“Ah,” I began. “No, she wasn’t too happy.”
“I don’t know if I blame her. It did look pretty bad for you.”
“The fact that she thinks I’m with Benji for lunch right now is probably not going to be any better. I’ll have to correct her assumption later.”
Paris narrowed her eyes. “Why didn’t you tell her?” she asked, glaring at me.
“Because she assumed and then hung up before I could correct her. I didn’t want to get into a fight over the phone. I should have corrected her, and I will. That’s on me. I swear, nothing hinky is going on.”
“Oh, I know nothing hinky is going on, considering I’m the one telling you that. But now she’s going to think you’re cheating on her with me, and I’m going to be the bad guy.”
“No,” I said, angry now. “She’ll be fine. She just gets jealous over every single little fucking thing,” I growled out. “And I didn’t want to get into it over the phone. But I will set things right as soon as I see her tonight. Promise.”
“As long as she doesn’t come and try to like…slice my tires or something.”
“Allison’s not like that,” I said, and Paris sighed.
“No, but she’s going to be hurt, and that’ll be on me as much as you.”
“You’re right. Fuck.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I handled that wrong.”
“Yes, you did.”
I looked down at my salad and then pushed it away, shaking my head. “I can’t eat anymore. Now I’m just pissed off at myself.”
“You can fix it.”
“I will. But I need to get back.”
“Me, too. I’m done anyway.”
“Sorry this lunch turned out to be a bust,” I said.
“I ate, and I got to yell at you, I’m going to count that as a bonus.”
I rolled my eyes, and we went back to work. Benji wasn’t in the office since he was on his lunch break. I counted that as a win because I wasn’t in the mood to deal with anything else right now.
By the time we got back to our desks, I was pissed off at myself and quickly shot off a text.
Me: By the way, I was out to lunch with Paris today, not Benji. Didn’t correct you on the phone before you hung up. Sorry about that, babe.
Allison: What?
Me: She had a shitty day, and I needed to get out too. We each paid for our own meal, but I didn’t correct you. I’m sorry.
Allison was quiet for long enough that I had a feeling I had made a big fucking mistake. Allison always blew everything out of proportion, and I really didn’t want to deal with it over the phone just then.
I shouldn’t have lied by omission, though. Fuck.
Allison: I get it. I shouldn’t have figured it was a man right off the bat. You work with women too. Hope you had a good lunch. I’ll see you tonight?
I blinked, wondering exactly what had just happened.
Me: I’ll see you then.
Allison: Sounds good, babe.
And then she didn’t say anything else. I blinked, wondering exactly what had just happened.
I shook my head, put my phone away, and went back to work. It had been a long time since I’d had a serious girlfriend. And I’d never had one who tended to get as jealous as Allison did. Maybe I was overreacting.
Or perhaps I needed to get my head out of my ass and get back to work. I could deal with my problems with Allison and whatever I was feeling later. Because I had no idea if I loved my girlfriend. And considering that we had been together as long as we had? That was a fucking problem. It didn’t have anything to do with the work in front of me at the moment, though. The project I needed to focus on.
By the time I was ready to knock off for the day, my mind was clear, and I was fucking proud of the work I had accomplished.
We were getting far on this project, and I was happy to see where we were headed. I couldn’t wait to see what Paris thought about it, because she could always pick apart the pieces that I was having trouble with and sometimes get me back on the right track—or even a better one. Even if I didn’t always think those were the problem areas to begin with. That was what a team was for.
I packed up my stuff, including the lunch I hadn’t eaten, then made my way to the front where Paris happened to be, as well.
I raised a brow, and she rolled her eyes.
“Why are we on the same schedule today?” I asked her.
“Because it’s my schedule. Therefore, it’s the best schedule,” Paris said, and I laughed. I didn’t miss the way Benji narrowed his eyes at us.
Fuck, it was going to be fun working out the rest of my contract if this was how Benji was going to act.
“You ready to head out?” I asked, and Paris nodded.
“Let’s get to it,” she said and turned away from Benji, even though I knew she had seen the glare he’d shot us. There was nothing we could do about it. It was something that would have to be taken care of soon, though.
We made our way towards the parking lot, and Paris’s shoulders stiffened as she looked around.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and I frowned, looking around with her.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I don’t know. It felt like someone was watching me.” She looked towards the building, and I followed her gaze. We didn’t see anyone in the windows.
“Think I’m losing my mind. Tough day.”
“You okay getting home?” I asked, my gaze peeled for any danger. Ever since the attack on Hazel and my brothers, I didn’t take my safety for granted anymore.
She shook her head. “I’m fine. I think I’m just tired.”
I nodded, searching her face. I didn’t see any lies in what she’d said. “Drive safe,” I said.
“You too. And work things out with Allison,” she said, and I nodded.
“I already texted her, and she said it was fine.”
Her brows rose. “Oh?”
“Yep. It turns out I’m an asshole, but at least I’m a truthful one.”
She snorted and then got into her car, waving as she did.
“Thanks for being a good man.”
“I’m trying,” I said, and then got into my own vehicle, waiting for her to pull away before I did.
I didn’t like that she’d felt like someone was watching her, but I hoped that we were sensing things that weren’t there. After all, we’d been through enough. And considering that we’d had a hard workday, it could just be that.
It couldn’t be anything else.
At least, I hoped to hell it wasn’t.
Chapter 4
Paris
This time, I was going to make our plan work. Dakota had promised me that the man was sweet, wasn’t a condescending asshole, and was an excellent tipper. The fact that we were now at the bottom of the barrel when it came to men we had met in our lives, just told me that this was going to work.
Why?
Because, honestly, there wasn’t another alternative. It was either the date in front of me or find an app to find partners for one another. And while a few people in my life had done that, and said it had worked out or at least they hadn’t turned into a bleeding ball of fire, none of us really wanted to do that. Honestly, it wasn’t what we were trying for. Our goal was to find dates for each other.