Waiting For It by Allyson Lindt

Author:Allyson Lindt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Acelette Press
Published: 2020-06-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Behind me, Chase stopped moving. He felt frozen in place.

Luke pulled back to study me with concern.

“What do you mean, we planned?” Nagging whispers about potential definitions chewed at my thoughts, but I wasn’t going to make any assumptions. I wanted to hear the truth. It would be fun. Funny, even. And then we’d go back to playful kisses and taking too long to get ready for work.

Chase moved into view, a reassuring smile on his face. He couldn’t hide the hesitation underneath. “Nothing. We’ve talked before about how we’re both attracted to you. Planned isn’t really the right word for that.”

“No, it’s not.” My concerns were growing, rather than rushing away. Shawn lied to me so many times when we dated. Cast so much doubt back on me. Made me question myself—my feelings. I never saw it until we broke up.

Was I missing it again?

Chase was a friend. So was Luke. They wouldn’t—

“Planned is the right word for it.” Luke sighed. “Calling it anything else is bullshit.”

Nope. Nuh-uh. I would not jump to conclusions. “What is it?” I looked at Chase. “Tell me straightforward-like. Don’t wrap it up pretty.”

Chase pinched the bridge of his nose.

“When hooked up, your name came up,” Luke said. “I’d tell you I don’t know how, but you were there in every other tangent. It came out that we both like you. Care about you. Would like more than friendship.”

That was sweet. So why did it taste rancid? “Okay?”

“I admitted I was holding back for the same reasons you hesitated—our shared friends.” Chase pulled on a pair of trousers over his boxer briefs.

“Luke was hesitating because he’s my boss.” An explanation I was sick of hearing. Not because it was an invalid reason, but I didn’t see a way around it, and that obstacle nagged at me. None of this eased how much the word planned bothered me. “And?”

Luke stood with his feet shoulder-width apart, hands clasped behind his back. “I had another reason for waiting, but it’s related. You’re not going to be working for me much longer.”

They couldn’t fire me, could they? “After everything I’ve done? All the hours I’ve put in? I’m on the chopping block?” I mean yeah, our game launch had been the worst in the company’s history and I was a team lead, but I’d tried. My heart hammered against my ribs, and my breath came in short gasps. This wasn’t—

“No.” Luke was emphatic. “No one is firing you. I promise. The opposite. You’re not supposed to know this, but after the game launches, Scott wants to move you into a Design Director position. He’s just waiting.”

The wheels in my brain spun freely, not snagging anything. Not processing anything. Promotion. Not working for Luke, but with him. Recognition for the months of long hours. Having a say in the direction of games. My dream job. “Basically, everyone’s just... waiting?” More motivation to finish the game. Like I needed another reason.

“Exactly.” Luke’s smile was tentative.

I should leave things as they were.

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