Where is he?
I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to know, although a part of me needed to know the answer.
Had he never come home last night?
Maybe he’d gotten drunk and left his car somewhere? Maybe someone else drove him home? I knocked repeatedly on the front door.
Nothing.
He definitely wasn’t home.
Returning to my car parked outside, I picked up my phone and dialed him once again.
To my shock, this time someone answered. But it wasn’t Rush.
“Hello?”
It was a woman with a groggy voice. My heart started to beat faster.
“Who is this?” I said.
She repeated my question. “Who is this?”
“It’s Gia. Where’s Rush?”
“Gia? Gia! The woman who fucked Rush’s brother? Wow. Why are you even calling him? You’ve got some nerve.”
My heart sank. I tasted the bile rising from my stomach, feeling a bit betrayed that he would spill our business to some slut he just met.
“Who is this? Where is Rush?”
“You’re a real piece of work. You lost a good one, bitch.”
“Excuse me?”
There was no response. Then the phone went dead in my ear. She’d hung up on me.
My car shook from the wind. Resting my head against the steering wheel, I wanted to cry, but the shock from what just happened must have dried my tears.
He was with a woman.
The realization of that felt like a death had occurred. As hard as it was to accept, I couldn’t even be mad at him. I was sad, but I didn’t have the right to be mad. After the horrifying news I’d given him, how could I expect that he’d be able to handle things alone? Yes, I was jealous and sick to my stomach, but a part of me understood.
Shutting my eyes tightly, I tried to shun thoughts of Rush screwing another woman.
I clutched my stomach, looking out toward the house that was once going to be my home. Now it was very likely that my baby would never see the nursery that Rush built. It was just one of the many dreams that had been shattered over one really bad decision.That night, right before I was scheduled to work, I stood outside The Heights, hesitant to go in. He might have been in there. Would he face me or continue to ignore me? How would I feel looking at him after knowing he’d been with another woman? So many questions flew in and out of my brain. My heart was pummeling against my chest. God, this level of stress could not have been good for my baby.
I didn’t feel prepared to handle any of this. But honestly, I had no choice but to work tonight. The fact of the matter was, at the moment, I had no other job, no money, and a baby on the way. That reminded me that I really needed to make finding another job a priority before I moved back to the City.
Taking a deep breath in, I made my way toward the door and entered.
Oak was standing near the hostess station, looking like he might have been waiting for me.
“Hi,” I said.
He seemed anxious. “Hey, Gia.”
I swallowed. “Is Rush here?”
“Boss is in his office. I don’t know what’s going on. He wouldn’t talk to me, but he doesn’t look good. In fact, I’ve never seen him like this. Looks like he got run over by a truck and smells like he got thrown in a bar dumpster. You may want to go in and check on him.”
My heart sank. “How long has he been here?”
“Hours. He hasn’t come out and he yelled at me a few times to leave him alone.”
I expelled a long breath. “I’m pretty sure that I’m the last person he wants to see right now, Oak.”
Oak nodded in understanding. “Oh…okay, so this has something to do with you guys. That’s what I was afraid of.” He frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah. I think it might be best if I let him come out on his own. He knows I’m working. I think he’ll seek me out when he’s ready. I’m afraid to make him more upset.”
He looked around and lowered his voice. “Can I ask what happened?”
I simply shook my head no. Thankfully, he didn’t push it.
My shift that night was excruciating. I couldn’t go two minutes without looking down the hallway to see if Rush was going to come out of his office. He never did. I even passed by a few times and placed my ear on the door to see if I could hear anything. And nothing. I was starting to think that maybe he’d snuck out during one of the few times I was too preoccupied to notice.
At the end of the night, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I had cash to put in the safe, so I figured that was a good ‘official’ excuse to enter his office.