Heartthrob ✓

nine

N I N E

"NO WAY, HE ACTUALLY SAID THAT?"

That question was from Eric, one of the guys who worked on the twentieth floor, one who surely enough was invited to my dinner with Elijah. Was it strange to be in the company of people that you didn't bargain for? Yes, it was, by all means. But Elijah said that he was trying to get laid and that I shouldn't mess this up. After about twenty minutes of confusion, I thankfully realized that he meant the guy and not me.

Eric was a nice-looking man who I - hate to admit - would've definitely been down for, but he was no Ashton and Elijah was seventy-percent sure that he was attracted to men, so it wasn't worth thinking about. What was worth thinking about was the fact that the two of them begged me to relay to them the events that happened when Ashton dragged me outside when we talked about his parents. I left out some details like his more voyeuristic past with spending corporate money on his escapades since that seemed rather private, as well as the part where he said he liked me because I had obviously misread the signal and I didn't want them to follow my lead by doing the same.

"Yes," I said, rolling my eyes. "Why is it so hard to believe that Ashton might want me working there? I'm a good employee."

"Well," Elijah said, setting his fork down, "for starters, you ruined a woman's marriage in your first week on the job and now he's tip-toeing around a large-scale scandal just to secure his huge press event. Do you want me to go on, or no?"

"Whatever," I said, stabbing my fork into a piece of chicken and stuffing it in my mouth angrily. I didn't need him to remind me that I was wrong for trusting Meredith Marks despite his better judgement, because I was already paying the price for that. In fact, every time Ashton has tried shifting his weight around to save my job has only made me feel guiltier and guiltier. One day, all of it was going to pile up and topple down on me without anything that he could do to save me.

"Okay," Eric said with a grin, "I have a theory. Maybe he's just keeping you around because he knows that if you leave, you could tell the world about his affair."

I shook my head. "He could easily have me sign a non-disclosure agreement."

"Maybe he doesn't want to pay you severance and is waiting for you to quit, or die in an accident on the premises," Elijah offered.

"How exactly would his company look if he was being sued by a Major League Baseball player," I said, taking another bite off of my plate.

"Wait," Eric gasped. "Fiona White, right? You're related to Bretton White? He's so fucking hot -"

As he stopped himself, my eyes widened in shock, looking up at Elijah who just happened to be smirking. That bastard was completely right about Eric liking men, he must've been a genius.

"Sorry," Eric apologized, completely aware of my shock and Elijah's lack thereof.

"It's okay, I hear that a lot," I said. "Besides, we're technically not related, by blood at least, just the same family."

Everyone at the table nodded and an awkward silence fell over us. The restaurant we were in, Carrie's Bar & Restaurant, was noisy with the post-work crowds coming in and out, not to mention there was a sports game on so there was definitely some rage coursing through the air as Philadelphia's home team was being slaughtered by what I assumed was Cleveland, but I couldn't see it that well from our table.

I would've thought the silence would've gone on for the rest of the meal - which wouldn't have been that bad after everything that happened - but Eric sighed and said, "you know, maybe he actually likes you. Like as he like-likes you. It would explain everything, especially why he wants you to stay."