"Always," she mumbled and picked up her glass of tea. Delilah stood across the room talking with Ben and Patrick. Several associates across the table laughed loudly, and the room seemed too big all of a sudden. "I can't do this."
Bethany got up and walked languidly toward the front of the restaurant, as if it were simply time to leave for the night. Being dramatic and making herself the center of conversation at the office the next day wasn't happening. One more egg in her basket and she was liable to crack.
She waved down a cab as Philip jogged up beside her.
"I'll go with you." He touched her back and offered her a kind smile as he opened the door with his free hand. "You want to head back to the hotel or go grab a sandwich and check out this skate park I heard about?"
"I don't know." She got into the cab and leaned back, ignoring the stale scent of cigarettes and breath mints.
"Where to, kiddos?" The older guy in the front seat glanced over his shoulder.
"Over to the skate park near downtown?" Philip asked, his tone hopeful.
"It's going to rain a little tonight. You guys will get wet."
"It's all good. We're not made of sugar, we won't melt." He laughed and sat back in the seat before turning his attention toward her. "It's going to be fine. I promise."
"Is it?" She turned her head a little, pressing her cheek against the seat and studying him. "He's eight years older than me, my boss's-boss's-boss, and my stepbrother. Tell me how this is going to work out." She let her eyes move across Philip's boyish features. Why couldn't she have fallen for someone like him? The relationship would have been simple. Easy.
"Do you love him?" The look in Philip's eye said he was hoping for a no. She shouldn't have been there with him.
"Yes. With all of my heart, but it doesn't seem like that's enough. There are just too many differences between us." She sighed and turned to stare out the front window of the cab. "I need to figure out what I'm going to do and then just do it. Sitting on the fence is killing me."
"Are we talking about being with him or not? Is that the choice you're talking about?"
"Yeah." She crossed her arms over her chest as the cab came to a stop.
"Here we go, guys. That deli over there has the best turkey on rye of any place in the whole damn city. You'll thank me if you try it." The cabbie turned around and Philip paid him.
Bethany didn't have the energy to combat him on paying for the cab. They would be charging it anyway. Chances are that Damon would see the date and time and question the shit out of Philip over what he was up to during the team dinner.
Same thing as you are... running.
They got out of the car as Bethany's phone buzzed in her pocket. Matt.
"I need to get this." She paused outside of the deli.
"Damon?"
"No, my brother. Can you just get me something small? My stomach is a little jacked up from everything."
"Sure. We can share something. You picky?" He opened the door and studied her.
"No. Thanks." She turned and walked to a bench that sat near the road and dropped down onto it before answering Matt's call. "Hey. Where are you?"
"I'm headed to meet with Erica and then I'm taking the red eye. Damon said you were flying back with him. Is that right?"
"Yeah, I guess." She shrugged as if Matt could see her. "I'll be fine. What are you meeting with Erica about? Working at McKenzie and Bryant?"
"Supposedly. Probably just a plot to get me alone and lick the clothes from my body."
"That's almost hot, but terribly awkward all at the same time. Can you actually lick the clothes from someone?"
Matt had a way of making her feel normal no matter what he was up to. She was more than grateful for the reprieve for the moment.
He laughed. "So maybe I'm being dramatic, but only a little."
"Well, be safe and I guess I'll see you when I get back home next week."
"All right. You and Damon working through things?"
Hopefully Matt wasn't as sensitive to lying as Damon was. Otherwise, she'd have been in trouble.
"Yep. We're good."
*
The facade she held on to tightly through her friend-date with Philip crumbled into a million pieces when she got back to the room and found Damon's stuff gone. She cried throughout the night at the unfairness of life. She couldn't seem to catch a break no matter what she did, and each one that appeared to be something great turned into ashes in her hands.
After a long, hot shower the next morning, she rolled her hair into a tight bun and dressed conservatively for her last day in the Seattle office. She was catching a flight later that night, and had called to move it up to the one before their scheduled flight just to make sure she didn't have to sit next to Damon. She wasn't even sure he would be pissed about her actions. He might be happy to have a break too.
She twirled her ring around her finger as the cabbie drove her to Zarpeth's corporate office, her thoughts a million miles from the present.
The memory of Damon gripping her hand tightly as he told their families that she was his woman and they could all jump off a cliff if they didn't like it ran through her mind over and over. What had changed in the last week or so? The trip to Jamaica was wonderful, relaxing and so far beyond stimulating. She had a fucking ring on her finger to prove that something did exist between them. Where the hell was it now?
She pulled the ring off and tucked it into her bag as the cab driver pulled the car up to the curb. She paid and got out, jogging toward the building as the rain picked up. It didn't matter so much with her hair up, but looking like a drowned rat was out seeing that Damon was most likely still pissed at her, and Delilah would show up looking like a million dollars.
Bethany took the elevator up to the top floor and checked her watch, cursing under her breath for being an hour late. She just couldn't seem to get herself motivated to get up and pack before heading out. It was no matter. No one would give her hell for it, or they hadn't thus far.
She walked into the audit room and set her bag down as Philip glanced up and smiled.
"Morning. I like your hair like that." He wagged his eyebrows playfully as she chuckled.
"It rains too much here for me to really do anything else with it." She sat down and turned as Damon's voice filled the hall. It was quickly accompanied by Delilah's.
"Tie down the loose ends and plan for the trip Friday to Florida." His tone was deadpan. He was in asshole-boss mode.
"Will do. I'm going to fly back to Dallas with you tonight. That all right?" Delilah had an almost flirty sound to her tone.
"Yeah. That sounds good. I think Bethany is the only other one going back with us." They stopped by the door, and Bethany glanced up.
"I'm taking an earlier flight. There is a storm coming in at ten when we were leaving. You might want to adjust your time too." She shrugged and glanced back down, typing out nothingness on her computer.
"Right." Damon turned and walked out of the office.
"You're late. Don't make a habit of it. The team starts working at seven every morning. You want to be early? Great. Don't be late." Delilah put her hands on her hips as Bethany looked up and realized the Senior Manager was addressing her.
"Oh, of course. I had a rough-"
"I don't care what you had. You're no more special than anyone else. Be here on time, or you'll not be invited back to my team." She tilted her head to the side.
"Excuse me?" Bethany pushed her hair back and stood up as Philip reached over and grabbed her wrist.
"Hey. Just nod and say okay." He awarded her a tight smile.
"Is there a problem with me requesting you to be here on time?" Delilah laughed and looked around the room.
Bethany glanced around as she pulled her hand from Philip and moved around toward the door. The intention was to walk to get a cup of coffee and get out of the tense situation, thereby letting it die.
"Nope. It was the way you did it." Bethany pinned the other woman with a hard stare and walked past her into the hall.
Delilah snorted and followed behind her, continuing the convo. "Is there something I should know, Bethany? Do you have special privileges that I wasn't told about?"
"Not sure what you're talking about." Bethany pulled a plastic cup from the holder near the coffee pot. "Don't talk down to me, and we'll be fine."
"Show up on time, and I won't talk to you at all." The blond wasn't nearly as sweet as she'd appeared a few days back. Interesting.
"It was one day." Bethany glanced over her shoulder and decided to pull back a little. There was no reason to give the bitch ammo to make life miserable.
"Two days, and you're on the docket for going to Florida with me and Damon on Friday this week. You're the only intern going, so I would advise you to be on time and impress both of us."