Page 27 of Selfless

“I tried to tell you when I followed you out,” she interrupts me this time. “But you couldn’t give me two seconds of your precious time to explain myself.”

I open my mouth, but the security guard speaks. “Mr. O’Kane?”

All I can do is shake my head. Could I have been wrong all this time? Jaycent has told me so many times just to call her. Talk to her. Could it have been that simple?

“I’m leaving,” she says and then looks down as she starts digging in her purse. Moments later, she pulls something out. “Here. In your haste, you forgot to take what belongs to you.” She drops the bracelet in my hand and then spins around, and I follow her without even thinking twice.

“Wait …” I run to the elevator where she stands. “Ashlyn …” I don’t know what to say ‘cause no words can express what I’m feeling right now.

She steps into the elevator and turns to face me. And I hate she has no tears in her eyes. No sign of sadness. Just satisfaction that she finally got to tell me what really happened. That I had been wrong all along. “It’s over, Ryder. It’s been over. But at least now you know I never betrayed you,” she says flatly. “That is what hurts the most.” She tilts her head to the side as if in thought. “That you could possibly think I thought so little of you.” She licks her lips. “At least now we don’t have to wait to see how it ends.” And with those words, the elevator closes.

ASHLYN

I walk into work with a big smile on my face, and my head held high.

“Whoa, someone looks great,” Thomas says, looking me up and down. “What did you do?” he asks skeptically.

My smile widens. “Something completely irrational and borderline psychotic,” I tell him. And then my smile falls as I realize what I did. In front of his dad and complete strangers.

He takes a step closer to me. “Giiirrrrllll, what did you do?” he asks with worry now in his voice.

I look up at him. “I made a complete ass of myself in the middle of Ryder’s business meeting.”

“What?” he asks wide-eyed. “Why?”

“‘Cause I was tired of feeling bad over something I didn’t do,” I growl. “He has been treating everyone like shit!”

He crosses his arms over his chest, and I sigh. I was wrong. I did it mainly for myself. I wanted him to know I hadn’t betrayed him, but it was also because I put all my cards on the table that night I called him, and he never said anything back to me. That hurt more than him walking out on me when he found Bradley at my apartment. I wanted to hurt him too. And the look on his face after I told him the truth just made it worse. He had felt bad.

“I just need to work,” I tell Thomas. “Get my mind off him.”

An hour later, I’m still sitting at my desk when a man walks through the front door. A glass vase in his hand with beautiful red roses and a clipboard in the other.

“Miss Whitaker?”

“That’s me,” I say as I stand, wondering who could have sent me flowers. My first thought is my mother. The second is Nick. We do have a date tonight, after all.

“Oh, so pretty,” Thomas says, coming up beside me. He takes the flowers as I sign my name on the clipboard.

“Thank you. You have a great day,” the man says as he turns to leave.

“Who are they from?” I ask, turning to face Thomas. He already set the flowers down on the desk and is reading the card.

He looks up at me, and he gives me a big smile. “The king.”

“What are you talking about?” I yank the card from his hand and read it.

I’m so sorry for everything. Please accept these roses and forgive me for my childlike behavior.

Yours, Ryder

I growl as I slam the card down on the desk and pick up the roses. I throw them in the trash can that sits beside it.

“What are you doing?” Thomas gasps.

“I don’t want them!” I snap.

He runs over to them and pulls the vase out, but the flowers fall to the bottom of the trash. “This is a Waterford crystal vase,” he says in disbelief as he hugs the vase to him tightly.

---