One night stand with my daddy's best friend
129

BECCA

I could hear a commotion from the end of the hall. Poking my head out of my o ce, I caught sight of Sandra

bundling a shrieking woman into the elevator.

Olivia...What the hell is she doing here?

Something flashed in my head, something I'd never felt before that burned deep inside me and made me feel as though I wanted to grow claws and run screaming at the woman. Am I jealous?

No. I'm not a jealous person, and I sure as shit don't care about Matthew's cheating ex-wife, so why do I feel like I'm morphing into the Incredible Hulk just at the sight of her?

I also wasn't a nosy person, but I couldn't stop myself creeping out of my o ce to snoop. I reached the elevator doors just as they were closing.

"He's such a cruel bastard!" Olivia sobbed, her voice traveling all the way down to the ground floor like she was falling down a well.

I looked inside Matthew's o ce and caught a glimpse of him through his half-shut blinds sitting at his desk with his head in his hands. He looked exasperated, and I had the strongest urge to barge in and wrap my arms around him. I could make him forget all about that bitch Olivia.

All I wanted to do was comfort him, but before I could make a move, the elevator doors re-opened and out waddled Sandra with a look of exhaustion on her face.

"That woman is a lunatic," she sighed. "If it wasn't for the fact I'm pregnant, she'd drive me to drink."

She entered the small kitchen area at the back of the hall and emerged a moment later with a scotch in her hand.

"For Matthew," she informed me when she noticed me watching her. "Lord knows he'll need it."

As she waltzed into his o ce and sat down across from him, I continued to watch through the blinds as she soothed him. And I couldn't help but feel the jealousy rise in me again. I wanted to make him feel better. I wanted to be the one he turned to.

The night was falling fast, and although it was barely six, the sky was jet black without a single star glittering through the blackness. With a big yawn and a stretch, I signed off my computer and filed away the last of the spreadsheets I'd been working through.

Time for drinks with Janey, a long, hot bath, and then straight to bed with a rom-com on the TV and some raw chocolate coconut macaroons.

Grabbing my coat and bag, I switched off the light and closed the o ce door behind me.

"You need a ride home?" Sandra asked from her desk. She was also packing away her things, and I was glad she was heading home at a reasonable time.

"No, I'm okay. Thank you. I should be the one driving you home."

"Nonsense. I haven't lost the ability to drive just because I'm preggers." She hurled her bag over her shoulder and

struggled to zip up her coat. "See you bright and early." "Ever think about taking a day off?" I wondered aloud. She wrinkled up her face as though I'd insulted her. "No,"

was her curt reply. "I'd rather die. You have a good night now."

I watched her walk away and felt guilty that she was heading out on her own, but I didn't comment again, afraid she'd bite my head off.

I glanced down at my phone as I walked and saw I had two missed calls from Janey and a text.

Hey, bitch. I'm down at the bar early. And there's karaoke on tonight. Hurry!

I had the worst singing voice in the world, something I was in complete denial about after a couple White Russians. But still, there was little I loved more than karaoke.

I was about to walk to the elevator when I noticed a light shining from behind me. Thinking Matthew had maybe left his light on, I turned around expecting to see his empty o ce. What I saw instead was him bent over a series of papers on his desk with a serious look of concentration on his face.

Gingerly approaching the door, I knocked gently. "Come in."

"Hey," I said softly, peering around the door. "You working late?"

"Yeah. Coby gave me a bunch of stuff to look over. All looks like nonsense to me, though."

"Anything I might be able to help with?"

"Maybe. These are his designs for the new ad campaign. It's supposed to attract a younger clientele, but I don't know. Looks like teenage bullshit to me."

I walked over and looked down at the designs. "Hey, these are great," I commented with a smile. "They'd make me buy a membership."

"They would?" He stared at them, frowning. "You don't think they're a bit, how do I put it, garish and random?"

"Random?"

"Yeah, like the color scheme and the font placement. It looks like Coby threw a bunch of ideas into a washing machine and spat them out through a printer."

"It does look like that," I agreed. "Which is awesome." "Really?"

