Page 38 of A Matter of Time
That made them laugh, as I’d hoped. “We need something fun to talk about when the men all start on their fantasy football league,” the first one told me, and thankfully, with that comment, they moved on to other topics.
“Did you really invite a guy tonight?” Marianne whispered to me as we made our way outside.
“I did, but don’t worry. I’m still there to be your wingwoman.”
She gave me a grateful smile, despite being completely in the dark about the real reason I’d invited Tyler. He and I dated for a while a couple of years ago. Our breakup had been amicable and we were still in touch; we still liked each other, we’d just realized we wanted different things in the long term. As I liked to put it: he wanted a wife who would cater to his every whim, and I wanted some dignity. Of course, the truth wasn’t quite so black and white.
In any case, we were still friends, and when I decided I wanted a buffer that night, he was the first person who came to mind.
“I’m going to finally get to meet the famous Cam?” he asked, sounding intrigued when I called him. “I thought you might have made him up. I wasn’t entirely sure someone so purely evil actually existed.”
“He’s real all right, but I don’t think I ever said he was evil.” At least, I didn’t think I had. “Anyway, you don’t need to talk to him. Just sit next to me and make sure I don’t do anything stupid.”
He let out a loud laugh. “If I’d been any good at doing that, we wouldn’t have broken up. You said you’d pay for drinks, though, so I’ll be there.”
Several of the men from the office were waiting for us in the lobby and we all walked over to the bar together. Cam wasn’t in the group and neither was Jason. Perhaps they’d got caught up in something, or perhaps Cam had merely decided to avoid me. I couldn’t guess which seemed more likely.
To my relief, Tyler had already arrived at the bar by the time we got there, and I quickly introduced him to everyone. Several of the women gave him appreciative looks, so maybe he’d pick up a number or two to make the evening worth his time once I made it clear there was nothing between us. For the time being, though, I sat next to him, looking to all the world like we were a couple as we headed to the area reserved for our party. There were two tall tables with stools and a handful of armchairs around a coffee table next to it. We all claimed tall tables, the women jockeying to find the spot that would let them show themselves off to their best advantage.
About twenty minutes later, Tyler leaned closer to me. “I don’t want to jump to conclusions but I’m guessing that’s Cam who just walked in.”
I fought the urge to look over at the door for myself. “Why do you say that?”
“Because he’s looking at us like he just swallowed a lemon.”
With that mental image, I couldn’t stop myself from glancing over, and sure enough, Cam stood just inside the door, looking our way with a rather sour expression on his face. As soon as he saw me looking, he immediately turned away.
Good.That should keep him away from me for the evening, just like I planned. He and Jason came over to where our group sat, taking spots about as far away from me as possible.
I didn’t plan on the blonde woman who walked up to him just a few minutes later, however. “This is Kyra,” I heard him say to the group at large. “She lives in my building.”
It appeared he’d had the same idea I did. I knew for a fact he wasn’t dating anyone, so he must have brought her along simply to keep me at arm’s length.
“You doing okay there, Tonia?” Tyler gave me a far-too-knowing smirk. “It looks like you just had a taste of whatever he was drinking earlier. Looks like you’re both playing the same game, trying to make each other jealous.”
“I’m not trying to make him jealous,” I protested.
“Well, maybe you should be, because it sure looks like that’s his plan.”
Again, even though I didn’t want to, I couldn’t help looking to see what he meant. With no room at the tall tables, Cam had taken a seat on one of the armchairs and Kyra had perched herself on the arm of his chair. With his arm around her waist, she giggled at something he’d said like she’d never heard anything funnier.
It didn’t matter to me, I reminded myself. He could be there with whomever he wanted. He made it perfectly clear to me the day before that he wanted to forget all about what happened between us. He wouldn’t even talk about it.
So surely, it wouldn’t bother him that I had brought someone else along that night.
Would it?
“You think you’d be able to pull that off?” I asked Tyler, simply out of curiosity. I didn’t actually intend to do anything so childish.
He grinned before leaning over to whisper directly in my ear. “I’ll take it as a personal insult if he’s not threatening to fight me by the end of the night, especially since he’s already looking over at us right now. The only question is, how far do you want to push him?”
~Cam~
It took me a moment to realize the woman beside me had said my name, trying to get my attention.
“Cam?”
Blinking, I quickly turned my head away from where Tonia and the overly attentive man next to her were whispering, and looked up at Kyra hovering over me. “Sorry, what was that?”
