by Lynn Stevens
I walked to CuppaJo’s, which was only eight blocks from my apartment. It took up most of the bottom floor of an old warehouse that had been converted into lofts and apartments for students at Westland. The café had an open floorplan with scattered tables that people moved about frequently so nothing was in the same place twice. They didn’t even put in a ceiling, instead letting the exposed beams add ambience. Single lights hung from the ceiling in the same pattern as the tables, wherever. It was a chaotic mess that worked so well. The entire front and northern side of the building held huge windows. Anybody walking by could see to the back of the room where a small stage was set up for open mic nights and the occasional acoustic band. The only bad thing about CuppaJo’s was the cost. Even with the added income, I didn’t go there often and rarely ate anything. Their Zen tea, a green tea with lemongrass, was heaven, though.
I spotted Paige in the back near the stage with a blond girl. She waved as I stepped to the counter to order, then Paige smiled at the girl. Their heads bent back together until Paige’s piercing laugh filled my ears. Once I had my perfect tea in hand, I headed toward their table, stealing a chair along the way.
“Hey,” I said to Paige as I shrugged off my white parka.
“Liv, this is Hailey. Hailey, Liv.” Paige motioned between us.
Hailey held out her perfectly manicured hand. It hit me then who she was. I’d seen her with Chuck Mathis, the team’s second baseman, several times. “Hey, aren’t you the girl who ate with Devon Miller today?”
The smile spread across my face as fast as the blood rose to my cheeks. “Yes.”
“You two looked pretty chummy,” Hailey said with a knowing grin.
Paige cleared her throat. “Chummy? Did you forget to tell me something?”
“We’re kinda seeing each other,” I said, glaring at Paige. If she didn’t have someone else at the table, I could dish. Hailey didn’t need to be in on the gossip. I hardly knew her.
“He’s such a sweetie,” Hailey said. Her hair glistened in the dim lighting. I wanted to hate her just for that. My hair was always dull. “Chuck said he was interested in someone, but he didn’t know who.”
My face burned and my irritation grew at Paige. She knew how much I valued my privacy. Talking about my new relationship with a complete stranger wasn’t in my plans. Ever.
“I’d mistakenly tried to set him up with a friend of mine.” Hailey laughed. “He shot that down pretty quick. Chuck told me to mind my own business, but what can I say? I’m a romantic.”
Okay, I really didn’t like her now. I glared at Paige. She smiled, totally oblivious. Well, maybe not totally. Paige knew I wasn’t the most open person. I tapped my fingers against my leg, counting to twenty.
“I’ll be right back. Need to check in at the ladies,” Hailey said with too much cheer in her voice. She stood, picking up a Coach purse. Her bracelets jangled on her wrists.
I waited until she was out of sight. “Why’s she here?”
“She’s in my art class. We started talking when school started and she’s cool. I just ran into her while I was waiting for you.” Paige leaned forward with her arms on the table. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was going to, but I wanted to do it in person. I need to talk to you about it.” I glanced around the room. “I didn’t know you were bringing someone else.”
“I didn’t bring her, Liv. She was already here.” Paige smiled, ignoring my frustrations. “So you’re seeing Devon now? Officially?”
“We’re trying to figure out how to make this work with our schedules, but yeah.” I warmed my hands around my tea. “I really like this guy, Paige. I don’t know why, but I do. He’s…he’s so much more than I thought he was.”
“Did you decide this before or after you banged him the other night?” I scoffed, but Paige only laughed. “What? You took him back to your place, didn’t you?”
“I did, but we didn’t do anything other than kiss.” I glanced around, not wanting anyone to overhear the truth. “He passed out.”
Paige’s laugh was infectious and I joined in.
“What’s so funny?” Hailey asked as she settled back into her seat.
“Nothing,” Paige and I said at the same time.
Hailey smiled at both of us. “Liv, can I ask you a stupid question? I know you’re just now seeing Devon, but does he gamble a lot? I mean, Chuck’s betting all the time on anything and everything.” She rolled her eyes, which only made her fake eyelashes seem larger than life. “Just last night he bet Barry who would go farther on a Slip-N-Slide.”
