Maid To Be

n i n e t e e n

The rest of the weekend came and went, and before I knew it, it was Monday morning.

I managed to dodge Kyle for the majority of the day yesterday, and whenever we did find time to talk, the conversation usually revolved around his search for a new PA.

Today marks the first official day of interviews, and to my surprise, Kyle wasn't ready for them at all.

I'd like to think that Julianna's absence had something to do with it since Kyle relies on her for pretty much everything.

"Are you sure you have everything?" I asked for the thousandth time this morning. I was almost positive he overlooked something in his rush to grab his stuff, and I wanted to make sure that he didn't forget anything important.

Kyle, who was currently in the middle of looking for his keys, paused in his tracks to glare at me. "Yes, mother. I double-checked my briefcase a few minutes ago."

"So why are you still here then?" I retorted. "Your first interview starts in like twenty minutes."

His glare intensified as he raised his wrist to check his watch. "I'm leaving now," he muttered. "And don't forget you're on your own today."

Even though he didn't explicitly say it, I could easily read between the lines:

Don't act up while I'm gone.

I shot him a sarcastic smile. "How could I when I'll be surrounded by nothing but silence all day?"

Kyle rolled his eyes at my response before he continued to search around for his keys.

I held in a laugh as it only took one look around the room for me to find them.

I reached over and grabbed them from their "hiding spot," pinching the keyring between my fingers so I could dangle them in the air for him to see.

"Looking for these?"

Kyle turned his head to see what I was talking about, and a scowl slipped onto his face the minute we locked eyes.

In a flash, he was standing in front of me with his hand outstretched.

He plucked the keys from my fingers, and after retrieving his briefcase and phone from the barstool and island, he left out through the garage door without so much as a goodbye.

I wasted no time turning my attention to the other side of the kitchen, which was currently in a state of disarray. I wasn't used to cooking Kyle's meals since that was Julianna's job, but in the wake of her absence, I had no choice but to fill in as chef.

In an attempt to get a head start on things, I spent a good half of my morning running around trying to get everything ready for Kyle so that he could eat as soon as he woke up.

Had I known he was going to wake up late, I would've made more of an effort not to make such a mess.

Already uncomfortable with the silence, I quickly connected my phone to the wireless surround sound speakers that ran throughout the house. I then got to work gathering all of the pots and pans that I used when making Kyle's ridiculously specific breakfast order.

As I waited for the sink to fill up, I scrolled through some of the texts I received last night and this morning. A small sigh escaped my lips as most of them were hateful messages from my mother and Tyler.

Why am I not surprised?

When the water was finally to my liking, I shut off my phone and turned to start on the dishes.

As I did them, I sang along to the songs on my playlist, making the most out of the time I had to myself.

Once the pots and pans were washed and put away, I tackled the countertops and floor, making sure to wipe down all of the surfaces before I went in and Swiffered.

The next task on my to-do list was laundry.

I started a load for Kyle since he had the most stuff to wash, and while his clothes were in the machine, I straightened up the rest of the downstairs area.

Forty-five minutes later, I returned to the laundry room to move Kyle's non-delicate clothes to the dryer.

The rest I put on the drying rack to air dry.

Not wanting to wait around for the dryer to finish, I decided to pass the time by cleaning my room since it was still a complete wreck from Saturday.

While Sergio had taken his suitcase full of makeup and lighting equipment back to his house, he made sure to leave behind some products for me to try after I told him that I wanted to start experimenting.

He promised that he would come back and teach me his ways, and I was eternally grateful for his willingness to help me.

Once my vanity was clear of any leftover products, I began to wipe it down with a Clorox wipe.

I was in the middle of wiping down my drawer handles when the doorbell suddenly sounded throughout the house, causing me to freeze.

It took several seconds for me to defrost, and when I did, I instantly reached out to pause my music.

I then held my breath as I waited to see if the person outside would ring the doorbell again.

They did.

Slowly but surely, I made my way out of my room and down the stairs, and when I opened the door to find a familiar blonde standing on the other side, my fear turned into indifference.

"Logan?"

