Ray of Love (Lifestyle by Design Book 3) (13 page)

"Oh, they're leaving now," Rita mumbled.

This time he twisted on his chair. Victor and Jessa waved while Clarise smiled her goodbye. Faye was looking down at the floor. Her friends herded her towards the exit as if she was a celebrity needing protection. She didn't look up at all.

"That was kind of strange, wasn't it?" Rita commented. "It was like they didn't want to say goodbye to us." She shrugged. "Maybe Faith was just embarrassed she cried in public."

"Faye," he corrected her tersely.

"Oh, yes," Rita responded dismissively, then beamed at an approaching server. "Oh good. Here come our coffees. Are you sure you don't want to share a cake with me?"

"No thanks. I need to get back to work very soon." He didn't really have to but he wanted to leave. A nagging feeling was starting to bother him.

"Oh," Rita pouted in what she must have thought was a cute expression.

"You can order one for yourself. I just have to go as soon as I finish my coffee. I'll settle the bill on my way out."

"It's okay. Maybe next time. I might as well leave with you and do some work, too."

~~~~~~~

Ray tried to clear his head as he walked the short distance back to his office.

Faye had been upset and it troubled him that she was. He couldn't stand seeing her that unhappy.

But surely, it wasn't any of his business. It would be foolish of him to get involved in her private affairs when he himself was still trying to heal his pain - pain caused by her.

That nagging feeling poked him harder. It kept insinuating he had something to do with her tears. But if that was the case, that would mean she had feelings for him!

His heart danced madly at the thought but his head warned him not to jump to outrageous conclusions. He'd made that mistake before and he'd been so wrong.

They had amazing sex. They shared intimate conversations about their dreams, careers and families. Their dates had been seriously fun.

These things made him think she at least cared enough for him to not want to see other people. Turned out what made his heart soar to the skies meant nothing to her.

If he was wrong on those counts, how could he be right in thinking her tears were caused by him?

No. She must have gotten upset because of something else and not because he refused to talk to her or because she caught him out on a date with another woman.

He marched to his office, determined not to ask about her, even though it might just kill him not to know. He slumped on his chair and swivelled it so he wasn't facing the door.

Thinking about Faye was emotionally draining. But he didn't know how to stop.

He heard a soft knock on his open door. He hastily composed himself and twirled around.
 

"Hi, Ray," Jessa said as she stood at the threshold. "Just wanted to let you know Mrs. Collins rang and said their office is already getting inundated with calls due to our feature article, even though this month's edition only came out this morning. She's already booked an appointment with us in two weeks to discuss paid advertorials moving forward."

"That's great," he smiled at Jessa. "You guys do such a great job with your articles we don't even need to sell our advertising spaces. Clients fight for the paid spots because they know we reach their target market. Excellent work, Jess."

"Thanks. And just to confirm, you want Mark to work on the editing of both Rob's and Will's adverts, right?"

"Well, I don't really care if you, Clarise or Mark work on them. They're paid educational articles that will appear under their own business banners so whoever works on them doesn't really matter. It's a question of whether you girls want to work on your fiancés' business marketing or not. I'll leave it to the three of you to decide."

"Okay, great," Jessa replied with a grin. "Rob's already grilling me with his so I might as well work on it."

He smiled his agreement.

"Oh, and Ray," Jessa continued, "sorry we didn't really say a proper goodbye to you and Rita earlier at the restaurant. Faye got a bit upset."

Involuntarily, he took a sharp intake of breath. He blinked a couple of times and swallowed visibly. He didn't expect any of them to openly discuss Faye with him. But of course, they didn't know about him being 'John'.

Despite his promise to himself, he croaked, "Is she okay?"

Jessa shrugged casually but her gaze was penetrating. "She took it quite hard."

Before he could ask Jessa what she meant, his phone rang. He stared at Jessa for a couple of seconds before advising her he had to pick up that call. She nodded and left.

