Page 63 of Lost in Love

This is where I lose it. I grab him by the front of his shirt and slam him up against the wall. “You’re such a son of a bitch! You haven’t heard a goddamn thing I’ve said. Don’t talk to me about your superficial reasons for fucking around on your wife.”

He’s breathing heavily; his hand knocks mine away. “I’m not going to warn you again, Noah. Mind your own fucking business.”

“Are you going to tell her?” I press, demanding an answer.

His jaw clenches, waiting. No answer.

I shove away from him, and he stumbles back but catches himself against his desk. “I quit.”

He looks at me as if I can’t possibly be serious, his expression morphing from anger to disbelief. “You’re gonna fucking quit over this?”

I tense, every part of me frozen in place for a moment. “You’re goddamn right I am. Find yourself a new foreman.” I turn, open the door and walk out. I have half a mind to call Xianna and tell her, but then again, it’s not my place. I have to remind myself I have my own shit to deal with.

I don’t go home right away.Instead, I call Jason because he has a friend who owns a property management company. We meet up at a bar for lunch.

“You really quit your job? What’s Kelly gonna say?”

I shrug, my eyes on my beer and the condensation forming around it. Truth is, I don’t know what Kelly is going to say. “I’m sure she won’t be happy about it. I didn’t ask her when I moved her and the kids out here, and I didn’t ask her about this.”

“Why did you quit?”

I think about what I’m going to say. Jason doesn’t know Xianna or my brother. “Walked in on my brother fucking the sales manager.”

He gives me a look of confusion, as if he’s thinking really hard about something. There’s a smirk playing at the corner of his lips when he asks, “The sales manager is a woman, right?”

Scratching the side of my face, I laugh. “Yes, a woman, but regardless, he’smarried.”

There’s an expression that crosses Jason’s face, but he’s quick to blink it away before he straightens his posture. He exhales a breath before whispering, “Shitty.” A tall blonde passes by the bar. Jason glances over his shoulder, checks her out, then turns back to face me. “Has he always been like that?”

I take a drink of my beer and then set it down on the bar. “What was that look for?”

“What?” He motions with a nonchalant head nod to the woman who’s now sitting with a group of girls looking like they’re here on their lunch break, judging by their attire. “Just seeing what’s on the market these days.”

Jason glances down at his cell phone.

“No, I mean when I said he was cheating on his wife.”

“Nothing.”

Part of me wonders if infidelity was the reason behind him and Kate splitting, but it’s none of my business, and frankly, I don’t want to be involved in that drama too. “I probably should have thought about it more before I quit, but something snapped inside me.”

Jason nods and sets his phone down. “I know a guy who has a shop for rent about a mile from here. We could go check it out if you want.”

“Yeah, okay.” I don’t have a lot of clientele around here, but I’m sure I can work something out. I also don’t know what I’m going to tell Kelly when I get home, but if I’m drunk, it might be easier.

Jason’s interested in his cell phone for a few minutes and then looks over at me when I’m on my third beer and feeling better about my decisions. I’m sure when this buzz wears off, I’ll feel differently. “I think we’re going to dinner tonight.”

My eyes snap to his and I nearly spit my beer out. “Huh?”

He shows me his phone and it’s a text message from Kate.

Dinner at 7. Parents’ night out.

I swallow. “I was supposed to take Kelly out tonight on a date.”

He tucks his phone in his pocket. “Looks like plans change.” Then he laughs. “Kinda like you having a job.”

“That’s not funny.”

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