Page 104 of Forced Into Your Arms
“Who?”
He hesitated for half a second. “Simone.”
I frowned as I looked back down at Milan’s name on my phone.
“Send her back.”
He nodded and closed the door.
I put my phone on the desk without answering Milan. Simone showing up without calling wasn’t completely unusual when we were together, but we hadn’t been together in a year. The last time I saw her before lunch with Milan had been months ago, and even then, we only talked for a few minutes.
A knock hit the door again before it opened.
Simone stepped inside wearing a fitted black dress and heels, looking exactly like she always did. Put together. Confident. Beautiful enough to make most men forget whatever they were doing before she walked into a room.
There had been a time when I was one of them.
“Hey,” she said as she closed the door behind her.
“What’s up?”
Her eyes moved around the office before settling on me. “That’s all I get?”
“What you want?”
“A hug would be nice.”
I leaned back in my chair. “You came all the way over here for a hug?”
“No, Kaiden. I didn’t come all the way over here for a hug.”
“Then come sit down and tell me what’s up.”
She shook her head, but there was a small smile on her face as she walked toward the chair across from my desk. Simone had always hated how hard it was to get a reaction out of me. She used to tell me I could make a woman question her entire life with one word and a blank expression.
I never understood why she thought that was my problem.
“You look good,” she said as she sat down, but I didn’t respond to that. Her eyes stayed on me for a few seconds before she realized I wasn’t going to entertain her antics. “How are you doing?”
Her voice was filled with much sympathy when she asked me that, far different from the way she sounded the other day.
“I’m good.”
“I heard about your cousin… I wanted to come to the funeral, but I was out of town, and I tried to reach out to you but… I didn’t even know what to say because I knew how close ya’ll were. I called auntie, though. Did she tell you?”
I cleared my throat as I rubbed a hand down my face. “Nah, she ain’t told me shit.”
“Oh okay… Well, yeah, I talked to her.” She paused before continuing. “I didn’t want to bring it up at lunch while you were with… Um, what’s her name? Milan?
Again, I wasn’t about to entertain her ass. The way she said Milan’s name told me we were getting closer to the real reason she was sitting in my office.
For a moment, neither one of us said anything. Simone knew me well enough to understand I wasn’t about to sit here and talk about Sam with her or the way his death had affected me, especially when she hadn’t come to discuss him in the first place.
She crossed one leg over the other. “So, are you going to ask why I’m here?”
“Figured you’d tell me.”
She softly laughed as she settled further into the chair, swallowing hard as she voiced her next few words. “Well, I’m trying to figure out if you’re still the same.”