He greeted me with a sheepish smile. "Hey, blondie." He then bobbed his head, gesturing towards the space behind me. "Can I come in?"

I stepped aside, allowing him to enter. When I closed the door and turned around to find him staring at me, I asked, "What are you doing here?"

He smirked, running his eyes over my uniform-clad body. "Cute outfit."

I folded my arms across my chest, shooting him a blank stare.

"Sorry," he sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I came over to apologize again for what I said on Saturday. I can't rest knowing you're still mad at me."

As much as I hated to admit it, I couldn't rest either.

"I'm allowed to change my mind, Logan," I finally said while uncrossing my arms. "I might've started off hating this job, but as I said before, I've learned to appreciate it."

He nodded his head in agreement. "And that's completely valid. I just don't want you to throw away your happiness because of it."

My lips twitched at his assumption. "Who said I wasn't happy?"

He ran a nervous hand through his hair, unsure of where we stood now that everything was said and done.

I allowed a few more tense seconds to pass before I finally let a smile break out on my face.

It took a few additional seconds for Logan to register my change in expression, but as soon as he did, he let out a sigh of relief. "So, does this mean that I'm forgiven?"

I chose to answer his question nonverbally as I opened my arms and wrapped him up in a hug. I relaxed into his embrace, and my smile widened when I felt him rest his chin on top of my head.

"You're forgiven," I mumbled into his shirt.

I let out a mix between a gasp and a laugh after he buried his face in the crook of my neck and squeezed me impossibly tight against him.

"Thank you," he murmured. "Us blondes have to stick together, you know?"

I pulled away from him, laughing loudly. "Especially in a house full of brunettes."

"Don't I know it," he testified. Then, without warning, he grabbed my hand and began dragging me towards the kitchen. "Now come on, I'm here to save you from boredom."

I rolled my eyes at this. "I'm supposed to be working."

"Yeah, well, so am I."

It was then that I remembered what he said on the phone on Saturday.

"Aren't you supposed to be at the studio with Gordon?" I asked, my tone accusing.

Logan shrugged. "I let him fly solo today so that I could come and talk to you."

I began to toy with the frills on my apron as I watched him pull out a cutting board. "You seriously didn't have to do that. I'm not nearly as important as Gordon Ramsay."

Logan dismissed my response with the wave of his hand. "Shut up."

I opened my mouth to tell him off, only the sound of my phone ringing prevented me from doing so.

"I'm making ratatouille, do you want some?"

I raised the device to my ear, having pressed the answer button without looking at the caller ID.

"What do you think?" I shot before muttering a terse, "Hello?" into the speaker.

"Please tell me that my house is still standing," a deep voice sounded on the other end of the line. "I'd like to know that I have a home to come back to."

I bit my lip as I turned to gaze out of the window. "Still don't trust me, Rodriguez?"

His snarky reply came in half a second later. "Not in the slightest bit, Reynolds."

I inhaled deeply at the sound of my last name. "We had a deal."

"We never shook on it."

I opened my mouth to refute his statement, but I quickly realized that he was right. We were about to shake on it when Renée walked in and virtually insinuated that she and Kyle had just finished getting it on in the conference room.

"Yeah? Well, whose fault is that?" I argued.

"Yours," he retorted dryly.

"What? How is it mine?"

"You walked away."

"Was there a point to this call?" I asked, changing the subject entirely.

He and I both knew that he was right.

I'd rather die than admit that to him, though.

"Of course not, sweetheart. I just wanted to call and see what you were up to," he deadpanned. I bit the inside of my cheek, knowing that I'd only be gassing him up further if I played into his antics. "No, I was calling because I wanted to make sure that you had something to eat—"

It wasn't my intention to cut Kyle off in the middle of his sentence, but when I turned around to find Logan doing knife tricks, I couldn't contain my shock.

"What the hell are you doing?" I yelled at him.

Logan froze mid-throw, and I immediately squeezed my eyes shut as I waited for the knife to fall to the floor. I winced when it did, and after a few seconds of silence, I opened my eyes to find Logan staring at me with a sheepish grin on his face.

