by Brooke Page
He looked me in the eyes, he knew something was wrong, but understood now was not the time to drill me. Tyler suddenly came up to both of us carrying blueprints.
“Mr. Stine, so nice to see you.” He smiled reaching out to shake my father’s hand. He must have been the meeting he had and the reason I needed to go.
My father gave him a tight smile and shook his hand. I threw my eyes to the floor, afraid that if I saw Tyler I would completely lose it. RJ came around the corner and greeted my dad as well, followed by Nathan. Now I felt like an outsider, standing in the middle of the Conklin’s and my father.
“I will let you get to your meeting,” I mumbled.
“Becca, what a surprise to see you on this floor,” RJ commented. I was afraid he was going to ask why.
Tyler was by my side in a millisecond. “She just brought me the original blueprints for the arena.” He was so composed. It was irritating how he could be his normal smooth self while I was on the verge of a breakdown.
“Yes, Will asked me to bring them up to him,” I added quickly.
RJ looked from Tyler to me while Nathan was off to the side smirking to his feet. He always seemed to have a hidden joke playing in his head. I turned and put on a mega-watt smile for my father, trying to give him reassurance that I was okay.
“Well, then… thank you Becca. Gentlemen? Let’s meet in my conference room.” RJ said clapping his hands and giving me a wink. It was my dismissal. Saying goodbye, I quickly headed into the elevator. I needed to get as far away from Tyler Conklin as I could.
He was bringing things out of me I never knew were there. I was bouncing between anger and hurt. Why wouldn’t he just talk to me? If he would give me a legit reason I would be able to handle his outrageous requirement of being hidden. The thought that I would be okay with it made me angry. I said I wasn’t going to be taken advantage of anymore.
I guess the whole not ‘being walked all over’ wasn’t true anyway, since I was meeting with the biggest puppet master on Friday. I needed to cut ties with Ashlynn, but I couldn’t face the look in her eyes when she would find out I purposely changed my phone number to avoid her. She would always find me. She was like the sister that would always be there, so why bother making it more awkward? Not that it could be any more awkward for me.
I ended up skipping my lunch and continuing on work. I had lost my appetite from all of Tyler’s drama. Why couldn’t I have fallen for someone normal? Or no one at all? Since I had a short lunch, Will told me to take off early. The Enterprise Yachts plans were finalized and ready for their next stage. We had finished our portion.
I darted out of the building and headed home to change my clothes and hide at the gym. I spent two hours exerting myself, since I wouldn’t be exerting my energy on Tyler. The thought depressed me. We had such a connection last night. How his hands and mouth moved across my body was burned into my mind. I was going to need a cold shower on the hour if I couldn’t control my thoughts.
It was 8:00pm by the time I got home. When I opened the door to the condo, Jamie was playing a game on my iPad on the couch.
“Hey chica. Your phone has been going crazy,” she said, shaking the iPad.
“I’m sure it has,” I snorted. “Sorry I didn’t put it on silent.”
She put the iPad down in frustration. “Gosh I hate that damn game. How was Tyler’s last night?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Amazing.” It was true; I hadn’t had a night like that, ever.
“But?” She sensed something was wrong, she always did. I could never hide from Jamie.
“But… he lied to me this morning. He told me he had a meeting so we couldn’t ride together to work this morning when he really just didn’t want to be seen going into the office with me.”
“That’s lame. Why wouldn’t he just tell you? Not that it would be okay, he should really get over it if he wants to be with you,” she said with a sigh, picking at her nails.
“Yeah, I think it’s over. I told him I was done with people being in my life who treat me like I’m not good enough.”
She gave me an affectionate smile. “Maybe moving here was a good move for you. That was very confident and self-assuring coming to that conclusion about him.”
I sat down next to her and put my head on her shoulder. “It would be a lot easier if the sex was horrible,” I joked.
She broke out into a hackle, “Yes, that would make things a lot easier!”
