Riding the Ryders

CHAPTER 5

He stopped midway into adjusting his collar and inched closer. “I’m listening.” I cleared my throat and straightened my posture the way one does for a presentation. “So this is it. You’ll award me the contract for Summit.” I paused, watching to see if he’d react. When he didn’t I continued, “And no one would dare object, I mean who could be more suitable than the employee of the year?” I grinned at my own bragging. That title wasn’t just handed to me. I earned it. Highest generated revenue for the past 2 years. Most clients acquired by a person in the company history. I was the star of Ryder Tech. And Nathan played that to his advantage.

“So where does my son fit in all of this?” His impatience brought me back. “Well…” I gestured in the air. “You’ll give him a role on the project as well, some fancy name to make him feel like he’s in charge. He never does any actual work so we wouldn’t have to worry, and we keep keeping him on a leash.” I took his hands in mine, smiling as sweetly as I could. “Everybody wins.”

He didn’t say anything at first, just held his face the way people do when they’re seriously weighing their options. Slowly he nodded his head, “Not bad.” He smiled just as slow. “I’ll make the announcement tomorrow during the review. You’ll be the lead manager, and Nathan, the supervising director.” He kept looking into the air as if he could literally see the words. Then he turned to me. “How does that sound?” “Perfect.” I said calmly, trying my best to conceal my excitement. I didn’t think my plan would fail but I hadn’t expected him to accept so easily. He held my face in his hands, something I didn’t expect and in an almost whisper, he said. “You’re so smart it terrifies me sometimes.”

Before I could begin to understand what he meant, his phone vibrated in his back pocket. He immediately reached for it and looked at whatever notification had popped up. The way he angled the phone made it impossible for me to peek without being obvious. He turned off the screen just as fast and grabbed his suit from where it hung. “I have something I need to attend to, take all the time you want and lock up once you’re done. Tell Lucy you had some work to do for me.”

He unlocked his phone again, typing with one hand as he reached for the door. I finally decided on the spot to f**k it and just ask.

“Derek?” I called his first name. Something I hardly ever did.

“Yeah?” He turned to me, still texting.

I bit my lower lip and felt the sting.

“About the implants…”

“We’ve already talked about this.” Derek cut me off like he was already expecting it.

I stepped a little closer without even knowing it. “Look baby, if it’s about your wife, I understand. I….”

Nathan looked up from his phone and straight at me. His eyes looked ice cold and his glare was so intense that I swallowed the rest of my words. “Never talk about my wife again.” His voice was calm but the threat was somewhere underneath. “My decision on this remains. Do not bring it up again.”

He held his gaze some more, the way a person who wants his words understood does. Then he walked out.

—————

5HRS LATER

Your call has been forwarded to an automated voice messaging system. Please leave a message after the…

I pressed the end button before it finished.

I looked down at myself, glammed up in Nathan’s million dollar bribery dress, sitting in the back seat of my car, and stuck in the pouring rain. I had called 16 times in the last 2 hours and every single time it sent me straight to that damn voicemail.

I lit my screen again to check the time. 10:18pm. I had sent my driver to get me an umbrella since 9:30, his punishment for not putting one in the car. I dialed his number and put it on speaker. The words I had for him were struggling to contain themselves. Like a cruel joke, I heard the automatic voice again and ended it before anything was said. It took everything in me not to slam my phone against the car seat. Was everyone going to be incompetent today? The car door immediately clicked open and Luke, or whatever his name was, got in and slammed the car shut with the speed of someone being chased. Immediately I sat up. “Where were you?!”