Erica

 

 

The last thing I wanted to do was go into the office, but until I figured out what to do with my life, it was my only option. It was almost laughable to think that I was grumbling about Lanie needing to find herself, when I too, was lost.

"Erica. You've got Mr. Bryant on line one," Joan said as she stuck her hand in the open doorway of my office.

"Which one?" I reached for the phone. I had a much more laid back relationship with Damon than his father.

"Damon." She closed the door behind her.

"Hello, Sir. To what do I owe this phone call?" I leaned back in my seat and crossed my arm over my midsection.

"Hi, Erica. I was calling to check on the new ads for our Advisory launch in a month. Mitch isn't answering his phone, and I have a partner call later this afternoon. Just trying to get all of my ducks in a row." He was all business, which is why I liked him so much. He had an uncanny ability to separate business from pleasure.

"It's coming along nicely. I gave Mitch the files on Tuesday to review, but I haven't heard back from him." I stood. "I'll track him down and get back to you within the hour."

"Excellent." He paused, and I thought the conversation was over. The fact that his voice softened just a tad let me know that we were talking as friends now. "How are things with you and my brother?"

"Um, good? Why don't you ask your brother?"

"Because he doesn't like me up in his shit. I'm sure you understand that."

I thought of my own brother, Leon and cringed. The last thing I would ever want is for my older brother to play a part in my life. He was half the reason I had emotional scars and bullshit baggage from my childhood. My mother was the other half.

"I can understand that." I leaned over and pressed my free hand to the top of my desk. "We're doing great. Matt's ready for me to move in with him."

"And are you ready for that?"

I stifled a chuckled. The great Damon Bryant, who was known for his less than caring attitude and stiff demeanor cared about his brother more than anyone might know, even Matthew.

"I'm not sure, but I'm not dissecting it with you. I'd rather pay someone good money for that conversation."

"Hey! We might be family soon." Sadness swelled inside of me. What were the odds that Matt and I could make it past all the shit with Mitch? "Erica? You still there?"

"Yeah. Just thinking."

"That was an odd part of the conversation to stop and think about something else." He let out a soft sigh. "Matt seems to think something is going on with you."

"He's just overly sensitive."

"Or maybe you're just hiding something to protect him or yourself."

"I need to get going. I have a meeting in five minutes that I'm not ready for. If I'm talking to my boss, then I'll cancel it, but if you're playing shrink, then I need to go."

"I'm not playing anything. I'm your friend and have been for a long time."

"I know." I pressed my fingers to my forehead as a million thoughts raced through my mind, each attached to a jacked up feeling I didn't want to entertain. "And I appreciate you. I do have some shit going on right now, but I'll figure it out. I always do."

"I'm here for you if you need me, Erica. As a boss or as family."

"Thank you for that." I ended the call and grabbed my cell phone. I needed to find Mitch and figure out what the hell was going on with his review on the ad specs. He was usually pretty quick about getting stuff back to me, but four days was dragging ass big time. Especially for him.

I walked out into the hallway and was a little surprised to see Mandy and Lewis standing close to each other, laughing. Really close.

"Um, hey you two. Everything okay?" I offered them a warm smile.

Lewis jerked away from her. "It's great, boss. We were just going to start working on our second drafts for the new project you handed over."

"Great." I moved past them toward Mitch's office. Were they together? Mitch had called it a few weeks back, but I didn't believe him. Fuck. Was everyone more in tune with the office than I was? Maybe I did need to look at other options. My heart wasn’t there anymore, and from the look of things, my head wasn't either.

Mitch's door was opened when I walked down the hall, and I didn't bother knocking. I honestly expected him to be gone. He glanced up from his desk, his expression tight.

"Erica. Come on in. Have a seat." He motioned for me to take a seat.

"Thanks. I just got off the phone with Damon. He wants an update on the latest ad specs. I sent them over-"

"On Monday, I know. It's been a long week." He leaned back in his chair and studied me. "They look great. Your team did a wonderful job matching every requirement I had for the design."

"Excellent. So we're good to submit them to the executive committee?" I stood, ready to get the fuck out of there.

"Sure. Go for it." He lifted his hand. "Before you go, you know that you and I have unfinished business."

"Nope. Not really." I crossed my arms over my chest in an effort to protect myself. "All I had was the ad specs on my list."

He chuckled darkly and stood. "I have a big art show to attend to on Saturday night for some investors in a new program that's sweeping the nation."

"Sounds great." I forced myself to stay put.

"I want you there with me. As my date."

"Not happening."

"You don't seem to understand the situation here, pretty girl." He walked around his desk and moved closer to me. Too close. "I'm not going to simply back off. You need to understand what you're giving up and what you're getting with the decisions you're making."

"Well, thank you, daddy, but it's not your place to teach me anything."

He reached out and gripped my wrist as I turned to go. "I could teach you a lot of things."

"Thank you, but no thanks." I pulled my wrist from his grasp and started toward the door.

"Erica." The sound of his voice stopped me in my tracks.

I glanced back. "What?"

"The event starts at seven. Meet me at my place at six-thirty."

"And if I don't?" I held my breath, truly unsure of how far the bastard in front of me would go to see me naked and wet beneath him.

"You'll force my hand. There are so many options, but I'd rather not use any of them. I'm not a bad guy. I just care enough to want you to see the light."

"I hate you." I turned and walked out of the door.

"Six-thirty," he called after me.

