled was the sun streaming in. Then I heard shuffling around in the kitchen and the clanging of coffee mugs. I jumped up and walked in as she was filling a to-go cup.
“Hey,” she said. “Why did you sleep on the couch? I saw you there and was trying to be quiet. Sorry if I woke you up.”
“I’m glad you did.” It just clicked why I’d awoken so early. The sound of Adam sneaking out of the house must have done it. “Why was Adam here last night?”
Either I’d been so tired to not hear a thing, including bedroom noises, or she’d decided to take my advice and not screw around with him right away. They could’ve spent their time down on the couch talking quietly and getting to know each other.
She gave me a brief ‘how did you know’ look, then turned to grab her keys. “Why do you think he was here, silly?”
Ha. I was silly. How could I think for even a moment that he was there for anything other than sex?
“But when did you even get here? I didn’t hear you come in. And what did you two do after you left the bar?”
“Perry, we’ll talk later, okay? I really have to go.”
Christa was out the door before I could blink twice. “Wait!” I called, stepping outside. She was speed walking down the path. “Are you going to see him again?”
She turned her head without slowing. “Of course not.”
Adam Zepecki: Did Christa say anything about me?
I drummed my fingers on my lips. How in the hell do I answer that loaded question?
Adam Zepecki: Don’t be embarrassed, we’re all friends here. If she called me a wild pagan sex beast, you can tell me. It’s okay.
I busted out a laugh, and Adam popped his head around my monitor, grinning. He was such a doofus. A sweet doofus. I didn’t know if his head was in the same place as Christa’s, but I really, really hoped so. I did not want to see him hurt.
“Let me finish up this one thing, and then do you want to take a break and go down for a soda or something?”
“Sure. Sounds good.”
I didn’t want to talk to him in chat. I didn’t want to talk to him about it at all, but I’d also feel bad if I didn’t since I was the only one who would. If Christa said she wasn’t going to see him again, she meant it. It was a one and done. On to the next.
I finished typing up a record of an issue I had to troubleshoot earlier into my call log and then told Kate I’d be back in fifteen. It was a slow day, so there was no reason we couldn’t take off for a bit. I waved to Adam that I was ready.
We walked towards the door, and when we got near the office, Adam poked his head in. “Perry and I are taking a quick break, boss. It’s all covered.”
Stephen nodded, staring at me. I gave him a smile, and then Adam tugged me forward, making me laugh. I never saw if Stephen smiled back.
Adam rubbed his fingers together. “Come on, baby, gimme the goods.”
“Well, I didn’t get much of a chance to talk to her this morning, but I’m sure you, uh, did just fine.”
“Ouch.” He yanked an imaginary arrow out of his chest and shot it down the hall.
“God, that sounded horrible. Sorry. I don’t mean it like that. It’s just…. ”
It’s just that I was feeling like total shit for ever thinking that introducing them was a good idea to begin with. What was I thinking? Oh yeah, I wasn’t. That was the problem. I knew Christa better than anyone. Why I expected her to act differently just because she met a great guy was beyond me. Just because I was changing didn’t mean she was.
“Remember when I told you that she’s not looking for anything more than—”
He held up his hand. “Say no more, Perry. I get it. No worries. I was only trying to get the cock feathers stroked a bit.”
“You didn’t get enough of that last night?”
“I was talking about my ego.”
I smiled. “I know that. Just messing with you.”
He smiled back, shoving my shoulder. “When I asked if Christa mentioned me, I wasn’t hoping you’d say that she’d fallen madly in love with me and wanted to become the future Mrs. Zepecki. I knew what last night was about. It was a onetime thing and nothing more.”
He seemed fine. More than fine, actually. “Yeah? So, it’s all good?”
“Yep, all good.”
“And what if I’d told you that she had said all those things?”
“Well, then we would have a problem. Christa was a good-time girl, not my forever girl. No disrespect intended.”
“None taken since that’s exactly how she’d want you to view her too.” I shook my head. “But man, I’m relieved. Can you imagine how awkward it would’ve been if you’d felt differently? Not to mention how shitty I’d feel for you.”
