Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
HUNTER
My heart lurches from my chest when Dorothy and Isabella stroll into my office. The absolute terror must be etched on my face.
“What can I do for you two?” I pull on my collar as I work to calm myself.
Women have never shaken me, so this is unfamiliar territory. Isabella stands next to Dorothy with a gleam in her eyes. I slide my trembling hands into my pockets.
“Hunter, I’d like you to meet Isabella Carter. Or maybe I should say, reintroduce you.” Dorothy turns to Isabella.
She smiles at Dorothy and then steps to me. “Hunter, it’s such a pleasure to see you again.”
I dip my head to her. “You as well.”
“How long has it been?” Her eyes roam over me from head to toe.
“I couldn’t tell you. How long has it been?” I keep my hands in my pockets and pray she doesn’t say anything about the other night while trying to figure out what Isabella’s up to.
“It’s been a minute or two.” She holds her hand out for me to shake .
Okay, it doesn’t seem like she’s going to share any details of our time together.
I glance at her palm like it’s a hand leading me straight to the electric chair. Knowing I need to play along or else my cover will be blown, I reach out and shake her hand.
“It’s nice to see you again.” I try to drop her grip as soon as we come into contact.
She squeezes my hand, winks, and then releases it. “It’s always a pleasure to see you.”
I glance at Dorothy, who’s eyeing me up and down. She crosses her arms over her chest and tips her chin to the ceiling. It’s clear she suspects Isabella and I’ve slept together.
I just wish I could remember what happened. The two of them confronting me in the office is not going to be fun. I’m more than screwed and about ready to jump out of the window.
Dorothy’s gaze slides between Isabella and me. “Isabella wanted to meet with us before our meeting. She thought we could use the extra time to strategize.”
“Strategize? What would we need to strategize?” I turn away from Dorothy’s suspicious eye and return to my desk.
My balls have crawled so far up inside of me that my voice must sound like a little girl’s.
“The way you want to handle our next steps?” Isabella raises one eyebrow as she catches my attention.
“How would you like to handle them?” I try to swallow, but my mouth is beyond dry.
Isabella laughs like I’m stupid for not having a plan. “It’s your app, Hunter. Therefore, we’re going to need your direction.”
My mind sputters. I’m not making the connection.
I lower my head as I pretend to flip through a packet of budgets I’ve been working on. If I can’t figure a way out of this situation, I’m going to give everything away.
Someone knocks on my open door, so I raise my head. Jonah and another gentleman stand in the doorway. I embrace the interruption and address them.
“Jonah, what can I do for you and your guest?” I hurry over to them.
Dorothy steps aside and glares as I pass her. I’m so fucked and I still have no plan on how I want to deal with this.
“Hunter, this is the other half of Sacks Commodities, Shane Weston.” Jonah motions to this Shane guy, but my brain’s still playing catch-up.
“Hunter, nice to meet you.” Shane steps forward with a nod of acknowledgment.
My brow creases. “Sacks Commodities?”
“The new major advertising sponsor for Efron Worldwide’s app.” Jonah scowls.
“Of course. You’ll need to excuse me for my momentary slip. I’ve been working on budgets since six this morning.” I motion to my desk. “Isn’t our meeting at one?”
“I asked them to come in early so we could take them to lunch. I sent you a calendar invite yesterday.” Jonah analyzes me. He knows me well enough to see I’m crumbling under pressure.
“I haven’t had time to update it today. My apologies.” I hold my hand out to Shane.
He shakes it and turns to Dorothy. “And you must be Dorothy Fisher.”
“Yes, but you can call me Dori.” She takes Shane’s hand.
He flips it over and kisses the top of it. His eyes scream, I’d love to get to know you better.
“Dori, it is. It’s a pleasure to meet you. After today’s session, I’d love if we could get together individually and go over your design ideas using our logos.” He flashes her a dazzling smile.
“I’d like that, Shane.” She turns that beautiful shade of crimson I haven’t seen in a long time and all my reason goes out the door .
“That won’t be needed.” I move between them and send Shane a step-off vibe with a territorial sneer. “We can go over that in the meeting today.”
Dorothy’s eyes widen as she’s clearly appalled. I flash her an apologetic glance, to which she returns a dirty look.
“Let’s take this to the restaurant.” Jonah gestures to the door. “We can discuss any extra meetings after today. Right now, I’m hungry and in need of food.”
“I won’t be able to join you. I’ve got to get these documents in order. That means no lunch for me.” I make an excuse so I can get my bearings.
I’m so far off my game and Jonah knows it, so he’s giving me an evil once over. Isabella’s smiling coyly as if she’s enjoying my discomfort. Dorothy’s red and appears to be trying to hold it together. And this dick, Shane, is still staring at her like she’s on the menu for lunch.
