He shrugs. “These things take time.”
I roll my eyes. I’ve heard that before.
“What do you guys want for dinner tonight?” Beck asks, changing the subject. Each of them throw out their orders. I pick up my lunch and toss what’s left of it in the trash before going back to my office.
A few minutes later Beck walks up to my office door. He knocks, then walks in without waiting to be invited. I’m fooling around with a new graphics program I got, trying to figure out how it works. It’s like Photoshop on speed and so far, I love it. Burying myself in work is the best way I can think to not embarrass myself by acting like a brat around the guys right now.
Beck sits on my desk, trapping my mouse next to the keyboard so I can’t work. I have no choice but to look up at him.
“Can I help you with something?” I ask in a very professional, very cold manner.
He smiles with all his brilliant white teeth, and now I can’t stay irritated with him because I adore that smile and it makes me happy just seeing it.
I groan and put my head on his knee. “You guys are driving me mad.”
He runs his hands through my hair and down my neck, giving me a one-handed massage that feels incredible right now. “I know I keep telling you soon, but we’ve hit a few bumps along the way. Let’s not think about it until it happens, okay? Why don’t we all go out to a nice dinner tonight and loosen up?”
“That sounds good to me.”
He continues to massage me for a good fifteen minutes before going back to his office. I feel much better and I’m able to get through the rest of my workday without giving anyone dirty looks.
Just as we’re about to leave the office for the day and go out to dinner, that same man who’d been coming around is here again. Normally I try to enter Beck’s office with them, but Beck will give me that damn smile of his that melts my brain and says, “This will only take a minute; we’ll be right back,” and push me out the door in a way that somehow keeps it from being rude. Beck has a magical way about him. It’s not until I get home and start to rehash the day in my head that I realize that he literally pushed me out of his office and shut the door in my face.
This time when they all meet up, I don’t try to enter. I don’t like the looks of the guy in there with them. He’s wearing a suit and there’s something about him that’s fake and snake-like. Maybe he’s a lawyer. Something curdles in my stomach and I start to think of every bad thing I can imagine. What if they regret making me a partner and they want to be done with me? What if that sleazy guy in there is making deals with them and Beck is masking it as a surprise to keep me out of the loop? He would definitely be right by calling it a surprise.
I shake my head. That’s just my paranoia at play. Those men in there love me. I know they do and I
trust them enough to know they would never hurt me like that. I just have to learn to ignore these old feelings bubbling up. The boyfriends I’ve had in the past weren’t always honest with me. Some even cheated. I can’t compare my guys to them because they are nothing alike and I have to keep remembering that so I don’t get sad about being left out.
Their laughter cuts through the quiet office building. I look around the partition into Beck’s office just in time to see the outsider slip something into Beck’s hand, but I can’t tell what it is. They all shake hands. Just as he’s leaving the office, he sees me and winks at me. I quickly look away, embarrassed for spying on them.
Beck pokes his head into my office. “Ready for dinner, babe?”
“Let me grab my coat.”
I grab my coat and force myself not to ask questions as we leave.
We decide on Thai as we’re driving. Beck says he wants to try a new place and the others agree. I don’t really care where we go. I didn’t eat lunch and now I’m starving.
“Is Winston going to meet us there?” I ask.
One of his first purchases with his new riches was a Tesla SUV. He usually rides with the rest of us when we’re going somewhere as a group, but today he decided to drive himself.
“Yeah, I’ll text him with the directions,” Derrick says.
We drive out of the city. Usually when we leave work, the sun is starting to set, but we cut out early today. The sun is still out and it’s an overcast, but beautiful day.
“Where are we going?” I ask when we turn down a road that looks like it’s about to turn into a neighborhood rather than a business district. This doesn’t look like some place a Thai restaurant would be located.
Beck takes another right and we come to a huge gate.
“What are we doing here?” I ask.
“I just need to make a quick stop before we eat,” he says.
He types a number into the keypad but nothing happens. He turns to the others. “Are you sure this is the right number?”
“You have to hit the pound sign after it,” Derrick says.