Filed to story: Young Girls Forbidden Love Series: My Best Friend’s Daddy
I rolled my eyes, smiling. The redness making its way to my cheeks told them all they needed to know.
*************************
The Express Air building towered above the skyline and over me on the street below. Men and women dressed in expensive suits rushed past me through the doors as I stood admiring the building’s size.
The inside was even grander than the outside, with white marble flooring stretching along the long row of black elevators. The businesswomen’s sharp stilettos echoed off of the floor and bounced off the high ceilings, making it impossible to tell where each sound came from.
I felt completely out of place and quickly made my way to the far side of the lobby, where a black letterboard listed the CEO’s office on the top floor. The elevator button stayed illuminated for what felt like ages as I waited for the doors to finally open.
The elevator filled quickly behind me, and I tried my best to disappear into the back corner. A few people exited off on the lower floors until I was the only one left. I was finally able to breathe again, and I tried my best to prepare what I was going to say to Michael when I finally saw him, after leaving as quickly as I had.
Even though I was there to bring him horrible news, deep down, I was excited to see him again. I hoped he would forgive the way I left without a word, without explaining, and without a goodbye. Maybe he had been missing me the way I had been missing him.
The elevator doors finally opened with a ding, and I took a confident step out. However, that confidence was dashed within seconds.
“Are you lost?” the receptionist asked as I stepped out of the elevator. She was supermodel gorgeous in a tight black dress that hugged her every curve as though it was a second skin.
She sat behind a large black desk in the middle of the room and stared at me as though I was a schoolgirl who had just gotten caught sneaking into the principal’s office. No, she looked at me the way Lauren had when I told her Todd and I were together before they were.
She flipped her perfectly smooth blonde ponytail over her shoulder as she waited for my reply.
“Oh…Um…No, I was just hoping I could speak to Michael, I mean Mr. Astor. Is he in?” I said as I walked up to the receptionist’s desk.
I had always hated the girls in high school who looked at me the way she was. They were the mean girls that mocked every fashion choice you made like you were committing social suicide by picking the wrong pair of shoes.
I tried my best to push my prejudice aside for the woman, but she didn’t make it easy on me.
“Do you really think you are the first woman to try this tired old trick?” she asked and scrunched her nose up like I was something disgusting she found on the bottom of her shoe.
“What trick are you talking about?” I asked, confused.
“Desperate women come up here all the time claiming they need to talk to Mr. Astor without an appointment, just on the off chance they get to meet him. They usually put a little more effort into their appearance than you did, though,” she said with a nasty smile.
“Wow, that is not at all why I am here. I have actually met Mr. Astor before. I just need to talk to him for a minute. Is he here?” I asked again.
Maybe she was so mean because of her chosen hairstyle. If I had my hair pulled back that tight, it would have definitely given me a headache and made me a total nightmare to be around.
“If you really knew Mr. Astor, you would have set up an appointment. The people in his life know that his schedule is booked out solid for months. I can’t let anyone back to see him without an appointment. That is how we keep the crazies at bay,” she said as she looked me up and down.
I don’t know how the crazies dressed, but apparently, in the receptionist’s eyes, I was wearing their uniform.
It felt like this woman wanted me to lose it. I took a deep breath and continued as calmly as I could.
“Please, it is really important that I see Mr. Astor today. This… this situation is time sensitive.”
“It always is,” the receptionist said and returned to her computer screen. She started typing and acted as though I wasn’t there.
“I can call security if you can’t find your way out of the building on your own,” she shot at me, not looking away from the computer screen for a second.
I clenched my hands into tight fists trying to control the shaking from the anger this woman was causing me to feel. I knew that losing my temper would be the fastest way to get me kicked out of the building, and I needed to let Michael know what was going on.
“Can I leave a note for him? Then it is his choice if he responds to it, and I will be out of your hair,” I said, trying my best to keep my voice steady.
The receptionist sighed dramatically and slid me a white piece of notepaper and a pen, both marked with an Express Air logo. I took them without a word of thanks, I didn’t feel she deserved one, and I jotted down a quick note.
-Michael, I am being contacted about swimming in the cove. We need to talk.-
I included my name and phone number at the bottom of the note and read over it again to make sure I wasn’t giving away too much information. I figured the snotty receptionist would read it before giving it to Michael, and I didn’t want to give away any details.
At the last second, I added in very small print.
-P.S. I am sorry I didn’t say goodbye.
I am sure the receptionist would get a laugh out of the last line, but I had to say something. It seemed cold not to acknowledge that I had left things so poorly between us.
I slid it back to her, and she took it without another word. I had no choice but to press the down arrow next to the elevator and head back home. The elevator took a painfully long time to return.
When I looked up before the doors closed, the receptionist was staring at me with a self-important smile on her perfect face.
I had to hope that the receptionist would actually give Michael my note. For all I knew, she could have tossed it in the trash as soon as the doors of the elevator closed.
I wouldn’t put it past her.
When the elevator finally stopped, I walked as quickly as possible out of the building keeping my head down. I was still paranoid that someone was watching me.
I didn’t know what I would do next if I didn’t hear from Michael soon.
*************************
*Michael*
“Bruce, please tell me you have some good news,” I said into my phone.
I walked out onto the balcony of my penthouse. I wasn’t sure if I was happy or not to be back in New York. After Blaine’s attempts at blackmail, my security team was on high alert, which meant I had a constant shadow of a bodyguard.
My penthouse was one of the few places I could be by myself; however, the security team had a permanent station down in the lobby.
“I am afraid it is not good news, sir. We have reason to believe that Blaine is indeed back in New York. What is surprising is that my security team followed him into a neighborhood far from both your penthouse and your offices.”
My thoughts immediately went to Shelby. The only logical explanation is that Blaine was attempting to use Shelby to get in contact with me.
“Shit,” I muttered.
“Do you know where he would be headed, sir?”
“I believe he is trying to use a woman to get to me. Her name is Shelby Hatton. She was on the yacht with us for part of the vacation. We became involved, and she got caught in Blaine’s crossfire,” I explained.
“Is she the one in the picture?”
“Yes, she is, Bruce. I have been trying to find a way to contact her for the past week with no luck. She likely wants nothing to do with me after getting caught up in this mess. However, I would like to have some of the team watching out for her. Would you let me know if you can find her most recent address or a way for me to contact her?”
I had reached out to Shelby multiple times over social media, the only link I had to her, but each message had gone unanswered. I wasn’t sure if she was purposely avoiding responding to them or if she just hadn’t seen them.
Shelby was the complete opposite of my daughter, who lived her entire life on social media.
“Of course. I will let you know when I find something, sir.”
“Thank you, Bruce. I don’t know what I would do without you having my back.”
Bruce offered a small cough of acknowledgment, and the line went dead. Bruce didn’t know how to take compliments well, but I wanted him to understand how much I valued him, even if it made him uncomfortable to hear it.