MichaelRainey came over to my desk and started looking through the paperwork in my outbox. I inhaled, taking in the sweet scent of her perfume. I swore I could smell her in my sleep.“Hey,” I said into the phone, but I never took my eyes off Rainey.She continued to sift through the papers, and I noticed her shoulders were up to her ears. She could tell me that she didn’t want to be with me, but I still affected her. I just had a better poker face.“Hey,” Frederick said. “Is this a bad time? You sound weird.”“It’s fine,” I said, turning my gaze away from her. I wondered if Frederick had talked to Demetri yet. He wouldn’t have called if he didn’t have news. “What’s up?”“We need to meet,” he said. “I have some updates for you.”“All good things I hope?”“No,” Frederick said. “Why would you say that?”“Busy day at work,” I said, trying to make it sound like I was having an everyday conversation.“Oh,” Frederick said, finally catching on. “Got it.”“I can meet you at Kadia,” I said. “T
RaineyWhile the relationship between Michael and I had been strained over the past week, today had been one of the better days. After working with him on some of the last-minute paperwork for the charity event, I felt good about our professional relationship going forward. He acted like a boss and not the man I’d almost slept with. I hoped that we’d be able to continue on that path in the future.My curiosity about his conversation got the best of me. Which was why I called Tessa on the way home from work to go out to Kadia that night. I wasn’t sure what I was thinking, but I had to find out more about Michael’s secret phone calls. I wanted to put my mind at rest once and for all to see if Michael really had something going on with Natalia or some other girl.At least then, I’d be able to let him go. Working in such proximity made it so hard to ignore his good looks. Since he agreed to break off whatever we were doing, it had to be for another woman. Otherwise, why did he agree to th
RaineyWith one glance at Michael, my entire body shivered. Nerves twisted in my stomach and at that moment I wanted more than anything to crawl under the bar and stay there the rest of the night.Tessa dragged me onto the dance floor, and I turned away from the VIP rooms in case he looked down. I pushed my hair down to shade my face from view.I waited a few seconds and then glanced over my shoulder. I was on high alert and ready to whip back around if he saw me.Instead, his focus was on his brother and Natalia.He shook hands with his brother, and he embraced her. Then she backed away and gave him two air kisses. Then they burst out laughing.I narrowed my eyes. What was that about?They went further back into the room and sat. From that angle, I could only make out the tops of their heads. I wondered what kind of business was going on. Michael clearly hadn’t been lying about meeting his brother. But why was she there all of a sudden? It seemed too coincidental to me. She arrived i
MichaelI spotted Rainey by the bar the moment I arrived. I had a feeling she’d be at the club tonight, especially because she feigned interest in the conversation I’d had with Frederick earlier. I knew she was still suspicious of me, so I wanted nothing more than to prove her wrong when I got the chance.I forced myself not to look down at the dance floor. I wanted Rainey to see me first, then think she had the upper hand. I’d make my move after I got the information from Frederick.Natalia was already there when I arrived. Frederick had a sixth sense about her ever since we were kids. The two of them flirted incessantly, and I frequently felt uncomfortable around them, feeling as if I were a third wheel most of the time. I had been in the brief time they dated in their twenties. Thankfully the breakup was mutual, and we all remained good friends.Natalia and Fredrick were speaking to each other; their faces were close together. I hoped I wasn’t interrupting anything.“Fredrick,” I s
Michael“Shit, Fredrick! This was supposed to be taken care of,” I said. “What did Demetri say?”“Nothing.”“Nothing?”“I told him everything my contacts told me, everything I just told you. He said he’d get back to me.”I stood up and tugged my fingers through my hair. It must be nice for Demetri being in Chicago when we were here dealing with this shit storm. It was only a matter of time before those men came to me for some clarity. I could deter them but then they’d come for Frederick, and as much as I loved him, he wasn’t great under pressure. And if any of us left town, that would be a clear indicator of our involvement.“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” I said, trying to wrap my head around this. We’d never been this close to getting caught before. And it wasn’t the police. It was some rogue investor who was out for blood because of his dealings.“I know, man,” Frederick said in an attempt to calm me down.I wanted to wallow in this for a little while. For some reason, I had a c
RaineyThe next morning, the sound of Tanner calling for me woke me from a dead sleep. Years after he was born, I always swore I heard him calling me in the middle of the night even when he was in his bed, fast asleep.I sat up, and my heart was racing. Then I felt it. A throbbing pain radiated in the front of my forehead, deep inside my brain.I glanced at the clock. It was a few minutes before my alarm.I groaned and pressed the heels of my hands against my head. I was never drinking again. The beers should have been enough, but Tessa insisted we had shots too.“Mommy!” Tanner cried.“Coming!” I called back. I rolled off the bed and realized I was still wearing the shirt from last night. My pants were crumpled pile on the floor. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with Tanner, so I threw on my robe and jogged out to the hallway toward his room.“What’s going on, honey?” I asked, coming into his room. The walls tilted at a strange angle, and I grabbed onto the dresser to steady myself. It w
RaineyI pulled off my robe and let it fall to the floor. My headache was still there, but the aspirin had taken the edge off. I wanted to be clear and present to take care of Tanner, so I went into the bathroom and downed several Dixie cups worth of water, drowning my hangover and hoping it helped with my dehydration.I settled into bed, pulling my comforter around me in a little cocoon when my cell phone rang. I might have blamed Killian for his tendency to interrupt me at the worse moments, but it wasn’t his ring tone.I grabbed my phone and saw Michael’s name on the screen.I groaned. Was he going to berate me again about pretending to be sick?“Hello?” I said into the phone with the sickest voice I could muster.“Rainey, I hope I didn’t wake you,” Michael said.I tried to determine if he was teasing or being serious. “No, you didn’t.” He’d only called ten minutes ago. I supposed if I was as sick as I sounded then I might have flopped back over into bed. Why was he checking up on
MichaelAfter getting off the phone with Rainey, I was unable to complete any tasks while waiting for her to get to the office. My mind was distracted with questions about the night before. Who was that guy she was with? Had she pulled an all-nighter at the guy’s place and had to miss work because he wanted round two? I’d seen the punk around the club before since he used to work the bar. She deserved better than trash like that. She deserved a real man who could take care of her with all the money in the world.I pushed the half-eaten bagel sandwich across my desk. I wasn’t hungry anymore. In fact, my stomach churned thinking about her with anyone else.The food stared back at me, so I removed the waste basket from under my desk and threw everything inside. I sipped on my coffee, which was now cold. I threw that in the basket too.I drummed my fingers on my desk and watched each second tick down on the clock.It wasn’t until I heard Rainey’s voice outside my office that I snapped ba