“Aww, you care about me.” He poked my arm. “You don’t want to see my heart broken.” Poke, poke.
“Ow! Stop it.” Poke, poke, poke.
We stepped into the cafeteria. I was laughing, both elbowing him away and trying to keep my arms covered. The fucker was going to leave bruises .
“Come on, admit it.” Poke. “You don’t want me to get hurt. You care about me.” Poke, poke, poke.
“Dammit.” I rubbed my arm. “Of course I care about you. But as far as the getting hurt part, think again. I want nothing more than to break all your fingers off right now.”
I heard a throat clear and we both whipped around. “Adam, I need you to cut your break short. BancCrest is experiencing some glitches from that fix we rolled out last week. They’re on the line with questions since you were part of the team overseeing the project.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
Stephen’s face was smooth, serious. If I smiled at him, would he smile back? My phone rang then and I dropped my head, opening my purse. Dre was flashing on the screen, and I quickly silenced it.
“Would it be okay if I extended the rest of my break and took an early lunch now?”
“Anything wrong?” He glanced at my purse, no doubt referring to the call.
“Not that I’m aware of.”
His lips parted, ready to say something when a woman’s hand circled his arm. Well, poof! She just seemed to materialize out of nowhere. “Stephen! Glad to have caught you.” She gave his arm a tug and chuckled, as if she’d just said the Funniest Pun Ever. Maybe if she had a fish hook as a hand, the joke would’ve held some merit, but as it stood? Pfft. “Got a moment?” she said.
“I do, Cynthia.” He looked at me. “I’m sure an early lunch won’t be a problem, Perry. Go ahead.”
I smiled. “Thank you.”
He didn’t smile back. But I did get a nod and an eyeful of his ass as he walked away with Ms. Glamorous Thirtysomething Businesswoman. Did he prefer them older? I wondered. Did he prefer frosted blondes with large racks and leopard Louboutins?
I sidled over to the cafeteria line and picked up an iced tea and turkey sandwich. I realized then how hopelessly whacked I was. The fact that I’d even spent a second wondering who that woman was and where they were going was enough to make me seriously question my sanity. It was none of my fucking business. But even if it were, this was a workplace and they were obviously going off to discuss work. She wasn’t pulling him into a conference room to suck his dick. Not that that sort of thing never happened in workplaces—we weren’t talking about a convent here.
“Miss?” The guy next to me tapped my shoulder, then pointed at the cashier.
“That’ll be $7.75,” she said, and it probably hadn’t been the first time.
“Oh, right.”
I paid for my food and then brought it outside to the picnic tables. I took a few bites before pulling out my phone and returning Dre’s call. Maybe he had an update.
“Hi, baby.”
“Hi, Dre. I wasn’t able to answer before. What’s up?”
“For starters, you’ll be getting your car back tomorrow.”
“That’s great! So the truck is good to go?”
“Just about. They never determined the exact cause or where it originated, but… hey, I’m sorry for giving you shit about it.”
“Don’t worry about it, Dre. It’s fine.” My few bites flopped in my stomach. It was only fine because I’d deserved it.
“No, it’s not, but it will be. I’ve been thinking a lot this week, and I need to take responsibility for what happened too. I should never have left that weekend. I was supposed to be with you.”
Stephen flashed in my mind, and it was just more remorse to add to the pile. If we were just friends, was it normal to be thinking about him during a conversation with my boyfriend? But it wasn’t like I was thinking about him naked. Fuck. Now I’m thinking about him naked. I rolled the cold bottle across my forehead, then took a long sip .
“Really, Dre. It’s okay. We can just drop it and move on.”
“I’m going to make it up to you, baby. Whatever it takes. And I’ll explain everything as soon as I see you. I feel like a new man, Perry.”
Hmm, okay. I was under the impression that he was slaving away all week at the gym. When exactly did he get the time to find himself?
“How’s tomorrow sound?” he asked. “Regg’ll be back, and I got the whole day, baby, just for you.”
