Cuddle bear, p.5
Cuddle Bear, page 5
“I’m fine. I have you.”
He snorted. “Of course you do.”
“This was a great idea.” We both jumped as Celestine’s voice came out of the darkness to our right. Now that we’d been in the room for a moment, I could see there was a very soft blue light illuminating the space that seemed to emanate from the ceiling like twilight—walls came up just over the top of my head, on either side of us, which appeared to me made of stone but didn’t reach the distant ceiling. For some reason I hated Celestine a little more right now than I had earlier this week.
Lacey giggled, and I thought maybe she leaned against Celestine. “Yeah, it was a great idea. I’m so smart.”
“Hey,” I said, but she only burst out into what sounded like a victorious cackle. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but I couldn’t wait for us to get back out into the fresh air.
“I think it’s a labyrinth,” Maurice said.
“Yep, Edgar and I are going this way. Have fun, boys,” she singsonged.
Maurice sighed. “I’m beginning to feel as if this was a setup.”
“Of course it was. We’re pranking Celestine.”
“No, we aren’t.” His shoulder bumped my arm. “I think Lacey and Edgar were in on. . . . You know what? Never mind. I’m not sure.”
“What?”
He laughed and dragged me to the left. “Let’s check this way.”
We fumbled our hands along the walls that felt a lot like plastic shaped the way stone should look and came to an opening, which we took. We had a choice, and Maurice went left, so I followed him.
“We’re going to die in here.”
He chuckled. “If you don’t like things like this, why did you pick it?”
“I didn’t know what to expect until we started!”
He rested his hand on my chest, and in the dark it felt ten times more intimate than anything else that had ever happened to me outside of a bed. “That’s okay. I’ll get us out. The dark doesn’t bother me.”
I thought about telling him again I was fine, but at this point he probably knew I was lying, and since he didn’t let go of my hand, I didn’t mind. I thought we had to be getting close to the end of our time when we rounded a corner—after going back from a dead end—and spotted a door with The End painted on it in glow-in-the-dark red.
“Yes!” I hustled forward, pushed on the door, and in a jiffy we were back outside. We took a small path along the building to the parking lot. Darkness had set in for real while we were inside. I dragged huge gulps of air into my lungs, and after I no longer felt like I was at the bottom of the ocean, I gaped because there was clearly another group getting ready to go inside, but Lacey’s and Celestine’s vehicles were gone.
“They left us here.”
“Yeah, I think Lacey has heard me talk a time or two about you.” He gave me a small, embarrassed smile. “And. . . she got the wrong idea.”
Hurt smashed through me and I cleared my throat as I wriggled my hand free of his. “Oh well, joke’s on us.” I smiled. “Lacey thinks we would make a good couple, then? She hasn’t heard of a solid work relationship?”
He shrugged.
“So, you don’t think Celestine wants to date her?”
“Oh, he does.” Maurice rubbed the back of his neck and stared at his feet. “I just think he might already be doing it.”
I wiped my sweaty hands on my suit pants and stared at his slumped shoulders. “Well, it’s only us now. Do you still want to go to dinner?”
“Oh, we don’t have to.”
I wanted to insist, but Maurice wasn’t looking at me. Did that mean he wasn’t interested? Another horrible pang slammed my chest. “Okay. I can take you to your car.”
We went in the front door again, and Felipe beamed while taking our photo with a pink Polaroid. As soon as the camera spat out the developing picture, he handed it to us. “You won! With only two minutes to spare.” He pointed at his watch. “Good job! The other two members of your group left. They must’ve had someplace to be, huh? They wouldn’t let me take a picture because they thought you were going to take too long. No one likes to be a loser. Do you want to schedule a time to come back and see if you can get on the leaderboard?”
“Uh, no, thanks,” I mumbled.
Maurice didn’t say a word.
