Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 47279 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 189(@250wpm)___ 158(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47279 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 189(@250wpm)___ 158(@300wpm)
But you’re in the video too, the voice in my head says. So you’ll be embarrassed too, Ramona.
Well, I’ll just blur out my face so no one can tell it’s me. It’ll be just like those free amateur porn clips you see on line, where they’ve pixelated the features to hide the person’s identity.
Still, the voice in my head reasons again. Do you really think Carlton will be humiliated? I mean, that guy has a cock the size of a steel pipe. If anything, he’ll be proud of his crown jewels, and not embarrassed.
I think for a moment. Shit, this revenge stuff isn’t easy when you get into the nitty-gritty. But still, I have the video and I have some of our sexts now. I haven’t decided how exactly I’m going to wreak revenge on the handsome man, but when I do, it’ll be good. And with that, I turn my attention back to Carrie, who’s still staring at me intently.
“Fine, I am seeing someone,” I admit with a rueful smile, trying to pretend like nothing’s wrong. “It’s still new and I don’t want to jinx it, but I’ve gone on a couple of dates and I think I like this new guy. Or at least parts of him,” I say with a silly smile.
“I won’t press,” Carrie holds her hands up in surrender and grins. “But when you’re ready to say something, just let me know and I’m all ears.”
I decide to change the subject from me to Carrie in an attempt to throw her off. “Well, what about you? How did your date go the other night?”
It’s my buddy’s turn to frown. “I don’t know, Ramona. Barry seemed really cool, and he was definitely nice. He’s the kind of guy who could sweep me off my feet for sure.”
“But?” I ask gently, sensing that my friend is torn up over her latest beau.
“But he’s divorced and forty-five.” Carrie bites her bottom lip. “I’m about to be twenty-three, so that’s an age difference I didn’t expect. I feel like these are red flags.”
“Twenty years isn’t that much. I mean, it’s a lot but it’s not super-duper crazy, like he’s your grandpa or something. Tell me more,” I offer sympathetically, feeling bad for my best friend’s continual saga of bad dates.
For the next few minutes, Carrie spills all the details about Barry and her many concerns with dating a much older divorced dude. But the clacking of Melody’s sharp stilettos hitting the hardwood floor warn us that she’s headed our way, and immediately we try to look busy. Carrie stands up quickly, shuffling through a stack of papers as if she were looking for something on my desk. I follow her lead and open a portfolio, pretending to be showing her a client project. By the time Melody reaches us, we look as though we’ve been working diligently on a task.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to fool our boss.
“Oh please,” Melody scoffs. “I know you two weren’t working. You’re such a bunch of jokers.”
Carrie stops sifting through files and I snap the portfolio closed, feeling chastened. Melody always seems to ‘catch’ me at the wrong moments, and it’s so unfortunate! Ugh, what bad luck.
But of course, out loud, I’m the consummate professional. “What can I do for you Melody?” I ask sweetly, hoping that my over-friendliness hides the very real disdain I feel for my manager.
“Despite the fact that you almost ruined my pitch the other day, Dissidence has decided to hire our firm for their newest development. Concord Design officially holds its first multimillion dollar contract from one of the biggest conglomerates in the country.”
Melody tells us this news with pleased arrogance. She fluffs her hair back and smiles with those blood red lips. But I don’t mind because I’m genuinely excited and impressed that Carlton’s company selected us for this important project.
I wonder if he did it for me? I muse, feeling thrilled by the thought.
But just as quickly, I realize that as much as Carlton might like me, there are two reasons my thinking makes no sense. First, we’ve only gone out together twice. That’s it. It’s not like he’s falling for me, and he wouldn’t award a huge contract based on two piddling dates. And second, if there’s one thing I’ve learned about the alpha male so far, it’s that he would never let his personal feelings or emotions get in the way of a solid business deal. So no, Carlton’s company hired ours because he believes in our work, which is even better. I feel a sense of pride in that knowledge, since I helped prepare the pitch.
“Ramona,” Melody snaps her fingers in my face.
“Sorry, I was just thinking about the project,” I lie. “But this is great news – congratulations,” I tell my boss with genuine good wishes.