Page 9 of That's the Way Rejection Goes

Erick was my everything. So I pushed Sam from my mind, intent on forgetting all about him.

If only it were that easy.

Chapter Five: Sam

After dropping Calum off with Andy and Josh, I headed back to the hotel, mumbling under my breath. I was still irritated that Calum had tried to make a move on me. It was subtle of course, but his intentions were perfectly clear. He wanted to use me to cheat on his mate and I honestly wasn’t sure if I could think of anything more deplorable. Here I was, spending my life alone and wishing I had a mate more than anything in the world. Then this guy comes along with a drop-dead gorgeous man on his arm and the first thing he wants to do is cheat? Fuck him. I’d read enough romance novels to know that he wasn’t the sort of person I wanted to get involved with.

A part of me wanted to tell Erick when I got back to the hotel. However, I forced that inclination away. Both of them had just been uprooted from their homes and had their lives turned upside down. I didn’t know the circumstances or the reasons, but it didn’t matter. All they had was each other, and I didn’t want to drive a wedge into their relationship. All that would do was make me the bad guy and cause them more pain. And that was the opposite of how I wanted my hotel to run. I wanted them to find peace and get back on their feet, not drag them down further.

So, with one last grumble, I resolved to keep it to myself.

Holding my coat tight around my neck, I trudged my way back to the hotel through the snow. In the past couple of days we’d gotten nearly eight inches and a bunch of wind, so the drifts in places were past my knees. I scoffed to myself, wishing I was getting eight inches, but that didn’t look to be happening anytime soon. It was tragic too, because I was an insatiable bottom once I got started. A guy could have a lot of fun with me if one of them would just give me a damn chance.

Oh, andnotbe in a fucking relationship already.

By the time I got back to the hotel, I was in a bad mood. I was really tryingnotto be, but after everything with Calum and my own crushing loneliness, I was having a hard time being anything but grumpy. Of course, the moment I stepped in, I was met with the smiling, handsome face of Calum’s mate, Erick.

“You’re back just in time!” he said, beaming up at me from my spot behind the desk. “I just finished defragging your computer and getting it all updated. It should run a lot faster now. I also fixed all your internet settings and got you hooked up to an ethernet cable so you’re not running on the guest wifi anymore.”

I furrowed my brows. “I was on the guest wifi?”

“Yep. It’s pretty slow too.”

“You’re telling me.” I shook my head, feeling terribly stupid. “I don’t even know how that happened.”

“Eh. I’ve seen worse,” he shrugged. “Also, I did a bit of searching for local ISPs in your area and it looks like you’re being overcharged for what you have. You could get fiber for about the same price and it’s like a billion times faster.”

“Fiber?”

“Fiber optic internet, yeah.”

“I thought fiber optics were the little plastic whisker things that changed color. The ones you can get at gift shops and stuff.”

Erick did everything he could to bite back a laugh. “Uh-huh. Same concept, but instead of making pretty colors, they send information.”

“They can do that?!”

He pressed his lips into a thin line, nodding as he desperately tried not to laugh.

“It feels like only yesterday we were using dial-up.”

“That was over two decades ago.”

I glared at him, cracking a smile despite myself. “Thank you for making me feel ancient.”

“If it’s any consolation,” Erick grinned back. “You don’t look a day over twenty-eight.”

That made me blush. “That’s nice of you to say. Although you’re nearly ten years short.”

“What?! No way!” He stood up from his chair, coming around the desk. He walked a small circle around me, looking me up and down. “You look incredible!”

“I’m old as shit.”

“Well, age certainly agrees with you then.”

He stopped in front of me, his body so close to mine that I could feel the heat rolling off him in waves. Not to mention, his earthy scent nearly overwhelmed me, my heart pounding a mile a minute as my body reacted to his proximity.

“I’m sure the guys never leave you alone, do they?”

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