I didn’t have a clue where this was going. Was he on the Most Wanted List?
“I’d marry you tomorrow if I could. But…there’s something I have to do first.”
“Okay…” I tried to keep my breathing calm and even, but that was impossible right now. “Vic, I’m starting to freak out, so please just spit out whatever you’re trying to tell me.”
“Alright.” He dropped his head, bowing it as if in shame. “I’m married.”
Oh. My. Fucking. God.
I was in such shock that all I could do was stare at him, blinking randomly like a deer in the headlights. Did he just say what I thought he said? No, that couldn’t be right. “Sorry…it sounded like you said you were married, but that’s not what you said, right?”
He lifted his head and looked at me, the guilt in his eyes. “It is what I said.”
My hand pressed tighter into my chest over my heart because my world had just crashed down around me.
“The marriage has been dead for a while. When you asked me out, I thought it would just be a fling. But it turned into something serious, and it makes me realize that you’re the one. I loved my wife at one time, but not anymore.”
All I could do was breathe and breathe hard. How did I not see the signs? He had a place here, and there was never a trace of anyone else. Did she live there? Or did she live in a whole other city? “I’m sorry…I just don’t understand. How do you have a wife that I don’t know about?”
“They live in Chicago.”
“They?”
“My wife and two kids.”
“Yuck.” I sat back in the chair and pushed my hands out to keep him away even though he didn’t try to move toward me. “Oh god, I think I’m gonna throw up. Kids… You have kids?” I was rolling around with a married man and father of two kids? “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
His eyes fell in shame. “It’s not as bad as it seems—”
“You’re having an affair. Yes, that’s as bad as it seems. And you lied to me.”
“Because I knew how you would feel about it—”
“Damn fucking right.” I grabbed my napkin from my lap and threw it on the table. “How could you do that to your family?”
“You don’t understand, alright? We’ve got two boys in diapers and—”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I’m just saying, it’s changed things.”
I rolled my eyes even though that didn’t really express the way I felt. “Wow…you’re just…” There were no words. There were no words to describe the phenomenon of going from love to hate so quickly. It was like an elimination of emotions.
“I know you’re mad, but I’ve already talked to her about getting a divorce, and I want you to know I’m serious.” He pulled the small box out of his pocket and moved to open the lid.
I snatched it and chucked it at his face. “Seriously? You’re proposing to me? You just told me you dumped your old wife, and now you want a new wife? What kind of man are you? You’re a boy running from his responsibilities. That’s what you are. Grass is always greener on the other side, but all you have to do is water your lawn every day and you’ll solve your problems.” I stood up and grabbed the glass of wine before throwing it into his face. “Don’t call me again. If you do, I will hunt down your wife and expose you for the sack of shit you are.”
4
Sicily
The anger had my heart pounding for several hours afterward. I went home to my apartment, grabbed an open bottle of wine from the fridge, and didn’t even bother getting a glass from the cabinet. I’d had plenty of wine at the restaurant, but now I drank it like my throat was dry. “Motherfucker.” I wasn’t just angry with him—but myself.
How did I not know?
Why didn’t I question the fact that he spent half his week in Chicago? I’d never known a pilot before, so I wasn’t sure what a normal schedule was like. People said long-distance relationships never worked, but I didn’t qualify it as long-distance. But it was long-distance—and he had a whole other life I didn’t know about.
The fact that he had two boys made it so much worse. My dream was to be a mother, and knowing he took that for granted made me sick to my stomach. Even if his wife was a bitch, she was taking care of his kids while he jetted off and fucked some woman in the city.
My hand moved to my forehead. “God, I’m the other woman.”
I’d never felt so sick in my life, not even when I ate old cheese sauce from the bottom of the nacho machine at the movie theaters. I felt so much self-loathing, so much disappointment, and I realized I needed to get tested first thing on Monday.
My dream life had been taken away from me within the snap of a finger.