“I promised Sam that I’d watch Emily tomorrow at my place. She’ll be over until late afternoon.” He made some grunting sound. “I know. How about you come over and help me babysit? Then when she leaves, we’ll have the rest of the night to ourselves.”
“Hmm. You know I’m not good with that shit, Perry. How about I just come over after?”
“Yeah, okay.” I sighed. Obviously, ‘whatever it takes’ didn’t apply when kids were involved.
“See you tomorrow, babe. Can’t wait.”
“Bye, Dre.”
I leaned back and let the sun heat my face. It was on the chilly side, but the clear skies made it bearable. After however long, I picked up my phone to check the time when a text came in from Christa.
Hey, girl! I’m leaving early so I’ll be able to pick you up from work. Movie tonight? Been missing my girltime xoxo.
For more time than was appropriate, I considered telling her not to pick me up. That I already had a lift. With Stephen . If I was getting my car back this weekend, this would’ve been our last ride together, and that made me a little… depressed. I hadn’t even spent a full week with him, but I’d really enjoyed getting to know him better on our drives. We’d upheld our truce well.
Ugh. Fucking Band-Aid, Perry . Rip that fucker off and move on.
Sounds great! See you then. Miss you too xoxo.
I took one more bite of my sandwich before wrapping it up. I finished off the tea, getting ready to head back inside when I got another text.
Forgot to ask—is there another exit you can leave from? I’d rather not run into Adam again so soon.
I shook my head. Too bad it didn’t work out.
You don’t need to worry about it. I talked to him today and you’re both on the same page.
She didn’t text back, so I put my phone away and returned to the room, feeling slight satisfaction when I saw that Stephen was back in his office. But I guess that didn’t mean anything. A blowjob took, what, ten minutes max? As long as your goal wasn’t to prolong it, you could get that sucker spurting in no time with enough attention.
My mouth soured. I did not need to be thinking about someone else’s lips on my boss, and I absolutely, positively didn’t need to be thinking about my lips on my boss.
He glanced up and I realized I’d been zoning. I finally got my smile, though. I leaned in the doorway. “Can I talk to you a sec?”
“Of course.”
I came in, shutting the door behind me. It’d been a week since I’d been in his office bitching at him. Really? Only a week? Wow.
“Christa’s picking me up from work today, so I won’t need a ride home. It also looks like I’ll have my car back for Monday. And… I just wanted to say that I really appreciate you helping me out.” I smiled. “I’m pretty sure taxi service isn’t one of your listed duties here.”
His mouth remained flat. I wished I could read what was going on behind those blue eyes. As much as I’d acknowledged that I didn’t have the right many times over, part of me still wanted him to feel a bit of sadness because we’d no longer be together as often. I wanted him to feel something I had no business wanting. For him or myself.
“I thought I made it very clear that….” He paused, rubbing his jaw. “You’re welcome, Perry. If you need anything else, just let me know.”
“I will. Thanks. ”
“Anytime.”
I stood, figuring I’d stayed long enough. All I’d planned to do was tell him I no longer needed rides. I was at the door when he called out.
“Perry.” I looked back. He didn’t speak right away. “Have a good weekend.”
“You too.”
The rest of the day went by quickly. I hadn’t talked to Stephen again, and I did my best to ignore him behind me. When five o’clock rolled around, I was out the door. This weekend was the start of my whole new life. I could feel it.
I waved when I saw Christa and bounded over to her car. No sense sticking around. She was out of there just as quickly before Stephen or Adam came out.
“So.” She slapped my thigh. “Whatcha in the mood for tonight?”
“A movie sounds good, but I’m not really up for going out. How about we stay in and watch one? We can order some takeout from A.J.’s.”
She smiled wide. “I was going to suggest the same thing.”
“Now that you have time, what was up with Adam? Since I’m friends with the guy and I have to work with him, it was a little weird seeing him sneaking out this morning.”
“Sorry about that. We tried going back to his place but”—she shrugged—“I don’t know. I couldn’t get comfortable or something. He has this freaky neighbor who was eyeballing me from the yard over. I ended up asking him to come here. I figured you were already sleeping by that point.”