“Suit yourself.” Jonah shrugs and faces Dorothy. “Do you want to send Jamison a text and tell him we’re ready to go?”
This is where I revert to being a young boy with no confidence in handling an intense situation. Jamison cannot be at lunch with Dorothy and Isabella.
I can only imagine the conversation they would have about meeting in the elevator Saturday night. I need to be there to referee their interactions.
“On second thought, I’ll join you. These can wait.” I grab my phone, panic oozing from me. “Dorothy, I’ll text Jamison. You all go ahead, and we’ll meet you there.”
Because I need the time to beg Jamison not to blow my cover.
She shakes her head. “He’s already on his way up. I sent him a text right before Isabella and I came in here.”
Fuck me.
As if on cue, Jamison appears at my door. “Hello, everyone. I’m Jamison Stone, the developer.”
He joins us and assesses the room. Isabella smiles his way and slinks over to him .
“Jamison, I’m Isabella Carter. We weren’t properly introduced the last time we met.” She glances over her shoulder at me and then back at him.
I should just grab a shovel and start digging my grave because Isabella has an agenda. It takes two seconds for Jamison to make the connection. He does a quick analysis on how to handle this.
He knows I have information that could destroy how Dorothy sees him as some perfect man. His eyes flash me a, we’re in this together message, and my nerves take an instant drop in anxiety.
“Nice to meet you, Isabella. Who’s your colleague?” Jamison dips his head in Shane’s direction.
As they make their acquaintances, I peek at Dorothy. She’s taking turns studying Jamison and Isabella and then me and Isabella.
Knowing Jamison and I were friends before he started working here, and if I have any luck, she’ll think we met Isabella a while ago.
Jamison places his palm on Isabella’s back and directs her toward the door. “Let’s walk to the restaurant together, and you can tell me how Sacks Commodities fits in with a casino company.”
She laughs in a flirty tone. “Easy. We want the global exposure.”
“Well, then tell me about yourself. How long have you worked with Sacks Commodities?” He glances at me and subtly tips his head, telling me he’s handling her.
Thank God!
I take the opportunity to spend more time with Dorothy stepping up to her side. Jonah tosses me a shake of his head. He must suspect something is not right. I’m sure I’m giving off strange vibes.
Jonah and Shane dominate our conversation as we stroll to lunch. I can’t get a word in edge wise. I give up and take the time to formulate how I’m going to deal with anything thrown my way during our meeting.
We get to lunch, and I have a hard time getting anything down. Dorothy made sure she sat between Isabella and Jamison, so I’m redirecting conversations away from anything personal.
Dorothy’s onto me but doesn’t press for more information about the past. Instead, she continually turns to Jamison and says things to him no one but the two of them can hear.
I don’t know what’s worse. Isabella and Dorothy talking or Jamison and her. He’s being cordial and whispers to her, so I can’t hear all that they’re talking about.
By the time lunch is over, I’m diminished to an eighth of the man I usually am. And by the time the meeting starts, I’m ready for the day to be over. If only that could be my luck.
My goal for tonight is for Dorothy and me to clear the air about our relationship and do it without getting into a fight.
I tap my knuckles against her door. As I wait for her to answer, my hands start to sweat.
I don’t know what has gotten into me other than I haven’t had a good feeling about us for the last few days. Her door swings open and the most beautiful woman in the world stands on the other side.
“Hi, Hunter. Come in.” She steps aside.
“Hello, beauty. Thanks for having me over.” I step to her and give her a kiss on her cheek. “I brought your favorite wine.”
“Thank you. I have some whiskey left from my brother’s visit if you would prefer that instead.” She takes the wine and strolls into her kitchen. “You can put your jacket on the coat rack.”
“Whiskey would be great.” I take off my coat and throw it on the rack.
I sit on a stool at her kitchen island. It’s only big enough for two people. She really needs to upgrade her place. She can afford a lot more. Better yet, she should move in with me.
“What was that look for, Hunter?” She has her hand on the wine bottle, working a corkscrew into the top.
“I was just thinking you could move into a bigger place. One that has a dining room or more places to sit. You could use a foyer for your coat rack or closet as well.”
“It’s only me, and I like it here. I don’t entertain much because I consider my home a place of sovereignty. It’s special and only people I find worthy can enter.” She smirks and twists the corkscrew into the wine cork.
“In that case, I’m thankful you find me worthy. Who would have guessed you were so snooty?”
“Like your fancy club we sometimes go to, I’m not snooty, just exclusive.” She finishes opening the wine.
“Touché.” As much as I like this banter, I’m dying to get to the point.
I want us back together so I can relax and be myself again. Since I watched the security tapes, I haven’t been the same. Sometimes, I wish I had never ordered those video files.
