50 Shades of Drake 1 and 2

50SOD II: Chapter Sixty-Four

    Bridgette moved off of Brian and sat beside him in the bed, leaning forward and covering her face with her hands.

    He sat up slowly with his brows furrowed in confusion. "What's wrong?" he asked her.

    She dropped her hands and glared at him. "What's wrong? Oh...I don't know. For starters, my name isn't Destiny."

    Oh shit. "I didn't...did I...?"

    "Yes. You did." She stood up and bent down to pick up her coat.

    "I'm...I'm sorry." He watched as she slid the coat across her shoulders. "Hey. Bridgette."

    She straightened the coat on her shoulders, then fluffed her hair. "You know...she's cute. I get it. And she has this doe-eyed, innocent thing going on. Right? I get that. But you and Aubrey? Seriously?"

    "I don't want to like her," he said, sounding defensive.

    "You don't just like her," Bridgette muttered.

    He ran a hand through his hair. "Look...come back to bed."

    She crossed her arms over her chest. "No. What's the point?"

    "Are you going to tell me that you came over here because you suddenly wanted to jump my bones?" he demanded.

    She pursed her lips shut.

    "No. You came over here because Aubrey somehow hurt your feelings. Again. Because he doesn't want you."

    The expression on her face turned hard.

    "No offense," he said, holding up both hands with his palms faced towards her. "Destiny doesn't want me either. All right? So...just come back to bed."

    "So we can both pretend that we're making love to someone else?" she asked, sounding doubtful.

    He shrugged. "Yeah."

    "Twisted."

    "So we agree it's right up your alley then?" he quipped, a corner of his mouth lifting.

    She chewed on the inside of her cheek and turned her head, weighing her options. It didn't take long for her to make up her mind. With a sigh, she slid the coat off of her shoulders and let it fall to the floor again.

~~~~~~

    Meanwhile, across the city, Aubrey and Destiny were cuddled in bed. Not making love, or making out, or teasing each other, but simply holding each other. Enjoying each other's existence. Sharing the same air, the same space. His hand brushed lightly along her upper arm as he stared up at the ceiling.

    "Bridgette hates me." 

    "Out of all the things in the world you could be thinking about right now, you choose to think about Bridgette?" he questioned.

    "I didn't choose to think about her. She just popped into my head. The look on her face..."

    "I will have a talk with Bridgette about her behavior," he assured Destiny. "You don't have to worry about her."

    "That will probably just make her hate me more."

    "The issue needs to be addressed. If she can't get her act together, she can find employment somewhere else."

    She was quiet for a moment. "You know she still likes you, right?"

    "Yes."

    "I don't trust her. Something is off about her."

    "The same way I don't trust Carlos?"

    She lifted her head and peered at him. "You still don't trust Carlos?"

    "I mean...he seems to be a good friend to you. But something about his trip here, and the timing of it doesn't sit well with me."

    She frowned.

    "I don't mean to scare you, or make you nervous or anything," he added. "I could just be paranoid. The same way you could just be paranoid, with Bridgette. Because you know she likes me and you don't want her anywhere near me."

    She pouted. "I don't want her anywhere near you."

    "And you say I'm jealous."

    She rolled her eyes and lay her head back down on his chest. "I have reason to be. She works really close to you."

    "Brian works in close proximity to you," he countered. "What's your point?"

    She didn't know what her point was. The thought of Bridgette being that close to Aubrey every workday irked her.

    He laughed in the dark.

    "Can't she be moved somewhere else? To another building?"

    "I'd have to have good reason to reassign her, and there isn't one."

    "How about, 'Employee displayed a failure to keep her nose out of grown folks' business'?" Destiny suggested.

    He laughed again and squeezed her shoulders. "You don't have anything to worry about. Trust me. Even if you and I weren't together, Bridgette and I would never happen. She's nowhere near my type, and she's too..."

    "Nosey?" Destiny supplied.

    "I was going to say cold. Calculating. Manipulative. And she tries too hard. She doesn't just let greatness happen. She's always trying to play puppet master, trying to pull the strings. I don't like that. It turned me off immediately." He was quiet for a bit, as if waiting for a response from her. Then he threw in, "If I wanted her, at any point, I could have had her. I never took the bait. I never will. So, again...you have nothing to worry about."

    "And you don't have anything to worry about when it comes to Carlos," she insisted. "Or Brian, for that matter."

    "Hmm," was all he said in response.

    "You don't."

    "If you say so," Aubrey said, but he didn't sound the least bit convinced.

    The room filled with silence. Destiny's eyes started to close, and she was on the verge of falling asleep when his voice caused her eyes to spring wide open.

    "Just...do a favor for me. Keep an eye on Carlos, and keep an ear out for anything strange."

    She lifted her head again and stared at him in the dark.

    "He's here on a visit that was unannounced. He's staying in a condo that I paid for, and only God knows what he does all day long while we're at work. I mean...it's strange. So just keep an eye out and an ear out. Okay?"

    She nodded. "Yeah. I will."

    "Good."

    "And you should keep an eye out for Bridgette," she told him. "If she's as cold, calculating, and manipulative as you say, then she won't take kindly to the message I had for her earlier."

    "Is that an order?"

    She opened her mouth to reply, but he answered his own question.

    "I know, I know. It's a weekday."

    She laughed and kissed his bare chest before laying back down on it.