Can't Make This Up

by C. Morgan

  She stopped drinking from her glass. “What did you do?”

  “Nothing.”

  “You’re lying. Something happened. What happened?”

  “Food first.”

  Her hand shot up in the air. I didn’t even get the chance to order. She ordered for me before essentially shooing away the waitress. “Tell me. Food is on the way.”

  “I slept with him and I didn’t tell you because I knew you would be disappointed.”

  “When?”

  “On our first trip away.”

  “I knew you were being cagey!”

  I groaned and buried my face in my hands. “It was a moment of weakness. I saw him and just couldn’t resist.”

  She slowly nodded. “I’m not mad. I don’t know why you didn’t tell me.”

  “Because I was embarrassed. We had just talked about me liking him and I denied it.”

  “And are we still agreeing that you like him?”

  “Yes. No. I can’t. So after that night, I realized I made a mistake. He didn’t talk to me for almost a week. He told me not to go to work on the Friday after we got back. Then on Monday, he came into work looking like he’d been on a bender. I know he was out with other women. He was out getting laid days after we slept together.”

  She pulled a face. “Trinity, I love you. You know I do, but dammit, I want to slap you.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m pulling back. I’m not going to do it again. I’m resisting the urge.”

  “I don’t want to slap you because you slept with him. I want to slap you because you are going to get hurt. I told you to be careful with him. He has left a trail of broken hearts. He is not relationship material. I wish he was. I hoped he would be. I thought maybe you could be the one to settle him down, but I just don’t know if that’s possible.”

  That was not what I wanted to hear. I let out a defeated sigh. “I know.”

  “I don’t say that because I want to hurt your feelings. I say it because I don’t want him to hurt your feelings.”

  I was trying not to cry. She was only saying what I expected. “He sends a lot of mixed messages. He acts like he is jealous. There was a player hitting on me last week. I am sure I picked up on jealousy. Why would he be jealous if he didn’t like me?”

  “I think he likes you, but not enough to put a ring on it.”

  My eyes widened. “I don’t want a ring!”

  “You know what I mean. He isn’t the commitment type. He wants you on his terms. He doesn’t want anyone else to have you but he doesn’t want to be the good boyfriend.”

  She was breaking my heart. “I can’t have him, can I?”

  “Oh, sweetie, I want you to be happy. I really do, but this scares me. This worries me. He is not boyfriend material. Ryan will kill me for saying that but this is why I cautioned you against him. I love Ryker like a brother.”

  “He is your brother.”

  “Yes,” she said with a laugh. “I love him as a brother, but I don’t like him as a man. Not the man for you, that is.”

  I supposed I had wanted her to tell me to go for it. “All right.”

  “Trinity, only you know what’s in your heart.”

  “But what if what’s in my heart doesn’t matter?” I asked.

  She popped out her bottom lip. “You fell for him,” she said softly.

  I nodded. I couldn’t speak around the lump in my throat. “I think I did.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I like my job.”

  “Good.”

  The waitress brought our food. I wasn’t hungry anymore. “Should I quit?”

  “Why would you need to quit? Do you think he’s pressuring you to quit?”

  “No. I don’t know. If you would have asked me that a week ago, I would have said yes. I asked him point blank if he was going to fire me. He said he didn’t want to fire me but I’m afraid to rock the boat.”

  “Did anything happen on this last trip?” she asked.

  “No. He invited me back to his room for dinner the first night. I turned him down. I got the feeling he was disappointed but he didn’t hold it against me. We got along fine the rest of the trip. He was trying. I got the feeling he wanted to be friends.”

  “Can you be friends with him?”

  “He’s my boss.”

  “Yes, but I would think a strictly professional relationship would be a lot easier to avoid any temptations. If you are friends, it’s going to be a little more difficult.”

  I heard everything she was saying. I understood it and I was sure it was what I needed to hear, but I didn’t like it. “Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  I took a bite of my pancake. “Okay, I will be friendly, but we won’t be friends. We can still get along and hang out when we are on away trips. I think it would even be safe to get dinner together on occasion. I will just make sure that dinner is not in either of our rooms.”

  She laughed as she took a bite of food. “That will be very helpful. I know Ryan, and even though he isn’t quite as bad as Ryker, resisting the temptation takes a lot of effort.”

  I sighed. “No kidding. I so understand why they call him a sorcerer. I feel like I am under a spell whenever I’m around him. And when he does that smile.” I stopped talking and groaned for effect.

  “Oh, trust me, I know that smile. I married my man with that dangerous smile. You are helpless to ignore it. It’s their secret weapon.”

  “Yeah, it is.”

  “Are you really going to be okay?” she asked when our meal was almost over.

  “Yes. I am going to be fine. I think I just need to keep my distance.”

  “I can ask Ryan to talk to him. He can tell him to back off and quit playing games.”

  “No!” I nearly shouted. “Don’t tell him. I don’t need him getting involved. Remember, this is not supposed to be getting in the way of your relationship. I didn’t want to tell you, but I can’t not tell you something so important. This is just another reason why this whole thing was a bad idea. I should have never taken the job.”

