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I nodded, and he walked the pastry over to me. Richard watched Parker closely. Erik tracked him across the room with his eyes. Parker set the muffin in front of me with a smile, earning a glare from both of them. It was just a muffin, but my hands went clammy.
Without wasting another minute, Richard started reviewing the numbers on the screen. Nick and Amelia had a lot of good questions, which was expected. I had already reviewed and approved what Richard was explaining, so I took notes of what they asked to make sure that we left no stone unturned.
“So,” Richard walked behind me, still facing the room. His hands grasped the back of my chair and pushed it down slightly. My body went stiff but couldn’t resist the gravity shifting it with the chair. The back of my head pressed against Richard’s stomach. His hands moved to my shoulders briefly before he set them back on the chair. “We think this will be the most effective way to allocate the funds.”
When he finished his sentence, Richard squeezed my shoulders and slowly dragged his hands away.
I was acutely aware of the closeness of his body to mine. Erik’s eyes narrowed on Richard. Richard stared him down, daring him to say anything. Richard's touch was meant to be a warning, not to me, but to Erik. He was asserting a claim over me. I didn’t like it.
Parker cleared his throat and straightened, not breaking eye contact with Richard’s hands. His fingers moved to his wrist as he snapped the rubber band. The intention to pummel Richard was in his eyes, but his restraint, thankfully, won. Amelia moved her eyes from the screen to him, but by the time she looked at me, Richard was already back at the front of the room.
Amelia asked some questions, diffusing the tension, and walked off with Richard to talk more. Parker huffed out of the room. Erik reluctantly joined Amelia and Richard since the question pertained to his territory.
I let go of my breath and picked at the muffin in front of me. Richard intended to make a point. He intentionally warned Erik but unintentionally impacted Parker. I didn’t think our rules needed to cover him keeping his hands to himself. I figured that much was implied by the fact that we were at work. He had never so much as bumped me at work, so I hadn’t thought it necessary.
I stormed off to my office and shut the door behind me. Richard was the only one in my life that I had any notion of permanence with, but now I was angry at him. Furious. He was playing with fire if this was how he was going to behave.
While I tried to calm down, Erik burst into my office.
“Are you dating someone?” he demanded to know. His arms crossed in front of him. Fingers tapping.
“What?”
“Do you have a boyfriend, Button?”
“No, I don’t…”
“Good. Then go on a date with me.”
“Huh?”
“You heard me, Button. Go on a date with me.”
“Erik, we talked about this. Friends, remember?”
“I know, but I can’t. What was that thing that you and Nathaniel used to do? Honesty moments? Well, here is one. After everything we’ve been through and feeling what I feel for you, I can never be just friends with you.”
“No,” I said. I couldn’t go down this rabbit hole again. We had already read this story, and it had a devastating ending.
“Give me one night. One chance to prove to you that we belong together. One night where we pretend the arguments never happened, and you let me show you that I can make you happy. No one in this world knows you as well as I do.”
“Erik, it's not a good idea.”
It was possibly the worst idea I could think of.
“You said the same thing the night we started dating, remember? We were great together, Button, like we were always supposed to be.”
“We weren’t always great, Erik. We fought a lot.”
“But we always moved past it. There is nothing to lose in you going on a date with me.”
The memories in my heart tugged at my brain to say yes. I was actually considering it. We had already broken up. We had already lost our friendship. Technically, when it came to him and me, there was literally nothing else to lose.
“Okay,” I sighed.
“You won’t regret it. I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you don’t know if you can keep,” I reminded him. “Now, leave before I change my mind.”
