“He definitely does. You’re lucky he likes you more.”
I smile again at that. There’s something about Kevin that never fails to cheer me up. Maybe it’s his contagious optimism or lighthearted energy that seeps through me. More and more, I understand why Lex chose him to be his one great friend. They might seem like an oddpairing at first, but they complement each other well, one grounded and one utopian.
A few months. All we have to do is wait for the trial, get Lex out, and then life will resume. Lex can do that. He’s gone through an entire childhood of adversity, of being ill-fitted, of not blending in. He can handle it again for a few months. I’m sure of it.
He has to.
Chapter 05
“Okay, I know you told me to stop with the pity party, but I swear this one is for me,” Mason says with his hands behind his back, pulling my eyes away from my screen—not that the script displayed on it had much of my attention, anyway.
He brings forward two beautiful cupcakes neatly sitting in their transparent plastic containers. One’s chocolate and the other one looks like vanilla with a raspberry on top.
“Mace, I told you to stop worrying about me,” I gently scold him. “This is just a mistake. Lex will be fine, they’ll see how they messed up, and he’ll be out in no time.” I’ve told the lie so often that it comes easily.
“I told you—this ain’t about you, sis. I got my heart broken this weekend, so I need comfort.”
“Oh, so it’s over with…” Shit, I can’t remember who he was seeing now. It’s hard to keep up with his “flavors of the month,” as he calls them.
“Christian—but there was nothing Christian about that man, let me tell you. His mama picked thewrongname. Especially with the way he broke my back right after breaking my heart.”
“Breakup sex, really?”
“Always.”
“You’re such a slut,” I say with a chuckle.
“And I’m gonna be a slut until I find myself a good man.”
I roll my eyes and shake my head. Mace ignores me and pops open the cupcake lids. “Which one do you want?”
“None, I’m fine.”
“Girl, eat something before your goods are gone and your boyfriend decides to stay in jail rather than deal with the white half of your ass.”
The sass is so brutal that my jaw hangs loose. Mace uses that to shove the chocolate cupcake into my gaping mouth. “There you go, cheers,” he proudly says, tapping his cupcake onto mine.
The buttery chocolate of the topping pulls me out of my shock, and I grab the cupcake after taking a bite. “You’re actually ameanslut,” I correct, chewing on the pastry.
“But you love me for it. Now, let me focus on work and forget everything about the unchristian Christian.”
I hide my smile with another bite. I haven’t been eating much lately, and I suppose my lack of appetite is starting to show. Those few pounds I’ve been desperate to shed are gone, but not in a good way. I know Lex would scold me for not taking care of myself as I should, but I can’t help it. The thought of eating, which used to bring me actual joy, now feels like a chore I can’t be bothered with. On most mornings, having breakfast makes me nauseous, even.
Mason’s cupcake is good, though, and I appreciate his concern. Lex would definitely hate coming out of jail to find that my ass is gone, so maybe I should eat just for that.
The morning is rather uneventful. Things have settled down since Lex’s arrest. People still stare and whisper, but it isn’t as bad as it was early on. A little before lunch break, though, we all get a note from the internal messaging app.
Kevin Langley: Can you all come up to my office before lunch, please? We need to discuss a few things.
There’s a knot in my stomach as I reread the message. He’ll probably announce that Lex is stepping down, and that won’t fail to revitalize the gossip.
Brian is the first one to stand up, and we all save our work and do the same. As we walk down the hallway, I force myself not to look at Lex’s door. In a few months, he’ll be back in there, and it’ll stop hurting.
Steven is the one who knocks on Kevin’s door, and we all step in once invited.
“Hey, guys,” Kev says, standing from behind his desk and coming around it. “Thank you for coming.” He leans against the light wood and crosses his arms. “I’m sorry I haven’t been as on top of things as I should have been. I’ve been pushing back on finding a temporary replacement for Lex, and I know your team has been suffering the most from it. So, I apologize for that. However, I also want to congratulate all of you for still doing the best you could without clear guidance from a manager.”
Kev pauses while we nod, and after a deep breath, he continues with, “Lex is resigning from his position as co-CEO, which has prompted me to start looking for someone to take on his workload. We might need two or three people to make up for it. We’re looking intohiring, but I’ve insisted we give a shot to our in-house employees first. From my understanding, Steven and Oliver, you were the leads whenever Lex wasn’t available, right?”