I was so focused on scolding him that I didn't even notice that Kyle had gone deathly silent in my ear.

"I suggest that you cut your show short before you end up in the ER," I advised, shooting him an icy glare.

He let out a small chuckle, leading me to take a threatening step forward.

This shut him up immediately.

"I mean it, Logan," I told him. "Cut that shit out before you get hurt."

I opened my mouth to say something else, only to freeze just as Logan had as Kyle's gruff voice suddenly penetrated my right eardrum.

"What the hell is Logan doing in my house?"

I followed the man in question with my eyes as he put the knife that he'd dropped in the sink before he reached out and grabbed another one from the knife block.

My mouth went dry at his question. "He dropped by to tell me something."

"And did he?"

"Did he, what?" I questioned, trying my best to stall.

Kyle was less than pleased with my attempt as he let out a frustrated sigh. "Did he tell you what he needed to tell you?"

"Well, yes, but—"

"So again, I ask: What the hell is Logan doing in my house?"

"Well, right now he's making ratatouille—"

"Not anymore he's not," Kyle snapped, not at all caring to hear what else I had to say. "Tell him to leave. He's supposed to be at the studio with Gordon, anyway."

I opened my mouth to protest, only to be cut off for the third time in less than a minute. "But—"

"That wasn't a complete thought, Miss. Reynolds," he interrupted sharply. "Tell Logan that he needs to leave, and if he asks you why, tell him that you need to drop something off at my office."

My lips dipped down into a frown. "You want me to lie?"

When I didn't receive an immediate response from him, I pulled the phone away from my ear. Even though he'd never hung up on me before, I wouldn't put it past him to do it now.

"No," he finally answered half a second later. "I do need you to bring me something. The company folder that's in my desk drawer."

My lips parted in shock at my final order. "My next interview starts in forty-five minutes, and I need it before then. Take one of my cars and be here in twenty."

He then ended the call before I could ask him any more questions.

I slowly pulled my phone away from my ear while shifting my gaze to Logan, who was now humming a Post Malone song to himself. As far as I could tell, he was completely unaware of the conversation I'd just had with his best friend.

My mind began to race as I shuffled towards the island.

"Hey, Logan?" I immediately frowned at the shakiness of my voice.

He paused what he was doing to look up at me. "Yeah?"

I released my hair from the confinements of my ponytail in hopes to ease the tension headache that was slowly beginning to pound away at my skull. "While I appreciate you coming over to apologize, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

A frown that matched my own slipped onto his face as he set down the knife he was holding. "May I ask why?"

A feeling of guilt washed over me as I told him that I needed to drop something off at Kyle's office. While what I said was indeed true, I still felt bad for kicking him out.

"Oh," was all he said, and the disappointed look on his face made me want to cry.

"Please don't be mad," I found myself pleading with him.

"I'm not mad. I just wanted to spend some time with you, that's all," he sighed. "But we can hang out some other time this week. Unless, of course, you decide to ghost me again."

His tone wasn't malicious at all.

If anything, he was teasing me, but I didn't find it funny.

"I promise I'll make it up to you."

This got his attention.

I felt my heart skip a beat as a hopeful smile took the place of his frown.

"You will?"

"Of course, I will," I said while reaching into the cabinet to grab some Tupperware.

Satisfied with my answer, Logan began to help me put away the vegetables that he had cut up. After washing the cutting board and knives that he'd used, he called up Gordon to tell him that he would be there after all.

"Alright, blondie, I'll catch you later, okay?"

I bit my lip, still feeling horrible. "Okay, have fun."

Before he could even think about leaving, I reached out and wrapped my arms around his waist. I felt him tense at my sudden display of affection, but he quickly relaxed into my embrace. I smiled as he leaned down and kissed the top of my head.

For whatever reason, Logan's presence grounded me.

If I had to guess, I'd say that it has something to do with how his show helped me get through some of the roughest years of my life. He doesn't know this, of course, but I figure that my brain still associates him with feelings of happiness and comfort.

"Logan?" I mumbled after a thought suddenly popped into my head.

"Hmm?"

