The CEO's Secret

Chapter Eight - Unexpected

“Ok, nope, we're not doing this anymore.” Megan said with Ashley by her side at the door of my bedroom.

“Doing what?” I said. I was in my pajamas eating a cup of ice cream and reading.

“Moping. You're moping. We're staying home all weekend gaining twelve thousand pounds because all we're doing is snacking. It's been three weeks, it's time to move on.” Ashley said.

“We're going out. Get ready. Look sexy. Come on.” Megan said.

I knew there was no arguing with them, so I decided to go along with it. It would definitely feel good to go out again and go back to how life was before I'd even met Colt.

I hadn't heard from him since that night. I hadn't messaged him because I didn't want to see crazy and obsessive. I wanted the upper hand. He hadn't messaged me, either. I didn't expect him to. I imagined he was out dating. I picked up my things from his apartment after he sent me a text that they were in a box outside his door whenever I wanted them. I waited until I knew he would be at work to go get them.

I was pretty sad but slowly recovering. I missed what we had but was relieved to be spending more time with Megan and Ashley. The tension between us had quickly dissolved and we were back to the friend group we were before Colt ever came along. I was grieving the relationship I had with Colt but realized slowly the connection I'd formed with him was something I could have with anyone.

I went and got in the shower. I put a a hair mask in while I shaved. I put a face mask on and hung out in the shower for a while and then went ahead and finished my shower. I put my towel on and listened to music while I blow dried my hair and did my make up. Then, I straightened my hair and put on a short and sexy dress with heels.

Finally, we were all ready to go. It felt like life was back to normal, like Colt had never existed in my world. We grabbed an Uber and went to our favorite local bar.

The music was loud. I danced with so many people and had way too many shots. After a while of drinking, I had to use the bathroom and walked toward the back of the bar. As I was walking, I saw Shane sitting with a woman in a quiet corner. The conversation looked tense.

Shane saw me and waved me over. I was nervous because I was very drunk and didn't trust myself to not make a total fool of myself in front of my boss. I walked over anyway, knowing it would be far more rude to ignore him.

“Taylor, nice to see you.” Shane said.

“You, too. I didn't think bars were your thing.” I said. “I've had a lot of drinks, please don't call me into your office on Monday if I say anything awful.”

Shane laughed. “No worries, what you do on your time off work is none of my concern. I just wanted to say hi, enjoy your night.” Shane said.

I went to the rest room and thought it was odd he didn't introduce me to the woman he was with. I didn't think much more of it though and went back out to find Megan and Ashley. We danced the night away and drank way too much.

It felt so good to be back out and partying. I loved flirting with boys to get free drinks. I loved dancing with my friends. I loved the drunken, slurred gossip. I loved going home and passing out in a heap in the living room and waking up to help each other get over the hang over in the morning. This was so much better than hanging with Colt and I was kicking myself for letting myself ever get away from the life I loved so much for him.

Monday morning, Shane called me into his office. I laughed at the thought of him reprimanding me for drinking on my weekend. I knew he wouldn't, but I also knew he would probably joke about it when I got there

“Good morning.” He said with a smile.

“Hi, morning.” I said.

“You know, we should meet at bars more often.” He said.

“Sorry about that.” I smiled back at him.

“Seriously though, I'm finding that I don't have time over my work week to have the amount of meetings we need to get everything under control. Would you mind going out a few nights a week to get dinner and chat about work stuff?” Shane asked.

“That is totally fine with me.” I agreed.

My phone lit up with a text. Can we talk? It was Colt.