“Oh, I hope I didn’t take you away from anything too important.” She looked from me to Dean with a wide smile that made me think that was a flat out fucking lie, but again, I didn’t say anything. Actually, I just kept my mouth shut the entire time as we made our way into the building.
“Alright, I’m going to go get a little work done, but if you two need anything, just let me know.” Dean gave us both a smile. “And, thank you, thank you both so much.”
“Anytime,” I muttered as he turned on his heel and headed for his office.
“So, where do you want to set up?” She looked around happily.
“How about over there.” The front desk was big enough that we could both work; I was sure it would be perfect—or, at least, good enough.
She nodded, and we strode over to the desk. I cleared it off quickly, and we got set up. “So, what can I help with?” I was actually eager to help if it meant things would be easier on Dean, and that’s what it sounded like—it was actually going to help him, so I was willing to give it a shot.
After an hour of going over shit, I finally let out the yawn that I’d been holding back most of the time.
“Dean must have tired you out.” She gave me a quick smile.
I laughed softly. “Yea, he took me to the hot springs; I think it relaxed me a little more than is actually good for me.” I mentally shook myself, squeezing my eyes shut and reopening them as if that would actually help. “So, what else do we need to go over?”
“Nothing really. Just a couple more things. Tell you what, you go home, and I’ll finish it up.”
“Oh, no. I can’t do that to you.”
“I don’t mind! Promise. It won’t even take me very long. You go say goodbye to Dean, and by the time you’re done, I’ll probably be done too.”
“Alright …” I knew it was probably the wrong choice to make, but I wasn’t going to sit here and fight with her. I pushed myself up and headed into Dean’s office. He looked up quickly.
“Are you two done already?”
“Yea, well she’s just wrapping up two or three other things. She told me to come say goodbye to you, though, and I didn’t really think I was going to win the argument.” I yawned. “I was too tired to even try honestly.” Closing the distance between us as he stood, I added, “I was going to head home unless you really want me to stay and keep you company?”
“No, it’s fine. You head home and get some rest.”
“Your place?” I swallowed dryly. I didn’t want him to think I was totally ditching him. If I went to his place, I could at least clean and make him dinner for when he got home.
“Don’t worry about it.” He smiled softly and brushed the hair out of my face. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Alright …” I didn’t want to admit how disappointed I was that he told me to go home. “Are you sure?”
“Yea.” He placed a quick kiss on my lips. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow if you want?”
“It’s okay; I can drive. No point in you going out of your way to pick me up.”
Without another word, I turned and marched for the door, opening it just in time to see Nichole approaching. “All done.” She smiled widely. “I’ll see you tomorrow! And thank you so much for all your help.”
“I was glad to help.” I paused. “Actually, I was thinking, could I get your number? That way if you need help with anything, you can just give me a quick text.”
“Oh, sure.” She pulled her business card out of her pocket and handed it to me.
I tried not to let my look betray me. It had her number, her full name, and her email address. That should be more than enough for the private investigator, right? I smiled as I took it from her. “Awesome, thank you so much.”
“Anytime! I appreciate the help.”
“I’ll give you a text, and then if you need any help, just let me know.” I stepped past her, trying not to rush out the door and get it to Melina.
Chapter Six
I felt my heart sink, watching Becca leave so easily. I know I told her to go, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want her to fight a little. I knew it was stupid but couldn’t help it.
“Mind if I stay a little longer?”
Nichole’s voice took me off guard. “Oh, you don’t have to do that.”
“I know I don’t, but it’s not like I had anything to do.” She shrugged. “Anyways, I’m guessing you could use the help. So what can I help with?” Without another word, she dropped into the seat across from my desk.
I watched her closely. Why can’t Becca do that? I knew I shouldn’t think like that but couldn’t help it. I wanted Becca to show she worked just as hard as me or could work just as hard as I did. I knew I didn’t want someone who didn’t work hard.
I sighed, dropping down into my own seat. “Honestly, there are three things I need to sort out, help with any of them would be wonderful,” I admitted.
I couldn’t help watching her as she let out a soft moan and stretched her chest. I looked down quickly knowing it was wrong, after all, that wasn’t Becca’s chest I was staring at.
*
Nichole pushed herself up from the desk, letting out a deep breath. “What time is it?” She looked at the clock. “Oh, wow.”
“I’m sorry.” I gave her a soft smile. “You’re welcome to call it a night if you’d like.”
“Without you? No way.” She grinned. “Come on, we need to eat if we’re going to keep working.”
She was right, dammit. I wanted nothing more than to get home and get some sleep, but I’d get more work done here at the office than I would in bed.
“Alright.” I stood, grabbing my jacket. “I know a great little place that we can walk on over to.” I slipped my jacket on and led the way out the door. It was nice having someone around just to keep me company.
“Crap.” She gasped. I spun to see what was wrong as she grabbed my arm and stumbled towards me. “Oh, my God.” Her hands landed on my chest as I caught her by the hips. “I’m so sorry.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yea, yea … I just tripped. I’m sorry. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yea,” she laughed softly. “I’m just klutzy.” She jumped away from me. “But I’m sure Rebecca wouldn’t like me hanging onto her boyfriend like that.” She gave a nervous laugh.
