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It's stupid.
“Hey, Zoey!” Casey calls out, her voice loud and dripping with sweetness. I thought it was Casey and Lisa, but I wasn’t sure. Now I’m sure, and I’m pissed that both of them think it’s okay to be such gossips about me, their boss.
“Hi, have a good night,” I reply, not bothering to stop and make small talk, hoping they get the idea that I heard every word of what they said.
“Oh my god!” Casey squeals as the door to the locker room closes behind me. “Do you think she heard us?”
“So what if she did. She shouldn’t be sleeping with her boss.”
You know what, fuck those two. They don’t get to ruin my night. Grabbing my phone, I shoot Ethan another text, hoping I haven’t missed my opportunity.
Me: Never mind, Crisis averted. You still free?
Ethan: Of course.
Chapter7
Ethan
I’m waiting in my office for Zoey, asking myself what the fuck I’m doing right now. Asking her to dinner? At my place? Nothing about it feels right, like I’m crossing a line in a very big way. I mean, fuck, I’m her boss, she’s my employee and the last thing I want is for Zoey to think I’m trying to take advantage of her.
I don’t want anyone to think that, but I especially don’t want her to think it.
Because I’m absolutely not and even though my thoughts about her are borderline inappropriate at times, I’m asking her to have dinner with me because I genuinely like spending time with her.
And yeah okay, I’m also attracted to her too, that I can’t deny.
“Fuck me,” I exhale, grabbing the receiver of my desk phone as I try to decide what to do. What Ishoulddo.
“Ready to go,” Zoey asks, and I look up, hanging up the phone at the same time. “Oh sorry,” she says, when she realizes what I was doing.
“No, it was nothing important,” I say, knowing that expecting the restaurant to have Ono on the menu was probably a long shot anyway. And really, I should just stick with my original plan of taking her home and ordering in. At least this way we don’t run the risk of anyone seeing us and reading too much into it. “You want to follow me back to my place?”
God, everything about that sounded wrong.
“Um, actually I walked to work, so if you want to tell me your address, I’ll head home and grab my car and meet you there?”
“You walked to work?” I repeat.
“Yep,” she replies with a nod.
I glance out the window, at the night sky, the darkness that surrounds us. She stayed late to give me a lesson, even though it was going to be dark when we were done, and she has no car here. “How would you have gotten home tonight?” I ask, turning back to her.
Zoey shrugs, smiling a little as she says, “Walked.”
My eyes drop to her shoes, to those amazing heels she wears. “You can’t do that.”
She laughs now, lifting a foot to look at her shoes. “Oh, I’ve got boots I can change into and a really great coat, so it’s—”
“No, I mean, you shouldn’t walk home at night. By yourself,” I say. “It’s not safe.”
She smiles at me, crossing her arms as she gives me a look that I assume is meant to be her indulging me a little. “It’s fine, Ethan,” she says. “I’ve lived here my whole life. This place is as safe as it gets.”
I walk around my desk and over to where she stands, stopping in front of her. “Zoey, please don’t walk home by yourself, but especially don’t do it when it’s dark,” I repeat. “Take one of the work cars, whenever you want. Promise me you’ll do that.”
She’s watching me with a curious look on her face as though she’s trying to figure out where all of this is coming from. Truth be told, so am I. All I know is the second she told me she walks home alone, it felt like a vice was wrapping around my chest.
“Zoey,” I prompt.
