Page 4 of Not So Casual
“Oh, that’s tomorrow night. Tonight is a more relaxing night.”
Chuckling, he goes to say something when a tall, muscular Black man walks up to us. “Sorry, I’m late, but my meeting ran long.” His hand rests on Alexander’s shoulder and I want to burn it off.
“No worries, I was just chatting with Elias.”
“Elias?” Marcus looks at me then looks back at Alexander, a wordless conversation flowing between the two of them.
“The one and only.” I grin, reaching my hand out. “Nice to meet you.”
“Same, man. Heard good things about you.”
“Oh really?” Twisting my head, I smirk at Alexander. “I see you’ve been talking about me.”
“Yeah, about my annoying assistant who gets on my nerves and complains about everything I do.” He rolls his eyes, but I see a small smile trying to break through.
Scoffing, I shake my head. “Yeah, okay.” Turning back to Marcus, I say, “How can you be friends with such a buzzkill?”
“Haha, he isn’t always a buzzkill.”
“Pfft. I’m never a buzzkill,” Alexander cuts in.
“Sure, sure.” Not wanting to intrude on their time, I get up, ready to leave. For all I know, this is a date. My heart constricts at the thought, but I will my feet to walk away. “Well, I’ll leave you guys alone. Have fun.”
I turn around to walk away, but quickly come to a stop when Alexander says, “Same. Oh, and don’t drink too much, Elias.”
Facing him, I offer a bright smile, ignoring his condescending comment, and leave.
Asshole.
Alexander
“Don’t drink too much, Elias?’ What the fuck, man? What was that about?” Marcus says, signaling for the bartender to head down our way.
Groaning, I gulp down the rest of my drink, setting my empty glass onto the bar with more force than necessary. “Fuck, man. I don’t know what came over me. In the office I know exactly how to act around him, but seeing him here, outside of work, it’s like I lost all ability to separate assistant Elias from hot as fuck Elias.”
“He is hot as fuck.”
Growling, I grit out, “eyes off,” through clenched teeth.
“You are so fucked. I see your crush hasn’t waned at all.”
“There’s no crush. I just know how to appreciate a fine man. And Elias is fucking fine. But enough about me, how’ve you been?”
“I’ve been okay. What about you? I can see you’ve been working out.” I pump my eyebrows exaggeratedly, causing both of us to laugh.
“I have been hitting the gym more often. Whenever I get bored, I head there.”
“Damn man. Maybe I should start doing that.”
“I’ve been trying to get you to go with me, but you’re always too busy.”
I drum my fingers on the top of the bar counter. He’s not wrong. Work has been my number one priority, so when I do make it a point to work out, it’s usually later at night once most people are in bed.
Marcus asks the bartender for another whiskey, and we talk for the next hour. He's going through a breakup, so we’ve been making more time to hang out just the two of us. The breakup isn’t what he wants, and I know it’s hard on him having to start all over. After a few drinks, we go our separate ways, me making my way home to a nice sized condo in an overpriced building.
Entering my bathroom, I pull off my tie and unbutton my shirt, letting it fall off my shoulders. I roll my neck around, trying to release some tension in my shoulders. Turning my wrist over, I see it’s only nine PM, so I decide to head to the gym on the bottom floor. Talking about working out with Marcus has lit a fire under me.
I quickly change, grab my keys and a water bottle, then make my way to the elevator. On the way down, I lean against the wall and close my eyes, a vision of Elias flitting through my mind. I honestly wish it would stop doing that. The way he always shows up in my mind is getting pretty annoying.