“I won’t rat you out.” I gave her a smile as we started walking again.
“Oh, I wouldn’t want you to keep any secrets from her on my behalf.”
I shrugged. “If she ever asked if you tripped and I caught you, I’ll tell her.” But she didn’t need to know everything. Right? Or was it wrong of me to hide that from her?
“Good, ’cause I don’t think she likes me very much.”
“I’m sure she does!” I lied. “I mean … I’m sure she’ll warm up to you.”
“It must be hard for her, though; I get why she doesn’t like me.” Nicole stepped closer to me. “Like, I am spending all my time with you, and that must be really hard on her.”
“She knows there is nothing going on between us.” I shrugged.
“Still, I’d be jealous; I mean, you’re cute. You must have girls falling all over you at every turn. I can see why she doesn’t trust me.”
“I think she’s just having a hard time with some other stuff,” I said as we turned onto the street. The bright green light of the neon sign let us know the place was still open.
“Right. I forget she was part of that whole … everything that happened with the gunman. It must be really hard on her.”
“I think it is, though she’s not willing to admit how hard it is, not to me or anyone else.”
“It must be hard on you too; I mean, having to support her with everything that you’re going through.”
It was way harder than I was willing to admit, even to myself, but what was I supposed to do? I did love her; I knew that. I just … “I wish she would open up to me,” I admi
tted. I hadn’t admitted that to anyone. I shook my head. “But I’ve got to give her time. I get that.”
And if we went to a therapy session together, that would help, right? I was sure it would; it was just a matter of finding time to do it. As we came up to the restaurant, I pulled the door open, and she stepped in, heading for the counter. “Should we get it to go?” she asked.
“Good idea.” We could eat at the office and then get right back to work. I nodded as she went to place her order with the cashier behind the counter. Before she could say anything after placing her order, I stepped forward.
“I’ll have a bacon cheeseburger please.” I pulled my wallet out of my pocket.
“Oh, you don’t have to pay!”
“No, it’s my treat; I mean, I do have you working. It’s the least I can do.”
I paid for our meal, and the person at the counter went to go get it ready for us. Nichole stepped closer to me and gave a wide grin. “You know, normally guys expect me to put out if they buy me dinner.”
I laughed softly, a blush touching my cheeks. “Don’t worry, I won’t pressure you.”
She reached out and touched my arm, her fingers tracing over me gently. “It’s a shame; you’re the cutest guy who’s ever bought me dinner, that’s for sure.” My blush darkened. “If you weren’t dating Becca, I’d be all over you,” she admitted.
“Uh, um … thank you.” I struggled to find something to say, having no clue if that was the right thing to say or not, but that’s what I went with. Lame, right?
Nichole stepped closer to me. “Anytime.” It sounded like a promise if you ask me, but maybe I was just acting crazy. “I know how hard it can be to work long hours; if you ever need someone to keep you company … I’m always here.” A smile touched her lips as she batted her eyelashes at me.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was trying to sleep with me. But she knew about Becca, and it didn’t seem like she wanted Becca to know that she’d touched me, so why would she try to sleep with me? I smiled, mentally shaking myself. I was tired and probably just imagining things.
Chapter Seven
“How was your night?” I asked, closing his office door. He hadn’t texted me at all this morning, so I knew it had probably been a late night.
“It was actually really good! Nichole stayed late, and we got ahead of the workload for once in a very, very long time.” Dean beamed. “And we grabbed a quick bite at that place down the street, that one I’ve been meaning to take you to. My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach.
“Oh, that um … sounds really fun.” I swallowed dryly. I should have put up more of a fight to stay and should have been the one he went to the restaurant with, not Nichole.
“What’s wrong? You look upset?” Dean looked worried, and I cleared my throat.
“Nothing. I’m glad you two had a nice date—err, night.” It came out snide, and I didn’t bother trying to stop it. Turning on my heel, I headed out of his office without another word. I’d felt so bad about leaving last night, I’d felt guilty, but apparently he didn’t mind. Apparently, he had a blast with Nichole.
My blood boiled as I thought about her. There was no way she wasn’t trying to step in on my boyfriend, and I didn’t take that kindly.
“Hey!” I almost froze as Nichole waved at me and wanted nothing more than to go over there and knock her out. I wanted nothing more than to ruin that pretty little outfit of hers, with the Gucci label and her Prada purse. I took a deep breath and forced myself to step past her.
Storming into the bar area, I found Melina working. She looked up. “What did he do now?”
“He went on a date,” I snapped.
“He what?” Melina stared at me with wide eyes.
“Oh yea, him and Nichole went out to dinner last night. Cute, isn’t it?” I snapped. I couldn’t fucking believe it and blew out a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. I closed my eyes. In and out. In and out, just like I’d learned in therapy. I was going to calm down, and then go in there and have a rational conversation with Dean about this.
“Do you want me to talk to him?” Melina asked.
“No. I’ll talk to him; I just need to calm down. Otherwise, I’m going to bash that bitch’s brains in.”