Just like that…gone.
When the anger faded the next day, all I was left with was heartbreak.
I was hurt.
I was hurt that an asshole could do that to someone, to both me and his wife, to lie to us both for months.
He honestly expected to leave his wife and be with me? What about his kids? What would they think when they were older? Didn’t he care about their opinion at all? Did he really have no integrity whatsoever?
My weekend was spent on the couch in my pajamas, ordering takeout and drinking wine out of a box because I ran out of the good stuff, but I had no motivation to go out and get more.
When Sunday night came around, I actually dreaded going to work the next day.
I’d made a fucking idiot out of myself telling Cleo I was going to be engaged and showing off a big rock on my hand. Now I had to tell her the guy I loved was an adulterous asshole—and I’d had no idea.
She would judge me. My coworkers would too.
It was not the best impression to make.
If I had bad judgment with that, what if she assumed I had bad judgment with everything?
Did I have bad judgment?
My alarm woke me up on Monday morning, and I put on the outfit I’d picked out on Friday afternoon when I realized I got the job, and I walked to the Trinity Building in Tribeca from my apartment.
It was a beautiful morning, but it was cold. That made me walk faster just to stay warm, and I kept my thick hood up to protect my hair from the moisture in the air. Otherwise, my curls would fall out.
When I arrived, I greeted the doorman and passed the tenants as they stepped out of the elevator and into their private cars waiting outside. There was a lot of activity, just like a hotel, people coming and going, except it wasn’t a hotel but a residence.
A woman sat behind the counter in the lobby, handing people their mail and making phone calls. There were two elevators, and both continued to open and close as more people filed out. Most of them were in suits. When the elevator door opened, Cleo stood beside a tall man with dark hair. He was one of the few men not in a suit, but jeans and a hoodie. They stepped out together, and his arm moved around her waist as he leaned down slightly to give her a kiss goodbye. He looked to be the same age as she was, and there was a black wedding ring on his left hand. He was fit and muscular, his physicality visible through the tightness of his sweater, and he looked like one of those celebrities who never seemed to age.
She watched him go before her eyes shifted to me. “Morning, Sicily.”
“Good morning, Cleo.” I forced a smile on my face as I walked up to her, not wanting to wear my problems on my sleeve. I didn’t want to advertise my heartbreak…and my lack of faith in humanity.
She continued to stare at me, her eyes dropping down to my left hand. “So?”
There was something about her that made me want to come clean, to talk to her like she was my mother or a therapist, but I was too ashamed to tell the truth. It wasn’t just embarrassing that it had occurred, that I’d slept with another woman’s husband, but that I’d had no idea this entire time. “Oh…it didn’t happen.” I never wanted to see that man again. I’d fallen for him hard, and just like that, those feelings were gone. It was hard to believe I’d ever picture
d him giving me a ring at all.
Her smile faded, and she wrapped her arm around my shoulders to give me an affectionate squeeze. “It’ll happen when it’s meant to happen. Don’t worry about it.”
“Yeah…”
She patted my back before she stepped away, a tight pencil skirt on her lithe frame with heels on her feet. And they weren’t open-toed, low-height kind of heels. These were straight-up stilettos on tiny sticks. “Ready to learn the ropes?”
“Absolutely.”
She headed between the two elevators and approached the rear of the building, which had a coffee barista at a small café, along with a sea of tables and chairs where people could enjoy their coffee. There were a few people sitting there now, people in suits on their laptops. There were offices in the back where people worked on computers.
“Was that your husband?”
“No. I’m just really chummy with my clients.” She nudged me in the side playfully while she flashed me a smirk. “Yes, that’s my husband. We’ve been married for almost thirty years.”
“You live in the building?” I asked.
“Yep.”
“Then why do you work?” If he could afford a residence in this building, then money wasn’t an issue. “Sorry, that was a rude question. I didn’t mean to come off that way. I guess my curiosity got the best of me.”
