5. Chapter 5
She felt like a fool. More than that, she felt like crying which was absolutely ridiculous. One chance meeting and one dinner shouldn’t be enough to make her feel heart broken. So what if he was handsome and charming? There were other men in the world. She could find someone who didn’t have ties to the fucking Boss of Berkland. There was zero fucking reason to feel like she lost out on something big when there hadn’t even been a chance for it to become anything at all. Dinner and a few kisses shouldn’t make her feel like shit.
Even worse was the fact that she called in today. Well, she texted Andrea and said she wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t make it to their meeting. There was no response from her yet, but it had only been ten minutes. Not that she was counting. It was also five in the morning, but that had never really mattered. Andrea was always available.
Rolling out of bed, she went to take a shower. Instead of work, Melanie was going to go home and see her parents. It was silly to think she was running home to mommy and daddy because she felt a little heartbroken over a guy she’d only met twice. Really it was fucking pathetic, but that’s what her plans were. Maybe some good food and a hug from her mom could set the world right again.
By the time she was dressed and ready, she had a text back from Andrea.
Feel better, but if you feel well enough at any point today or this weekend call me please. I need to get something set up money wise for Monday.
Fucking hell. Melanie was a workaholic. She liked her job too. Knowing there was something changing or new coming made her want to call right now. But she wasn’t going to. She was ‘sick’. Something she hadn’t been for a single day in the past three years. The world wouldn’t burn down if she was gone for a day. Plus, Andrea said by Monday. Maybe by then she could think without wanting to cry. It was too early to go to her parents though. So she laid down on her couch and opened her computer. The least she could do was check her emails.
Levi was running on the treadmill at the gym when his phone started ringing through his headphones. It was Andrea. He wanted to pick up the phone and throw it across the room. “Hello.” He hit the stop button and walked while the belt slowed down.
“Well, if you’re at the gym and not still in bed I’m going to assume last night didn’t go as well as you hoped.” There was an obvious smirk in her voice. It made him angry.
“Not at all.”
Her hum said a lot. “I’m sorry.”
He huffed and turned to sit on the side of the treadmill. “Do you need something?”
“No. I was just checking on you.”
Levi frowned and took a gulp of his water. Did she know? Did Melanie tell her? “Well, I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” Suddenly he sounded like a bratty teenager again and he rolled his eyes at himself. “Everything’s good.”
“If it’s so good then why do you sound like you want to strangle me?” In the background he heard a bunch of noise and then Valerie’s voice said, “‘Drea, quit meddling. You can’t fix everything.”
It made him smile. She was home again. That must have meant they released Avrie.
“I’m not trying to fix anything,” she huffed. “I’m calling to tell him not to be an idiot.”
“Hey! I’m not being an idiot!” he protested. “What’re you even talking about?”
“You’re off your game, Levi. If you didn’t see the DeLaney car following you last night, then maybe I need to reconsider my job offer.”
There was a long silence because he was confused. “You had someone follow me?”
“No. They were following Melanie.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. So she knew. Jesus. He took a breath. Admit nothing was the plan here.
“I also know you met at a diner a couple of nights ago.”
She was baiting him. He knew that, but he was going to take it because he needed to explain. “I was there to watch a meeting go down. She was there alone, and I used her for cover. At first I didn’t even pay attention to who she actually was, I just needed somewhere to sit.” Being defensive wouldn’t help. It just felt like he needed to explain. “Why are you following her anyway? She’s a brilliant woman and loyal to you, obviously since she won’t see me because of you. Did you call on purpose to ruin things last night!?” Some dude on a weight bench looked over at him, and he got up to leave. Fuck this workout.
“I called to tell you about Avrie. You’re the one who answered weirdly and made her suspicious.” She sighed. It sounded like she rolled over or something because there was a crinkling noise. Maybe the sheets. “Listen to me, if I’m what ruined your date then I’m sorry, but sitting outside a shady motel didn’t seem all that romantic to me.”
He slammed the door to his car and started it. “Why are you following her!” He didn’t want to talk about it.
“Because someone’s been sending her death threats and stalking her. At first I thought that’s why you met at the diner. Because she called you to hire you to help. I’m guessing she didn’t tell you?”
“No. She didn’t.” His heart raced. Who would want to hurt her? She was so nice. “Do you know who it is?”
“Victor thinks maybe her ex, but he’s not sure.” Val mumbled something that he couldn’t hear. But Andrea whispered back, “No.”
“What?”
She sighed, and he knew it was coming. “Do you want me to talk to her and tell her you two have my blessing?”
“No. I already fucked it up. She’s not going to trust me now.” But the stalker thing was something he could look into. Even if he couldn’t be with her, maybe he could at least protect her. “I’m an idiot.”
“You were protecting me and our relationship, Levi. The least I can do is tell her you were secretive because I asked you to be.” She sounded like she truly meant that. There was no point though.
“She doesn’t know I’m coming to work for you. I think you should give her a heads up on that at least so it’s not a surprise when we cross paths. Otherwise I’m good.” He looked around and shifted into drive to go home. There was some research he needed to do on this stalker situation. “It’s probably better this way. I’m not meant to have an actual girlfriend.”
“Levi—”
“It’s ok Mama A.” He hung up before she could say anything else.
It wasn’t like they’d had some big love affair. They went on one date that got interrupted by his work. He wasn’t heartbroken. It just felt like a missed opportunity. That’s just how life was sometimes. Plus, he was about to start a new job. A busy and demanding job. There would be lots of distractions and things to handle. Maybe it had been a sign that now wasn’t the time to be dating.