Strip Tease

Chapter 21

I'm not sure which shut down first. 

It may have been my brain that decided it no longer wanted to form words or make coherent thoughts. It may have been my face; with my jaw slack and eyes wide. The possibility of me looking like I just saw a ghost, or demon, was very high. It may have been five minutes or five hours before my face changed and my brain started working, but I do know one thing. 

I wasn't the first to speak.

"Hi, Raegan was it? It's so nice to meet you!" Trish's voice was high pitched and girly, to any man she would have put off a sweet and caring vibe. To a woman, she sounded fake and bitchy. "And you must be Orion Miller. What a pleasure it is to meet you. Your picture really doesn't do you justice." She purred at Orion sticking her hand out for him to kiss, but he didn't even shake it.

Her whole personality shifted from the way she was at work. At work she was sweet and excited and motivated. Here it was like she was playing a game. Her every move was calculated and precise and her eyes were fixed on her prize: Orion. The only things that I couldn't figure out in what I could only presume was a sick twisted game, was what her motives were. 

Did she know it was me when she bumped into me? How long has she been here? Does Keith know what she does for a living? Why is she acting like she has no idea who I am?

"Nice to meet you too, Trish." Orion says slowly. "I was just telling your brother here that you both are welcome to join us. Right Raegan?" He nudges me but I don't register it for several seconds.

Finally, I snap my jaw back shut and looked between the three of them, who were all staring at me. Well except for Trish, she was openly gawking at Orion. "Of course! We would love to get to know you both better." My voice sounded so foreign, I wasn't even sure it was me who said it.

Orion reaches across the table and took my hand in his. He gave me a heart warming smile and deep down I wondered if he had done it genuinely or just to shove it in Trish's face. Trish glared down at our hands but Keith made no move. He was still smiling at  me.

Orion stood up from his chair, letting go of my hand and pulled out a chair for Trish. She beamed at him and flashed him a killer smile but Orion didn't even look at her. Once she sat down he pushed in her chair and sat back down next to me.

Trish made a barely audible 'humph'.

"You have crazy good manners, Orion. I would have never thought to do that for a girl I wasn't on a date with." Keith joked as he sat down himself. But we were on a date, and he hadn't even done it for me. Not that I needed him to, but it only drove home that all of this was an act. I flinched at his behavior, suddenly not wanting to be around Trish or Orion.

"My mother would kill me if I didn't." He smiled at all of us and leaned back in his chair, taking a sip from his beer. "So Trish, are you in college or do you work?"

"Yes, I go to school here at San Jose University. I study English literature. What about you Raegan? Where do you work?" Trish asked with a face of innocence.

Before I could answer Orion beat me to it. "I was actually just talking to her about that this morning over breakfast," We didn't eat breakfast together? "I asked her if she wanted to work for my company until she finished at Stanford." From the corner of my eye I saw Trish's jaw drop and then close, one of her neck veins popping out. 

Trish didn't know I went to Stanford, she probably thought I only worked at Temps. I took a sip from my own drink and watched question after question fly through her eyes. Orion picked my hand back up into his and kissed my knuckles and I could almost hear teeth being ground together.