Page 13 of The Anti-Bachelorette (The Anti-Bachelorette 1)

Chapter 5

Istayed in the rest of the weekend. Angela came over on Friday when I called and told her what happened. She kept me distracted with food and movies the whole weekend. She finally left Sunday morning because she had plans with her family that day. Of course, I had to tell her that Alaric is the one who pulled Tyler off of me, so now she won’t drop the matter. She keeps telling me she has to meet my knight in shining armor. I just kept trying to downplay it, so she’d drop it.

I got to my office early Monday morning so I could sneak inside before anyone else arrived. Mainly, I was trying to avoid Alaric, but I also don’t want to face any of the guys. My dad said no one would know what happened, but they all knew he was coming to the barbeque with me on Friday and everything was fine when he left, so obviously something happened on Friday to get him fired. They are all going to know it has something to do with me. I know I will have to face them all eventually, but for now, I am just hoping I can avoid them long enough that most of them will have forgotten about it.

No one comes to see me the whole morning, which I am grateful for. I see it is almost lunch time, so I lock my computer and grab my purse. I open my office door to head out and run straight into Alaric. I look up at him ashamed of myself. “Oh hi.” I say so quietly he probably barely heard.

He looks at the purse over my shoulder and frowns. “Where are you going?”

I shuffle on my feet a little. “Uhm...I was just going to grab lunch.”

I look back at Alaric, and that’s when I notice the bag of food in his hand. I look up into his eyes, and then he grabs my shoulder and turns me around and pushes me back into the office. I can’t help but giggle a little. “What are you doing?”

He just goes and sits in the seat across from me and says, “It’s Monday,” like that explains everything. I throw my purse back on my desk and sit down. He opens the bag and hands me a grain bowl.

He gives a small smirk. “I figured after all the junk you ate this weekend you could use something a little more healthy.”

I smile back at him. “Asshole.” Then I add. “You know you don’t have to bring me lunch every Monday.”

He frowns again. “Goddammit woman. Did your dad never teach you to just say thank you and move on?”

I give a small laugh, and then very quietly say, “I’m sorry. You’re right. Thank you.”

Alaric’s eyes widen, and he leans closer with a huge grin on his face. “What was that? I don’t think I quite heard you right?”

I just roll my eyes at him. “Shut up.”

He just shrugs. “It’s not a big deal. Your dad told me to expense it.”

I laugh again. “Oh no. I’m not saying thank you for this. I already told you to stop checking in on me. I was just talking about Friday.” I pause and look down at my lap. “I’m not sure why I reacted the way I did.”

Alaric just nods and doesn’t ask for further explanation. Then we eat the rest of lunch in silence. Oddly enough, it isn’t uncomfortable. It’s almost peaceful. The moment doesn’t last though because Kenny comes barging in. “Hey there Emory! What’d you do with Tyler?”

Alaric glares over at him. “Kenny. That’s none of your business.”

His mean tone doesn’t deter Kenny. I didn’t think it would. “Did he try something with ya? I bet he did. That arse was always talking shit. I’m so glad he’s gone. He wasn’t good enough for ya.”

I laugh and Alaric relaxes a little. “Something like that.”

Kenny nods. “Here’s the work order for the job tomorrow. They asked if you could email it over to them today.”

I grab the paper and nod. “Thanks Kenny.”

He turns to leave but stops before he walks out the door. “We all thought it seemed like you liked the boy, so whatever happened, I’m sorry, but just know a princess like you deserves someone much better.”

I laugh again. “Thanks Kenny. You’re sweet to say so.” He nods and leaves me and Alaric alone again. I look back over to him, and he just laughs.

“Sweet? He said you are a spoiled little princess and you are going to need someone much richer than Tyler in order to make you happy.”

I roll my eyes at him. “Oh my God. Don’t you have somewhere you need to be?”

He takes one last sip of his drink and then gets up. “Yeah I think I do.” Then he packed up the trash and left.

I blow out a breath once he leaves. Well, that wasn’t too bad. At least not as bad as it could have been after the way things blew up between us this weekend. I’m just glad I have Erika’s bachelorette party this weekend so I don’t have to deal with anyone.

???

The next day Angela calls me and says we have an emergency. I can hear Erika crying in the background. “What’s going on?”

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