Unbeknownst to him, his eyes expressed more than he intended for her to notice.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"Ray's definitely coming, right?" Victor queried as he greeted Clarise and Will, who had arrived at his boyfriend Evan's very first public exhibition of his oil paintings.

"Yes, that's what he told me," Clarise confirmed. "Is Faye here already?"

"Not yet. She said she's bringing Kane with her. Some of Evan's work on geometrics might catch Kane's architect eyes."

"Where's Evan?"

"Oh, he's somewhere in the next room chatting with some people. I'm so excited and nervous for him. I hope he sells some of his paintings."

"He definitely will, Victor. Will and I checked his website and we're interested in a couple of them," Clarise declared then swayed towards her fiancé. "We should go check them out, baby, before someone else buys them."

"Good idea," Will responded.

"Oh, thank you, guys. You're so sweet," Victor gushed.

"No, Evan's good," Clarise grinned.

"Oh, no," Victor exclaimed in dismay.

"What?"

"Guess who just walked in?"

Will and Clarise turned and saw none other than Rita Maxwell arriving with an older woman. The resemblance was unmistakable, and they guessed her companion must be her mother.

"Who invited her?" Clarise whispered to Victor.

"I don't know. The owner of this gallery has a lot of connections. Now what do we do? This could be bad for Faye."

Clarise put a hand on Will's arm. "Honey, can you give me a few minutes? Victor and I need to talk about this unexpected guest."

"Who's she?"

"Someone who's after Ray."

"Oh. So you think with her being here, Faye might not get her opportunity to talk to Ray alone?"

"Rita's very flirty and doesn't seem to care if people see her as being all over Ray. I wouldn't be surprised if she attaches herself to his side all night. We just want Faye to have every chance of speaking with him privately."

"Okay, hope everything works out well for the two of them." Will gave Clarise a quick kiss on the lips and sauntered off.

Clarise and Victor went in search of Jessa. They hadn't verbalised their opinion to Faye, but all three of them were sure Ray felt the same way about her. They had observed him enough at work to know he was hurting because of Faye. But those two had better talk so they could know the truth for themselves.

*******

"You okay?"

Faye looked up at Kane, who looked mighty fine in his expensive suit. They had just parked Kane's car and were making their way to the gallery entrance.

"Yes," she smiled at him. "Thank you for coming with me tonight."

"You do know my services don't come for free. You have to make me dessert this weekend."

"No problem," she chuckled. "You know, you should watch what you eat. You're not getting any younger and all those sweets could blow you up before you even know it." She eyed her brother keenly but had to admit he was in great shape.

Kane's brows furrowed together. "I thought you use light cheese and less sugar in your cakes."

"Yes, relatively speaking. But they're still high in calories."

"I'll just exercise more," he said with a shrug then peered at her closer. "You look nervous."

"Is it obvious?"

"Because I know you well, yes. You usually handle most things with aplomb, so it worries me that you're not only listless but also nervy. Is it because of that guy Ray?"

"Yes," she responded quietly. "He's going to be here tonight."

"Oh, I see. Good."

Faye's head jerked up to her brother's face at his tone. "What do you mean? What are you planning to do?"

"Nothing," Kane replied innocently.

"Kane, please don't do anything that would embarrass me. I can handle this."

"Handle what? What are
you
planning to do?"

"I just want to talk to him privately. If he really doesn't want me bothering him anymore then … " she paused and gulped before continuing, "that's fine. I just need to hear him say it while he's looking at me instead of giving me the glacial silent treatment. Promise me you won't approach him. Please?"

"Okay," her brother acquiesced, draping his arm around her shoulder. "You know I just worry about you."

"I know," she said to him gratefully and placed an affectionate arm around his waist.

They walked up to the gallery in silence.

When they got to the door, a young girl in a sexy black number greeted them enthusiastically, gave them brochures and invited them to order some drinks at the makeshift bar in the corner.

There were already a number of people inside. Faye felt a burst of pride for Evan. He'd been painting for fifteen years, since he was twenty, and only considered it as a hobby until he met Victor, who encouraged him to show off his work to other people. Now here he was with his first exhibition, filling up three rooms in the gallery with his work.

