A Boy Worth Choosing (The Worthy Series Book 2) (4 page)

Chapter Four

~Stephen~

She sounds pissed and I immediately try to think of what I could have possibly done wrong in the forty-eight hours we’ve been a couple.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, trying my best to not sound guilty.

“I need you in an official capacity. Do you think you might be able to swing by the office?” she asks, obviously trying to unsuccessfully calm herself down.

“Of course, may I ask what this is in relation to?” I ask, trying not to push her buttons.

“We’ve been having some problems with clients cancelling their sessions. Turns out that it could be Caleb behind it.”

My blood starts to boil at the sound of his name. The idiot just can’t take a hint can he?

“I’ll be over this afternoon. Are you okay?”

“I will be. I just need to get this moron out of my life for good.”

“I’ll see what I can do about that.” I smirk and I can hear her relax a little. “Just breathe, babe. Everything will be okay. I’ll be there just as soon as I can.”

“Okay, thank you.” She hangs up and I turn back to my locker. Grady and I just got our butts handed to us by the guys from medical malpractice, but the game was a great distraction from what I really wanted to do today. I don’t think Jessie would have gotten anything done if I was camped out on the couch in her office all day.

“Good game, Cahill.” Cooper and the rest of the malpractice guys walk out of the locker room, duffle bags in hand, freshly showered.

Grady comes around the corner in his boxers with a towel hanging from his broad, dark shoulders, rubbing the back of his razor shaved black head. 

“Hey, I may need your help with something this afternoon if you don’t have anything going on.” I pull my pale blue dress shirt on and start working the buttons.

“Actually I have a couple meetings today, but I’m free for dinner. Wanna grab something at Larry’s?” he asks as he pulls his pants on.

“No, I’ve got dinner plans already.” I smirk, thinking about my drop dead gorgeous date, who currently is stewing in anger over her ex-boyfriend. I pull my slacks up and button them with a little more speed.

“Plans? You have plans?” he scoffs.

“Don’t look so surprised.” I cock an eyebrow at him as I tie my Gucci lace-ups.

“Oh, I’m surprised. She finally gave into your whiny ass?”

“I don’t whine,” I say, pulling my charcoal vest over my shoulders.

“Dude, you haven’t stopped whining since her birthday. I was just about to tell you to get over yourself. But good for you. I’m happy for you, man.” He shoots a genuine smile in my direction before shrugging. “Although that explains your crappy game today.”

“It’s not my game that’s crappy, buddy.”

“What you think that you’re an actual white boy who can jump?”

“That’s a little prejudicial even for you, don’t you think?”

“Hey, don’t hate on me because I’m black and have the genetics that give me a better game than you.” He holds his hands in the air like he’s God’s gift to basketball.

“If that’s what you have to tell yourself. I gotta go. I’ll call you later.” I pick up my bag, shaking my head, and make a bee-line for the door before he can throw any more insults my way. I pull out my phone to shoot Jess a quick message.

I’m getting ready to head your way. Would you like some lunch?

I toss my bag in the trunk and am buckling up when my phone buzzes.

I had to run a quick errand and am picking up lunch now. I’ll meet you back at the studio. Thank you again.

Anything for you ;)
I message her back and start my car, relishing the purr of the engine as I pull out and into traffic.

***

I drop the thank you coffee I promised Daphne for supplying me with information on Jessie while they were in Mexico off at her desk. I earn a gracious wink from her as I make my way back to Jessie’s office. I walk in and find a pregnant woman I’ve never met before hunched over Jess’s computer.

“Hello,” I say, clearly shocked.

“Hello,” the woman purrs back at me. I’m getting a little uncomfortable with the stare down I’m getting when my girl whirls into her office, all in a frenzy.

“Hey.” She dashes past me to set food on her desk for her pregnant friend.

“Hey,” I scoff at the brush off. She stops and her face softens as she looks back at me. She comes back and gives me a quick peck on the cheek. “Thank you for coming. Stephen, this is Shaina. Shaina, Stephen.”

I nod at Shaina, who gives me a too appreciative look.

“Oh,” she says suggestively. I decide I should probably keep my distance. “Jess, I approve,” she fake whispers behind her hand, as Jess joins me on the couch with her lunch.

“So…what’s up?” I ask timidly.

“So, we got a call from a loyal customer who was told about a review for us on Pictureperfect.com. Turns out these oh-so-unkind reviews are from Caleb or an accomplice of his. We’ve found four questionable reviews so far,” she starts, getting down to business.

I want to be a little hurt she isn’t more excited to see me, but see this is plainly stressing her out, so I reel my focus back in.

“We think there might be a problem with pinning them on him specifically though,” she continues. “All reviews are left with a username and not real names. But I can verify if the validity of the content is true or not. For instance, one review states our new clientele forms require ethnicity to be listed. There isn’t a document in this building that requests, let alone requires, a client to list their ethnicity.”

“Hmm. Okay. How many cancellations have you had so far?” I ask, trying to determine the scale of his influence at this time.

“Nine so far, two of which were from this morning. But the cancellation dates coincide with the dates that the first reviews were posted,” Shaina says raising a list of what I assume are the cancellation details.

“Make that ten.” Daphne comes in with a sticky note and adds the information to Shaina’s list.  “They were hotter than a hippo out of water in July, but I was able to confirm it was due to a review they saw. I tried everything, Jess, but they wouldn’t reschedule. I’m sorry.”

Jessie sighs and rubs the back of her neck as she tries to keep her composure. I place my hand on her knee, careful not to touch her bare leg. She’s in distress and I want nothing more than to scoop her up and shield her from the world, but she clearly doesn’t need any distractions right now.

“Jess, we’re going to figure this out. I promise. Everything will be okay.”