We didn’t talk on the ride back to the office, either. I wanted to ask him if we could just go to dinner—I could make a good case that we’d already had plans—but with the way he was staring out the window, I was having trouble forcing myself to speak. I turned the Maserati in to the parking lot at Émeraude Technologies and slid into the spot right next to Maurice’s blue Infinity.
“Thank you for everything.”
He shrugged and smiled. “It was just a game. See you Monday.” I couldn’t tear my eyes off him as he got out.
Frustration ate at me, so I followed him out of the car, and he stared at me with wide eyes as I stomped around to him before he could get in his vehicle. I sucked in a deep breath, then pressed a kiss to his warm cheek, and it was as nice as I’d thought it would be.
“It meant a lot to me.”
His eyes widened farther, and embarrassment tore through me. Hell, what was I doing? Did I go too far? The excitement that had burst to life in my stomach turned to dread while I hustled back to my car and got in again. As I pulled the car out and drove away, Maurice stood watching me and didn’t so much as budge.
What the hell just happened and how did I manage to revert to the dorkiest guy in high school that everyone loved to pick on? Things had been strange but good, and now they were bad and awkward, and I’d done this.
Daddy was right, and I shouldn’t have tried to be Maurice’s friend or anything else. We worked together. I hadn’t asked him to come in for the weekend, and now I wouldn’t. Monday would be awful. I berated myself the whole way home. That’s what I got for trying to get one over on someone else.
I should’ve known better.
4
MAURICE
The road was too dark. “Shit!” I flipped on the headlights. I really wasn’t paying enough attention to driving and forced my focus back onto the road and off the craziness of this evening. How long had I been a danger to myself and others? Oh well, no harm, no foul, but I needed to get my head on straight or I would cause an accident.
The silence in the cab was too much and seemed to pulse, and underneath the hum a constant litany of regret pounded. I shouldn’t have gotten involved in some scheme to embarrass Edgar. I shouldn’t have encouraged Wick to act badly. As much as I loved Lacey, I should’ve maybe considered she had some sort of plan up her sparkly sleeve all along, since this wasn’t the first time I’d been on the receiving end of her well-meaning “love.” Yes, I would say most of this was my fault for not guessing at what she was up to. It felt good to make myself feel bad. I was wallowing but couldn’t stop. Making myself feel worse was almost pleasant.
Maybe I was more messed up than I realized from my past relationship issues.
Still berating myself in my mind, I was halfway home when I reached for my pocket to grab my phone because I wanted to listen to a playlist instead of the radio—only to come up empty-handed. I patted down my other pocket and checked the console to see if I’d dumped my phone in there without thinking about it. No, it wasn’t anywhere.
“Damn it, I forgot it at Escape Adventure.” Groaning, I hung my head as much as I could while keeping my eyes on the road, because that likely meant Wick had also forgotten his phone. Chances were slim he’d remembered because I kept track of his belongings on a good day, let alone when he was shaken up from the dark. It had been nice to be there for him.
I bit the inside of my cheek. Yeah, I needed to completely forget about how good it felt to take his hand in mine. I wouldn’t get to do that again.
No, I needed to focus on the current problem. I could let him go back and get his own phone, but the part of me who was his assistant and organized most of his life wouldn’t allow me to entertain the idea of picking up mine and leaving his. Anger slid through me and simmered as I turned the car around. I hated that I felt like I shouldn’t do what I wanted to do—take care of Wick.
Escape Adventure was in full swing as I entered the lot for the second time tonight, and I had to park in the last row, farthest away from the building. Once I was in the small lobby, I had to skirt around the filled-to-capacity room and sort of shove myself in front of the counter to get Felipe’s attention, knocking down several gold coins from the display in the process. I groaned and rubbed a hand over my face as I bent to pick up the plastic, and the moment I stood again to slide the coins toward him, he was all regretful frowns.
