Page 26 of A Conflict of Interest

“I will. Yeah. Thanks, Anna. You’re… kinda… okay, sometimes.”

“Hm. You too. Okay, well—thanks for telling me. I’m going to get back to work now.”

“Back to work,it’s nine o’clock on a Saturday night.”

“I know,” she said cheerfully, which must have meant she was putting in the late hours alongside Lucy, Anna’s personal happy place. Gross. Except that I was jealous because I would have done anything for a chance at that with Kelcey.

“Ugh. You’re such a loser. Bye then, I’ll let you gawk at your girlfriend while you both work yourselves to death. Unbearable…”

“Goodnight, Veronica,” she laughed, and I hung up, still bristling a little.

Ugh. But it was all immediately irrelevant anyway, because Kelcey texted with a picture of herself sprawled out on hercouch, along with the caption,made it back alive! hope your nutcracker adventure went well!

God, she was pretty. I stared at the photo for a long time, mostly because she was pretty, but also partly because Ihadfucked her on that couch, so seeing her spread out on it with her dress a little haphazard and messy… I hadn’t gotten the action tonight that I thought I might, and I’d thought something had just broken and I suddenly had no sex drive, but the thought of taking Kelcey on that couch and hearing her divine noises of pleasure had me prickling with heat.

I wondered if it was weird to get myself off while talking to her, pretending everything was normal. It probably was. I’d fantasize about her later. And the fact that I wasn’t doing it now because I thought it wasdisrespectful to herwas some damning evidence about my feelings for her that I was finally useless to ignore.

I texted the wrong thing without thinking about it.you look so beautiful in that dress

She texted back another picture of the dress, this one all fake-candid, pretending she’d just snapped a picture with the phone in front of her when it was obvious she was trying to get her cleavage in the picture. Not thatIminded.you like this one?? it’s my favorite one now then,she sent, along with a line of heart emojis.

Ugh, god, she was obviously flirting. And I was obviously susceptible. I knew I needed to be sensible, but I couldn’t help myself… I went and changed into an outfit Kelcey hadn’t seen before, a soft-pink minidress with a flared skirt that was just risqué enough to feel exciting when I snapped a few pictures, choosing the one that looked the least recognizable as me and running it through a warm light filter to make it look like I had a different skin tone—anything to make it look a little bit less likeI was the woman who’d broken her heart—before I sent it with a shaky sensation.

I’m too shy to send anything much but here’s mine too, just so we can match,I sent, and it took a satisfyingly long time for her to respond.

oh my godddd, she sent, along with a row of heart-eye emojis.you’re so pretty!!!!!

Wasn’t even trying to pretend it was just the dress that was pretty. I chewed my lip.thanksss, I sent.I’ve got nothing on you

you have everything on me!!!

That sounded awfully nice. I could think of a few things I’d like to have on her… my mouth, my hand, my strap-on I’d bought specifically to use on her. Also my head on her shoulder, my hand in hers… my last name on hers. Or hers on mine, I didn’t know and I wasn’t thinking about it.

pleaseee you’ll get me embarrassed!I replied.but thank you,and a line of heart emojis, before,let’s just talk about your big family event before I die of self-consciousness!! how was all of the food??

We settled into conversation again, and just like it always did with Kelcey, it felt right. Like things were all in their right place.

Dammit, I was going toemotionallyrub one out later thinking of her. Sentimental masturbation wasn’t exactly my thing. But here we fucking were.

Chapter 9

Kelcey

I think it was harder for the fact that Anna clearly didn’t like doing this, that soft sad look in her eyes. Her office felt oppressive, a scary place, when it was normally a nice, safe place to stop in and share my feelings about the work. Or just to talk about her and Lucy and how cute they were.

Stupid of me to think we were friends. I guess they were just humoring me anyway. It was kind of obvious now looking back at it… all the patronizing smiles that I hadn’t really thought about.

“While you’ve definitely done a really good job starting the project…” she started, and I looked down.

“You don’t have to sugarcoat it.”

“Iamimpressed with how well you’ve done. That’s a fact. But I think at this point it will be easier to take you off the project and have someone else finish up where you left off.”

I chewed my cheek. “I’m sorry I messed up the event…”

She sat up straighter. “Kelcey… while we’re here privately, can I tell you something?”

I winced. “Yeah…?”

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