again. She ran her eyes over my uniform and my disheveled state and said, “Why you were out all night and you’re still in your uniform…”
“Oh, that!” I said, trying to sound sincere. I’m a terrible liar, but I was going to give it a shot. “I didn’t have any clean clothes at Jason’s, so I just put this on.”
“I’m shocked,” she said.
“That I didn’t have any clean clothes?” She shook her head. “That I stayed at Jason’s?” She shook it again. “That I’m lying?” I asked, chagrined.
She nodded then with a smile. “Go change and hurry back, I can’t wait to hear all about it.”
I changed into a pair of cutoff sweats and a t-shirt and washed my face, brushed my teeth and pulled my hair back into a ponytail at the nape of my neck. I didn’t feel any better, but I at least looked human. I met Liz back at the table and sat down, taking a sip of coffee.
“That is so good, thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said. “Now, tell me where you were all night.”
“I was at the mansion,” I said. I took another sip of coffee. It really was good. “How did you know I wasn’t with Jason?”
“He came by on his way to work this morning.”
I almost spilled the coffee, sitting it down too hard on the table. “What did he want?”
“He just wanted to pick up the jacket he left here a few days ago. Your bedroom door was closed and I thought you were in there sleeping. I started to go get you but he said to let you sleep, he’d talk to you later. Imagine my surprise when I saw you pull up out the window and then come slinking in here looking all guilty.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. At least Jason didn’t know. Not that it should matter to him since we’re on a “break.” But still, I wasn’t sure what I thought of myself at the moment. I was really unsure of what everyone else would think of me. Liz looked amused so far.
“I was really at the mansion all night,” I said again, praying she would leave it at that.
“I thought that yummy boss of yours had a no staff after seven p.m. rule.”
“He does.”
“Then pray tell what were you doing there all night, and don’t leave out any details.”
I stood up and went over to top up my coffee. “You want some?”
She laughed. “You’re bright red. You slept with your boss, didn’t you?”
I looked away and said, “Of course not.”
Still laughing she said, “Look me in the eye.” I turned slowly and looked at her and she laughed even harder. “Oh my God! You slept with a billionaire hunk! Go Vicki!”
“Stop it,” I said, mortified once again. “It wasn’t like that.”
“What was it like?” she said. “Oh please tell me. I haven’t had a boyfriend in three months and I’ve never had anyone like Alexander Reigns.”
I sat back down and said, “Jason broke up with me yesterday in a text message while I was at work.”
“That snake! I always knew I didn’t like him. Oh Vicki, I’m sorry.”
I tried to smile and say it didn’t matter, but the words wouldn’t come out. Instead, I said, “In his defense, he didn’t really say break up . He said, take a break .”
“Same thing,” she said. “Slime ball.”
“Yeah, I guess. I was really upset and I just lost it and I couldn’t stop crying. Alex…”
“Alex, huh? Cozy.”
“Do you want to hear this or not?”
“I do. I’m sorry, I’ll be good.”
“He saw me and he was so sweet. He fixed us a drink and…”
“A drink?”
“Liz!”
“Okay, okay. Go on…”
“We talked. It was really nice. He’s really just a normal guy. It’s easy to forget they’re human, you know? The elite. The ones we wait on and clean up after. But he really is just normal like any other guy.”
“Alexander Reigns is a God. Ask the cover of any tabloid in the city. And since his wife left him,