"Believe me. They look great."

He nodded and looked down at them, confused.

"It's okay," I assured him. "That Coby kid knows what he's doing."

"I hope he does."

My phone buzzed again inside my purse, and I knew Janey was growing impatient.

"I better go,” I said. "Happy hour's calling."

"You have a good night," he said, looking up. His eyes met mine with a look that told me he didn't want me to leave, but he said nothing.

"Good night," I said, closing the door.

I didn't really want to leave either, and as I made my way to the bar, I wished I could have worked late with him. I'd teach him a thing or two about what it meant to be young.

I was sipping on my third White Russian of the night when Janey decided to get up and sing her favorite karaoke classic, 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'.

If it was possible, she was a worse singer than I was, not that she cared either. She just wanted to get up and strut her stuff. I watched her climb up on the stage and grab the mic as a group of guys at the front of the stage cheered.

The bar was packed and the heat from the sweaty bodies gyrating to the music was stifling. Sucking on an ice cube from my drink, I tried to cool down, relax, and cheer on Janey. But I was aware of a guy watching me from the shadows in the corner of the room.

Glancing over, I saw a group of men about my age wearing the uno cial uniform of the douchebag; skinny jeans, fake designer sneakers, and tacky, slicked back hair. The bunch looked as though they were trying to audition for a nineties R&B boy band.

I tried to ignore them and focus on Janey, but one guy was intently staring at me. Glancing over again, I made accidental eye contact, and taking this to be some sort of green light, he strutted over. "Hey, babe."

I ignored him and sipped my drink.

"Hey!" he called over the music. "You having a good night?"

"Yep," I sighed, not making eye contact. "You here on your own?"

"Here with my best girl." "So not a boyfriend."

Thinking fast, I looked around the room as though I was looking for someone and said, "Actually, he's in the bathroom. He'll be back in a minute." But I was a terrible liar, and even this dweeb could see through my ruse.

"Oh yeah? Well, he must have been in that bathroom a long time because you've been on your own for a while."

"How would you know? You been stalking me?"

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He raised an eyebrow and leaned over my table. Up close, I could smell his cheap cologne mixed with the scent of his watermelon vape pen.

Ew.

Looking up at the stage, I tried to catch Janey's attention, but she was in her own little world, singing her heart out. It was awesome to get her on her own without Harry in tow, but I couldn't appreciate it with this jerk hanging off my side. "I ain't stalkin' you, but..." He winked at me.

"Any sentence that starts with 'I ain't stalking you but', is not one I wanna hear the rest of."

He laughed and made some kind of ridiculous twisted expression with his mouth which I could only assume he thought was sexy. "All I'm saying is that I notice a pretty girl when I see one and-"

"Look, I'm not interested," I interrupted before he could get too deep in his line.

"Whoa, no need to be so rude and shit," he said, taking a step back as though I'd just attacked him.

"I'm not being rude. I'm just telling it to you straight. I'm not interested," I said, my voice even and calm. "Now, if you don't mind, I gotta go to the little girl's room."

Sliding off my stool, I strode away toward the bathroom, feeling his angry stare burning through the back of my head.

"Bitch!" he spat after me.

I didn't even bother to turn around. Asshole, I thought. He can throw his little toddler tantrum all he wants. I'm still not interested.

Inside the bathroom, I set my drink on the counter behind the sink and looked at my face in the mirror. I wasn't much of a makeup wearer, but today I fancied making a little extra effort with my appearance. Slicking on a little mascara and blush this morning, I thought I looked like hot shit. But now it was beginning to smudge from the heat, and my hair looked as though it had been brushed with a knife and fork. "Look at the state of you." I laughed at myself as I began rectifying my appearance.

"Hey! Where'd you go?" Janey's voice rang out as she barged through the door. "One second you were watching me sing, then I turned and you'd vanished."

"Sorry, babe. I was getting seriously creeped on."

"Aw, really? It wasn't one of those loser guys in the corner, was it?"

"How'd you guess?"

"They've been staring at us all night."