Page 35 of Myself

I make my way to Ryder’s office to find him sitting behind his desk with a phone to his ear. “Mr. Cools, I have to take another call. I will get you the paperwork by tomorrow morning.” Then he hangs up.

“What’s going on out there?” I ask, pointing my thumb at his door.

He leans back in his seat and sighs. “My father found out that I slept with Jessica and fired her.”

My eyes grow big. “Well ... that sucks. For Jessica.”

He opens his mouth, but his cell rings as it sits on his desk. He looks down at it and presses ignore, but not before I see it’s his mother. I debate whether to tell him about my conversation with Becca. He could question how I know, but Becca needs someone else in her corner besides me, and I know Ryder is that someone. “Your mom calling?” I ask, sounding nosy.

He nods. “Third time in the past fifteen minutes.”

“It’s over Becca,” I tell him.

He sits up and places his forearms on the desk. “What? Is she okay?” he asks in a rush and picks up his phone.

I nod. “She’s fine. I just spoke to Becca, and she had lunch with your mother. She got into it with her and stormed out of the restaurant.” I wave my hand in the air as if I don’t know all the details.

“And she told you this why?” he asks slowly, placing his phone back on his desk.

I shrug. “She was pretty upset and needed to talk to someone. She said she had called your office, but you didn’t answer.” I lie easily. It’s a simple lie that he could prove in a matter of seconds. All he has to do is ask his assistant, Kelly. But the fact that the girl who got fired is keeping her preoccupied gives the possibility of her missing the call altogether probability.

He runs a hand through his hair. “Was she crying?”

“No. She actually took it pretty well.” I look around his office and see a red and white checkered blanket wadded up on his couch. A picnic basket sits on the floor, and a few to-go boxes are on a table against the wall. “What have you been doing?”

“Ashlyn and I had a picnic.”

I frown. “It’s raining outside.” I can see it pouring behind him through his windows. It hasn’t let up for over an hour.

“We had one here in my office,” he says simply.

I smile. “Aren’t you getting all romantic.”

I expect him to have a snarky comeback or throw a pen at me, but instead, he just smiles.

His door swings open, and I turn around to see Kelly walk in. Her bleach blond hair pulled up in a tight bun like always, and her lips painted bright red. Her blue eyes meet mine, and she smiles. I look away from her as she continues to Ryder’s desk.

“Your mother has called twice, Mr. O’Kane.”

“I’m not in today,” he replies without even looking up at her.

“Yes, sir.” She turns to walk out but stops next to my chair. “Hello, Jaycent.”

“Hello, Kelly,” I say with a head nod and look her over. She’s wearing a black fitted dress with a red belt that matches her lipstick high on her waist. I’ve seen her wear it before, and at one time, I imagined ripping it off her. Now, nothing sexual comes to my mind regarding her.

She looks over at Ryder and then back at me. He’s now watching us with an amused grin on his face. “I, uh, called you yesterday,” she says, reaching up to run her hand over her tight bun as if there’s a hair out of place. “Are we still on for—”

“I have to cancel,” I interrupt her.

Her face falls. “Oh.” She stands there awkwardly as if she’s waiting for me to tell her when I am available to reschedule, but I don’t. After a few long seconds, she decides to turn and walk out.

We went on one date, and it wasn’t horrible, but it was strictly sex. Unlike Ryder, I don’t mind wining and dining to get a piece of ass. And that was all that I wanted from her, but I know I want more than that from Becca. And I’m not gonna chance what I have with Becca just to make her think I’m still interested.

“Dude, what was up with that?” Ryder asks with a chuckle. “What happened to I’ll crawl for her?” he says dramatically as he places his hands on his chest.

I open my mouth to tell him there’s someone else but stop myself. This is something that Becca and I need to tell him together when she is ready. So I decide on, “I figured hooking up with a girl from your work wasn’t the best idea.”

“I don’t care,” he says with a careless shrug.

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