Chapter 17

After Angela’s dinner date with Steve Tuesday night, she asked him to drop her off at Joanne’s apartment. To her surprise, he pulled the car over and turned to look at her face. “Why?” he asked.

“We’re just going to have a girl’s night…”

“Don’t, please. I thought we promised no secrets.”

Angela felt bad instantly. They’d talked a lot over the weekend and she’d told him straight out that she refused to play games. She didn’t want any secrets between them. She also didn’t want him to worry and that’s why she hadn’t told him her concerns about Thomas. She still wasn’t sure that she wasn’t making too much of it herself.

“I just had a little argument with my roommate, that’s all. I didn’t want you to worry. I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you.”

“What did you argue about?” She didn’t answer him immediately and he raised an eyebrow and said, “Me?”

“He’s not happy that we’re dating. He was really close to Blake. I think it’s just hard for him to accept that I’m moving on.”

“Because of Blake, or because he has his own feelings for you?”

She sighed. “Both, I guess.”

“We need to find you an apartment. You can stay with me…”

“No. I can’t. It is too soon for that and I’m not going to screw up what we have by taking this too quickly. I will find an apartment, Steve. I appreciate that you want to help me…I really do, but there are some things I have to do on my own.”

“I worry about you being there with him if he’s angry about us.”

“I knew you would. That’s why I hesitated to tell you. Thomas and I have been friends for a very long time. He might get angry and sulk…but that’s as far as it will go. I just didn’t want to deal with him tonight so I asked Jo if I could stay with her. I’ll have to see him tomorrow at the photo shoot and I thought it might do us well to have a break before then.”

He looked at her long and hard and then he said, “Are you sure? I mean 100% sure that he won’t do anything stupid?”

“I’m 100% sure he would never hurt me. I’ve found out recently that he can be an ass. But I think he’s just working through his own stuff.”

“I think you’re too nice.”

“Hey, I believed you about Kimberly and that worked out okay…” he raised an eyebrow and she said, “I mean great. It worked out great. Look at us. I have good instincts and Thomas is not the type to hurt anyone…much less a friend, okay?”

“Okay, I’m not sure I trust him, but I trust you.” He put the car back on the road and headed for Glendale where Joanne lived. It was going to take her over an hour to get to work to catch the car to the shoot in the morning, but for a good night’s sleep and peace of mind, it would be worth it. When they reached Joanne’s apartment building, Steve opened her car door and took her hand on the way up to the door. When they got there he put his hand on the side of her face and slipped it underneath her hair. “It’s not too late to come home with me,” he whispered as he brushed his lips against hers. She smiled against his mouth and said, “Think how much better it will be this weekend if we wait for it…” He let his lips linger on the side of her face and then dragged them down to her neck. He kissed her where he knew she loved it and then bringing his sexy mouth back up to her ear he said, “I can’t imagine that it would ever not be perfect.”

She smiled. “Me too, actually. But honestly, I need to slow down…just a little bit. I’m not pushing you away. I just need to feel like this isn’t all too sudden…okay?”

He nodded, but his face showed he was frustrated. Steve wasn’t a man that was used to being told no. “I will see you tomorrow at the shoot.” He brought his lips back to hers and kissed her hard then, slipping his tongue into her mouth and letting it linger, long and slow. When he broke the kiss she was out of breath and flushed in the face. “To remember me by,” he said with a wink and a grin.

“I could never forget you,” she said, breathlessly. He waited until she was safely inside before leaving. Joanne was still up when she walked into the living room. She was painting her toenails and watching Lifetime television.

“Hey, what are you watching?” Angela asked her.

“It’s this movie about a stalker. Speaking of which, have you talked to Thomas tonight?”

Angela laughed. “Thomas is not a stalker. He’s still my, friend…we’re just on a little break. He’s your friend too.”

Joanne shook her head and said, “You’re too nice.”

“Now you sound like Steve. I need to get to bed so I can be at the shoot bright and early. Thanks for letting me stay here.”

“Anytime. I wish I had more than one bedroom and you could move in with me.”

“I couldn’t live with you,” Angela said as she headed down the hall. “I’m too attracted to you. I couldn’t control myself.” She felt the couch pillow hit her in the back of the head. She finished making her way to the bedroom to the sound of her friend’s laughter.

Angela woke up the next morning with a back ache from sleeping on the roll away bed in Joanne’s room. She fixed a pot of coffee while Joanne still slept and thought about how her life had changed so drastically in the past week. She’d gone from thinking she would never be happy again, to looking into the future that she thought she would never have…all because of Steve. It felt like Kismet that he came along at exactly the right time.

She finished her coffee and then took an Uber car to the office. As she was walking into the lobby, she ran into Thomas. He was wearing a dark blue suit with a gray tie and he was clean shaven and bright eyed. He looked good, better than he had the last few times she’d seen him. She prepared herself for him to be angry, but she needn’t have worried. He smiled at her and said, “Are you still my best roommate?”

She smiled back and said, “For now.” Putting his arm around her, he led her to the elevator. As the doors closed he kissed the side of her head and said, “You know how much I care about you, right? I’m stupid sometimes, but I do the things I do and say the things I say because I want to take care of you.”

