Page 100 of Aching for His Discretion

“I just, uh—well, you know we’re friends—coworkers… and I know we don’t usually go anywhere without Emma and Abbie but I wanted to know if you’d be interested in going out,just the two of us,”he asked.

I felt taken aback slightly. I didn’t want to believe the girls as they’d told me about him liking me, but hearing him actually act on what they’d been saying caught me by surprise.

Subconsciously, I played with my necklace again and gulped softly. “Um, I’d have to get back to you on that. Been pretty busy, as you know, and we are friends, Jacob.Just friends,” I said as nicely as I could.

He nodded, giving me a small smile. “Yeah, just friends,” he said and gave me a short wave as he went to leave.

Before he could get too far, my hand shot out to grab his. He looked down at our hands for a moment and back to my eyes. My heart felt shattered by the look in his eyes and I gulped softly.

“I-I’m sorry, Jacob,” I whispered, and he nodded slowly as he pulled away and walked over to his car.

Getting inside my own, I sighed heavily as I pushed my hair out of my face and started the ignition.

Upon making it to my apartment complex, I spotted my landlord by the door as he spoke to a maintenance man I’d never seen before. As I approached the two of them while I walked toward the complex, their eyes came over to me. I felt slightly uncomfortable as the maintenance man gave me a longer stare, and Mr. Rivera seemed to tense up slightly, noticing it as well.

“I’ll give Frank a call about it later… and I’ll make sure he comes out to deal with it himself,” he bitterly said to the maintenance guy, who simply grabbed his things and walked past me.

Mr. Frank was very nice and polite. He always did a good job of taking care of the complex himself, but he was often busy and sent some of his guys to jobs he couldn’t make it to.

“Come in, sweet pea. Gotta tell Frank to stop sending these fucking guys in here,” he muttered angrily, and I shook my head.

“Be nice, Mr. Rivera,” I scolded softly, and he rolled his eyes.

“I’m only nice to you because you pay your bill on time, you call me when things go wrong, and you give me cookies every once in a while,” he reasoned, and I sighed, defeated, as I grabbed my mail.

“On a serious note, is everything okay in the complex…? You look very stressed,” I asked, and he sighed as he shook his head.

“Heating system is a complete shitstorm after the pipe burst last week. I’m trying to get the place back to normal in the next day or two, but the damn thing decides when it wants to work byitself. I left two space heaters by your door just in case we lose heat…”

“You didn’t have to, Mr. Rivera,” I said, feeling bad, and he shook his head.

“But I did, sweet pea. Let me know if you need anything else… I got other shit to do,” he muttered angrily, and I bid him goodbye sadly as I walked up to my complex.

Upon opening the door, I was immediately met with my kitty, who jumped into my busy hands. I cooed at him softly as I dropped my many bags to the floor and closed the door behind me.

Smothering him in kisses, I walked over to my bedroom and opened my drawers. Pulling out some night clothes, I let my kitty down, and he meowed to me about his day as I walked into the bathroom.

Getting into the shower, I decided to wash my hair and have a self-care night as I felt exhausted. After a gruesome but relaxing forty-five minutes in the shower, I got dressed and sat in front of my floor mirror as I brushed my hair.

My kitty lay in my lap as I combed through my hair, and my eyes landed on the necklace around my neck. It feltheavy... almost as if it were a part of me that I was still afraid to take off.

Putting my brush down, I shakily moved my hands to the back of my neck and unclasped the chain slowly. Pulling the necklace away from me, I no longer felt the chokehold or the weight on my shoulders. I felt… better. Almost like a sense of relief had washed over me.

After a moment, I placed it on the nightstand and stood up with my little kitty. Going over to the kitchen, I ate a small meal before settling on the couch to go over more work before tomorrow.

Chapter forty-two

Teegan

“Why do you always smell so damn good?” Abbie asked out of the blue as I sat at my desk, and I looked over at her in utter confusion.

“Because I shower?” I questioned, perplexed, and she shook her head as she grabbed my arm and smelled it like a crazy person.

“No. You don’t just shower… you smell like laundry and lavender,” she muttered.

Emma spoke as she typed on her computer. “Leave the poor girl alone, Abnormal.”

“I told you to stop calling me that…” Abbie said in a menacing whisper, and I sighed as I pulled my arm back and pushed her away using her chair.

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