Chapter 33 Evelyn
THIRTY-THREE
EVELYN
The next morning I had a pit in my stomach when I saw no texts from Aaron. I was finally realizing how much I took for granted; the little things, such as silly cat memes or reels from New Girl. The silence was a reminder of how I’d hurt one of the most important people in my life.
Zombie:
Care to explain why my roommate came home at 2 AM drunk off his ass and trashed his room?
Fuck, this wasn’t good if Z was texting me and Aaron was drinking. He rarely drank, but when he did it was usually to void out his feelings.
Me:
I’m sorry, Z. I plan on reaching out today.
As much as I wanted to defend myself, I didn’t want to air out my business to someone who really didn’t need to know the nitty-gritty. Even if he was on our team.
Zombie:
You know I don’t do feelings, but please fix whatever happened between you two. He’s never been this way about a girl. I’m only reaching out because I respect you and care for you both.
That was as big of a compliment as you could get from Zombie.
Me:
Thanks, Z. I’ll talk to him.
The rest of the morning consisted of Kade running back to his place and meeting me at work. Christine had sent me an email stating Kade wanted to see me.
I rubbed my palms down the front of my black pencil skirt. The slight click of my heels echoed in the hall as I approached his office. I wasn’t sure why I was nervous. The soreness between my legs was an indicator of last night’s activities, and how good things were between us.
I knocked before entering. Machine was lying on the couch near Kade’s desk. Before I could register what was coming at me, I was tackled by a rottweiler who smothered me with kisses leaving me scrambling to catch myself before I hit the ground.
Whines of happiness came from the dog as I tried to regain my composure. I liked dogs but had not been expecting one to maul me this early in the morning.
“Lucy! Get off of her now!” Kade commanded.
Lucy cowardly scooted back before laying down next to the couch that Machine was on. Kade rushed over to inspect me.
“Sorry, Evelyn!” Machine cried out.
Kade cupped my face. “You okay?”
I smiled up at him. “Yes, I’m fine. Just wasn’t expecting to get attacked with love this morning.”
Kade motioned for me to sit. As I walked over to the chair, I gave Lucy a scratch behind the ear to let her know I was okay.
“So, what’s up?” I placed my hands on my lap.
Kade oozed dominance in his office chair across from me. My face heated at the memories of the night before. He gave me a knowing smirk before speaking.
“Well, Machine and I need your help researching some things for Ricci Enterprises.”
My heart skipped a beat. This was why I was here. “No problem, what can I help with?”
“There has been some interference with Ricci’s security system and we need you to help us uncover who’s doing it. We have reason to believe that Phantom is responsible for said interference. We need your help identifying Phantom.”
Fuck! This couldn’t be happening.
“No problem!” I gave a reassuring smile, covering the sheer panic I felt inside.