“I love you,” I whispered as she worked me closer and closer.
Once she was done, she gave me a kiss, said she loved me too, and then sat back down at her desk, focusing on her monitors so I’d have time to cool off a little. A few minutes later and we were walking out of her office to head to lunch.
When we got into the massive lounge, I discovered that a ton of people were already there, including Nick, Tyrone, Benjamin, and Max, as well as a handful of other people who I hadn’t taken the time to meet yet – too much time spent hanging out in Lexi’s office to really socialize.
I greeted the few who said hi, including Nick, and then walked over to the fancy vending machines that would prepare a wide selection of hot meals right before your eyes. Making my selection, I noticed Lexi looking over at Vivian, sitting in one of the armchairs, a book in hand as she took bites from a salad sitting on the low coffee table in front of her.
Lexi looked up at me then, her voice low. “You don’t mind if I say hi, do you? I haven’t talked to her in a while.”
I was surprised she’d even ask. “Yeah, of course Lexi. You don’t have to ask me for permission for something like that.”
She smiled warmly at me. “I really like you,” she commented again, giving my arm a gentle squeeze before walking away. I knew she wanted to give me a peck on the lips instead, but we had appearances to maintain while at work.
Grabbing my sizzling fajita, which I realized I’d selected because I had Winter in the back of my mind for some reason – a very brief and faint sensation of aggression washing over me – I made my way to the table and sat down next to Benjamin – the Rockstar hornet guy, boasting unnaturally red hair – in response to him pulling out the chair next to him.
Nick was across the table, two chairs down. He grinned at me when I sat.
“How’s it going, Sam?” he asked cheerfully, working on a slice of supreme pizza.
“Pretty good,” I replied. “I didn’t realize you worked on Saturdays.”
He shrugged. “I actually don’t. But Zoey’s got a girl’s day with some of her friends from college, so I figured I’d come in.”
Damn, you knew work was a fun place to be when people came in on their days off. And honestly, since we were all paid salary, it kind of gave it that extra feel of being able to come in without feeling pressured to actually work a ton. Nick didn’t have to be here, didn’t technically have to do any work even though he was here, and could leave at any time. Combined with the chill and relaxed, college-like, feeling of the environment here, and I could understand how he felt.
“Cool,” I replied. “We’ll have to hang out together sometime too. Although, probably not in the next month. Too much going on.” Or two months, I amended in my thoughts, since I had two women I was trying to date in addition to my fiancés, and might not have the time for a while.
“Actually,” Nick replied, giving me an odd look. “We should probably hang out real soon.” He cleared his throat. “If you know what I mean.”
Shit, Nick! Way to be awkward! Suddenly everyone was looking at the two of us questioningly. But did that mean someone from the shadow organization had contacted him finally? I assumed it must.
I did my best to remain composed, acting like the suggestive comment wasn’t weird at all, as I attempted to play along. “Oh, shit. I’m sorry Nick, I completely forgot about that thing you wanted to work on. Yeah, definitely.”
Benjamin laughed, making some remark that probably only someone like Nick could appreciate, but I wasn’t focused anymore. Suddenly a weird sensation hit me, the pit of my stomach feeling uncomfortable, as I randomly thought of Freya.
Pulling out my phone, I went ahead and sent her a quick message, just to check up on her, though I knew she should be doing perfectly fine.
Looking up again to try to get back into the conversation, hoping no one realized I’d stopped paying attention, I unexpectedly noticed that Radley had just come in from the other door and walked up to Lexi and Vivian socializing. My first impulse was to jump up and get in his face – to finally mark my territory and stake my claim – but I knew only Lexi could truly shut the guy down.
However, as I focused on her, it was almost as if I could imagine what Radley was saying, even though I couldn’t clearly hear their conversation from this distance.
“What do you want?” Lexi snapped, obviously annoyed.
“Your little boyfriend or whatever, you realize he’s with that goth chick, right? Fowler or whatever her name is? She read my mind, and basically said she belonged to him.”
Lexi unexpectedly glanced over at me, before she focused on Radley, her eyes narrow.
“Yeah, I’m aware,” she snapped, sounding even more aggravated. “What of it?”
Radley just gawked at her, as if this particular outcome wasn’t something he imagined happening.
“W-Well, isn’t he like engaged or something too? To someone else?”
Lexi rolled her eyes. “Radley, it’s none of your damn business. Not his life. Not my life. I dumped you years ago, and I have no intentions on ever dating you again. So move on already. You and I are never going to be a thing ever again.”
It was obvious he was pissed now. “Well, you should probably know the guy you’re letting hang onto you so much is cheating on a ton of women.”
Lexi glared at him. “Actually, no he’s not,” she snapped back, only
