"So that’s what it was?" he asked. "An affair? That's what you think of me?"
Allie shook her head, brushing past him to grab a water out of the break room fridge.
"I'm not doing this. I have more important things to do."
She thought he looked hurt, but it was probably just her imagination. Carter was like many overly entitled people—he just wanted something simply because someone told him no. She wasn't going to let herself be used.
"You're coming to New Cardiff next week for Brandy's wedding planning, right?" Liz asked, interrupting the tense moment with Carter.
"Sure," Allie mumbled and left for her bartending job. It was still slightly chilly outside, but wedding season would soon be upon them.
New couples and first daters filled the Olive and Twist. Allie mixed expensive cocktails and tried to dispel the dark cloud of envy.
Carter could shrug it off if he was exposed as having an affair, but she was on a razor-thin margin. If she lost this internship, she was finished. She was hoping to use her experience at Holbrook Enterprises as a stepping-stone. If word went around that she was sleeping her way to the top, it would be disastrous.
She shook her head and handed the freshly made drinks to a server. She knew what the solution was. It was the same as it had always been.
You have to cut off Carter.She didn't want to, but she had to. She had been lucky so far, but if she kept tempting fate with Carter, she was afraid he would ruin her.
38
Carter
Liz looked at Carter expectantly after Allie ran off.
"This is your big moment," she told him. "You want to be a better man, someone Allie can depend on, and someone she would respect and desire? Better step up."
"Yeah, I guess I have room for improvement," he admitted.
"Improvement?" Liz snorted. "You need to make drastic changes. Stop thinking about it, and just be better."
Carter mulled over her words as he made his way to the Olive and Twist.
"Your boyfriend can’t be here," the manager said when Carter walked up to the bar.
"I’m a paying customer."
"He’s not my boyfriend," Allie stated.
"You can't have a rotation of men coming in here," the manager said disapprovingly.
"Men?" Carter hissed.
"No one," she said.
"So you're cheating on me."
"Excuse me? There is no us," she said under her breath. "You fuck me in the copy room. We're hardly in a relationship. Now go away. I'm working."
"Fine," Carter said, stalking out of the bar. He called a town car and waited outside of the bar until she closed out the registers and tidied up.
She froze as he jumped out of the car.
"What are you doing?" she demanded.
If Carter didn't know any better, he would say she looked terrified.
"Were you waiting for me?"