“How would they even figure that out? It’s forty degrees outside.” Paige scrunched up her face in disgust.
“Boys will be boys. Apparently Devon won tonight.” Hailey pulled her bag back onto her lap and rummaged in it before giving up. “They did it after practice.” She stared open-eyed at me. “Didn’t you know?”
I shrugged. No, I didn’t know, but why would he just randomly tell me something silly like that? We’d only been official for a day.
“Anyway, I guess they do that a lot. I’m just worried Chuck will get busted for it.” Hailey leaned in as if this was a big secret. “They’re violating NCAA regs, you know.”
“Devon’s only bet silly things like dinner as far as I know.”
“See?” Hailey pointed at me while she spoke with Paige. “I told you it’s a baseball player thing.”
“I doubt it, but if they’re not betting on sports, it’s not illegal.” Paige turned to me. “He’s not betting on sports, is he?”
“Not that I know of.” I smiled at our conversation from the night before when he talked about his team and the fallout from the Betts scandal. “Devon mentioned something about how they bet on the World Series, but it had nothing to do with money or the outcome of the game. He said they bet on people’s opinions. Technically that’s not violating the rules.” I hoped anyway.
“Not really,” Paige said. “Jayce never bet on anything. Nothing was going to get in the way of the draft.”
“He’s got several months before that happens. If he gets drafted,” Hailey said, adding a snort at the end. Clearly she didn’t think Jayce would get drafted in June, either. “Anyway, I’m sorry to pry, but it’s so frustrating to watch him risk his scholarship. And after everything that happened with Aaron Betts, you’d think they’d be more cautious.”
“Doesn’t his dad own some construction company, though?” Paige asked.
“Yeah, but he won’t help Chuck with school. His dad thinks psychology is useless and Chuck can do better working construction.” Hailey swirled her mug and drained whatever was left of it. “He’s running the risk of losing everything.”
There was something about the way she said it that made me shudder. Paige turned the conversation to their hot art professor and another class they had together. I smiled and nodded when appropriate, but their classes didn’t interest me. Paige’s liaison with the quarterback was a hot topic. Hailey didn’t let me get a word in edgewise as she pumped Paige for more info. I kept my mouth shut and let them gossip. My phone buzzed in my pocket.
Sorry I haven’t called. I’ve got a paper due tomorrow.
Devon added a kissing emoticon at the end.
Me: That’s okay. I’m having coffee with Paige and Chuck Mathis’s girlfriend, Hailey.
Devon: Have fun. I’ll see you tomorrow at JenCar. Maybe we can have lunch.
Me: Maybe. If you can get away from Acton.
Devon: He’s a good guy. Lots of ideas, but no follow through.
I wanted to tell him that I was reviewing Acton’s files. It probably wasn’t a good idea. Lawler gave them to me for a reason, and Devon knew that Acton wasn’t the best at performing his job.
It was almost eight, so I excused myself to work on a few of Acton’s files for the morning. I was tired of the “who’s the hottest professor on campus” talk. It bored me to no end. Besides, it didn’t matter if any of them were attractive. They were all out of
bounds. Why dream about someone so out of reach?
I strolled home, enjoying the cool evening air. My phone buzzed again.
Sorry.
Paige must’ve known I wasn’t all that impressed with her new friend.
We can talk later.
I still wanted Paige’s advice on Devon and how this should play out.
Okay. Hailey’s great once you get to know her.
I didn’t respond. There was something fake about Hailey. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
Chapter Twenty
I met Devon at the top of the parking garage ten minutes before eight. His gray suit and copper tie highlighted the best of his features. I loved how bright his hazel eyes shone in the early morning sun. Devon had texted me earlier that morning to park at the top. Nobody else parked up this high. It was a great idea.
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a deep kiss. “Hey,” he said when we broke apart.
