Page 104 of Unspoken Rules

We shake hands. “Sorry about that. I could have sworn they said Bryan.”

I shrug. “Probably did.”

“Have you had a tour of the floor yet?”

“Nothing more than the walk here from the elevator.”

“I suppose that should be first on our list. Come on, then.”

We spend the next half hour going through the entire floor. He explains the different areas and introduces me to a few people who aren’t busy. The floor is broken up into different types of marketing, like television versus magazines versus social media, etc. I’ll be on social media, which I already knew. He shows me where the bathrooms are, the coffee and break room, the copy room, and supply room. There is a small mailroom also.

“The cafeteria is on the second floor and the food is decent.” He pats his stomach. “Wife prefers I eat home-cooked food, but every now and then I’ll grab a slice of pizza from down there. You married?”

I shake my head. “Nope, and totally fine with that.”

“You’re young,” he says with a chuckle. “A lot of young guys in the company have the same outlook you do. You’ll fit in just fine.”

After the tour is done, I follow Jessie back to his desk where he goes over a few of the programs they frequently use, none of which I’m familiar with, but all seem simple enough. He tells me I’ll be shadowing for the week to all meetings and see how he works on projects so I can get a feel for how things go.

When four o’clock hits, we grab our stuff and head out.

I notice Cole’s truck is at half a tank of gas, which is still plenty, but if I don’t put gas in it when I have the opportunity, I’ll never be able to. Since there’s plenty of time to spare before picking him up, I stop for gas then head to his office.

I’ve never been inside, and since there is still time before he’s done, I go in.

His office is in a large office building, and I check the board to see which floor he’s on.

Harper Construction — 3rd floor.

I take the elevator up and follow the doors for suite 311. The sign on the door says please come in. So I go in and step into a small waiting room with two chairs and a table between them with a short pile of magazines.

“Be right with you!” he calls from another room. It’s the only other door in here.

He’s probably with a client. I hadn’t really thought about that.

I move to take a seat until I hear laughing from the other room. I freeze halfway to sitting. No, that’s not just laughing. It’s giggling. Like from a female.

The door is ajar, and I step closer to listen. Because I like to torture myself. I should have stayed in the car. Through the slit in the door, I see long legs and high red heels. I shift a little, noting there is a woman sitting on a desk. Cole’s desk, I assume, since it was definitely Cole who called out to me. Unless he shares an office with someone else? That’s not what the board said. It was only Harper Construction and he’s never mentioned sharing an office with anyone.

I listen to them chat, but I swear I can’t hear anything because my ears are ringing so damn loudly. I snap out of it where I hear clacking on the floor.

“So, I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

Tomorrow is Tuesday.

I see red. The door opens and I’m face-to-face with mystery date woman. The woman Cole fucked. The one who was just sitting on his desk, giggling like a fucking school girl.

I want to vomit.

“Oh, hello again.” She smiles and keeps walking. Cole looks up and sets eyes on me, and when he does, his face drops.

Chapter Forty-Two

Bryson

Every part of me wants to turn and run. But where do I go? What do I do? I could call a rideshare and go to Mila’s. Or Tomas’s. I have options. But I also have no right to be mad about this. Nothing happened. It was only a woman sitting on his desk.

A woman he fucked.

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