“I know, but I really don’t need to be taken care of anymore. Not like I did. I think we got a little too dependent on each other there for a while. Things are better now.”

“Because of Steve?”

“No…I mean, yes, of course he’s a part of it. But, they’re better because I finally accepted that Blake would want me to be happy.”

The elevator stopped and they stepped off. “True story,” he said with a smile.

**

Angela, Thomas and Kimberly rode to the Irwindale Speedway together. It was about a forty minute ride in the traffic, but they were in the back of a limousine that Kim had hired, so it was a comfortable ride. Angela couldn’t help but notice how upbeat Kim was. She and Thomas both seemed happier than she’d seen either one of them in a while. She wondered briefly if Kimberly knew about her and Steve, but decided against it since she was being so nice to her.

When they got to the speedway, they were taken to the offices right alongside of the track. There were big windows where the executives could see the race from the comfort of their office. They went inside and found Steve waiting for them. Angela couldn’t help but notice how Kimberly’s already bright face got even brighter. Steve on the other hand, didn’t look happy to see her. Thomas and Steve ignored each other. It was all slightly uncomfortable.

Steve grinned at her and told Kim, “The car is all set up. We’re just waiting on Wade.” Wade is their driver and Steve and Ana were going to pose with him for the pictures this morning.

“Okay, where is your sister?”

“She’ll be here,” Steve said. “We still have half an hour. The photographer is not even here yet.”

“Okay, well, I’d like to see the car so I know what we’re looking at as far as angles and all of that.”

“It’s right out there,” Steve told her. The car was burnt orange and had the number “12” painted on the side. Steve told Angela it was in honor of a football team. It stood for the man who always stood ready in case the team needed him. Wade was a former football player and so that was the number they’d decided on.

“Come out with me,” she said, “I need to see it up close and know what you want us to get photos of.” Steve glanced at Angela. Kim didn’t miss it and she didn’t look happy about it. She shook it off quickly however and said, “Come on, we don’t have all day.”

With a sigh, Steve followed her out. Thomas and Angela stayed behind and Angela began to prepare the releases they would need Wade, Steve and Ana to sign for the photographer. A few minutes passed when they heard the sound of a phone. Angela looked over and saw Steve’s phone on the desk. Thomas was looking at it too.

“You should probably get that,” he said.

“Why? It’s not my phone.”

Thomas shrugged. “Maybe it’s Ana?”

“It’s a text. He can look at it when he gets in.” Angela was surprised when Thomas went ahead and picked it up. She shook her head and watched him read the message. He drew his brows together in the middle and curled his lip. Curious, she said, “What is it?”

“Nothing,” he said with disgust, tossing the phone back on the desk like it had burned him.

“It doesn’t look like nothing, judging by your face.”

“It’s an old message. I guess he just hadn’t checked it yet so it was still making noise.”

“How old?”

“I don’t know Ang. Just let it go, okay?”

“What do you mean, let it go? What am I letting go?” she suddenly needed to see what was on the phone. She reached for it and Thomas snatched it back up. “What the hell is wrong with you? Let me see it.”

“I don’t think you should.” He glanced out at Kimberly and Steve on the track and looked nervously back down at the phone.

“Damn it, Thomas, what the hell is on that phone?”

He looked a little sick as he finally handed it to her. She looked at what Thomas hadn’t wanted her to see. It was a photo. She pressed to enlarge it and a photo of Kim lying naked on a dark red satin comforter popped up. “Fuck! What is this?” She scrolled down. There were three more, all of Kim and all naked in different poses. Now she felt sick. There was a message attached to them from her that said,

“I can’t stop thinking about having your hard cock buried in my hot pussy. You were great last night baby…as always. I’m glad your dinner finished early. Let me know as soon as it happens again. I can’t wait to suck that big cock again…In the meantime; I took some selfies to tide you over. I know how much you love to look at me naked. Can’t wait to see you on the track in a few hours. Too bad we’ll have so much company or we could fuck in the car like we did last week. See you soon, Kisses, Kim.”

Angela dropped the phone on the floor and looked at Thomas. His face looked like he was torn up for her, but didn’t know what to do. She felt the tears rising and she looked out the window at Kim and Steve. She couldn’t see Steve’s face, but Kim glanced at her and touched Steve’s arm. He looked up at her and she said something. He put his head back under the hood and Kim looked like she was laughing. She glanced one more time in Angela’s direction. Angela suddenly wondered if they were laughing at her. She felt like such an incredible fool. She ran into the bathroom and dropped to her knees in front of the toilet. She began to puke up her morning coffee. She didn’t have anything else in her stomach. Suddenly she felt a pair of warm hands gather her hair from behind. Thomas had knelt behind her and was holding her hair up out of the way.

“What is wrong with me?” she thought. “Here is this really great guy who has been my rock for so long and I’m willing to give that up for what? A cheater, a playboy?” She leaned her head into Thomas when she was done vomiting and he wrapped his arms around her. He leaned back into the wall and just silently held her. All of the progress she had made was gone out the window with the naked photos. She was back to square one and the guy who had always been there for her was still the only one there.