I had it more than bad, and it had been eating away at me that Lexie wouldn’t talk to me. At least now I knew why, and I could work with that. I’d find a way to get her to listen to me, the circumstances of how the picture was taken, and what happened to my phone.
“Ryder Williams.” A woman in a bright white pantsuit called my name from a door down the hall.
I stood, and Parker clapped my back. “Go lose this job.”
“I’ll do my best, so you’ll get it.” Halfway down the hall, I turned back and looked over my shoulder. “Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.”
He gave me a chin nod. “Glad I could help.”
As I walked to the door, I knew if I got the job, I could turn it down. I had to because I couldn’t travel for another six months nonstop.
“Thank you for joining us today, Mr. Williams. I’m Rhonda.” I held out a hand to shake, but she ignored it and turned without a word to start directing me. “First, we’ll need you down to your underwear. You can get undressed behind there.” She pointed to a curtained off area. “And when you’re ready, walk toward us at the table where we’ll give you further instructions.”
Stepping behind the curtain, I blew out my frustrations. Even though I didn’t want the job, I still needed to come off professional. And even though I needed a break, I did want more jobs in the future.
After an hour of doing seemingly everything but turning my eyelids inside out, the casting call was over. Once I was back in my clothes, I stepped out from behind the curtain to find Rhonda waiting for me. She held a clipboard with a single piece of paper attached to it in her hands.
“Mr. Williams, after looking through your portfolio and what we saw today, we would like for you to be the face of Igolide. I was told you wouldn’t be able to start working until December, so I’ve written in the dates of where we’d need you and when.”
I wanted to explode. Angie knew I was taking the entire month of December off and for her to assume I’d take a job that would require me to travel for the next six months proved how much she didn’t listen to me.
After only staring down at the paper, Rhonda smiled at me tightly before she took the clipboard back and wrote something down. “This is what we’re willing to pay you, and of course, we’ll also pay for all of your travel expenses.”
I stared down at the number and wasn’t sure if the figure I saw was in US dollars or the rand here in Cape Town. I had no idea the conversion, but it didn’t matter, for the sake of my sanity, I had to turn down the job. There would be bigger and better jobs on the horizon. I knew it.
“This is an amazing offer, and I want to thank you for your time, but unfortunately, I won’t be able to accept your job offer.”
Her eyes widened as if she expected me to sign a contract on the spot, and just as quickly, Rhonda schooled her features. “I’m sorry to hear that. Are you sure there’s nothing we can do to persuade you to change your mind? I’ll have to ask my supervisor, but I’m sure there’s a little wiggle room in the budget to offer you more.”
“I can assure you it’s not the money.”
Rhonda nodded, but I knew she couldn’t understand why I was turning down this amazing chance of a lifetime. “If we could rearrange the schedule for it to be more suitable for your needs, would that change your mind?”
“Perhaps, but I don’t want to put you out.”
“When would you be available?” she asked, hopeful.
“Mid-January?” Or never, I wanted to say.
“Let me see what we can do because Igolide wants to work with you. We think you’re perfect for the direction we want to go for the next year.”
I gave her a tight smile. “You have my contact information, right?”
“Yes, and you’ll be hearing from us very soon.”
Parker was in the chair where I had left him, asleep in what looked like an uncomfortable position. As I passed, I kicked at his shoe. It wouldn’t look good if they came out to call his name, and he was passed out in the hall. While Igolide said they’d work with me, I still wasn’t sure if I wanted the job. The next best person to get it would be Parker.
Parker jumped out of his seat and looked around until he spotted me by the elevator. With a chin nod, he sat back down and pulled out his phone.
Stepping onto the elevator, I knew I had my work cut out for me. As soon as Angie heard about me not accepting Igolide’s proposal, she would be hitting up my phone, and I’d never hear the end of it. In the end, Angie wasn’t the worst of my problems. Somehow, I had to find a way to get into contact with Lexie and convince her to listen to me.
19
Lexie
I chewed on my bottom lip as I sat on the crinkle paper lining the table in the doctor’s office. I swung my legs as I tried to work off some of the nervous energy of being here. I’d already put hand sanitizer on three times and would probably do it another half a dozen times before I left. I was determined not to catch anything else while I was here.
A knock resounded on the door, and my heart rate picked up with it. There was nothing worse than sitting in a thin gown while you froze your ass off and talked to someone you saw maybe once a year.
“Lexie?” Dr. Bloom smiled softly at me. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting for so long. When I was in here earlier, you mentioned that you didn’t know when your last period was, and you’ve been under a lot of stress. Since your periods have never been regular, I wanted to do a pregnancy test as a precaution.”
Why was she dragging this out? I just wanted her to get to it.
“Our test confirmed you are pregnant. I know…”
Dr. Bloom’s words faded as I tried to comprehend them. How was I pregnant? I obviously knew how, but the thought never crossed my mind that the reason I’d been throwing up was that I might be pregnant. Now I had to try and get a hold of Ryder to tell him the news. I didn’t expect anything from him now that he was with Lana, but he deserved to know he was going to be a father.