“Hey.” I slipped my arms under his wool coat.
“I need to tell you something. And I don’t think you’re going to like it.” I tried to pull away but Devon held strong to my arms. “One of the reasons… No, the reason I’m standoff-ish here is simple. My father would hear about anything…” He pressed his forehead against mine. “What I’m trying to say is if I’m a dick, it’s not because of you.”
“You can be professional without being a dick.”
“Not around you.” He pressed another quick kiss to my lips. “It’s dickery or nothing. If I’m anything less, somebody will see how crazy I am about you. And that will get back to Dad. I don’t need to hear his opinion on workplace romances.” He took my hand as we walked toward the stairs. “He’s not an asshole or anything and it’s not like he wouldn’t approve of you. He’s just not a big fan of certain things. One of which is me not working at JenCar.”
“So I shouldn’t be offended if you completely ignore me?”
“Or if I’m an asshole.”
He pulled the door open and let me go through it first. I waited for him before I pushed him against the wall and kissed him like he kissed me outside O’Malley’s. Devon responded in every way, his entire body heated beneath his clothes. I pushed him back gently.
“I just wanted to give you a reason not to be an asshole.” I turned and hurried down the stairs before I ripped his clothes off in the stairwell.
“Jesus, Olivia.” His dress shoes clicked against the concrete as he raced to catch up.
I laughed until I rounded a corner and almost slammed into Marvin Acton.
“Liv, Philip just asked if I’d seen you yet. You might want to hurry up.” His gaze shifted over my shoulder and up the stairwell. “If you’re not too busy playing house.”
My mouth fell open and nothing would come out.
Devon, however, had a reaction to everything. “You mean because she nags me about classwork like she’s my wife?”
Acton raised his eyebrows at him, then at me. “Judging by how swollen your lips are, I don’t think that’s what was going on. Just…keep it out of the office. I don’t care, but it’s frowned upon and against company policy.” Acton pulled open the door to the crosswalk and let it slam behind him.
“Well, shit.” Devon touched my elbow for a moment before shoving his hands into his coat pockets. “At least he won’t say anything to my father, but he might hold it over your head. He can be a jerk sometimes.”
I snorted and opened the door. “His assholery trumps yours any day of the year. Don’t worry about me.” I glanced over my shoulder. “But maybe we should just ignore each other completely. Skip lunch?”
Devon’s frown and creased eyebrows answered my question. “Dinner?”
“I have a study group tonight. What about dinner tomorrow?”
“Practice.” He sighed. “I want more than occasional make-out sessions. You know that, right?”
“Me, too. We just need to figure it out.”
“Lunch again tomorrow?” He stretched his jaw in circular motions.
“Perfect. What time’s your practice?” I asked, hoping he’d say it was late.
“I have to be there by one-thirty for a pitcher’s meeting. Practice starts at three, then coach wants the pitchers and catchers to have dinner together.” Devon shrugged. “It’s a team bonding thing. We’ve got a couple of rookies who think they’re hot shit. Like Rosie. What about this weekend?”
“I have to work Friday and Saturday night until close. Then the Sunday lunch rush. We can have dinner at my place.”
“Shit, I have a family dinner at the house Sunday night.” Devon ran his hand through his hair. “What about next weekend?”
“Heading back to Kerns. Bradley’s birthday party.”
“Our timing sucks.”
We stopped outside the entrance and swiped our key cards. Not only did it allow us in the building, it tracked our time for HR. I needed to make sure I was paid for every minute.
“Have fun with the hot shots.” I shifted my tone to professional as soon as I became a JenCar employee for the day. “I’ll see you later.”
“Later, man-eater.” Devon chuckled under his breath, but his tone had changed, too. His inner asshole had been let out.