My phone started to ring in my bedroom again. I was surprised to hear how loud it was. I was going to have to remember how the sound carries in this house. “I’m going to go silence my phone, take a shower, then come back out here and hear all about your evening with Sean.”
~
I didn’t sleep a wink last night. Although I silenced my phone, it was constantly ringing in my head. I hadn’t looked at my phone until now. Fifty-six missed calls. Wow, it kind of made me smile. He really did want to talk to me, but no. I couldn’t be used by him. Putting my phone down I headed into my closet to try and find something decent to wear. I heard a knock on my door as I was pulling out a black shirt.
“Morning!” It was Jamie, shockingly peppy for how early it was. She was dressed and ready to go into work. I frowned at her.
“Why are you up and moving so early?”
She joined me in my closet and started to palm through the hangers. “Because, you need help finding what to wear to make Connor and Ashlynn’s jaw drop, and hopefully Tyler’s too. Ah, this! This is sexy as hell!” she said pulling out a very low cut and tight purple dress.
I howled at her. “Are you kidding? I’m going to work not to the streets!” She giggled and put the dress back.
“Fine, I will pick something tame and respectable. When was the last time you saw Connor anyway?”
I shrugged my shoulders. It had been a very long time. “I don’t know, graduation?” Truth was I didn’t really care about seeing Connor. I was more worried about seeing Tyler.
“Ah… this! His jaw is going to fall off when he sees you in this. He hasn’t seen your new bodacious bod yet,” She flirted.
I rolled my eyes at her, but she was right. She was holding a dress that was very low cut. I was going to have to wear a camisole underneath it. It was cream and sleeveless and had a wraparound effect to it. It would be very snug to my skin. It made me nervous to look at it.
“You could wear my brown stilettos, and I have a fun necklace you could wear with it too. Oh Becca! You would look so hot! Why don’t you wear this more often?” I bit my lip and felt the fabric with my hand. It was very risqué for me.
“I guess I could try it on. Can you hand me that camisole?” I said pulling the dress off the hanger.
“No way, you need to go without one. Here, this bra is somehow sexy and white, and it looks like a push-up… when did you get this?” She examined it for a second then threw it to me.
I hastily took it and put it on along with the dress. It was very low, and I was paranoid my boobs were going to pop out. “Jamie! I can’t wear this to work!” She rolled her eyes at me.
“I wore something worse than this yesterday. And it’s not even that bad, you will have to wear the blazer over it most of the day anyway. It is freaking freezing in this state.”
I giggled. I forgot she was used to Florida weather, not having to be fearful of snow every day of the week. I sighed. She was right; I could keep the top on most of the day, all of the day for that matter. I wasn’t out to ruin things for Ashlynn and Connor. I didn’t need to instigate. I wanted them to be happy, happy enough to finally leave me alone. Maybe I would take it off if I had a meeting and Tyler made an appearance… I could show him what he was missing.
“Alright, I will give it a go. Want to take me to work? I don’t think I could make it walking in your stilettos.”
She laughed at me and nodded her head as we both walked out of my closet.
The whole day I was paranoid someone would notice I didn’t look like myself.
Jamie had spent a lot of time on my eyes. They were sparkling and very noticeable, but not to the extreme. She did wonders with a palate of eye shadow. I refused any bright lipstick. It would just be too much, so I settled for some gloss.
It was about time for the day to be done. Ashlynn had sent me a text saying she and Connor would be here around 6:30pm. That meant I would have to find something to do to entertain myself for an hour. My projects were all at stopping points until Monday considering they needed to be revised by Will or Corey. I decided to pull out my plan. I left it here that Friday night Tyler and I went out. I tried to swallow the lump in my throat. I wanted him so badly. I wanted to forgive him, tell him I would talk about it and say that we could be a secret, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I needed to wait it out, because he would lose interest and then I would see he really didn’t care about me as I thought he did.
