Chapter 13
13
Amy
The first day back at work was going to be the worst. That’s what she told herself. Though, she’d at least made the smart decision of telling Sherry, their receptionist and the biggest office gossip, why she was returning to the office without a ring on her finger as soon as she walked in. Sherry would make sure everyone knew, which meant Amy wouldn’t actually have to explain what happened more than once.
She just had to put up with everyone stopping by to express their sympathy and support. Which wasn’t the worst thing. It was just humiliating that everyone had to know her business, had to know what had happened to her.
Granted, she hadn’t told Sherry everything.
Just that she’d found out on the day of her wedding that Jeremy had been cheating on her with one of her bridesmaids, and so the wedding had been called off. If Sherry assumed that Amy had been the one to call things off, giving her a tiny scrap of dignity in the story, that wasn’t Amy’s fault. Besides, not everyone needed to know every humiliating detail.
Bad enough that all her friends at the club knew.
Though Sherry had asked Amy if she’d gotten tested, and Amy had frozen.
She hadn’t even thought about that.
Making an appointment was the first thing she’d done that morning after talking with Sherry, and thankfully, her doctor had had an appointment open that afternoon. Going to the appointment also got her away from the office and the overwhelming sympathy for a bit, which she welcomed.
While she was waiting for her name to be called in the waiting room, she checked her phone.
The group text chat was blowing up.
Sam: Have a good first day back at work. Remember, you don’t have to tell them anything you don’t want to.
Morgan: You’ve got this, Amy!
Carolyn: Has anyone heard from Jeremy or Noelle?
Marissa: Noelle tried texting me, but I haven’t responded. Don’t worry about it, Amy. Like Morgan said, you’ve got this.
Sam: What the fuck does that cuntcake want?
Marissa: I don’t know. Like I said, I didn’t respond. She just said, ‘Hey, can we talk?’ and I left it on read.
Morgan: She hasn’t tried to reach out to me.
Carolyn: Jeremy tried to call Harvey, but I told Harvey that if he even thinks about talking to that asshole, I will leave his ass and take all his money.
Which would be quite the feat considering that Carolyn had been cheating on Harvey for years. If he ever got proof… but as far as Amy could tell, he either didn’t have a clue or didn’t care. She was also kind of surprised that Carolyn was taking such a hard stance, considering her flexible morality when it came to cheating, but apparently, it was different when she did it versus when it was done to one of her friends.
Sam: I hope she reaches out to me.
Carolyn: Do we know if she got kicked out of the club?
Morgan: Yeah, she did. I don’t think she’ll care that much. She never seemed that interested in being there.
Sam: I think she was only interested in being there because Iris was there.
Which would make sense. Noelle and Iris had been best friends and roommates, then after Iris had gotten involved in the club, Noelle had ended up joining, too. But not until after their friendship had ended in an explosive fashion.
Noelle had always said that Iris had left her, they’d had an argument, and that she wanted to be friends again but that Iris was bullying her… Amy had tried to take a lot of it at face value, but it had gotten harder and harder over the months. Now, she wouldn’t be surprised to find out that every single thing Noelle had said had been a lie.
If only she had paid more attention in the first place. If only she hadn’t believed every single thing Noelle had said without asking Iris for her side of the story. Granted, she’d figured that Iris had some side, but she’d become friends with Noelle, so she’d chosen Noelle’s side without even bothering to find out what Iris’ perspective was.
And now she was paying for that.
Carolyn: Well, she sucks. When is Amy going to text back?
Sam: She’s probably actually working, unlike the rest of us.
That got a few laughing emojis in reaction from the others, and that was it, as if they were waiting for her to come back and catch up.
Amy: Today is going okay. I just told our office gossip that Jeremy cheated on me, and the wedding was called off. Right now, I’m at the doctor’s office to get tested for STDs.
Immediately, her phone started buzzing as the replies came in a wave.
Sam: Oh my God, I didn’t even think about that!
Carolyn: Aren’t we supposed to get tested to be a member at the club?
Marissa: Oh, shit
Morgan: We are supposed to get tested, but who knows what Jeremy has done if he was willing to cheat on Amy with Noelle.
Amy made a face. She really hoped Noelle was it, or she was an even bigger fool than she’d thought.
Sam: Fingers crossed that nothing comes back.
Morgan: Let us know if you need anything, Amy.
Carolyn: If he’s given you anything, I’m going to kill him.
Marissa: Don’t say that in a text!
Carolyn: No body, no crime.
A snort escaped from Amy, and she immediately put her hand up to cover her mouth. Laughing in the doctor’s waiting room just seemed disruptive, and sure enough, when she looked up the older woman sitting across from her was giving her a disapproving look.
Amy ducked her head back down, refocusing on her phone.
Amy: I’ll hope for no issues, thanks.
Morgan: We should get together sometime this week. Friday? Saturday?
Marissa: I’m out of town.
Carolyn: She’s talking about the rest of us, duh.
Marissa: Just wanted to make sure my absence is appropriately mourned.
Sam: I could do either night.
Carolyn: I can’t do either. Harvey has work functions both nights this weekend that I have to go to. But you should still get together, so Amy isn’t just stuck hanging around with two men.
Amy: They’ve been really great, actually.
Sam: Carolyn’s right, though. It’s not the same as girl time.
It wasn’t. Watching superhero movies with them was fun as long as she didn’t think too hard about the very awkward moment between her and Zach on Saturday night. For one wild second, she’d actually thought he was going to kiss her.
