The Arrangement | Book 2 | Completed

32

"Todays' the day!" Evan says with a smile as he walks into my office.

"It is. Are you nervous?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm actually really nervous. This is going to be the first time I've seen my boss in awhile. I just hope he's cool with everything." He says, fixing his tie in the mirror hanging on the wall.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. I mean, they're the ones who told us about the extension. I don't see why they wouldn't let you stay for a bit longer." I tell him.

"Because they're dicks." He laughs. "Like, terrible. That company is absolutely terrible."

"Why?"

"They just don't care about their employees. I mean, the money is great. I mean, great. You should see the house I have in Russia. It's beautiful. I miss my house the most. Fuck the job, I just miss my house." He laughs. "But how much is money actually worth to someone, you know? Like is it worth going to work and hating your job every morning?" He asks.

"I guess I understand that. I mean, I love my job here. I guess I'm pretty lucky for that because I can't exactly quit."

"This job is great. It's refreshing, really. I never really care about coming into work every day or staying late. I love it here." He shrugs.

"I'm glad you like it here." I tell him honestly. "I wish you could just stay here permanently."

"I do too." I mumbles, looking at himself one last time in the mirror.

"So..." I start, wanting to ease into this Clarissa topic. "Clarissa." I say.

"Clarissa." He repeats. I can see his smile in the mirror, and his face is turning red at the mention of her name.

"Are you two like...an item now?" I ask with a smirk.

He laughs and shakes his head, contemplating how to answer my question.

"Clarissa and I are...complicated." He smirks.

"Complicated? How so?"

"Well, for starters, she's American and I'm Russian." He laughs.

"That's not a big deal." I counter.

"It is when you know that your relationship is going to end in heartbreak." He sighs.

"Why do you say that?"

"I mean, do you honestly think that we would be able to make it? With me living in Russia and her living in America? That's not exactly just a long drive away from each other.  That's like a fifteen hour long flight. Plus, it's expensive. Those flights would add up quickly. I would do it in a heartbeat for her, but it would get old eventually. If we became serious, one of us would have to move. I know it wouldn't be her moving, either." He mumbles at the end.

"I guess you're right with that. I don't know. Clarissa is pretty mature, though. She might handle that better than you're expecting her to." I state.

"Yeah, she isn't the one I'm worried about." He sighs.

"You're worried about yourself?" I ask.

"Yeah. I know she views me as some kind of player, but that's not me. I don't sleep around and I don't date just anyone. I have some real feelings for Clarissa. She doesn't always believe me when I say it, but it's true. I know that the more I see her and the longer we continue whatever this is, the harder it will be for me to leave her. It will kill me to leave her. It's already going to fucking suck, but I know if we continue this pattern, it will only get worse. I miss her when she's gone and the distance will only make it worse." He informs me.

I honestly feel sorry for both of them. When I moved to Seattle, I thought Vancouver was a whole world away. I missed Candace when she was gone, and it will still within driving distance. I couldn't even begin to imagine what it must be like being across the fucking globe.

"I think everything will  work out. We'll get the extension, and then you two can figure out the rest from there." I tell him confidently.

"I really hope it all works out. I want to stay as long as possible." He assures me.

"So, the other night..." I start, honestly wanting to know if he's fucked her yet.

"We had sex, yeah. Sorry, bro." He answers.

"In her office?!" I exclaim, eyes darting towards the door to make sure no one was out in the hall. It's still pretty early, and most people won't be here until the next hour or so.

"No, not in her office. We were just...you know." He shrugs.

"Making out?" I laugh.

"Well, a little more than that. But don't act like you haven't done it before." He replies accusingly.

"Fucked around in Clarissa's office? No, I can't say I have." I laugh.

"Not her office." He scoffs. "Well, you better not have at least." He jokingly threatens.

"You guys are fucking insane." I laugh.

"I do recall walking in here on my first day and almost walking in on you and Candace. So, don't go pointing fingers yet." He reminds me.

"We weren't having sex." I point out.

"Neither were me and Clarissa." He laughs.

"Valid point. So when did all of this start?"

"The night I took her home from the bar. Well, I didn't take her home. You know what I mean. It all started that night."

"You fucked her that night?" I ask, realizing that this is the first I've heard about any of this.

"Well, no. I just went down on her in the shower." He says causally.

"Oh my God." I say with a shake of my head, trying to erase the image from my mind.

"It was great, too." He laughs at my expression.

"I'm going to fucking throw up." I laugh.

"What, you don't want to know all of the details?" He jokes with a laugh.

Suddenly, the door opens and Clarissa walks in. Evan and I quickly stop our laughter and try to pretend we were doing something other than talk about their sex life.

"What?" Clarissa asks, eyes narrowing at the two of us.

"Nothing, nothing." Evan says almost too quickly. "You look beautiful this morning." He tells her.

Clarissa rolls her eyes, "You're annoying me already, Maksimov."

"Do you see how she treats me?" Evan asks me, but is still smiling at her.

"When is this meeting?" She asks us, taking a seat.

"Should be any time now. We were honestly just waiting for you to get here." I tell her.

"I don't know why I have to be here, but alright." She shrugs. She can try and hide it all she wants, but she's glad that she's included in this meeting.

"They need all of the team here. You're upper management, so that's why you're here."

"We should go upstairs into the blue room. That way we can connect the laptop to the projector and don't have to fight over who looks at the screen." Clarissa says, already standing up from her seat and walking towards the door.

"You ready?" I ask Evan, who nods his head but looks nervous as hell. "Okay, let's get this over with."