Page 30 of Besties
When the bathroom door opened, Richie stood there, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry, I just couldn’t hold it anymore.”
“It’s cool.” I wanted to sound disaffected, but even I could hear how husky my voice had become. “Hey, are there any gay clubs around here?”
His gaze narrowed. “Why?”
“I was thinking it might be nice to go out and meet some people.”
“Oh, sure. There’s the Club Cafe on Columbus Avenue. It’s more a sedate place. If you’re talking about clubbing, then Paradise on Massachusetts might be better. We could go tonight.”
We? Shit. I wanted to get laid, and going with Richie was a surefire way to ensure that wasn’t going to happen.
“Oh, I was….”
His expression slipped. “Oh, you want to go out by yourself. Okay, I get it. You can catch a cab to the club.”
“What about you?”
“I’ve got some work to do tonight, so I’ll probably be there later than normal.”
I stepped forward and reached for him. “Richie, I—”
He pasted on a smile so fake, even I wasn’t fooled. “It’s cool. I’m going to make some coffee. I’ll see you in a bit.”
And with that, he rushed around me and into the kitchen. He opened and slammed drawers, grumbling to himself. It wasn’t like the apartment was big enough that I couldn’t see him where he was.
I stepped over to him. “What’s going on? I promise not to bring anyone back here.”
“No, it’s fine. This is your place too. Go ahead, bring back whoever you want.” His eyes were narrowing and his jaw was clenching. “In fact, why don’t you just go ahead and fuck the whole day away?” He stepped back, his face contorting with anger. “Seriously, go pick up a bunch of guys and get freaky.”
He turned and glared at me with so much pain in his eyes that I was nearly crushed beneath their weight. He sobbed, then bolted for his clothes. I stood stunned as he dressed and rushed out of the apartment.
Grabbing my stuff from the chair, I went after him. By the time I got to the garage, he’d already left. I took out my phone and called a taxi. While waiting, I tried to go over in my head what had set Richie off. I’d seen him angry at times, but never hurt like he was. It was all so… not him.
When the cab pulled up, I got in and gave him the address to the office. The ride took much longer than I thought, with the cabbie keeping up a stream of chatter that I tried hard to ignore. When he dropped me off, I rushed inside and found Rebecca, who stood there, her eyes narrowed and a snarl on her lips.
“What did you do to him?”
I stepped back. “I didn’t do a damn thing. I asked where the clubs around here were, and he got upset that I was thinking about going out.”
She took a deep breath. “Have you asked yourself why yet?”
“Yeah, and I have no clue.”
A quick shake of the head. “You know, I’ve often heard that men are naturally thick, but I tried not to believe that. You, my friend, have shown me the error of my ways.” She picked up a folder from the desk. “Class today is cancelled.”
“I have a meeting anyway. I’m supposed to talk with a client about giving us another chance to earn their business.”
She clutched the papers to her chest and glared at me. “Well, I certainly hope you’re better at that than you are at reading your friends.”
With that, she spun on her heel and stalked out the door. I was at a loss. Going to the desk, I opened my email. There was one from Allyssa, with the name and phone number of the client, as well as all pertinent details relating to their account. I wanted to go find Richie, to demand he tell me what was wrong, but instead I called to speak to Ms. Amelia Berry.
“I don’t think we have anything to say, Mr. Henry. Your company has made it perfectly clear that our business is not worth having. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have another meeting in—”
“Wait, please.” I drew in a breath. “Ms. Berry, I know we let you down. I won’t try to gloss over the fact that we failed to deliver on our promises. We messed up big-time, but I guarantee you that we want to make this right. As you know, Teaching Time stands behind everything we sell. We partner with the schools who need us the most, providing our products free or at substantial discounts. We work with schools to ensure the needs of students take precedence over anything else. Your account was flubbed badly, and your students would have been the ones to suffer from our neglect. We want to fix both your perception of us, as well as provide your children with the highest-rated educational tools available.”
She was quiet for a minute. “You’re not going to try to blame our previous sales rep?”
“No. We have a series of checks and balances in place to ensure this doesn’t happen, but somewhere along the line, the chain of command was broken. No matter what else, this is all on us.”