She jumps up and starts pacing the little space between the coffee table and her desk.

“It just pisses me off that he would attack my business, my baby. He’s not just hurting me, he’s hurting my business partner,” she says gesturing at Daphne, who is nodding in furious agreement. “But also my staff and the potential intern we could take in next fall. I dumped him. I didn’t send his business into financial failure.” She looks like she could burst into tears at any given moment.

“Girls, could you give us a moment please,” I say, gesturing at the door.

Shaina gives Jessie a sympathetic smile and Daphne storms out angrier than I’ve ever seen her. I follow them to the door and shut it behind them. I turn back to Jessie, who won’t stop pacing. She starts to walk away from me and I pull her to my chest and wrap my arms tightly around her. After a second or two, she wraps her arms around my waist and I kiss the top of her head.

“Gah! I just want to storm into his office and –“

“Hey,” I shush her. “You and I both know that he won’t take you seriously, and honestly he’s likely to get distracted with you in that skirt.” I smirk down at her. “Lord, knows I could easily get distracted…”

She slaps at my chest and I pull her back in again. 

“You think that pretty face of yours is going to get you out of trouble, Cahill, but I’m here to tell-“

“You think I’m pretty?” I feign innocence and she tries to push away from me. I swoop in for the kiss, placing a hand in between her shoulder blades to push her back into me. I can’t get enough of this girl, and by the way she won’t back down from my kisses, I’m pretty sure she feels the same. I finally decide to loosen my grip on her and she slowly lowers herself back down.

“Feel better?” I ask.

“Mmm, much.” She gives me a satisfied grin.

“Good. Everything is going to be just fine. We’ll figure this out. But I will need a few things to get the ball rolling. Let’s bring the girls back in and the sooner you ladies can get me the information, the sooner we can put this to bed. Okay?”

She nods and opens the door to let Shaina and Daphne back in. Isaiah joins us this time and I set about giving them the list of needs I know Grady and I will need. Daphne and Shaina take off to work from the lobby. I follow Isaiah out and pull him aside.

“Hey could you do me a favor?” I ask.

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Could you keep an eye on the girls for me? I know both Jessie and Daphne have an emotional stake in this, so I need to know if they are getting too upset over it all. I can’t have either one of them flying off the handle; they won’t get the results they’re looking for if they do something irrational.” I explain.

“Absolutely. But you need to know that we all have an emotional stake in this business. We may not have been here from the beginning, but we’ve all put enough blood, sweat and tears into this place to call it our baby too.” He gives me an appreciative look, before excusing himself.

I think deep down, I knew he would say that, but to see Isaiah, and Shelby too, treat Jessie’s company like it’s their own gives me a sense of relief.  They’ve got Jessie’s back in a way that I won’t always be able to, and to know she has that kind of support eases any concerns I could have while she’s here.

I re-enter Jessie’s office to find her slouching in her desk chair. She looks exhausted, and after such an eventful day back, I don’t blame her.

“Hey you,” I say, propping myself up on the edge of her desk beside her.

“Hey,” she responds sleepily. “What a day… I am so ready for some sweats and some spaghetti.”

“You and your spaghetti.” I shake my head. “I was thinking Mexican. Or we could do Italian if you want.”

She looks up at me from her chair and gives me a half smile.

“Is it kind of boring of me to ask if we can stay in tonight? Today has me beat.”

“Not at all.” In all honesty, my favorite time with her has been spent on a couch, but that kind of sounds dirty, so I don’t say it out loud. I love it when she falls asleep curled up next to me. Maybe I’ll get lucky tonight. Ha! “But unless you went grocery shopping since you’ve returned from your dad’s, we’re going to have to order in.”

She sighs and I guess it’s too soon to start giving her a hard time about her empty fridge.

“I’ll order something from that Italian place near your place. Spaghetti or those lobster raviolis you love?”

Her face lights up.

“Why Mr. Cahill, you sure know how to spoil a girl.”

“Well, she told me we were taking things one step at time, so gotta bust out the big guns while I have the chance.”

She steps in front of me and blushes.

“Careful, she just might come to expect the big guns all the time.”

“Well, then it’s a good thing I’m getting a promotion and a raise then.” I wink at her. She laughs and just shakes her head as we leave her office.

***

Her breathing turns into gentle snores about halfway through our movie. Her head lays on my lap, and she’s managed to roll so that she’s face up. I curl the strands of her ponytail around the fingers of my left hand while my right arm lays along the back of the couch. I barely pay any attention to the action movie she picked out, but just stare at the features of her face. Her thick lashes fan over her high cheekbones and her slim lips are slightly parted.

I watch her sleep so peacefully, and all of a sudden I’m so overwhelmed that I’m sitting here now, with her, like this. It’s kind of amazing that this part of our relationship hasn’t changed. She’s still the girl I grew up with, the same old Jessie, but now I get the rest of her. The parts she reserved for Jake and, for a short time, Caleb; they’re mine now.

God, I have no idea where this is going, but thank you for bringing us here. Help me to be the man she needs me to be, because she’s definitely everything I want. And I don’t want to ever let her go.

Jessie stirs and looks up at me with super sleepy eyes.

“Hey, sleeping beauty.”

“Hey, you.” She reaches up and gingerly touches my cheek. “Sorry I crashed on you.”

“Trust me, I don’t mind,” I tell her as she smiles sleepily, sits up and stretches.

“I need to call it a night. I’m sorry. Do you have plans for Thursday night? Maybe we could actually go out on an actual date?”  

“Would I sound too eager if I asked for tomorrow night?”

She gives me a flirty look as she stands up and folds her blanket before laying it over the back of the couch.

“So taking things slow…?”