His team gave their thanks and left, leaving me alone with Theo. I held up the pile of papers I had been given. “I’ll look these over and come up with a project plan and email it to you for approval. If there’s anything you need or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call,” I said, wishing he’d hurry up and leave so I could have a few minutes to breathe.
Theo put a heavy hand on my shoulder, surprising me. “Marion had mentioned this was your first day. If I were you I would have run out of here by now,” he chuckled and I found myself relaxing.
“I definitely thought about it,” I teased. Theo’s hand remained on my shoulder, his palm hot through my blouse.
“You’re doing great. You have some amazing ideas. I know this gala is in the right hands,” he reassured me, squeezing his fingers slightly. I cleared my throat, the awkwardness of his hand on my skin becoming pronounced. Perhaps picking up on my tension, he finally dropped his hand back to his side. He flushed slightly and looked away almost bashfully.
“It was nice meeting you, Vivian. I look forward to talking to you soon,” he said, giving me a sweet smile before leaving.
I had officially survived my first two hours on the job. And not too shabbily either. I watched as Theo got into the passenger side of a blue Honda. He really was a good-looking man. And what had been that odd hand on the shoulder move before he left? I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to work it out. Suddenly he turned to face the building again and even though I was almost sure he couldn’t see me staring, I looked away quickly.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and was greeted with another picture from Cole. Though, thankfully this one wasn’t so risqué. I looked down at a snapshot of the marquee at the theater in Houston where the band would be playing tonight. Generation Rejects stood out in bright red letters.
Missing my favorite reject.
I didn’t bother to respond. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say.
Instead I turned off my phone.
I tried to roll over but smashed my elbow into the wall. I let out a barely audible grunt and rubbed at the throbbing flesh. With my other good hand I felt around for the cell phone I vaguely remember tucking under my pillow before I went to sleep last night.
You know, just in case.
I found it and flicked my finger on the screen, turning it on. There were a few text messages from random acquaintances. A few tit shots from chicks I had screwed at some point in my shady past.
But nothing from the only person I had secretly hoped to hear from.
Not that I’d ever admit that crap out loud. I wasn’t cockless for fuck’s sake. There was no way I had sat around last night, staring at my phone willing it to ring.
That shit was for bitches and dudes with their nuts tied up in a bow. Definitely not for me.
So what if Vivian hadn’t answered when I called. I didn’t need to talk to her every single night, for Christ’s sake.
So what if she never sent a text after the few dozen I had sent her. If that’s the game she wanted to play, then so be it. I shouldn’t have to explain myself to her.
Even though I knew she had the total wrong idea about the girl she heard when we last spoke.
I hadn’t been given a chance to explain that the girl had been with Mitch and the two of them had passed out drunk on the floor of my hotel room. I hadn’t been able to tell Vivian that I had gone into the bathroom for privacy so I could call her because I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Even though I wouldn’t have dared admit that, it was the truth.
She had jumped to the obvious conclusion. Not that I blamed her. But it still irritated me that she had chewed me a new asshole when for once, I hadn’t done anything wrong. The need to defend myself made me cranky.
I had wanted to tell her about the conference call with the label. They were sinking some serious money into promoting us. There was going to be a major photo shoot and press release for our upcoming album.
I really wanted to talk about it to someone. No, I wanted to talk about it with Vivian. But it was obvious she was going to play the pissed off card for a while longer.
Before I could think twice about it, I tapped out a quick message and hit send. Then I waited for a few minutes. Not because I was waiting to see if I’d get a response.