Chapter Two
A week later, Duncan walked into Rylan’s house to find several girls in the pool with Rylan and Travis watching over them while they talked.
“Hey, man. How’s it going?” Rylan asked when he pulled up a chair and sat by the other two.
“Good. I’m dropping off the security contract from the company you wanted to hire.”
“Why can’t you take care of that?” Rylan asked.
“Because it’s not my million dollars that’s going to pay for it.”
They all laughed.
One of the girls shrieked, catching their attention.
Duncan’s heart stopped when he saw Kyla spitting and gasping for breath.
Rylan got up and crouched by the side of the pool where Kyla was hanging on for dear life. Duncan listened as he talked to the woman.
“Honey, you need to stay in the shallow end until we can teach you more.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I was trying to push the ball back to them and lost my footing.”
“How about you get out now? We’ll be having lunch in a few minutes.”
Duncan watched her creep along until she could walk up the steps to get out of the pool. Rylan was there with a towel to wrap around her but not before Duncan got a good look at her sweet petite body, and it angered him that he’d never be able to touch it.
She paused on her way to a chair and looked at him. He gritted his teeth and nodded before he turned his attention to the other girls. After a moment, he stood. “I’ve got to get back to the office. I’ll talk to you later.”
He walked out without looking back because didn’t want to see the hurt in the girl’s eyes. There was no way to know if she was real or if she was one of the players, and he’d, unfortunately, met a few.
She wasn’t worth the time to find out.
****
Kyla stopped on her way to sit down when she caught sight of Duncan. She hadn’t seen him since the day she’d met him, and she wondered if he was too busy to come to see her. The look on his face told her everything she needed to know.
He didn’t want to have anything to do with her because he simply didn’t like her or find her attractive, which was fine. She just didn’t understand why it hurt so much since she didn’t know the man.
Turning to find the other two men looking at her with pity in their eyes, she felt the sting of tears. She hated it when people pitied her because they found her lacking, and to have them see their friend rebuff her so blatantly, she just wanted to bury herself in a hole.
“I’m going to go get dressed. I should be going soon. I’ve got some work to do,” she said.
“All right. I’ll get the girls out. I want you to eat before you go.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Still…” Rylan was interrupted when Faith yelled for him.
She walked away before he could talk her into staying. At the moment, she just wanted to be by herself. She was better off that way.
She called an Uber to come to get her and snuck out before anyone could stop her.
On the drive back to where she was staying, she thought long and hard about what she wanted out of her future, and now she knew a man wouldn’t have any part of it. She didn’t want to put her heart out there to get it stomped on every time.
Kyla rode up the elevator to Trey’s, where she was staying temporarily, just until they found the guy, Billy. Billy had broken into their previous apartment and assaulted Jenna, the girl she lived with at the time. Several people stepped up to take care of them, and she’d lost her home and job within an hour. Although she hadn’t liked either, she’d been independent and taking care of herself.
Shame filled her when she realized how impolite she’d been to leave without telling anyone and felt embarrassed by her behavior. She would try better in the future.