“No, you’re fine,” she said with a laugh. “I work because I love it. I went part time when our kids were young, but once they didn’t need me as much anymore, I went back to full time. My husband is really dedicated to his job, so he’s busy during the day anyway.”
“What does he do?”
“He’s a doctor and medical researcher.”
“Wow.”
She walked me into the office and showed me around. “This is Matt, my right-hand man. We’re both directors here, so if I’m ever not around, you can always ask him for anything you need.”
He looked to be the same age, and he gave me a smile as he shook my hand. “Don’t listen to her. She’s the boss lady. I just step up when she’s unavailable.” He dropped his hand and slid it into his pocket. “Pleasure to meet you, Sicily. I hope you’re ready for the chaos of this place.”
“I thrive on chaos.” My life was fucking chaos right now.
He smiled again. “Great.”
Cleo introduced me to Carrie and Kayla, two younger girls about my age, and gave me the rundown on how things worked at the concierge desk. She took me into a separate room where there was a huge whiteboard, the biggest whiteboard I’d ever seen, and it contained details for every client who lived in the building.
Cleo pointed at the different boxes. “These are details about our clients, when their grocery day is, when we collect dirty linens, dry cleaning, when we change out their flowers, et cetera. And in this box is their unique necessity. Like, Mr. Harleton has to have one-hundred-percent-biodegradable toilet paper. Otherwise, he’ll lose his mind. It’s hard to get, so I order several cases at a time and change it out for him every week. And he expects us to put the toilet paper on the holder perfectly. One time, it was placed backward, and he lost his shit.”
I turned to her and gave her a blank stare. “Ugh. The guy is a billionaire, and he gets mad about that?”
She shrugged. “They’ve all got their quirks. There’re only a few assholes in the building, but most of them are wonderful people. Some of these clients have been here since I started, so we’re like family. But whenever new people move in, it’s always like pulling teeth, because they don’t trust you, and you have to prove yourself. That’s how they’ll treat you too. Just be patient and earn their confidence.”
“Got it,” I said with a nod. “Anything else important I should know? I feel like I’ve got a lot to learn, but it’s probably stuff I’ll just pick up as I go.”
“You’ll catch on quick, I’m sure. In terms of corporate rules, you can’t have a romantic relationship with our clients—and trust me, they’ll try.” She moved her hands to her hips and stood straight and poised, a woman who seemed youthful despite her obvious wisdom and experience. “Especially with the younger girls here. You can do a little flirting back just to protect their ego, but I usually have the girls say they’re already in relationships. And that seems to work.”
“Why can’t we have romantic relationships with our clients?”
She turned to me, her eyebrow raised.
“Not that I’m planning it,” I said quickly. “I’m just curious.”
“It’s just unprofessional and can make things messy. When I was young, I was seeing a man who lived here, and it was…a pain in the ass.” She chuckled like it was a funny story now that so much time had passed. “I don’t recommend it.”
“But your husband lives here…”
“Yeah.” She grinned. “Best mistake I ever made.” She crossed her arms over her chest and continued to look at the whiteboard. “I’d been working here for a several years when my husband moved in to the building. I spent a lot of time with him, and of course, I fell hard. Our relationship was private for a while until it was exposed…and I lost my job.”
“Whoa.”
“But he sent a petition around to get me reinstated—and it worked.”
“Aw, that’s sweet.”
“It’s not a fireable offense, but I highly discourage it. When I met my husband, I knew I wanted to marry him. The guy before him…” She shook her head. “That was just stupid. It wasn’t a serious relationship, mostly casual, though it seemed like it might go somewhere. But it wasn’t the instant love that I had with my husband.” She walked closer to the whiteboard then pressed her finger to one of the clients. “Anyway, let’s have you start here. I’ll—”
“Cleo, I fixed everything on Smith’s laptop. I’m not sure what he did, but…he did something.” A man entered the office behind us, wearing a gray tee and dark jeans. He had muscular arms, veins that bulged underneath the skin of his forearms all the way down to his hands, and he had beautiful brown eyes that stood out in his handsome face. He had short, light-brown hair, and his jaw was covered in a five-o’clock shadow even though it was early in the morning.