Thank goodness she’d been wrong. She wouldn’t want to hurt Kincaid that way.
But… well, if anything was going to fuel her Trinity Masters-inspired fantasies, that had added another log to the fire. Those books and fantasies were probably why she was thinking such ridiculous things. Zach had probably been trying to figure out how to ask her to get out of his personal space without being mean about it.
Which was why she’d sat at the end of the couch after that.
He had sat on the opposite side, so they’d been on the same page.
And last night, when Kincaid had been back, and they’d had another movie night, Kincaid had sat in the middle. Which hadn’t done much for her fantasies, either. She’d wanted to crawl onto his lap, then have Zach join them. Not for sex but for comfort.
Which told her just how badly she needed to go to the club. Maybe even have a scene. She had a lot of pent-up emotions that needed to get out before they made her do anything crazier than Zach almost kissing her.
Amy: Girls’ night sounds good. Stronghold on Saturday?
Morgan: Are you ready for that?
Sam: Only if you’re ready for it.
Morgan: Jinx
Sam: Jinx.
Sam: Dammit, two seconds too late.
Now, Amy was working not to giggle again. The old lady sitting across from her was still watching her, like she expected another unladylike snort from Amy at any moment. Amy coughed, clearing her throat at the same time to swallow the giggles. Of course, coughing just made the other woman look even more askance.
Oops.
Oh, well. She’d tried.
Amy: I’ll feel better if I go with you guys. And the sooner I go, the better. If I keep putting it off, I might never go back.
Marissa: I think it’s a good idea. Plus, the Doms are going to come flocking. And now you can fuck them if you want.
Carolyn: She’s living with two of the hottest Doms at the club.
Morgan: Yeah, but she’s not going to fuck them.
Sadly true.
Carolyn: They’ve had threesomes before.
Marissa: The last one they did was months ago.
Carolyn: So they’re in a dry spell. Break the dry spell, Amy!
Sam: I mean… if they’re down for it. But they did just get back together not that long ago. It might be too soon.
Amy: It could also make living together really, really awkward.
Carolyn: But what a rebound. #worthit
Thankfully, the doctor called Amy’s name, saving her from the need to answer immediately.
Amy: Getting called into the doctor’s office. I’ll talk to you guys later.
She felt her phone buzz as she got up, but she didn’t look at it again. The last thing she needed to be thinking about while she was getting tested for possible STDs from Jeremy or Noelle or whoever else he might have been sleeping with—and why did it make her feel better to think that maybe he was sleeping with some unknown so that he was cheating on Noelle, too?—was a rebound.
Especially a rebound with her housemates.
Talk about a terrible idea.
Although if I’m determined to move out within a month anyway…
No.
No. Don’t even go there.
Zach
When his mom called for the third time that afternoon, Zach sighed and picked up the phone.
“Hey, Mom, I’m at work.”
“I know, sweetie. I just have a quick question.” His mom’s cheerful voice made him both smile and sigh. Just a quick question, which could definitely be a text message, but his mom hated texting. She hadn’t left a voicemail either on the previous calls because she knew he didn’t check them at work. She’d usually leave one on the weekend if he didn’t pick up, but it was always just asking him to call her back when he got the chance.
Somehow, he’d never managed to get her to understand that he saw when she called, and he would call her back as soon as he could, regardless of whether or not she left a voicemail.
“Okay, what’s up?” He turned slightly away from his open door. Personal phone calls weren’t prohibited, but they were frowned on. He hoped it really was a quick question.
“Well, I’m out shopping, and I found a pair of swim trunks I think you’d like… you did say you needed some new ones for the summer, right?”
Bending forward, Zach closed his eyes and gently banged his head on his desk. Of course, his mom would think this warranted a phone call.
“Sure, Mom, thanks.” Quickest way to get off the phone before anyone at work realized that he was taking a personal call rather than talking to a client was just to agree.
“Okay, I’ll get them.” She sounded so happy when she got to do things like this. He took a deep breath. “What time will you be home tonight? I can swing over and bring them by.”
“How about I pick them up on my way home from work? That way, I can say hi to Dad, too.” Plus, then he wouldn’t have to explain to his mom why he and Kincaid were sharing a room and there was a girl in the guest bedroom.
Not that she’d be going into their bedrooms, but she’d be curious about Amy’s presence, and he couldn’t exactly warn Kincaid and Amy to lie to his mom for him without making Kincaid feel like shit. Zach would tell his parents—he would—but this definitely wasn’t the time.
Thankfully, his mom always called or texted before ‘dropping by.’ When he and Kincaid had first moved in together, his parents had seen the whole house. They just hadn’t realized he and Kincaid would be sharing a bedroom, and Kincaid had been very understanding about letting them have that belief… then.
He didn’t think Kincaid would out him if his parents showed up and wanted to know where Amy was staying if she was staying with them, but he also didn’t want to put Kincaid in a position where he had to lie. And he knew that it would hurt Kincaid to have his parents show up and obviously still not know what was going on between them.
Kincaid hadn’t given him a deadline for telling them, but he knew he was going to need to soon.
“That’s fine, honey. I might get you some shoes, too. I saw some on sale.”
“Thank you, Mom. I really appreciate it, but I’m at work, and I have to go.”
“Oh, okay, sweetie. I’ll see you when you stop by then!”
“I’ll see you then.” Zach hung up the phone, then looked out of his office door. The hallway was empty. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his head.
He would tell his parents.
Soon.
Just… not today.