My Life as Duke Starr's Assistant

My Life as Duke Starr's Assistant...[Part 22]

"Valerie. It's Duke. You don't have to come to work today. I got a driver to take me to the signing," Duke's voice said through the voicemail machine.

I frowned, my eyebrows knotting.

This was the second week in a row he'd been calling me telling me not to come in to work. He kept making excuses, saying he got Patrice to take care of things, or he got a driver or someone else to do the work I was supposed to do. I hadn't seen him since the incident.

I knew I should have called him after it had happened. I should have called to talk to him, to sort things out. It seemed as though he was avoiding me. Scratch that. He was avoiding me. And he was doing a damn good job of it.

I hadn't seen him or talked directly to him in two weeks. And I knew that he tried his best to call my phone when I was asleep, so that I didn't accidentally pick it up and talk to him. But I wouldn't answer even if I did see the phone ring. I couldn't bring myself to face him.  And I knew exactly why.

I was afraid that if I went to talk to him, I'd get those feelings again; the feelings I got when he kissed me. I was scared. I didn't want to feel such strong emotion. I needed to focus, especially now with the job offer my parents had given me. I was coming to a crucial point in my career and I couldn't risk it by becoming romantically involved with someone.

But I was with Brandon, wasn't I? The good thing about Brandon, though, was that it didn't feel like a permanent relationship, even though it kind of was. Brandon was laid back. He wasn't the kind of guy that would call me constantly, asking to go on a date or hang out. He would let me be for a few days at a time. Sometimes we'd only see each other only once in a week.

So it was nice what I had with him. It was no strings attached. It was no complications. And that's exactly what I needed: an outlet to let out my sexual desires and a person to speak to about my problems. It was all the perks of having a boyfriend, but without all the drama.

However, I felt as if something had changed between Brandon and I lately. Ever since I had told him about the kiss--or kisses--he had been distant. In the past two weeks, I had only seen him twice, and once was the night I told him about the kiss. The other time, we had met for lunch, but he had to leave after about 30 minutes because he had 'business' to attend to.

So lately, I was stuck at home alone. Denise virtually moved out of our apartment. She and Jared were in full honeymoon love-mode; all they did was have sex and make-out. It got to a point where I would walk in on them going at it full-fledged on the living room couch. Having been disgusted by this, I told Denise that she needed to figure something out. Her solution was to move out temporarily. She'd stop by once in a while to check on me--make sure I had groceries and wasn't killing myself due to stress. Other than that, I'd sit at home and wallow in my self-despair.

I knew I should call Duke, but I just couldn't. The image of his face, so broken and hurt, was still etched into my brain. I couldn't tell him that it was a mistake again. One, because I couldn't bear to hurt him like that. And two, because I was starting to think that it wasn't even a mistake.

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"Would you like green tea or the cinnamon?" I asked.

"I'm feeling the spice today. Make cinnamon," Patrice replied.

I set to work, adding the packet of tea into the already boiling water in the teapot. Then I turned and sat down on the chair opposite her desk. We both stared blankly at each other and I realized that I had been in this office too many times. I felt like I was a bad student who was always getting in trouble and being sent to the principal's office.