Cleo turned to face him. “That’s great. And I don’t want to know what he did.” She chuckled then came to my side. “This is Sicily, the newest member of the concierge crew.”
He shifted his gaze to me and gave a handsome smile that showed all of his perfect teeth. His eyes lit up a little brighter when he turned his attention on me, innately charismatic. “I prefer to call us the skeleton crew because we never stop working. Not to scare you off or anything.” Then he extended his hand to shake mine.
I took it, feeling his warm hand envelop mine. “I don’t scare easily.”
“Perfect.” He dropped his hand and slid it into his pocket. “Nice to meet you. I’m Dex.”
I spent the day shadowing different people. Carrie and I accepted the delivery from the florist and then pushed two carts down the hallways and entered different residences to swap out the flowers. There was a clipboard secured to the cart, so we could look at it and figure out which flowers were which. There was a serial number on each bouquet, so we knew which size arrangement went where. The vases inside the residences had the matching serial number, so that was how we knew what flowers to transfer and where. It seemed like a simple task in theory, but since the sizes of the arrangements varied wildly, putting the wrong flowers in the wrong place made a huge difference.
Then I collected the dry cleaning with Kayla, making sure to sort the items on the cart correctly before we took the company van to the dry cleaner to drop everything off. It was a constant hustle, going from one place to another, grabbing the next thing. And we couldn’t just do all the residences at once because the owners had different schedules, and we weren’t supposed to go into their homes while they were there.
It was a lot to keep track of.
By the end of the day, my feet hurt. I hadn’t worn heels at my last office, but I wore
them now to look professional, and now I thought I might break all the bones in my toes. Cleo wore heels, and while she ran around all day long, it didn’t seem to bother her.
Maybe I was just a wuss.
When I sat in the chair at my designated desk, I could feel my feet scream in relief. I attempted to slip off my shoes and place my bare feet against the hardwood just to feel them straighten.
“I wish I could tell you it’s just a busy day, but it’s always like this.” Dex walked to the desk next to mine and set down the box he carried. He ripped through the tape with his bare hands and opened the cardboard flaps to grab the laptop inside. He took a seat and opened all the packaging before he powered up the computer and got to work. He sat with a straight back, his knees apart, working on the brand-new computer and setting it up, probably for a client. He turned to me and gave me an encouraging smile that was so perfect, it belonged in a toothpaste campaign. “But it makes the day go by quickly, and before you know it, it’s time to go home. Or out to a bar for a drink, if you’re anything like me.” He chuckled then turned back to the computer, going through the setup to get the computer ready for a client.
“I like staying busy, so that works for me.”
“Me too.” His eyes stayed on his laptop.
I watched him from my chair, watched the way his muscles shifted under his skin every time he moved. He seemed to be a few years older than me, but I couldn’t really tell. “Are you the IT guy?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, you could say that.” He opened Microsoft Office and began the download before he turned in his swivel chair to face me. “I set up a firewall for the building and installed our own servers. That way, the clients know their information can’t be hacked. We’ve got bankers, diplomats, celebrities with nudes, all kinds of people who value their privacy. So, my job is mainly to keep their information secure. I also fix their computers whenever they do something weird. Instead of taking it outside the building where someone can swipe their information, it stays contained within this building. But I also install other tech stuff, like setting up gaming consoles for the kids before they get home, programming their phones. I’m a private tutor as well. But I’m utilized in a lot of other ways, depending on what’s happening with the clients. I deliver groceries, do dry cleaning runs, all kinds of stuff.”
The Doctor Who Has No Ambition (Soulless Book 9) Page 3