Page 72 of Selfless

“Gladly!” I shout, throwing my hands up in the air, and then spin around and walk out, slamming the door behind me.

“Mr. O’Kane?” Kelly asks timidly as she stands from behind her desk. “There’s a call on line four …”

“Hang up on it!” I snap and get on the elevator. Taking the day off.

I walk outside the glass doors and see Milton still standing by the back door of my Escalade, having only dropped me off minutes ago. “Where to, Mr. O’Kane?” he asks.

“Talia’s,” I say, and he nods, closing the door.

I sit in the back of the SUV and remove my suit jacket and tear off my tie. I undo my cufflinks and roll up my sleeves along with undoing the top two buttons. I feel like I can’t breathe. My heart pounds in my chest, and my palms are sweaty. I can’t seem to catch my breath. I’m so wound up. So pissed. I’m spiraling out of control.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and look up my mother’s number. My finger hovers over it for a few seconds as I think about what I would say to her. That I would finally tell her what I think of her, but instead, I close out the screen and throw it to the floor. She would just hang up on me before I could get the words out, and that would just piss me off more.

“We’re here,” Milton announces, and I climb out of the back seat.

“Hello, Mr. O’Kane,” a man says as I enter Talia’s. I’ve seen him before but don’t remember his name.

I nod. “Hello …?”

“Thomas.”

Ah, yes, Ashlyn has told me about him before. “Where’s Ashlyn?” I ask.

His face falls, and I catch it before he can mask it. “Uh …” He looks around as if at a loss. Then his eyes meet mine, and he sighs. “She isn’t coming in today.”

“Not coming in?” I take a step toward him, and he takes a step back. “I just dropped her off here thirty minutes ago,” I snap.

He nods. “Yes, but then she left.”

I take another step toward him, not in the mood to be fucked with. “Where did she go?”

His shoulders slump. “She went to a meeting.”

“Where at?” I growl. Is it a top secret meeting for NASA? Why in the hell is it like pulling teeth to find out where my girlfriend is?

“She went to the Belvedere Hotel,” he finally says

“Thomas,” I growl, “I’m in no mood to play games. So you said she left for a meeting and then you tell me she’s at Belvedere.” He nods quickly. “Explain.”

“She has a meeting at the restaurant in the hotel.”

“Why was that so hard?” I ask and slap him on the shoulder.

“Belvedere Hotel,” I tell Milton as I get into the back of the Escalade again.

I try calling her twice but get voicemail both times. Just as we pull up to the hotel, I see her coming out, wearing a smile on her face. She comes to a stop and turns to her right and shakes the hand of a man dressed in a black suit with a bright yellow button up. He pulls her in for a hug.

My anger rises more than I thought possible. I’m out of the door before the Escalade comes to a complete stop.

I square my shoulders as I approach them. “Ashlyn.”

She pushes the guy away from her at the sound of my voice and spins around to face me. “Ryder?” she squeaks. “What are you doing here?”

Walking up to her, I take her in my arms and give her a long kiss on her lips. It’s totally a douche move, but at this point, I couldn’t care less. I want to show whoever this man is to my right that she’s mine. Pulling away, she stumbles a bit and I finally turn my attention to the man staring at me with narrowed brown eyes.

“Ryder O’Kane,” I say, reaching out my hand to him.

“I’m very aware of who you are,” he says in an annoyed voice. And I notice he places his hands in his pockets instead of shaking mine.

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