She huffs out a breath. “No, you didn’t say anything else. It’s fine. I’ll see you around.” She gets up and joins Devon at the counter where he’s talking to Xena, leaving me sitting at the table, alone and so confused.
Chapter 29
Rhea - Not a Date
“Hey, I’m just going to take that to go,” I tell Xena. “Aiden just apologized for saying he showed me his dick. So there’s no reason for me to stick around longer.”
“That’swhat he apologized for? What an ass.” Xena blurts. She’s angry on my behalf, and probably a little upset that she tried to orchestrate the whole scenario to begin with. She’s the one who thought Aiden should help me break my dry spell after all. She puts my coffee cup on the counter and I grab it.
“Wait a minute. What else should he be apologizing for?” Devon looks back and forth between the two of us with a confused look on his face.
That’s surprising. I thought Xena would have told him I slept with Aiden. Or that Aiden would have said something.
“You didn’t tell him?”
“I only told him the basics, not the ending.”
“Oh, is this because you guys slept together? Was it bad? I could see how it would be. Aiden is pretty out of practice when it comes to the ladies. He never dates so…”
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see that Aiden is getting up from his seat at the table, probably to come over here.
“I’m going to get going. I’ll talk to you later. Nice to see you again Devon.” I give them both a wave and walk to the door. I don’t wave at Aiden because I’m feeling petty.
Why would he apologize for possibly announcing that he showed me his dick, instead of apologizing for running away screaming after he fucked me? It doesn’t make any sense. He really is a dumbass.
All the calm that I gathered on my run around the city is rapidly leaving my body, and I’m feeling frustrated and pissed off. Aiden is complicating my already complicated life.
At dinner yesterday he was friendly, joking with me about his friends trying to push us together, but then when he was driving me home he seemed upset. Which apparently is just because he’s attracted to me, but that’s no excuse. And it’s not a good reason to leave the way he did after we slept together.
No matter how much I think about this, I can’t sort it out. But it doesn’t matter now. Aiden had the chance to apologize, and he did, but he was sorry for the wrong thing. Even if I thought I was starting to like him, there’s no way I could entertain the idea of being with someone who didn’t realize that sort of behaviour was something to apologize for. I won’t put up with that.
I’m so busy ranting in my mind that I’m letting myself into my building before I realize. I must’ve been on autopilot the entire way home. Pulling my phone from my pocket as I walk up the stairs, I notice I missed a call. I connect to my voicemail while I unlock my door, walk into my apartment, and kick my shoes off.
It’s a message from the shelter that I applied to. She wants me to come in for an interview this week sometime.
“Gah,” I squeal, pumping my fist in the air. “Yes!”
This is the job that I was hoping for. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but if it works out, this could wind up being even more to my liking than being a cop was. After taking a few deep breaths, and OK, squealing a few more times, I’ve calmed down enough to call her back.
The director’s name is Winnifred, but she insists I call her Winnie. She’s got me booked in for a morning meeting the day after tomorrow. She seems even more excited than I am at the thought of me working there. She says they’ve been relying heavily on volunteers, but the volunteers aren’t always available. And with my background in law enforcement, she thinks I will have a unique ability to help out. I can’t wait to meet her.
This day is turning out to be OK, after all.
I busy myself with taking a shower, and getting dressed, and then get to work cleaning the apartment. I’m about an hour into cleaning when I check my phone and see that I’ve missed some text messages. From Aiden.
Unknown - Hey, this is Aiden. I got your number from Xena. I need to talk to you. Can we meet somewhere?
Ugh, Xena. Why would she give him my number? She knows he was an asshole to me. Why would she think I want to talk to him? Regardless, I program him in as a contact.
Not that I want to contact him.
Because I don’t.
At all.
Aiden - It’s important.
Aiden - I know you don’t want to talk to me, but it’s really important. Please message me back.