“I’m sorry, sir!” He grasped the cuff of my suit jacket, then seemed to realize what he’d done and held up his hands. “I noticed after you’d left that you hadn’t taken your stuff.” He presented the cardboard box of phones—there were about ten in there now—and allowed me to fish out mine. For a half a heartbeat, yet again I considered letting Wick get his own phone because I could barely stand the thought of looking him in the eye after the way everything had ended this evening. My conscience got the best of me. I picked up his iPhone, which had a case with a pirate ship flying the Jolly Roger, then gave Felipe a nod. I could be professional and withstand some embarrassment. This was the penance I paid for trying to mess with someone else’s life in the first place.
“Thanks, no worries.”
Felipe had already turned his attention to a customer who had a question before I wriggled between people and beelined for the exit. It had hurt to leave Wick. I’d had some idea of how the evening would play out, and if everything had gone to plan, I wouldn’t have spent so much of it alone. It would’ve been nice to go out with him again and talk with him. I wasn’t special when it came to him flirting, but it made me feel a little uncomfortable and a lot good when it was happening.
And just what the hell had Lacey thought she was doing?
Gritting my teeth, I left Escape Adventure. As I stormed toward my car, I pulled up Lacey’s number on the screen of my phone. I was mad at her. No, scratch that—I was livid.
I liked Wick. He was a sexy man I never got tired of staring at, and he had a great sense of humor. Yes, I enjoyed him a lot and had for a while, and she’d listened to me talk and rant about him on more than one occasion, so she must’ve worked out my feelings without me outright using those words. It was shitty to have him close, then be alone. The same bleak feeling had taken me hostage Wednesday night after we parted ways. And tonight was even worse because he wasn’t doing well for most of our fake date, and I hadn’t wanted to send him off on his own so soon.
Plus, the rest of the night had been ruined.
I always had anxiety around eating out, but I’d been looking forward to going somewhere fun with him. Everything was more entertaining with him in the mix, and I didn’t feel quite as on-the-spot in his company as I did with some people.
The awful way I was feeling was all my fault. I knew he didn’t mean anything by asking me to go out tonight, but I’d built it up in my head, so in the end, I was probably the angriest with me, but I also had a few choice words for Miss Know-It-All Lacey who thought she could meddle in my life. It had been funny when we were pulling one over on Edgar, but it didn’t feel as nice to be in the hot seat.
Maurice: Where are you?
Lacey: We went to Big Jim’s and now we’re at The Sloppy Frog. Do you know where that is?
I didn’t bother replying because even though I’d never been there I could look up the bar on my phone, and I didn’t need her directions, which would involve seven hundred landmarks and telling me what I would see if I went too far down the street they were on.
By the time I got to the Sloppy Frog, which had an outdoor patio that surrounded the building and overlooked the river, I was ready to spit bullets. The parking lot was overflowing, and a few people in trucks and jeeps had left their vehicles on a small strip of lawn between the lot and the street. It took a minute to find a spot, then five more because I had to wait for the drunk person parked on my left to get into their car so I could open my door. I was pissed off again as I got out into the cool night air. The trip across the lot made me feel like I was in constant danger because no one seemed to be watching where they were going, whether it be in or out of their vehicles. I shook my head and glared at the large green glass frog next to the entrance. The base had a light inside that turned the statue into a brilliant beacon, and the amphibian was wearing a sailor’s hat and had a stogie sticking out of its mouth. I snorted and a tiny smidge of my irritation vanished.
Once inside, I bypassed the bar because I knew Lacey, and she usually tried to grab a table. In a place like this she would be outdoors, so I didn’t stop until I found the patio. I spotted Edgar first, and he shook his head as he noticed me coming. The coward jumped up from the table and headed inside toward the bar, not even slowing down as he passed me. Lacey laughed when her gaze met mine and didn’t have the decency to stop as I sat down across from her and slammed my hands onto the table. Cigarette smoke drifted to us from a nearby table and my nose wrinkled.
“You’re going to do it!” She pointed.
I sneezed and my eyes watered while she cackled.
“What the hell did you think you were accomplishing?” I asked, sniffling.