Rolling out my plans, I went over what I had kept from before and what I had changed. It was hard; it still felt like the house I had planned with Connor. I didn’t change that much, just moved rooms around and added more closets. I kept the spot for the Christmas tree. I giggled to myself when I was looking at the old print and noticed the “dog room.” I hated dogs but Connor loved them, so I agreed to have one, just as he agreed to let me have as many babies as I wanted. Tears started to threaten as I brushed my fingertips over the room titled ‘nursery.’ It had a reading nook with a spot for built in shelves and a big bay window with a bench to sit on underneath it. This would have been my life. Who knows if I will ever find someone to settle down with and have a family. Part of me was hoping maybe it would be Tyler, but considering he hadn’t called since the 56 times I checked this morning, or how he hadn’t done some sort of romantic gesture like leaving a rose, I was assuming he was losing interest. I would be nothing more than a few dates and an easy lay to him.
After trying to swallow my self-pity, I decided to go to the bathroom and do a once over and meet Ashlynn and Connor on the main floor in the lobby. My hair still looked good. Jamie had curled it; she could always do it better than me. It fell nicely past my shoulders and down my chest. I freshened up my mascara and lips and decided to take off the brown cover up; it was extra warm in the building today. My boobs did look good, but it was modest enough. I was over reacting this morning.
I sat down in one of the big comfy brown chairs in the building lobby. Crossing my legs, I waited patiently. It was 6:30pm; they would have to be here any minute. When I turned my head to the door, there he was, neat blond hair, a bit longer than I remembered. He had a 5 o’clock shadow and his eyes were dazzling blue as ever. I felt a butterfly escape my stomach. It had been a very long time since I had seen Connor. He looked marvelous and grown up. I stood up to greet him.
He did a double take to me as I walked up to him. Jamie was right, he hadn’t seen me 30 pounds lighter, and I had grown up more too.
“Becca, wow. It’s been so long,” he said almost stunned. His grin was infectious. I tried not to blush as I followed his eyes that were taking in my new body. I didn’t think I had changed that much, but you would never know by how long it took him to realize it was really me. He awkwardly reached out to give me a hug. He still smelled the same, the expensive Ralph Lauren suit with the matching cologne. I bit my lip, feeling as though emotion was going to get the best of me, but it didn’t. I was happy he looked good.
“How are things? Where is Ashlynn?” I asked, pulling back from him.
“She should be here any minute. I had to stay late at her father’s office for my internship and she was running late as well so we thought it would be quickest to meet you here. But, I’m doing well, and you, you look… amazing.” He had wonder in his eyes, like he wanted to further examine me. I started to feel uncomfortable under his gaze. Just as I was about to say something, Ashlynn came darting in and squealed, throwing herself into Connors arms. He hugged her tight but then seemed uncomfortable and let his hands drop to his sides and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek. She looked disappointed in his greeting but kept her hands on his chest.
“Becca I’m so glad we are meeting up to do this. I can’t wait to show you what I have come up with!” I gave her a half smile and led the way to the elevator and up to my office.
Here we go. Put on your game face Becca.
Chapter 14
I led them to my office space. The floor was deserted. I was happy no one else was here; I didn’t feel like seeing every eye glued to Ashlynn’s tight white pants. I hated that Connor complimented her so well. It made me wonder how frumpy I must have looked when I stood next to him.
I gestured for them to take a seat. I had cleared off my desk so we would have room to work and brought over some extra chairs. Ashlynn gracefully sat down, never taking her hands off Connor. She didn’t need to claim him in front of me, she already had him. Leaving one hand on his arm, she reached into her purse and pulled out a few crumpled up pieces of paper. She never was organized. I’m sure she drove Connor crazy with how messy she was. He would get annoyed if I left the toothpaste on the counter. She threw the scribbles in front of me and I tried to hide my apprehension. I took her crumpled papers and attempted to smooth them over. Taking a breath, I grabbed my pen and notebook and looked at her drawings or what I could make of them.
She had a ranch drawn out, or that was what I thought it was, and various boxes throughout the house. Connor looked down at the plans and scrunched his nose. Clearly he had no part in whatever she was imagining by how confused he looked.
