Being My Boss’s Desire

CHAPTER 6

RYDER

I'd never done that before. Taking the elevator along with my workers because I always waited for everyone to leave before taking my leave afterward but this time was different. I wanted to have a glance at Ivy one more time after her rave with me back in the conference room for reasons that I couldn't explain, so I did it. I took the elevator with everyone and the shock on her face was satisfying to see.

Then I went further to watch her from a distance as she hailed a cab and got in and once she was gone, I breathed a sigh of relief before heading for my car to leave too. Ethan's warning suddenly rang in my head at that moment but I quickly shook it off while convincing myself that I only waited to see Ivy leave to be sure she wouldn't go back on our agreement but even I wasn't convinced enough.

As I entered my car and turned it on, memories of what Janet did to the women I was involved with in the past came to me and I closed my eyes for a moment to silence the noise erupting in my head because I didn't want to be thinking about that when I was going to see her face a few moments from then.

Thanks to Dad, I had to show up at the dinner he planned without letting me know but if I had my way, I'd stay back in the office and conclude all the pending work I was supposed to be done with but here I was, heading to dinner with people I detested seeing because I didn't have much of a choice.

The passenger door was pulled open just as I was about to reverse and I looked up to see it was Ethan. He smiled at me while I gave him a blank stare but he ignored me and entered the car before shutting the door and turning to look at me.

"Let's go. Dad must be waiting already" he said and I rolled my eyes.

"Get out of my car. Don't you have a car? Drive yourself there" I dismissed him but all he did was relax in the passenger seat as his way of telling me he was going nowhere before he looked out the window.

"I have to make sure you don't bail and come to dinner. That is Dad's order so drive or we'll be late, Ryder" he turned to look at me with a grave expression once he finished talking and we maintained eye contact for a while. To anyone passing by, they would think we were about to have a fistfight but it wasn't so.

We hadn't had a fistfight in years... even for fun, because we grew up being told that it was uncultured.

So staring at each other in silence was just another way of communicating with each other. Especially if people were around. With a sigh of resignation, I gave in to Ethan and grabbed the steering wheel.

"f**k it then, let's go," I told him.

Then I reversed and drove off to the restaurant where we were all to meet for dinner after Ethan typed in the address in the GPS. Silence reigned in the car for a while but then Ethan began to steal short glances at me and he always did that when he was hesitating to say something.

"You have something to say to me. Out with it before you explode" I joked as I coaxed him to share what disturbed him so with me and he sighed.

"I saw you. How you watched Ivy get into a cab before coming over to your car to leave" he said and I stayed silent for a moment, surprised that he saw me when I thought I was careful enough. I had to be more careful henceforth.

"I hope you know what you're doing though. Janet will go batshit crazy if she finds out about Ivy and we both know how brutal she can get which I'm sure you don't want for Ivy" he added and I briefly looked at him only to see he was glaring at me.

"I told you I have the situation under control. Quit panicking and leave it to me" I told him and he chuckled coldly.

"It didn't look like you had it in control when I saw you staring at Ivy while she was waiting for a cab earlier. If you really want to help her, fire her before Janet knows who she is" he retorted bitterly like Ivy was a parasite that was going to destroy everything we'd worked for so far and I'd had enough.

Losing my temper, I swerved the car toward the roadside and had it parked before I turned to stare at Ethan and he stared back at me too, his eyes clearly telling me to bring it on and I wondered how he could be so stubborn sometimes.

"What goes on in my life is none of your business to interfere in. I won't fire Ivy and Janet would never know about her because as I said before, I have the situation under control. Now shut your mouth and let me drive us to dinner" I laid emphasis on each word I said to him, clearly telling him to back off and he shrugged.

"If it all goes to ruins because of you, I'm going to be there to tell you 'I told you so' okay?" He replied and I ignored him as I turned back to the steering and turned on the car to continue driving.

"Suit yourself" I brushed him off just so he'd keep shut and the rest of the drive went on in silence.

We arrived at the restaurant and the waiter led us to our reserved table where dad, Janet, and her father sat waiting for us. Once she saw me, she flashed a bright smile before waving and I sighed tiredly internally. It was going to be a long and annoying night.