She grabs the whiskey. “You seem different tonight. Any reason why?”
“I’ve been thinking about how we used to be when we first got together.” My heartbeat picks up. “I’m wondering if we’ll ever get back to that.”
She faces me and twists the cap off the bottle. “How would you describe how it was back then?”
“It used to be when I came over here we would have sex and then relax with each other. You used to be into it. Now, I’m not sure if you want me in the slightest.” My face heats as I work to be as open with her as I can, just as my therapist recommends.
Dorothy’s been begging me to get more emotional with her, so here I am trying. It boggles my mind she doesn’t think sex is intimate enough, but she’s always confused the fuck out of me.
“Hunter, it’s not that I don’t want you. I’ve always told you that’s not where our problems are. If a healthy relationship were only about great sex, we’d never have to worry. Our issues are much deeper than that.” She slides my drink to me.
“But we don’t even have sex anymore, so where does that leave us?”
She places the corkscrew back in a drawer and closes it. She scans my face and sighs heavily. Nothing about it gives me hope this is going to end the way I want it to.
“I’ve been thinking a lot, Hunter. You’re wonderful to me in so many ways.”
“But…” I take a sip of my whiskey and try to keep my heart from cracking.
“I wonder what my life would look like if we were to take it to another level.”
“What level would that be? Because where I’m sitting, anything more than where we are now would be better.”
“One where we can share our feelings without fearing the worst is going to come out of it.” She grabs the cutting board.
“I’m not understanding. We talk about things all the time. It’s only when Jamison comes up that things get uncomfortable between us.” I pick up the knife and gesture to the cutting board. “I’ll slice the strawberries while you finish with the spinach.”
“Thanks.” She hands them to me. “I would agree that Jamison’s a big trigger for you. But he’s not what set you off on Saturday night. He might have been the tipping point, but you were extremely upset when I brought up your reaction to me when I leave you. ”
I’m not going to touch on that subject right now because it’ll end up with us in another fight. That topic can stay buried in an iron box as far as I’m concerned.
I slice a strawberry and slide it to the side of the board. “Just where do you and Jamison stand? I couldn’t help but notice you were whispering things to him today at lunch.”
She takes a sip of wine and turns to her sink to rinse the spinach. “Jamison and I aren’t on the best of terms. My comments to him today were all about work. It’s the only way I can get him to talk.”
“It sounds like you’re still hoping you’ll get a resolution regarding your relationship with him.”
“Of course I am. I never said I was going to give up on that.”
“Does questioning our connection have anything to do with him?”
I shouldn’t ask because he gets my blood boiling, but he has been keeping his word to me lately. Maybe we can become true allies.
He even had my back today with Isabella. I don't think anything happened with her that night because I was too drunk to do anything, but it wouldn't be ideal if Dorothy found out Isabella stayed over.
Just thinking about her makes my skin crawl. If Dorothy ever finds out about her spending the night, she’ll put even more distance between us.
Dorothy interrupts my thoughts. “I won’t lie to you, Hunter. What happened between Jami and me caused me to think about you and where we stand.”
“In what ways?”
She finishes rinsing the spinach and faces me. I take the pile of sliced berries and put them in a bowl.
She stops what she’s doing and gives me her full attention. “When I’m with you, things are great, but we live in a bubble. How do we get more serious when we’re secluded at my place or yours?”
“We go out sometimes.”
“Occasionally, we venture to your club or the restaurant in your building when I’m feeling brave. That’s not much of a relationship. It’s a torrid affair that could end with me not having a job.”
I shake my head because she uses this as an excuse and it’s starting to poke at my nerves. “We’ve been over this a million times. Let’s take it to the board and get the clause removed.”
“I’m not willing to risk it when we have no guarantee they’ll agree. And before you say it, we are nowhere near close enough to get married, so that’s off the table.” She picks up a towel and pats the spinach leaves down.
My chest tightens, reminding me that my heart could get crushed at any moment. But I’m over going around in circles. I place the knife down and stand.
I walk over to her and face her straight on. “This is going to stop right now. We’ve been over and over this. Just come out and say it. What’s the real reason you’ve taken sex out of our relationship and won’t commit to me?”
Her face turns pink, and she glances down. She pauses for a moment, and then she takes a deep breath. Her gaze connects with mine.
“I think we need to take a break.” Her emerald eyes hide behind apologies. “I need to get my thoughts in order and stop dragging you along as I try to figure out how I feel.”
“What does that mean?”
“I need some time to myself. I can’t keep leading you on while I try to decide what I want.”
Oh, fuck no. This is not where I expected this to go. It’s my worst fear coming true.
“What are you saying?” I step back as my heart crumbles into pieces. “Are you ending it with me for good?”