Page 77 of The Biker and the Baker
He brought her to my house...
“Hey,” he says, bringing my attention to him.
I don’t even know what I’m feeling right now. “What is it?”
“So, Cookie’s on my ass. She’s blaming me for you leaving.”
Oh.He’s not here forme. He’s here on business, as my “kinda” boss. Feeling cold all of a sudden, I wrap my arms around myself. “It’s temporary.”
“She’s not convinced you’ll be back,” he says. “She knows you’re working at Saxena’s.”
“Why not go ahead and hire someone else then?”
His gaze glides over my face. “Becauseyou’rewho she wants.” He stuffs his hands into his front pockets. “The kitchen doesn’t run the same without you.”
I’m ashamed of myself for abandoning my team and the job I fought so damn hard to get. But, I can’t. Especially now that he has a new girlfriend. “I’m on leave, Onyx. Wait until I get back or hire someone else.”
He shifts on his feet. “How about this: I’ll avoid the shop during your work hours. When I’m not there, you’re the boss. Everyone reports to you, and you report to Cookie. Cookie’ll update me, and I’ll manage what I need to without you ever having to see me or communicate with me.”
I drop my gaze to the ground for a beat, scuffing my Uggs on the pavement. “Presumptuous of you to assume I left because of you, don’t you think?”
He shifts again, his head tipping to the side. “Aren’t I?”
The gentle night wind carries his scent to me, and it’s taking everything in me not to throw myself at him and press my nose to his skin. I’m tryingreallyhard to appear expressionless and unaffected, but I could be coming off as constipated, for all I know.
“Tell your aunt I’ll be back on Monday.”
He nods and starts moving backwards. “She’ll be happy to hear that.”
When he turns and starts heading back to the SUV, I call, “Onyx.”
He stops and turns, but not completely. “Yeah?”
“You brought your girlfriend to my house.”
He shrugs, unapologetic. “And you told her I gave you syphilis.”
Feeling dejected, shredded, and useless, I wrap my arms tighter around myself and watch the man I love leave with another woman.
~
Onyx kept his word. I don’t see him at work. At all. The price of his absence means more responsibilities on my plate, but it’s the only way.
After two weeks back at work, things start to feel normal again. Out of sight, out of mind. But apparently, the universe isn’t satisfied and has decided to punish me.
All of a sudden, everywhere I go,there Onyx is. And half the time he’s with Rebound Girl, who might as well be called “Official Girl” now since it doesn’t seem she’ll be going anywhere anytime soon.
For two months straight, I can hardly go anywhere without running into him, or her, or both of them together. At the supermarket, the gas station, the food trucks, the dive bars, the mall, the motherfreaking flee market. In this big ass city, we shouldn’t be crossing each other’s paths this often. It’s ridiculous.
I’ve resorted to swapping supermarkets for mini marts and letting Rishi work off his debts to me by taking my car to the gas station to refill my tank whenever I’m low.
Frankly, I don’t remember running into Onyx this much, if at all, before we dated. Not even before our agreement that he would avoid Cookie’s Treat, since he was never there for more than an hour a day. Hell, I didn’t even see him this much when we were dating.
Either he has a lot of spare time on his hands now, or he really enjoys being seen with his new girlfriend.
So much for wanting to spend the rest of his life with me.
Around the two and a half month mark, I realized that I might have been the one to break things off, but his quick and effortless transition to the next available woman in line has proven to me thathehad been the liar in our relationship.
