Page 45 of Selfless

“That’s okay,” I say, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the entrance. Her heels clapping on the concrete to keep up with me. I see the man standing outside the door dressed in a suit and tie with a clipboard and pen. He is looking down at it, marking out a name as we come up to him. “Hello. I would like a table for two,” I say.

“I’m sorry. The wait is currently sitting at an hour,” he says, not looking up at us. Ashlyn squeezes my hand and tries to pull me back, but I don’t budge.

“Maybe you can check again,” I insist.

He sighs heavily. “I don’t need to check …” His words cut off as he looks up at me. “Mr. O’Kane,” he says in surprise as he fixes the glasses on his face. He looks over at Ashlyn wide-eyed and then back at me. He nods quickly. “Table for two, you said?”

I nod. “Yes. Please.”

He turns, giving us his back as he mumbles into his headset. When he turns back around to face us, he has a big smile on his face. “Go on in, Mr. O’Kane. They have a table waiting for you.”

I remove my right hand from my pocket and shake his. His eyes widen when he feels the hundred dollar bill I just slipped him. “Thank you,” I say before letting go of Ashlyn’s left hand and placing my hand on her back. I guide her into the well-known restaurant.

“Ryder,” she whispers harshly. “We just cut in front of twenty people.”

I ignore her as another man takes us to the corner of the restaurant to a table set for two. I thank the man and then hold out her chair for her. She thanks me, but her eyes are narrowed. “I thought you would be happy,” I say, sitting down across from her.

She shakes her head, mumbling, “Becca used to tell me about this.”

“About their pasta?” I ask.

She snorts. “No. Well, yeah… She is the one who told me and Thomas about it.” Then she shakes her head quickly. “But that’s not what I meant. She told me how people treat her differently once they know who she is.”

“I paid him for his help.”

Her mouth falls open. “So you think that’s better?” she demands. “Because you threw some money at him?” She places her forearms on the dark red table cloth and leans in to me. “Do you always use money to get your way?”

“If it calls for it.”

She lets out a laugh that tells me she thinks I’m an ass. And honestly, I can’t argue with her. Because I have used money many times to get what I want. “How did you hear about this place?” I ask, looking around the rather large restaurant and wanting to change the subject. It has round tables, and all of them draped with dark red tablecloths along with two chairs. A few of them have four. The lighting is dim, giving off that romantic atmosphere. And it doesn’t hurt that we are in the corner all alone. For a wait that was an hour, this place isn’t all that busy. “You said Becca?”

“Yes. She told me and Tom about it, and we came here the other day for lunch,” she states, still sounding pissy.

I stare at her with a tight jaw as she looks around as if embarrassed to be seen with me. “Tom? You sure do spend a lot of time with him.” I know she works with the guy, but they seem to spend a lot of time alone outside of Talia’s.

She shrugs. “He is my only other friend here besides Becca.”“I’m not your friend?” I question.

“You are, but you have been absent for a week.”

I swallow and nod. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“That night I broke up your date with Rick …”

“Nick,” she corrects me.

I wave a hand in the air. “Was that your first date?”

She nods. “It was.”

“How did you meet him?” I ask, needing to know. It’s like I want to torture myself.

“Becca and Tom set me up with him.” She tilts her head to the side in thought. “Well, I guess they didn’t really set us up. The three of us went to Seven Deadly Sins, and I met him there …”

“Wait?” I ask, holding up my hand. “You, Becca and … Thomas went to Seven Deadly Sins?” She nods, and I curse myself. Thomas was the nice guy Milton was trying to tell me about. Fuck, Ryder. So many times I could have found out the truth if I had just let people explain.

Dinner went smoothly after that. She seems to loosen up, and I was able to relax knowing that there never truly was a reason to worry about Bradley. We make our way back out to the limo that waits by the curb. “How was it, Ashlyn?” Milton asks her with a smile.

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