She glanced around, looking for her best friends, when her eyes came in contact with a pair of piercing blue ones that she had missed like crazy.

Ray stared back at her from across the room with an inscrutable expression.

Her heart pounded. It wanted to leap out of her chest and fly to him.
She
wanted to leap and fly to him. But something in his stance told her that such actions were unwelcome.

Then she saw her. Rita Flirty-Bitch Maxwell. The woman she had begun to despise curled a hand on Ray's upper arm and whispered something in his ear. She leaned on him too closely, so that her breast brushed his torso while she spoke. He nodded and went with her wherever she wanted him to go.

Fuck.

Suddenly, the room was blurry.

Shit. I'm going to cry again.

"Faye," Kane said softly, putting a comforting hand on her back.

"I need to go to the bathroom. Could you grab me a glass of wine, please?" She put on a brave face for her brother.

"You okay?"

"Yes, I'll be fine. I'll be back shortly."

She spun around and headed for the opposite direction from where Ray and Rita went. She came across a side door leading to the back of the gallery and snuck out. She breathed a sigh of relief as she found herself in an empty, well-manicured garden. She desperately needed to be alone.

She strolled to the farthest side of the garden and spotted a bench underneath a big fig tree. The darkness of the night meant she wouldn't be seen by anyone unless they specifically walked close to where she was. She sat down and let the tears flow.

There was no need for a conversation with Ray. What she saw was enough.

He was looking straight in her eyes when Rita came to whisper something to him. He knew she was watching when Rita almost plastered her body against his. And he didn't give a damn. He didn't even acknowledge her or nod goodbye when he went with Rita to heaven knew where.

Yes, that was enough. If anything, it yelled to her the answer she needed to acknowledge.

He didn't want her anymore. He didn't care. He had moved on. And she had to accept that.

Her shoulders slumped as she wept softly.

How she was going to get over Ray, she didn't know. The pain of losing him was one hundred times worse than the pain from breaking up with all her previous boyfriends combined.

This time, she had truly loved - and lost.

*******

"Kane!"

Kane turned to the person calling him. It was Victor. A smile formed on his face. He genuinely liked all of Faye's best friends.

"Hey, Victor. Haven't seen you for a long time," he said, giving the man a brief hug.

"I know. You just came back from Dubai, I hear."

"Yes, a few days ago."

"Where did Faye go? I saw the two of you arrive and now she's not here."

"She went to the restroom."

"Drats. I can't follow her there," Victor muttered.

Kane sensed something was up.

"What's going on?"

Victor eyed him, appearing to decide whether to divulge a secret to him or not.

"If it's got something to do with your boss, then I know about that."

"You do?" Victor asked, his eyebrows arched.

"Yes. I also know he's here with a girlfriend. Faye saw them together within a minute of us getting here. That's why she ran away to the restroom. She was teary," he said with a heavy sigh.

"Oh, no! Damn it!" Victor cried out loud, attracting the attention of several people around them. "This is one big misunderstanding due to lack of communication," he continued in a lower voice. "Honestly, Ray is a great communicator at work but he sucks at it when it comes to women."

"What do you mean?"

"He's not here with Rita Maxwell - that's the woman you must have seen him with. He came alone and Rita arrived with her mother. Anyway, did Faye tell you about her boo-boo with Ray?"

"You mean when she told him they were both free agents who could date whomever they want?"

"Yes. So Ray gets really hurt by that and since then, he hasn't spoken to Faye. He also started entertaining Rita's flirtations. He wasn't interested in Rita before all this drama with Faye happened. We - Jessa, Clarise and I - think he's trying to move on and Rita happens to be convenient, ready and available to help him with it. But we know he's not over Faye."

Victor sighed before continuing. "Ray doesn't know we know about the two of them. This morning, we carried on a conversation in the office about Faye having her heart broken by John, making sure he heard. By the way, Faye doesn't know about that. We didn't want to raise her hopes up and then have them dashed if Ray didn't do something, even after what he'd heard from us. But we're pretty sure he cares. A lot."