"What's the most expensive car in Kyle's garage right now?"

??————-　?　————-??

After changing my clothes and locating the folder that Kyle asked me to bring, I set off to his office with one emotion powering my every move:

Annoyance.

I walked right past Renée's desk, effectively ignoring the sound of her yelling "excuse me" over and over again.

I paid no mind to the employees around me as my gaze remained fixed on the elevators in front of me.

When I finally stepped into one, I pressed the button labeled '20' and waited as I slowly rose to the top floor.

I had no idea if Kyle was even in his office right now, but something told me that he wasn't one to leave it unless he absolutely had to.

The IT receptionist greeted me as soon as I stepped into the common area, and I shot him a small smile before I made my way down the hall.

I came to a stop in front of Kyle's office door and briefly contemplated knocking. In the end, I decided against it since Renée was still at her desk downstairs. With this being the case, I figured that the chances of me walking in on him doing something with another woman were slim to none.

Surely, he wasn't sleeping with more than one of his employees . . . right?

I shook my head.

I wouldn't put it past him.

Before I could dwell on it any further, I pushed open the door, and my eyes immediately locked with Kyle's from across the room.

"I double-checked my briefcase a few minutes ago," I mocked, repeating his words back to him. With a fire still burning in the pit of my stomach, I waved the folder around for him to see. "If that's the case, why am I here?"

Kyle ignored my statement entirely as he turned his attention back to the documents spread out in front of him.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he sneered, letting out a short, humorless chuckle. "Did I pull you away from your boyfriend?"

I gawked at him. "What is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?" he echoed in disbelief. "What's wrong with you?"

I continued to gape at him as he lifted his head to glare at me.

"Let me remind you that you work for me, Miss.

Reynolds," he said while slowly standing up from his chair.

Frozen where I stood, I watched him walk around his desk before he came to a stop in front of me.

He then reached out to tug the folder from my hand, but my grip on it was so tight that he ended up yanking me forward instead.

A deafening silence settled over the room as we each held on to opposite ends of the folder.

"So when I ask you to do something, I expect you to do it without an attitude." After saying this, he pulled on the folder once more, and this time, I let it go.

Before I could even think through my response, he caught my wrist with his free hand and tugged me into his chest.

"Got it?"

I blinked up at him.

A crazy, sadistic part of me wanted to defy him. For once in my life, I wanted to look him in his eyes and tell him, "no," with a smile on my face. The rational part of me, however, wanted to say, "yes," so I could get on with my life and forget this conversation even happened.

Before I could decide which side to let loose, the door swung open, and the interruption saved me from having to answer Kyle's question.

It didn't cause either of us to break eye contact, though.

Only when this person started talking did Kyle finally shift his gaze to look at them.

"Rodriguez, why the hell did Nancy just give me the report I asked her for two weeks ago—" The person in question cut themselves off when they realized that Kyle wasn't the only one in the room. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you had an appointment today . . . Lilac?"

Veronica's eyes widened as I slowly turned around to face her during the time she had been talking. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Kyle let go of me with a sigh after Veronica moved further into the room. He sat on the edge of his desk and watched as she drew me into a hug.

"I'm doing Mr. Rodriguez here a favor," I said, squeezing her tight. "I've missed you."

Even though I couldn't see her face, I could almost feel her glaring daggers at Kyle. "I've missed you too. Had I known that Rodriguez was going to lock you away in his house, I wouldn't have recommended you for the job."

We pulled away from each other, and I ran a hand through my hair with a semi-nervous laugh. "Yeah."

She looked at me weirdly, but I shook my head.

"Here's the report," she said, holding my gaze for a second longer before she shifted her eyes over to Kyle.

"I find it ridiculous that I have to breathe down these people's necks to get them to do the things that are in their immediate job description.

" She reached around me to hand him the file, and I immediately grew tense the second he stood up behind me.

"God, I can't wait for you to graduate," he muttered more so to himself than to her. "I need you working here full time."

"I'm on track to graduate a semester early, so I'll be here full time sooner than you think." She smirked, knowing that this tidbit of information would calm him down. "Now, I'm going on my lunch break, and you're coming with me."