Holy shit! I was going to be a mother.
And I was so not ready.
Dr. Bloom placed her hand on my knee and gave it a little squeeze. “Lexie, are you okay?”
I blinked and swallowed the lump in my throat. “I think so.”
“Did you hear a word I said?”
“Um…not really. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay, I know it’s unexpected, and it’s a lot to take in. Why don’t we do an ultrasound so we can see how far along you are, and then we can discuss your options?”
Options?
“I know this is scary, so if at any time you have any questions, feel free to stop me and ask. I’ll try to answer to the best of my ability, and if you do decide to continue this pregnancy, I can recommend a few doctors.”
Was this how she talked to all patients who were pregnant? I understood her not wanting to assume how any woman would want to proceed and for those who wanted to choose an abortion to not feel intimidated, but I didn’t like hearing it.
It was now or never. “Can I say something now?”
“Of course, please.”
“No matter how far along in this pregnancy I am, I plan to keep the baby. I know I’m in shock right now, but for me, there’s no other option.”
Dr. Bloom nodded, handing me a tissue. I hadn’t even realized I was crying up until that point. “Would you like a few moments to collect yourself before we continue on?”
“No,” I cleared the tears from my throat, “I promise I’m fine.”
I sat in a daze as Dr. Bloom went over everything from the vitamins I needed to start taking to not being able to drink any caffeine while pregnant. That was going to be the hardest challenge of all. She gave me a sheet of OBGYN’s she recommended and even a few pediatricians. I wasn’t ready to find a doctor for my baby when I could barely grasp I had a life growing inside of me.
The rest of the day went by in a blur as I stopped by the pharmacy, picked up dinner, and somehow made it home. As I threw away my takeo
ut containers, I didn’t even remember eating; all I knew was that I had to call Ryder. He needed to know what I was planning.
Laying down on my bed, I pulled up Ryder’s number and let my finger hover over his name. Never once did I think I would be nervous to talk to Ryder, but now I wanted to throw up at the thought, and I didn’t think it was the morning sickness either. It had been a little over a month since I’d last spoken with him. I still couldn’t get that picture of Lana and him together out of my head, and I hated that my memories of him were tainted now.
Placing my phone on my nightstand, I buried my head in my pillow and let out a stifled sob. I wasn’t sure how I was going to be a single parent and work the hours I worked, but I was going to have to figure it out.
I wished my mom was alive for me to talk to. If she hadn’t died giving birth to me, my life would have been so much different. All my life, I knew my dad blamed me for the death of my mother. When I turned fifteen, I looked exactly like her causing my father to start drinking excessively. I tried everything I could to not resemble my mother. My hair was almost platinum blonde, so it didn’t take much to start coloring it in fun colors. Back then, hardly anyone had their hair purple, green, or neon colors. My makeup and clothing were sexy goth, making me stand out from the crowd. From there, I lied about my age and started getting tattoos and piercings to further change my appearance. At school, I was the outcast because of my looks, but I didn’t care. It took my dad’s attention off me, and that was all that mattered.
When my dad’s drinking drove him to trash the house and bang on my door for half the night, yelling for me to let him in, I knew I had to leave. At sixteen, without any place to go, I packed up what little I had and moved out of the only home I’d ever known. Sixteen years later and I hadn’t heard a word from my father. As far as I know, he never even looked for me after I left.
All my life, I’ve been a loner, and now it was coming back to haunt me. Attempting to change that, I rolled over and grabbed my phone. Without thinking too much about it, I dialed Ryder’s number only to hear it had been disconnected.
What were the odds he’d also changed his number?
Tears spilled down my cheeks. I wanted nothing more than to talk to Ryder. I didn’t care if he was with Lana; I only wanted to hear his voice and for him to tell me everything was going to be okay.
Slamming my phone on the bed, I curled into a ball and let the tears fall. Tomorrow I would come up with a plan, but tonight I would cry until I couldn’t cry anymore.
20
Lexie
1 Month Later
Raine’s mouth opened and closed a few times before she staggered back and fell onto a chair. “You’re what?”
“I’m pregnant with Ryder Williams’ baby, I’m about eleven or twelve weeks along going by what my regular doctor thought I was when I found out. I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow with an obstetrician.” I wasn’t excited for someone new to poke and prod me, but from what I’d read, I was going to have to get over it. There were going to be a lot of people up in my business until I had this baby.
“How did this happen?”
I’d asked myself the same thing. “We got carried away and didn’t use protection. Sometimes he’d pull out and sometimes he’d—”
“TMI,” Raine shouted. “I don’t need the specifics. I just thought—”
This time it was my turn to interrupt her. “What, that I was a responsible adult? Well, you’re wrong when it comes to Ryder.” I let my head fall back against my chair and stared up at the ceiling. It was still surreal that I was pregnant, but I knew I had to tell Raine when I nearly threw up at the smell of the breakfast burrito she brought in this morning. I couldn’t hide it any longer, and I wanted someone to know.
Taking a sip of her coffee, she asked. “How did he take the news?”