“I was. I didn’t hear a thing. He must’ve sucked in bed.”
She laughed. “No, he was pretty damn great. No complaints there.”
Good. At least his ego was well-deserved. “Please tell me you were safe, though. ”
She gave me a sideways look. “What does that mean?”
“You know what it means. Adam was your first guy back after the pregnancy scare. I don’t want you to ever have to go through that again.”
“I messed up one time, Perry. It won’t happen again. You don’t think I’m capable of learning my lesson?”
She sounded annoyed, and that wasn’t my objective. “That’s not what I meant. I was just checking in on my best friend, okay? And I care about Adam too, so—”
“What, Stephen’s not enough to keep on the side? You also need Adam?”
What? What. The. Fuck? She was staring straight ahead, mouth tight. What the hell just happened here?
“What is your problem, Christa?”
“All right, maybe the ‘Adam’ comment was out of line. I know you only see him as a friend, but what about Stephen, huh?”
“What about Stephen? I’m not fucking keeping anyone on the side.” She snorted. I was seriously wondering who this personality was sitting beside me. “In fact, you were the one who was pushing me to sleep with him when you knew damn well I’m in a relationship with Dre.”
“Yeah, right. The only thing you’re in is denial. Don’t you realize what you’re doing here? Stephen’s the one you want, yet you continue to lead Dre on. Do you think it’s okay to just do whatever you want? You can’t have everyone, Perry.”
I opened my mouth but nothing came out. I was fucking speechless. I lay my head back on the seat and stared at the ceiling. Christa was… I didn’t know what the hell she was. It was almost as if she was defending Dre when only a week ago she couldn’t even say his name without wanting to kill him and then spit on his grave.
Neither of us spoke the rest of the way. She pulled into our lot and parked. Then she slumped over the wheel, shaking her head. “ Fuck. I’m sorry, Perry.”
I touched her arm. “Explain to me what just happened here.”
“Let’s go inside.”
Once we were in the kitchen and she’d poured a glass of wine, she said, “I may have overreacted a bit. About Dre.”
“Overreacted about what?”
“Well, I found out that Miss Skank Trainer was working at the gym last weekend when Dre was gone. So I guess they weren’t together.”
“What! Are you shitting me?”
“I’m not saying that I’m no longer suspicious of his ability to be faithful, but he might have been telling the truth this time.”
“Un-fucking-believable.” I scrubbed my fingers over my face. The entire truck snafu stemmed from Christa trying to convince me of him screwing around and it wasn’t even true.
“My whole freak-out in the car just spilled out because I felt bad about everything. And then I thought it all could’ve been avoided if you would’ve just been honest from the start. You know, about Stephen.”
“Seriously, Christa? Are you saying this is all my fault? What part of telling you day in and day out that I’m with Dre don’t you understand? And Stephen and I are just friends .”
I practically shouted that last part. I didn’t mean to get angry at her. I was more angry at myself. How could I have let all this happen? And maybe the Stephen comments hit a little too close to home, but dammit!
She took my hand. “I’ve been a horrible friend. I’m so sorry.” She started crying and I started to soften. “I made you do something you didn’t want to do.”
“You’re not even close to horrible. You were only looking out for me.” I pulled her over to the couch and wrapped my arms around her. “And you didn’t make me do anything. I could’ve said no. ”
“But….” She cried harder. When she eased up, she said, “Everything’s good now, with his truck?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“You still won’t say anything, right? I know you probably feel shittier now, and so do I, but I still think nothing good will come out of telling him. He’ll just get pissed off, and what would that solve?”
I didn’t respond. How fucked up was this? I knew that, in the grand scheme of things, we hadn’t done anything life-shattering, but Dre loved that truck like his baby. He had an unhealthy attachment to it, and I didn’t think he’d ever forgive me for messing with it. I wasn’t sure I’d ever forgive myself.
“Please, Perry? Promise me again.”
“I promise.”