“But I’ve slept with both of them… isn’t that just a little weird?” I whisper, because I really don’t need anyone to be overhearing this conversation.
“Meh,” she says as she resumes eating her food. “You’d get over it pretty quickly. And didn’t you and Danny only fuck the one time?”
“Yeah, but it’s still strange.”
“Only if you make it strange. It’s not like you’re having a threesome with them both or anything,” she says, completely unfazed.
“Oh dear God,” I say as I drop my head into my hands and sigh.
“What?” she says innocently. “You need to stop overthinking, Cam, seriously. Just see what happens and cross the bridges you need to when you come to them.”
“It’s that easy, huh?”
“It can be. The only thing that makes it complicated is your perception of what other people will think.”
I stop for a moment, fork paused mid-air as I think about what she just said. “Huh. I’ve never really thought of it like that before.”
“And that’s your problem. You need to stop giving a shit what other people think of you and just live.”
“And if this was the other way around and it was you getting all hot and bothered by your ex-boyfriend’s dad, you’d be totally cool with just seeing what happened and ignoring any consequences from your actions?” I ask her.
“Girl, with a man that fine, I’d be ignoring everything but his dick,” she says, making me spit out the drink I’d just taken a sip of.
“Oh my God, sorry,” I say quickly as I grab a napkin and mop up the drink from the table. I managed to avoid spraying Marcie though, thank goodness.
“If you’ve quite finished spraying your drink around the place,” Marcie says whilst giving me one raised eyebrow. “Just have fun, see how it goes, and for fuck’s sake, stop worrying about everyone else. Most of them will judge you no matter what you do, anyway.”
And with those words of wisdom parted, we finish our lunch and make our way back to the office, all the while her advice playing on my mind.
ChapterFifteen
Cameron
Friday morning. Big boss meeting day. But I’m not nervous this time, because we already smashed the presentation a first time, and we absolutely will a second time.
I’m getting settled at the conference table with my coffee and muffin, much like the other day, and I feel… settled. Sure. Confident. And that’s even with Danny still blowing up my phone. He’s ranged from sending messages of fury to ones that grovel. There is no in-between at this point, and there is no way back, so I haven’t even responded. There’s no point, because no matter what I say, it will give him false hope. Quite glad he hasn’t attempted to come to Gran’s house either, although, I’d just ignore him there too. Gran is under no illusion that he keeps phoning me, and I figured it was best to keep her in the loop so she’s fully aware of not answering the door should he call by.
The conference door opens, and in walks the rest of the team, followed by Mr Garrett.
“We have to make sure this goes as smoothly as it did the other day,” he says, with a warning in his tone. “Don’t fuck it up.” He then turns and leaves while we all get situated and wait for him to return with Caleb and his boss—Anthony Dwellers, owner of Elite Enterprises.
Marcie sits next to me and I automatically hand her half of the muffin I saved for her.
“You’re the best,” she says as she takes a bite, and I smile. I really did think over what she said yesterday, and she’s right, the person stressing me out the most was myself, so I’ve decided to cut myself some slack and enjoy life as it is. I have a great job, a good friend, no one to answer to when I don’t feel like going out or doing what they want to do, and it doesn’t hurt that I have the most delicious man to stare at this morning. And speaking of, in he walks, looking fucking gorgeous in a charcoal suit, light grey shirt, charcoal grey tie and black shoes. And I do something I haven’t done yet when his eyes connect with mine—I smile. A genuine smile, which he returns before he sits down at the end of the table, his boss sitting next to him, taking the seat that Wendy occupied the other day. She’s not in here today, Mr Garrett seeming to prefer her to not attend this time. I bet he knew she was checking out Caleb and decided he didn’t need the competition, if you could call it competition. I mean, Mr Garrett doesn’t have a fucking patch on Caleb Carter.
“Good morning, team,” Mr Garrett begins as he starts introductions. He goes around each of us, stating our name and position within the firm. I study Mr Dweller as the introductions are done, and from first impressions, he seems to be friendly. I’d guess that he’s in his early to mid-forties, his hair is short with a touch of grey just coming through at the sides, and his eyes are a dark brown colour, like dark chocolate.
“Wow,” Marcie whispers next to me, so that no one else can hear. “He’s fine.”
“Hmm, not bad,” I comment.
“I think I might have a thing for older men after all,” she says, and I stifle my laughter.
“Stop it,” I whisper, and she just smiles at me, looking like she’s already cooking up a plan of some description. I’ll pester her about it later, but right now, Mr Garrett is inviting me to begin, so I make my way to the front of the room to kick things off.
I’m about ten minutes into my speech when I see a commotion from outside of the conference room, and when a loud crash rings out, the whole room turns to see what is going on. And then I want to die as Danny comes into view. He stops and looks around, his eyes wild and his face like stone. He’s looking for me. Shit, shit, shit.
My eyes flit to Caleb, and I find he’s already looking at me. My heart starts to race, and I feel the colour drain from my cheeks when Danny starts to shout out loud.