She snickered and played with the hoop pierced through her bottom lip, using her teeth to bite at the metal. “It was okay to set up someone else but not you? Where’s your sense of humor?” Her eyes sparkled and she wriggled her shoulders.
“Mr. Guidry is my boss.”
She tipped her chin toward me. “Oh, now it’s Mr. Guidry. What happened to Wick? What happened to snuggling up against his side. What happened to, oh, I’m here and you’re safe.” She fluttered her eyelashes at me, then took a long, annoying sip of the red slushie drink in front of her that made an awful noise with the straw. The wench was beside herself with glee as she shook her head and grinned at me.
“I have to work with this guy, Lacey.”
Some of her amusement faded and she bit the corner of her mouth. “I thought you liked him? You talk about him all the time, and you tell me about all the things you do for him.”
Dread settled over me like a wet blanket. Yep, this was all my fault. “Part of my job is to run around after him!”
She frowned. “But you have a tone when you talk about him.” She fluttered her fingers and stared directly into my eyes, as if trying to convince me that whatever was going on in her head was true.
“A tone?” Thankfully the Sloppy Frog was busy because I was getting too loud, and we would’ve been getting looks by now otherwise. Music blared from a speaker in the corner, and nearby a table of men erupted into loud hoots and laughter.
She shrugged. “You sound content. Happy. I don’t know. You like him.” Her dark eyebrows furrowed.
I ran a hand along my jaw and sighed. “It doesn’t matter if I like him or not. He doesn’t like me.”
She crossed her arms and settled back against her chair. “He wasn’t acting like a man who hates you tonight.”
“He’s friendly. He wouldn’t be mean to anyone, not even Edgar. He might’ve thought it was funny to make Edgar feel stupid for barking up the wrong tree, but he wouldn’t be outright rude. He’s not that kind of person! He’s a good guy.”
Her smile was back, a quirky twist of her lips that let me know she was thinking the wrong things again.
“Damn it!”
“Look, I’m sorry.” Her smile didn’t dim at all. If she was sorry, it was the type of sorry where she not-so-secretly didn’t give a single damn, and how was this my life?
“That isn’t good enough!”
Her face pinked up and she leaned closer to me. “Matthew was an asshole and we both know it. You’ve let that drag you down for long enough. You need to get out there. Edgar was supposed to be harassing you into finding a date to double up with us. I told him to do that. You talk about Wick a lot, and when I ran into the both of you at that bar, which is uber-expensive by the way, and it seemed like he was buying your drinks, I thought maybe you two were almost dating and needed—” She shoved at the air in front of herself. “You know, a push.”
I tossed up my hands. “Edgar was pressuring me to find someone to go out with. I didn’t like it.”
Lacey’s hands balled into fists and she pounded the table so hard she rattled her glass. “What you like is the nice rut you wore in the world, and you aren’t trying to get out of it. You need help.” She pounded the table once more in my direction.
“I didn’t ask you to help me. I’m happy alone!”
“No, you aren’t.” She pointed at me as if daring me to argue, and I didn’t because it was true, but I hated her meddling. I’d never been this embarrassed in my life.
I flipped her off, and she clapped both hands over her mouth, but that didn’t hide her laughter.
“Why are you here without Wick? Did you already have dinner?”
Terrible heat washed over me and I wished I could sink through my chair to the center of the earth and live there. “No, we didn’t go out because we weren’t really on a date.”
She flinched as if I’d smacked her. “Oh yeah? You two were touching each other most of the night, and even if you were trying to play a part, that was a lot. I’d even call it excessive.”
“Go to hell, Lacey Ann.”
“Oh, oh, the middle name!” She pointed and giggled again, and I didn’t have the energy to keep up my end of this verbal war, so I left the table. Edgar gave me what I thought was an apologetic wave from a spot at the bar as I passed by, but I knew Lacey and doubted he’d been the engineer of this fiasco.
Hell, do I owe Wick an apology for all this? I slapped a hand to my face as I pushed open the door and passed the glass frog again. Yes, I probably do. What a fucking night.