“I can’t have coffee anymore, so you’re going to have to drink yours in the car or at home because smelling it right now, I want to rip your cup out of your hand and suck down the entire thing.” I was lucky she rarely brought it in, or I would have had to say something sooner. The mornings were hard, without any caffeine.
“Oh, okay, I can do that.” She blinked at me as if she expected me to say something else, but I had no idea what. Finally, she huffed, crossing her arms over her pink t-shirt. “What did Ryder say?”
“Absolutely nothing because…wait for it…he changed his number.”
“No,” she drew out the word, her mouth forming a tiny ‘O.’ “What are the odds?”
“I don’t know, a million to point one.”
“Really?”
“No, how the hell would I know what the odds are? First, he sleeps with…with fucking Lana,” I gritted my teeth on her name, “and takes days to finally call me, and then he pulls this shit. I still can’t believe I was fooled by his nice guy act.”
“I really don’t think it was an act.” I shot Raine a death glare from my spot on the couch. “But what do I know? I was only around him a short period of time.” She tilted her head to the side. “Do you have a plan?”
“The first thing I did was go to Instagram and unblock him. I sent a message, but he hasn’t answered back. After a month, I need a new tactic. I looked through his profile and saw it had been quite a while since he last posted.” I was sure his agent wasn’t happy about that. I bit the inside of my cheek. “When we first got the Mathers project, I wanted Ryder as the male model, but I know he isn’t planning on working in December, so we need to make it enticing. See if you can get his contact information. Even if it’s just an email, I’ll take it. I want you to do whatever you can to get him to sign. Offer whatever you have to up to a certain point. I can’t wreck the campaign to get him.”
Her eyes lit up. “I like this idea.”
I was glad someone did because I was desperate for a way to contact Ryder.
In a flash, her mouth turned into a thin line. “I can’t believe you’ve kept this from me for a whole month.”
Me either, but it took me this long to work up the nerve after not being able to tell Ryder. I was tired of being alone in this.
“Do you want me to come to the doctor with you tomorrow?”
Did I? It would be kind of nice.
“I guess I can let you off work to go with me.”
Her grin grew. “Now that you know you want Ryder as the model, who else are you going to get?”
“I haven’t decided. No one has seemed right. The only thing I do know is it won’t be Lana. If by some off-chance Mathers demanded her, I would terminate my contract with them.”
“I don’t blame you. If we weren’t better people, we could spread rumors about her.” She tapped her foot and screwed up her face in concentration.
“They wouldn’t be rumors but truth. I can’t let her affect my life any more than she already has. I can tell by the look in your eyes you think Ryder and I are going to ride off into the sunset, but you need to slow your horses. We don’t know if he’s with Lana or not.”
“We don’t know why any of this happened. I really don’t think he’s with her. I check her IG regularly to see if she posts anything about them, and there’s been nothing.” Her grin said she thought all was right in the world, and everything would end in a happy ever after.
Raine didn’t know how wrong she was. I wasn’t sure if I could get over Ryder ever being with Lana once, let alone if they were in a relationship. But I would give him a chance to tell me what happened—or at least I thought I would. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel when or if I saw him again. With the way my hormones were, I’d be lucky to hold it together.
“I can see you’re doubtful, and I understand why. I’m going to get on my task. This is important in more ways than one. Ryder Williams must join us in Vegas.”
I liked her spirit. “You do that and keep me updated. I’m going to get online and look at more headshots. I need to find someone who can stand alongside Ryder, and it’s not going to be an easy task.”
I was glad she had confidence in it. I’d been worried I couldn’t pull it all together when I couldn’t pick any models, but now I was starting to get hopeful again.
“Get to work. I’m going to work from here, so you can use my desk.” I was snuggled into a blanket on my comfy couch and didn’t want to move.
I hadn’t had much to smile about lately, but seeing Raine happy made my lips twitch. Pulling my laptop onto my lap, I started my millionth search for the perfect woman who now needed to stand next to Ryder at the Lux.
A couple of hours later, my eyelids started to flutter shut. I’d been staring at my screen nonstop since Raine had gotten up. I hadn’t heard a peep from her, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. I had a feeling Ryder’s agent wasn’t going to be easy to work with, especially not if he had mentioned to her how I thought she should be focusing on the quality and not the quantity of his work.
Raine yelled from my office area, and I had a feeling it had been her who had woken me up. Leaving the warm cocoon of my blanket, I hurried to my feet when it sounded like she was stomping around and growling. Raine was always easygoing, so for her to sound like this was not a good sign. I found Raine with her hands splayed out on my desk, her head tipped down, and what little I could see of her face was beet red.
Sitting down across from her, I asked. “Should I ask?”
Raine shook her head slowly before she looked up at me with murderous eyes. “I called Ryder’s agent, Angie, and at first, I thought I was making some headway with her. She said that Ryder wasn’t taking any more work until the beginning of next year, but if the right opportunity came along, she was sure she could convince him to take the job.” Her face grew redder as she stood stalk still before me, breathing heavily.
The Model: A Workplace Romance Page 15