Page 34 of Playing My Rivals

My blood burns in my veins. Dorothy knows I hate when she ignores me, so I don’t understand why she’s doing it now. She’s not at home and refuses to answer her phone. I press the button to the executive floor a few more times.

The elevator doors slide open and I squeeze my shoulders through them as soon as I fit. I’m out before the doors are fully open. I march toward her office, determined to find her. The lights are on and the air conditioning hums throughout the hallway. I step into her office. She’s nowhere to be seen.

Where the fuck is she?

I check my watch. It’s almost nine p.m., so where could she be? I take my phone out of my pocket and call her cell again. It rings and when it does, something on her desk vibrates. I walk over to it and notice her phone. She must have left it here, so I pick it up.

I glance around the room as something inside me rises in my gut. All I have to do is go through her phone and any suspicions I have about Jamison will be answered. I call her phone again and answer it this time. Once it connects, I hang up my phone and slide it back into my pocket.

Since she likes to disappear on me at times, the first order of business is to activate her Share My Location app. I disconnect the call but keep her phone open. Once I share her location with me, I go to her text messages.

My stomach hardens and my head spins. I glance around again, trying to decide if I really want to do this. Jamison’s attitude the last time I saw him rushes back to me. Before I can give it any more thought, I search for a message thread between him and her.

I scroll through her list of contacts, and his name stares up at me. My hands begin to shake. I pray I don’t find anything negative when I open this. I take a deep breath and start to go through them.

So far, they’re all work-related. I scroll to the top of the thread to see when they started texting each other so I know who initiated it. The first message appears.

She initiated it. My pulse quickens. I glance up, take another deep breath, and prepare myself for the worst.

I look down and read, “Hey, sweet cheeks.”

My world turns black.

“You didn’t need to come in with me. I’m fine.” Her voice carries down the hall.

Fuck.

I close the messages and return her phone to the desk.

“It’s not a problem. Aide—” Jamison stands in the doorway.

She was with him.

I hold my ground, about ready to kill Jamison. He’s got to be coming on to her for her to send a message like that.

Calm down, Efron.

You didn’t see the rest of it.

It could’ve been a joke.

“Hunter. What are you doing here?” Dorothy steps around him and comes to me.

She’s relaxed and beaming, which causes my stomach to churn bile.

My jaw muscles twitch. “I couldn’t reach you, so I stopped by to see if you were here.”

“Why didn’t you just call?” She moves around her desk. “Oh shit. I left my phone here.”

My eyes burn toward Jamison. He glances down and goes to his desk.

“Where were you two?” I shift so I can see both of their reactions.

“We went across the street to have some dinner and a drink. I’m sorry I forgot my phone.” She picks it up and slides it into her purse.

“The two of you went alone?” I glare at Jamison, wanting to throw him on the ground and hold him down with my foot pressing hard against his head.

“No. We were with Melanie. She met some guy and stayed there.” Dorothy gathers some files and puts them in her bag.

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