My eyes widened as I looked up to find her staring at me. "But I was just—"

"Nope," she rejected my protest while reaching out to grab my hand. "It's been ages since we last saw each other, and Rodriguez here owes me, don't you, tesero?"

I risked a glance at Kyle, who had since sat back down in his chair. He rolled his eyes at the nickname, but he nevertheless agreed to Vee's proposition. "Since I know that neither of you had breakfast, go ahead."

Veronica squeezed my hand excitedly before she turned and began tugging me out of the room. "We're going to Nora's. I'll bring you back your fave!"

Kyle muttered what sounded like a "thank you" just as Veronica shut the door behind us.

She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts, and I gulped as soon as she did. The devilish glint in her eyes could only mean one thing:

Trouble.

"You and I have much to discuss."

??————-　?　————-??

Nora's was only a five-minute walk from Kyle's office, and it was on the high-end side as far as restaurants go. As soon as the hostess saw Veronica walk through the door, she stepped out from behind her station and gestured for us to follow her.

We were seated in a booth near the window, and the hostess handed us our menus before she went back to her stand.

Before I could even settle back into my seat, Veronica was on my case.

"Is there something going on between you and Kyle that I don't know about?"

I ignored her question entirely as I proceeded to open my menu and read over today's specials. "What do you normally get from here?"

Veronica placed her index finger on top of my menu, and I peeked up at her innocently after she lowered it to where she could see my face.

"Lilac?"

"Yeah?"

"You're deflecting."

I let out a small sigh, hating how well she knew me. "I know."

I honestly didn't know how to answer her question.

Had she not walked in on us, how would I have responded to Kyle?

"I don't know, Vee. Things have been weird since we got back from the banquet on Saturday," I finally said.

A hint of recognition flickered in Veronica's eyes as she folded her hands together on top of the table. "Oh shit, I forgot about the banquet. What happened?"

I opened my mouth to begin telling her, but the voice that cut through the air beside us did not belong to me.

"Well isn't this a surprise?"

Veronica and I turned our heads to see our waiter standing next to us with a smug smile on his face.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Veronica groaned, pretending to gag at the sight of my ex-boyfriend, Christian.

"Oh lighten up, Ronnie," Christian smirked. He then paused before asking, "You still go by that, right?"

I instantly leaned over the table and grabbed Veronica's hands. She was a mere two seconds away from clawing Christian's eyes out, and if I didn't calm her down now, things were bound to get ugly.

"Watch it, bitch," she spat, causing both me and Christian to flinch.

The people sitting across from us turned to see what was going on, and I quickly sent them a tight-lipped smile that said, 'mind your business.'

With that fake-ass smile still on my face, I gently squeezed Veronica's hands as a way to get her attention.

When she finally shifted her gaze to look at me, I uttered the one word that she absolutely hates, yet it somehow manages to do the trick every time:

"Relax."

She backed down almost immediately.

"Fine," she huffed. "I'll play nice."

I started to nod my head in approval; however, the slick little "for now" that she muttered under her breath had me narrowing my eyes at her.

"Kidding," she said somewhat convincingly. When she saw the wary look on my face, she threw in a quick, "I swear!"

Choosing for my own sake to believe her, I released her hands and settled back into the booth. "Hey, Christian," I muttered, not at all interested in starting a conversation with him.

I mean, this had to be some kind of twisted, messed-up form of divine intervention, right?

"Hey." He nodded my way before he pulled out a notepad and pen. "What can I start you all off with to drink? How about a tall glass of milk?"

The last question wasn't a genuine suggestion he wanted us to consider. It was yet another attempt at setting Veronica off.

Anyone who knows Veronica knows that she hates milk. There was a milk-related incident in her childhood that scarred her for life, and only I know the whole story.

"How about a shutthefuckupbeforeIslaptheshitoutofyou soda?" she quipped, shooting him an icy smile. "Do you all sell those here?"

I watched as Christian opened his mouth to respond, but before he could get a word out, I jumped in and said, "We'll take two lemonades."