I locked my purse in the filing cabinet and hung my coat in the cubicle before strolling down the hallway to Philip Lawler’s office. The door was closed, but I could tell he wasn’t alone. The frosted glass windows on either side of the door didn’t show much, but they did show silhouettes. There was one. Philip rarely left his desk so there had to be someone standing in front of it. I pressed my ear against the door. Yep, there were two voices. I could’ve gone back to my cube and worked on one of the many files I still needed to sort out, but I decided to wait it out. The meeting couldn’t last too long or the other person would’ve sat down. I leaned against the wall beside the door.
After ten minutes, I realized I’d made a bad decision. So I knocked.
“Enter,” Lawler shouted loud enough to be heard in the cafeteria on the second floor. I opened the door to see Rex Anderson in a stare-down with Lawler.
“S-Sorry, sir,” I stuttered. “I heard you wanted to see me as soon as I settled in. I—”
“How’re you doing on those files I gave you?” he asked, not once leaving his stare-down.
“Um…okay, I guess. I’ve sorted a few of them so they’re cohesive, but there’s a lot of information and they aren’t in any order so to speak.” I glanced between the two men. “I’ve started working on the math for the rudder, though. It’s a brilliant idea, but…”
“But what, Ms. Dawson?” Rex Anderson asked, his attention completely on me.
“Um…” I rocked from side to side and dug my stubby fingernails into my palms. “The math is off.”
“You’re saying that you know better than a man who has been with this company for five years and has his master’s degree?” Anderson’s nostrils flared.
“I’m not—”
“He has his master’s in English, Rex, not in engineering.” Philip slammed his hand on the table. “And she’s not telling you anything you don’t already know.”
Marvin Acton had a master’s degree in English? That didn’t make any sense. Why was he working on engineering projects?
“Just get it together, Philip.” Rex pointed his finger at Lawler’s chest. “Shit rolls downhill. It’s hitting me now, but it’s coming to you next.”
Rex turned and left the office without another glance my way. I stared at his retreating form down the hallway.
“Close the door, Liv,” Lawler said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. I did as instructed then faced him. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “How many files have you gotten through?”
“Maybe ten or so.” I sat in the chair I’d cleared off my first day. “There’s a lot of paperwork out of place and there are scraps that don’t necessarily go in the folders they’re shoved into. I’ve tried to sort out where they do belong, but I don’t
think they belong anywhere so I’ve just left them where I found them.” Lawler nodded so I kept on rambling. “And the math is off on several of them. You don’t need AutoCad to see that. The dimensions are all wrong.”
“Anderson wants something from Marvin ASAP. What’s the closest?”
“Probably the rudder. It’s the most innovative, and I’ve already started recalculating some of the dimensions for a single-engine plane. The rest of the schematics are for larger planes and need a lot more work.”
“Just keep at it. Focus on the rudder design.” He waved me away with his hand. “When you have something solid, let me know.”
“Yes, sir.”
I left the office and went back to my cube, replaying the incident in my head. Lawler stood up for me even though I was more than capable of standing up for myself. Still, I appreciated it. Rex Anderson could hold my future in his hand.
One word from him could crush my career. Or it could make it.
Chapter Twenty-One
The rest of my week was nothing but missed connections with Devon. We managed lunch after ethics, but nothing more. My weekend was work, more work, homework, and even more work. I didn’t hear from Devon except the occasional text or video chat. It was frustrating on so many levels. Trying to start a real relationship with a guy when our schedules didn’t mesh was more difficult than either one of us anticipated.
Saturday was spent at the library going over Marvin Acton’s rudder project. Then going over it again before I had to head to Stockade for my shift. I needed the school’s programs to calculate each detail properly, since I didn’t have access to the programs at JenCar on the weekends and couldn’t afford the price to put them on my ancient laptop. If this rudder design went into production based on Acton’s figures, JenCar would be out of business in a heartbeat. The rudder would fail. Lawsuits would destroy the company. People would die.
When I got home Sunday after working a particularly exhausting lunch and early evening rush, I wanted nothing more than to take a shower and sleep. I sat on the couch, debating about the shower when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I smiled at the picture of Devon I’d snapped on Friday during lunch. He stared out the window of the student union as we tried to figure out our weekend schedules.