Fine. An art event around a zillion other people. I'd make it work, and when it was over, I'd go home. There was no way I believe Mitch capable of gagging me and throwing me in the back of his car. He wasn't a villain; he was just obsessed.

Obsessed with what? Fear danced in the pit of my stomach.

Obsessed with me.

 

*

 

"So I think if I just quit this spring at the elementary school that I'll go to the high school." Lanie leaned back from her plate and took a sip of her wine. We'd decided to go out to dinner instead of cooking, seeing that both of us were bone tired.

"And you really think high school is somewhere you want to be? I heard the kids get mean at that age."

"They're mean at every age." She downed the rest of her wine. "Call me an Uber if I get too drunk."

"Will do." I picked up my fork and pushed my pasta around the plate. I needed to tell Lanie about Mitch, but I couldn't force myself to do it. Where I knew she wouldn't judge me, she sure as hell would try and fix it.

"Hey. What's going on with you? Leon and your mom giving you hell again?" She reached across the table and brushed her fingers over my hand.

"No." I let out a soft sigh and shrugged. "Matt wants me to move in with him soon."

"Oh. Wow." She smiled. "Wait. Why do you look so sad about this? This is great news, right?"

"Yeah, but it's a lot of pressure. It's the next step, and we just got back together after falling apart."

"That's part of being in a long-term relationship. You know that."

"No, I don't." I picked up a piece of bread and dragged it through the Alfredo sauce on my plate. "My only long-term relationship didn't work out, remember? He just up and decided to leave. As if I wasn't worth anything."

"Because he was a jack wagon. You know this."

I smiled at her silly word. "He was that."

"Matt's a great guy." She took the last piece of bread from the basket and gave me a look. "I've known you for most of my life. Something else is going on. Spill."

"No." I reached for my wine glass, but she got to it first and downed the red wine in it.

"Yes. Let me help you. I'm worried about finding someone worth taking my panties off for. It's not that big of a deal. You, on the other hand, are drowning in something. Spill. Now."

"More wine?" I asked the waiter as he stopped by.

"And more bread?" Lanie gave him a sweet smile.

"Who could refuse the two of you?" He winked at us before walking off.

"Lots of people." Lanie snorted. "Come on. I want to help you. I love you, and you're hurting."

"Mitch was trying to overbid Matt at his art opening at De Luca. He was doing it to be a dick."

"Wait... overbid Matt? Was Matt bidding on his own art?" Her lip lifted up in a cocky smile. "That's such a Bryant thing to do."

"Yeah, it is, but it's because it was the naked picture of me. Matt doesn't like Mitch, so he was willing to do just about anything to not let Mitch have the painting."

"So what happened? Did Matt get the painting?"

"No. Some young billionaire guy did."

"Can I get his digits? I'm your best friend. That should get me some points somewhere."

I chuckled. "Stop it. You're going to find Mr. Right. I promise."

"Let's not go back to me. It's obvious that my future husband got lost, and refuses to stop and ask for direction." We shared a chuckle. It was Lanie's go-to joke about being single. "So what happened?"

"Mitch wasn't going to let up, and it was so tense in the room. I walked outside and texted Mitch, telling him to stop that shit. He said he would on one condition."

"Oh no. This does not sound like it's going to end well."

"That I go to dinner and have drinks with him."

Her eyes brightened. "Oh, nice! That's easy."

"And fuck him."

"What?" Her voice rose as she leaned toward me, whispering so loud it could have been a yell. "Has he lost his fucking mind? You can't do that. It would ruin everything. It would-" Realization rolled over her face. "Oh, shit. You said you would do it."

Tears filled my eyes. I wasn't a crier, and yet the situation with Mitch and Matt had me crying all the damn time.

"I didn't know what else to do. I just wanted the bidding war to end and for Matt to feel like he'd won. I didn't want him to lose his pride or his shining moment that night."

"What are you going to do?" She was ignoring me for the most part, or maybe she was lost in the brevity of the situation.

"I'm going to tell him no." I shrugged. "But you wanted to know what was wrong and-"

"No. That's not going to work. Go to Damon."

"What? Why not Matt?"

She gave me a sassy look. "Be for real here. Matt will get a gun and end up in jail for Manslaughter. Get Damon involved."

"And look like an idiot or worst yet, a slut?"

"Seriously? He thinks the world of you."

"I don't know." I glanced up and offered our waiter a smile as he delivered us each another glass of wine. "I'm going to go to an event on Saturday with Mitch and try and talk some sense into him. If that doesn't work, I'll go to Damon."

"Take your own car and meet him at the event. Make sure you have people around you when you walk out. Fuck. Take me with you."

"That's a thought." I leaned back in my chair and nursed my wine. "You think there is a better way out of this?"

"I don't know. I want to, but damn... this is like TV drama bullshit."

"Right?" I let out a long sigh. "I'll do this and see what works. I'm not willing to mess up things with Matt, but I'm not sure which would do more damage; telling him what I did, or just doing it and hoping he never finds out."

"You could sleep with Mitch? I mean, you could actually go through with it?"

"No. Not in a million years."

"Then it seems like you have your backup plan."

"And what if it doesn't' work and he leaves me, Lanie?"

"Then you move on." She narrowed her eyes. "You're a beautiful woman, and you'll find someone else. You deserve the best. If Matthew can't see that's what you are and that you were trying to sacrifice for his pride and wellbeing, then fuck him."

She made it sound so easy, but it wasn't.

Not in the slightest.