Page 13 of What She Deserves
Alex didn’t say a word. He simply sat in silence and waited, and Rashad laughed. If anyone knew him, it was Alex.
“Okay, fine, you’re right. Maybe I have been a little bit off, but I thought I was covering it well.” Knees to elbows, he told Alex, “I saw Layla last week. Twice.” Alex and Layla had met once, when she showed up at the Newmark Advisors office.
“She’s in town?”
“She never left.”
Alex’s eyebrows lifted in surprise.
Suddenly restless, Rashad stood up from the chair and paced to the bookcase that spanned an entire wall. He spun around and went into detail about the first night at the silent auction and told Alex about how he had gone to Layla’s favorite breakfast spot the next day.
“Remind me, why did you break up?” Alex asked.
Rashad shrugged. “Things were getting too serious, and you know I don’t do serious. I told her we needed to slow down.”
“Oh yes, that’s right. You got scared.”
Rashad stiffened. “I wouldn’t use the word scared.”
“What word would you use?” Alex asked.
“I’d say… I was uncomfortable.”
“So you were uncomfortable, and you told her you wanted to slow down, and she broke up with you.”
“Yes, which I think was pretty drastic.”
“Or maybe she was scared—excuse me, uncomfortable too.”
Rashad knew Alex was being sarcastic, but he’d simply needed breathing room because his desire to spend time with Layla had become borderline obsessive. His every thought, his every action, had been consumed with her. Would Layla like this? Would Layla like to come with him to this event? If he thought about buying a piece of furniture, he felt the need to consult her first. That wasn’t normal.
On the outside he seemed good-natured and happy-go-lucky. On the inside, he was always waiting for the other shoe to drop and rob his life of whatever pleasure he’d foolishly indulged in. So, no attachments. No long-term relationships. He preferred to keep his affairs as affairs—short term and casual so no one got hurt—especially him. But Layla had been different. She’d forced him to consider permanence, a future—an abomination in his world.
Plus, she was so darn… kind and considerate. One day she popped up at his office unannounced, bringing him a drink and a Reuben sandwich on rye because they’d chatted on the phone twenty minutes before, during which he’d mentioned he didn’t have time to get a bite to eat. For her, the gesture had been no big deal—thoughtful and typical of her. She was loyal to a fault, and if you needed a favor, she was the one person to ask and trust she’d come through.
But when she showed up at his office with lunch, warning bells had blared, and he knew he had to pump the brakes on the speeding train of their relationship. He’d managed to keep her from getting too close, doling out very little information about himself, but that day she’d met Alex, one of the most important people in his life. She’d breached his veneer of privacy, and that was a no-no.
Yet, here he was, playing a waiting game. He wanted to give Layla space and let her come to him, but tomorrow would make a week since he walked away from her on the street. He could still taste her. He could still smell the freshness of her skin after her morning shower. How was he supposed to handle this need for her? After almost three years he’d been certain he succeeded, but just the sight of her at the auction had sent him spiraling into unprecedented yearning for a few moments of her time.
“I should have called her.” That was his biggest regret. He had a feeling if he had called, just once, that would’ve made a difference in her reception to him when they ran into each other.
Alex nodded but didn’t say a word. Both he and Heather had advised Rashad to call, but he hadn’t heeded their advice.
“You gave her a week. It hasn’t been a week yet,” Alex pointed out.
“Damn near,” Rashad muttered.
She wanted him, of that he was certain. She kissed him with the same energy that he kissed her. Would that be enough?
Alex ran his fingers through his hair, a sure indication that he was about to say something Rashad wouldn’t like. “It’s going to take time to convince Layla to get back involved with you. Think about your breakup from her point of view. For months the two of you were going along fine, spending a lot of time together. Then one day you decide that you want to slow down.”
“I understand that, but I didn’t want our relationship to end,” Rashad said defensively.
As he strolled back to the chair, his phone rang. He picked it up from the table beside the empty bottle of beer. Not recognizing the number, he intended to ignore it, but at the last second decided to answer.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Rashad.” Layla.