“Sorry if they are hard to read, but as you can see this is the kitchen,” she pointed and giggled. I bit my lip trying to contain my confusion. No one could have figured out that was a kitchen. She pointed out various places while I took notes and started my own small draft. With each section my eyes started to widen along with Connor’s. To my horror, this house was looking very familiar.
“Well, we need a dog room; you know how much I love dogs!” She squeezed Connors arm and looked at him with stars in her eyes. He gave her a loving smile.
Ashlynn hated dogs.
“Right, so you will want a dog door I assume going to the porch.”
She nodded enthusiastically.
We moved on from the dog room to details about the kitchen then into the rooms. “Well, we want to have a lot of kids, and I thought we should make a reading nook in one of the rooms, kids like those sort of things,” she said throwing her hands towards the paper.
I gulped. Ashylnn always talked about how she could never be pregnant, how it would ruin her body forever. She could never put up with a kid who had a runny nose or the stomach flu.
“I also want a big area here for the Christmas tree, so the ceiling has to be really tall, I think you had a plan like that once didn’t you Becca?” She smiled too sweetly while caressing Connor’s arm.
She was stealing our house.
Connor looked like he might be sick. I was on the verge of having a break down. My throat felt like it was going to close in.
Why did she always have to take everything from me?
Then I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder.
“Hey, sweetie. I have been looking all over for you.” Tyler’s voice was like velvet as he flashed his sparkling white teeth down at me. I sat in shock. Sweetie?
I didn’t know what to say; I was speechless. He leaned down and gave me a swift kiss on the cheek. Normally I would have blushed, but I was too stunned to know what was going on.
Ashlynn looked just as stunned as I did, while Connor looked suspicious. “Becca, aren’t you going to introduce us to your… friend?” She said with a bubbly tone, starting to play with her hair.
“Um…” was all I could get to come from my lips.
“Hi, I’m Tyler Conklin, Becca’s boyfriend,” he said without batting an eye, reaching his hand across the desk to shake their hands. Connor gave him a firm shake and Ashlynn tilted her head and let her hand linger in his. Tyler put his hand on the back of my chair.
“Sorry to interrupt, I thought you might be done by now. I can wait in the lobby for you.” His eyes danced with humor. I pursed my lips. What game was he playing?
Ashlynn quickly piped up. “Becca, we were going to go to Cygnus for dinner. Why don’t you join us? I think you have enough information on what we want for the house.” She was staring at Tyler, clearly asking him and not me.
Tyler smirked down at me while I glared at him, “I think that is a great idea, don’t you baby?”
I blew out air. “That sounds wonderful.” Not.
I stood up to put on my jacket, buttoning it from the bottom. With irritation, I looked up as I was buttoning my jacket and saw Tyler’s eyes glued to my chest. I frowned and cocked my head. His eyes eventually traveled up to lock with mine.
“I love your dress,” he murmured with a wicked grin. I glared at him. He laughed at my expression.
Once Ashlynn and Connor had their coats on and things together we all traveled to the elevator. I was dreading this evening, and I couldn’t wait to get alone in the car with Tyler and ream him. Although, Tyler probably would ask them if I could ride in their car so we wouldn’t be seen together.
“Did you have a good day?” Tyler’s voice purred in my ear as the elevator descended. I saw Connor watching from the corner of his eye.
“Mmhmm,” I said nonchalantly while pretending to straighten my coat. I felt his grin close to my neck.
Ashlynn saw Tyler’s affection towards me and snuggled up to Connor. Connor was still watching us skeptically. I felt so awkward. Once the elevator got to the lobby Ashlynn pulled Connor out and yelled back, “We will see you there. Becca would you mind calling? I’m sure you will be able to get a table for four better than if I called.” She held on to Connor as though she needed him to breathe as they left. I rolled my eyes at the thought of calling the restaurant. Why did my dad have to own everything?
The second the door closed I turned into a dragon.
Pushing Tyler against the elevator wall I yelled, “What the hell, Tyler?” He was thrown back by my audacity and tried to hide his amusement. “Nothing about this is funny!” I shouted at him.