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“You know.” Anika bumped her shoulder against Xolani’s again. “Him.”
It would’ve been easy to tell Anika that she’d met Barry on an airplane, but Anika’s unabashed curiosity made Xolani want to tease her.
Her mouth twitching with a restrained smile, Xolani said, “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“Come on!” Anika huffed in frustration.
Xolani was determined to keep pretending that she had no idea what her friend was talking about. However, when the elevator stopped at the Marketing Division’s floor, Anika got off with Xolani instead of heading up to the Hybrid Vehicles Division.
Xolani informed her, “You’re on the wrong floor.”
“I know.” Anika rushed to keep up with Xolani’s long strides even as she sipped on her coffee. “So how do you know Barry Hale?”
Xolani stopped walking to glare at her. “Stop stalking me.”
“No,” Anika refused. The woman could be very determined when she had a mission in mind. She grabbed Xolani’s hand and dragged her to the lady’s bathroom. She opened each stall to make sure there was no one around before declaring, “Okay, spill! How do you know him?”
By this time, Xolani had given up on hiding her amusement. Smiling, she asked, “Why are you so interested?”
“Because he’s Barry Hale.”
The way Anika said the name had Xolani raising her eyebrows. “You know him?”
“Doesn’t everybody?”
“I don’t.”
“No way!” Anika added, “I told you about him.”
“No, you didn’t.” Xolani said, “I would’ve remembered his name.”
“I told you about him when you were in France.” Anika expounded, “He’s the new guy in EV, came in around the time you left. We call him EV’s heartbreaker.”
“EV’s heart- Oh!” Xolani gasped when the memory came back to her. “The guy who those servers from the restaurant fought over?”
Anika nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah.”
“The guy who Deena from HR’s husband came to confront about having an affair with his wife?”
“The very same.”
Xolani slapped her mouth over her hand. “Ooh, that can’t be my Barry.”
This time it was Anika’s eyebrows that flew up. “Your Barry?”
“Slip of the tongue,” Xolani dismissively waved it away. Coming closer to her friend, she asked, “So Barry is the guy who’s got all those ladies’ panties in a knot? What about his girlfriend? That Misty girl.”
“Misty? Not his girl yet.” Anika offered, “She’s just trying to get in line. Unfortunately for her, the line’s pretty long.”
Xolani should’ve been happy that Misty wasn’t Barry’s girlfriend. But a sense of wariness completely overwhelmed any happiness. If the rumor mill was accurate, then he was a womanizer and cheater. But the Rayburn grapevine had been known to exaggerate things, so she wasn’t completely convinced of the accuracy.
Still, one thing was certain, all those women had fought over him. Moreover, Misty had grabbed him like he was her man. That pointed to someone who was too ‘friendly’. A woman misunderstanding his intentions was one thing. But this was several misunderstandings, to the point where women were pulling each other’s hair in public and husbands were confronting him. It was incredibly concerning!
In the past, Xolani might’ve overlooked all that and given him the benefit of the doubt. But she’d already been burned by a man with too many lady friends. Twice!
She wasn’t in the market for a third burning.
So, no matter how hot and awesome Barry was, he was officially off her ‘could be my man’ list.