When he made no move to leave, I threw in a, "Now, please."

He tore himself away from his glare off with Veronica to look at me. "Sure thing. I'll be right back."

Veronica wasted no time expressing her feelings on the matter, and I sighed as she didn't even wait until Christian was out of earshot to start talking about him.

"When did he even start working here?" she fumed. "Now I have to find a new place to eat lunch at."

I rolled my eyes at her dramatics. "I'm sure he doesn't work here every day. And you can always request to have a different server if it's that big of a deal."

Veronica shook her head, and I could tell from the look on her face that she wasn't going to entertain my advice.

"We should leave," she suggested. "There's a Chick-fil-A around the corner, and the manager there loves me. I can have our order ready in two minutes if I call it in now."

See.

"Why?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

"Because I don't want that puttana handling our food!" she exclaimed. "He might try and poison us or something!"

"He wouldn't do that," I told her gently. "He's not that crazy."

"Sure he is!" she protested. "That man is the devil reincarnated!"

I fought the urge to smirk at her comparison. "You know, if I didn't know us, I would assume that he was your ex instead of mine."

She scrunched up her face at this. "God, no. I'm still trying to figure out what you saw in him."

I briefly thought back to when we first started dating our junior year of high school. "He used to be nice, once upon a time. You know how much his sister's death affected him."

Veronica grunted. "That still doesn't excuse the fact that he's a bum-ass prick."

Before she could say anything else, Christian came back with our drinks.

I quickly decided what I wanted, and after ordering our food, Veronica placed a to-go order for Kyle.

"So, you were telling me about the banquet?"

I knew I couldn't evade the topic forever, which is why I finally caved and began to fill her in on what happened. The only detail I left out was how Kyle and I danced as that wasn't relevant to the story.

"I heard about what happened at Versace last Wednesday," she said after I finished recounting the night. "What did Kyle have to say about it?"

"He doesn't know," I snorted. "This search for a new PA is the only thing on his mind right now. I'd be surprised if he even knew what day it was."

"You're playing a dangerous game, cara mia," she warned. "You know how crazy he gets when it comes to protecting his image."

"You're telling me," I muttered sarcastically. "I just don't understand how everything always ends up being my fault. I mean, I've always had issues with Kyle, but he's really starting to irritate the fuck out of me."

Veronica raised a brow at my apparent frustration. "You know why that is, right?"

I frowned.

Wasn't it obvious?

"Because he has it out for me?"

She shook her head. "No, you two are more alike than you think. That's why you all piss each other off so much."

"Kyle and I are nothing alike," I said, immediately shutting her down.

"Yes, you are," she insisted. "Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be your twin flame. If you believe in that kind of stuff, of course."

When she saw the confused look on my face, she dove into more detail.

"Look, you're both stubborn as hell, you both have mommy issues that manifest in the form of unwarranted aggression, you'd both lay down your lives to protect your loved ones, oh, and then there's the fact that you're both ridiculously hot—"

"Okay, okay, I get it," I cut in.

She would gladly go on rambling if given the opportunity.

"The only real difference between you two is that Kyle comes off as rude because he's not afraid to say what's on his mind, no matter how blunt it is.

You, on the other hand, keep those thoughts up here," she paused to tap her temple with her index finger.

"Also, there's the fact that he's rich and you're not, so his ego's a lot bigger than yours.

But, other than that, he's practically your mirror image. "

I scoffed at her petty analysis. "I didn't know you changed your major to psychology."

She shrugged. "I'm just saying that you like the challenge. You're only frustrated because you're essentially fighting yourself. And I think you're holding back because you secretly want him to dominate you."

She stopped to take a sip of her drink before continuing. "I mean, think about it. When have you ever gone up against somebody and failed?"

I stifled a laugh at her question. "Maybe I just don't want to get fired?" I suggested. "Did you ever think about that?"

She hummed, dismissing my response with the wave of her hand. "He could've fired you the second you got caught gazing into Logan's eyes," she said matter-of-factly, "but he didn't. So nice try, honey."