  “Yes, you should have. You needed it and it is exactly what you need to support yourself. Can I just give you one piece of advice?”

  “Please do. I clearly can’t make good decisions for myself.”

  “Yes, you can. Don’t sleep with him again. Give yourself some time to get him out of your system. I think that will help clear your head. If you still feel something for him, maybe then there can be a discussion.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh yes, because he is so amenable to discussion. I can’t tell him I’d like to talk about my feelings for him. That would be weird, and he would either laugh in my face or run out the door screaming.”

  She smirked. “You make a good point. Let’s put a pin in this.”

  I groaned. “I hate when you say that.”

  “I know,” she said with a giggle. “That’s why I said it.”

  Chapter 26

  Ryker

  I hoped she wouldn’t be angry that I told her to come in late. I wanted to see how much progress Alysha made while I was away. When I walked through the back entrance, she popped her head out of Trinity’s future office.

  “You’re here!” she exclaimed with wild eyes. “Is she behind you? I’m not ready! The last of the décor just got here.”

  “Relax, she isn’t here. I told her to come in after eleven.”

  Alysha let out a sigh of relief. “Thank god.”

  I walked into the small office and was thoroughly impressed. “Alysha, you do great work. This is absolutely stunning.”

  “Thank you. I’m not done yet. I need to hang up this picture and stock her desk with supplies.”

  I looked around the office that looked about five times bigger than it had been when it was a storeroom. “I love it. It’s bright and cheery and I know she is going to love it as well.”

  “Do you think the color is too girly?”

  I stared at the wall. “Is it lavender?”

  “Yes
. Kind of. It’s a shade lighter than a true lavender.”

  “I know nothing about shades of purple, but I like it. She’ll like it as well.”

  “Okay,” she said. “Get out of here so I can finish. You can see it when it is done.”

  “Thank you for doing this. You have just made my life much easier.”

  I went into my own office and sat down. I couldn’t wait to show her the new workspace. She was going to feel like she belonged. I imagined the expression on her face when she saw what I did for her. I was hoping to chip away at the wall that somehow went up between us.

  As expected, Trinity showed up earlier than expected. Alysha alerted me to her arrival. I left the office and waited for her to come through the front door. She always came in through the front. She stopped walking when she saw all of us staring at her. “What’s wrong? Am I late? Ryker, I thought you told me to come in late?”

  “We have a little surprise for you,” I told her.

  “A surprise?” she questioned.

  “Come and see!” Alysha exclaimed. She was bubbling over with excitement.

  “What am I going to see?” Trinity asked.

  I walked to her new office and pushed open the door. “This is for you,” I told her.

  “What is for me?” she questioned.

  Alysha gently guided her into the office. “This. You have your own space.”

  I watched the expression on Trinity’s face. It was exactly what I expected to see. “What is this?” she breathed.

  “You said you didn’t know where to work. This is your space. Your office.”

  “Oh my gosh,” she exclaimed. “This is amazing. Thank you. Thank you so much!”

  “Alysha did all the work,” I said. “She deserves all the credit.”

  “It was his idea.”

  Trinity spun around and hugged Alysha. “Thank you. It’s beautiful. I love it. It’s absolutely perfect.”

  I waited for my hug. She turned to me. “Thank you for this,” she said without giving me the hug I hoped for.

  “You’re welcome. It’s all yours.”

  The week flew by. Things between Trinity and I seemed good. We weren’t exactly hanging out, but we were building on the friendship. Our next away trip would hopefully be the chance I needed to make another move—after we had a conversation. I still needed to get out those very difficult words.

  It was a slow Friday. I didn’t have a lot of clients, so when Ryan popped by the office and asked me to lunch, I was happy to go. Ryan never stopped by, which told me there was something on his mind. I expected it was the argument we had.

  “Must be a slow day at the office?” I said when we sat down at the Mexican restaurant near my clinic.

  “I told you I’m cutting back. I wasn’t lying.”

  “Good for you.”

  “I know this isn’t going to be easy, so I’m just going to come right out and say it.”

  “What do you need to say? If this is about the conversation before, I was in a bad mood. I’m sorry.”

  “It is and it isn’t. I hate that I have to do this. I hate that I have to get in the middle of this shit. This is exactly why I didn’t want you messing around with my wife’s best friend.”

  Hearing it put like that was slightly uncomfortable. “I haven’t done anything,” I told him. “Not a damn thing.”

  “Maybe you haven’t but Naya has implored me to talk to you. She wouldn’t give me a lot of detail. In fact, she gave me almost no detail which makes this even weirder to try and navigate.”

  “What are you talking about? Just spit it out.”

  “This thing between you and Trinity, is it going anywhere?”

  “I don’t know. Why?”

  The guy looked very uncomfortable. “She likes you.”

  I stared at him, hoping to convey my irritation with where the conversation was heading. “Are you going to pass me a note? Am I supposed to check a box and then you take it back to her?”

  “Very funny.”

  “Seriously, this is not funny. I haven’t needed your help with my love life since I was in the seventh grade. I really have no intention of starting now.”