Melina snorted. “I got in touch with that guy I was telling you about and asked for a rush job … I don’t trust her and want to get this all out of the way as soon as we can. He said he should be able to contact me tonight with some basics. Then we can discuss if we want him to dig deeper or not.”
“Alright.”
“I’ll text you as soon as I hear from him.”
“I know.” I gave Melina a smile. To think, I’d been jealous of her less than two weeks ago; it’s amazing how fast your emotions for someone can change. I pulled her into a quick hug. “You’re a good friend. But if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go try and talk to Dean.”
“Good luck!” she called after me as I marched back to Dean’s office. By now, most of the girls were here for work. A couple of them gave me a smile; none of them I’d ever worked with or even knew of, but I smiled back anyways and hoped they wouldn’t know I had no fucking clue who they were.
I knocked twice on Dean’s door before opening it.
Dean and Nichole stared at me with wide eyes. I swallowed dryly, resisting the urge to bash her brains in, and forced a smile over my lips. “I’m sorry; are you two busy?” I raised an eyebrow.
“No,” Dean snapped. “Come on in; what’s up?”
For a split second, I didn’t think Nichole was going to leave. I licked, trying to restore moisture to my lips as I strode into the room and cleared my throat. Finally, Nichole headed for the door, leaving Dean and me alone.
“So ...” He crossed his arms over his chest. “What do you want?”
“To say I’m sorry.” Oh, that is so not what I wanted, but if I had some other girl moving in on my boyfriend, I wasn’t going to give her any help. I was going to patch things up with him. “I just … it really hurt that you took her out to dinner, and … and it feels like you were eager to get me out of the building last night so when you said that … I just … it hurt.”
I couldn’t bring myself to look at him because it was the truth. I was hurt by what he’d done.
“And you don’t think I’m hurt? Don’t you trust me at all?”
“I do …” I whispered. “I … I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright; why don’t you stay with us tonight? You really should get to know her; you might like her better if you got to know her.” Dean cleared his throat. “And you, uh, might think she’s not trying to sleep with me if you get to know her.”
My brow furrowed. Was it just me or was he avoiding my eye? I smiled and nodded. “Alright, I’ll stay late tonight. And I can get to know her better. But just for the record, I’m staying late to spend time with you, not to spend time with her.” I closed the distance between us and gave him a quick kiss.
“I love you.”
His words took me off guard. I knew they shouldn’t, but they did. I stared at him blankly for a couple of seconds.
“I love you too.” And I meant it! I really did love him.
*
Everyone had long since gone home; well, of course, Dean and I were still here—and, of course, Nichole was. She seemed more than eager to spend any time with Dean that she could. I kept a close eye on her as we went over some of the projects we’d be working on soon, and she took notes. I did notice she touched him a couple times; the first time I tried to write it off, after all he was just handing her a pen, but the more it happened, the harder it was. A couple times, I could have sworn I caught her staring at me—almost challenging me to step up and say something. I didn’t.
It took everything I had, but I didn’t. I was tempted to leave after two hours, just to see if she would try to make a move on him, but I couldn’t; I didn’t want Dean to have something to hold against me.
My phone buzzed in my po
cket, letting me know I had a text. I reached for it as fast as I could.
You want to know her details? PI contacted us. He knows what her deal is.
I stared down at the phone with wide eyes. I had to get out of here without Dean questioning it too much. Damnit. I bit my lower lip. “I um, I have to go.” I stood, hoping he wouldn’t ask me why.
“Why? What’s going on?”
I closed my eyes, wishing I’d left faster. Not that I really could have just ran out of the building.
Nichole looked up at me, waiting for my answer. I felt the blush rise to my cheeks as I tried to think of a reason for having to leave. I stared down at my phone and held it up to them.
“Uh, Katie. She’s going through some stuff with some guy that she’s been seeing. She needs girl time.”
“Alright, will I see you tonight?” It sounded a little hostile to me, but I didn’t say anything about it. I just smiled.
“Do you want to come over tonight?”
“Sure.”
“Then I’ll see you later.” Because you know ‘sure’ was what every girl wanted to hear. I frowned, turning on my heel and heading out of the office, and then biting my lip as I came to a stop after closing the door. I paused. It’s wrong. I knew it was. I knew I should have just left as soon as I closed that door behind me, but I didn’t. Instead, I stepped to the left so they couldn’t see my feet, and I leaned towards the door.
“Are you okay?” Nichole asked.
“I’m fine yes. I just …” He paused. “It’s nothing.”
“I’m sure she’s telling the truth. I’m sure her friend is just in need of help.”
“Yea, so am I.”
“I mean really, what would she be doing that she needed to hide?”
My jaw dropped. That bitch was trying to start issues with us. Of course, she is! I knew all along that she would try to, but nope, Dean thought she was nice and sweet. My eyes narrowed as I resisted the urge to go in there and smack her. Biting my lip, I listened to the silence in the room. He hadn’t bothered to come to my defense, which meant that he was considering all the things I could be hiding from him. Without another thought, I walked out of the casino.
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