I dug my fingernails into my palm as I willed for her to stop psychoanalyzing me. It was bad enough when I did it to myself.

I opened my mouth to tell her to quit it, but when her face lit up in realization, I delayed my plea.

"You know what I think?" she proposed. "I think you want to see how many times you can push him before he finally snaps."

With narrowed eyes, I quickly put an end to this impromptu therapy session. "If you don't change the subject in the next two seconds, I will leave you here to deal with Christian by yourself."

She let out a small huff as she folded her arms across her chest. "What? I'm just making an observation."

I sunk back in my seat, knowing good and damn well that she was far from finished. "You're just mad that I'm right. I mean, you haven't even tried to deny my claims, so I figure you must've thought about this already."

Her eyes lit up when she saw the guilty expression on my face. "Judging by your silence, it seems as though you've come to the same conclusion I have."

In a classic Veronica fashion, she paused before saying, "You like Kyle."

I visibly winced at her words. "You really want to do this now? Our waiter is my ex, for Christ's sake."

She snorted at my weak-ass excuse. "Fine, I'll drop it." I started to let out a sigh of relief, but I should've known she wasn't going to let me off that easily. "But you better believe we're continuing this discussion the next time we meet up."

"Fine," I muttered, having lost the energy to fight with her.

Veronica was more than pleased with my answer, and I felt myself relax after she launched into a rant about the business plan she has to create for one of her classes.

Christian ended up bringing our food out ten minutes later, and we dug in as soon as he left us alone.

We thankfully discussed topics that had nothing to do with our boss while we ate, but I knew that her non-professional opinion would stick with me for the rest of the day.

"Tip his ass a penny," Veronica instructed after we finished our meal and received the bill from Christian.

Since she had paid for lunch with her company card, I offered to pay the tip, which for the cost of our food, could've bought me several meals at Chick-fil-A. Much to Veronica's annoyance, I tipped him more than a penny, but not nearly as much as the 20% standard.

As we gathered our things to get ready and leave, the unmistakable feeling that someone was staring at me suddenly overtook my senses. I ended up doing a quick lap around the room with my eyes, but no one out of the ordinary stood out to me.

"You coming?" The sound of Veronica calling me pulled me from my daze, and I looked up to see her standing next to our table, waiting for me.

I quickly grabbed my bag and stood up to join her.

My paranoia remained as we walked back to Kyle's building, and I would've mentioned it to Veronica had she not opened her mouth with a proposal before I could relay my concerns.

"We should have a girls' night," she suggested. "It's been ages since we last did something."

For the time being, I let my fears go.

"I'm down," I agreed. "How about this Friday?"

Veronica nodded excitedly. "Sure! I get off at three, so we can meet up at my place sometime after that."

I began to dig through my purse in search of Kyle's car keys. I was so distracted by the action that I said, "Cool, I'll ask Kyle and see what time I can be there."

Without warning, Veronica stopped in her tracks, pushing her arm out to the side to stop me with her.

"I'm sorry?" she questioned in disbelief. "You'll ask Kyle?"

Shit, I mentally swore.

Why did I have to phrase it like that?

I ran a hand through my hair as I rushed to correct myself. "I meant that I'd ask him if I could get off early," I stated. "My day doesn't officially end until four."

She was silent for a moment, and I let out a small sigh of relief when she dropped her arm and continued walking towards the building.

We arrived at the office two minutes later, and when I turned to say goodbye to Veronica, I could tell she was still thinking about my slip-up.

"I'll text you to let you know what the plan is," she finally said after I gave her a reassuring hug. "We'll probably pre-game at Neon and then hit up a karaoke bar or something."

I nodded. "Okay, yeah. Just let me know. I'm down for whatever."

When we pulled away from each other, I blew her a kiss. "Have a good rest of your day, my love."

She shook her head at me, grinning brightly. "You too. Text me when you make it back, okay?"

"I will," I told her. "Love you!"

"Ti voglio bene," she replied while pulling out her key card.

We parted ways after that, and as I made my way back to Kyle's car, I began to feel excited for the first time since I went out with Logan.

I just hope for a better ending this time.