  “I’m not trying to help you. I’m trying to help her.”

  I put up my hands. “Help her? Has she accused me of something?”

  “No, nothing like that. Whatever is happening between the two of you is causing some ripples.”

  “Between you and Naya?”

  He shook his head. “No, not yet, but I can see it getting there if this isn’t settled.”

  “If what isn’t settled?”

  He cleared his throat and looked down at the table. “She is afraid her job is in jeopardy.”

  I sat back. “What?”

  “God, you are really going to make me say this.”

  “Yes, I am because I feel like I am missing something big here. What am I missing? I guarantee you I never once told her she would lose her job if she didn’t sleep with me. I don’t care what you think of me, but I would never do that. Hell, we just made an office for her.”

  “I know you didn’t say it, but I guess there was some drama recently.”

  I closed my eyes. I knew what he was talking about. The discomfort after the last time. “I told you what that was about. She made it pretty damn clear she only wanted sex.”

  “But did she?”

  “She opened her eyes and I saw the regret. There is no hiding that. I know what I saw. Why does she think her job is at risk if she doesn’t sleep with me?”

  “I couldn’t tell you.”

  “You couldn’t or you won’t?” I clarified.

  “I don’t know. Naya only gave me the scarcest of details.”

  “This doesn’t make sense,” I muttered.

  “She thinks that sleeping with you is going to cause problems. Like you’ll get tired of her and want to dump her. Then she has to choose to stay at a job working for the man who broke her heart or quit. Or worse, you fire her because you don’t want her around.”

  This was what I got for not talking to her about how I felt. “Shit,” I muttered. “What a fucking mess.”

  “What are you doing with her?” he asked.

  “Ryan, I told you how I feel about her. You know I like her.”

  He groaned and slapped a hand to his forehead. “What is all of this like nonsense? I do feel like we are in the seventh grade.”

  “You know what I mean. I really want to give this a chance. I’m just not sure how to go about doing it. I need a manual.”

  “I’ve told you what to do.”

  “I know. I’m going to. Let’s eat and then I’ll go and talk to her.”

  He scoffed. “You’ve been saying that for a while now. Are you scared?”

  He was teasing but it hit a nerve. “I’m not scared. I didn’t want to push her too fast. I’ve been working on a plan of seduction.”

  He choked. “You did not just say that.”

  “I did. We’ve been spending time together and just kind of being friends. That’s part of the plan. I want her to be comfortable with me. I want her to, as you say, like me. Like really like me, wink-wink.”

  “I get it. I think you might be moving a little slow. You should probably pick up the pace a bit, or shit is going to get ugly. And by that, I mean Naya getting pissed at me and me coming back to you.”

  “I get it. I’ll go back to the office and we’ll talk. I’ll let her know how I feel.”

  He let out a long exhale. “Thank god. My work here is done. Now I can tell my wife I have done my duty and she will thank me. And by thank me—”

  I held up a hand. “You don’t need to rub it in. You’re getting laid on the regular.”

  He laughed. “Perk of being married. You really should consider this little arrangement. It has some serious benefits.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  We ate our lunch and said our goodbyes. On the way back to the clinic, I thought about what I was going to s
ay. I was hoping it was easier than I was psyching myself up for. How hard could it really be?

  I walked into the clinic and immediately felt the emptiness. Nick was leaning against the reception desk, talking to Rachel. “What’s going on?” I asked. “Where is everyone?”

  “I imagine they are at the lake or camping. Maybe they are having barbecues. I couldn’t say, but they aren’t here.”

  “I mean Trinity. Her car isn’t here.”

  “I sent her and Alysha home. There aren’t any clients. It’s a Friday and I figured it was a nice thing to do. Did you need her?”

  “No,” I said and hid my disappointment.

  “You may as well take off as well,” he said. “If anyone happens to come in, I’ll handle it.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. You know this is the last weekend you have free for a while. Take your boat out or do whatever it is you do on the weekends when you aren’t catering to the NFL.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “I’ll see you later.”

  I left the office. I didn’t have time to go out on the boat. I needed to get things ready for my trip. I went home and quickly sent Ryan a text. I couldn’t believe I was being forced to answer to my brother about my love life. It was a fucking mess. All because I was a coward and didn’t talk to her about this before.

  “So much for seduction.”

  Now I was operating on their timeline. This was not what I wanted. I was hoping to have some finesse.

  Apparently, Naya wanted action, judging by the response I got from Ryan. I put the phone down and grabbed a beer from the fridge. This was none of her business. If Trinity wanted to complain about the way I was doing things, that was fine. I, however, was not going to jump through the hoops anyone put in front of me.

  This was between me and Trinity. She was the only one I really cared about. Ryan could handle his wife.

  Chapter 27

  Trinity

  I put the takeout on the table and opened the bottle of wine I’d picked up. I splurged on the second-shelf stuff. With my bump in pay, I could afford to live a little better than I had in the past. In fact, I had a date with an online shopping spree. It wasn’t quite as gratifying as doing it in person, but it was a necessity.