Page 29 of Drunk In Love
“Yes, I have several meetings this afternoon. I just wanted to catch up with Brandon now that he’s back and catch up with you.”
There was nothing smooth or remotely interesting about this guy, but everyone loved Zach. Kamaya especially was falling for his bullshit. It’s my fault for agreeing to never bring the kiss up, and now Zach was moving in for the kill. If I had just let Kamaya know I would try changing for her so she could get rid of this loser.
Except, maybe that’s not true. I couldn’t even decide on a career opportunity that would help further me along. Maybe becoming an official partner with Brandon or eventually branching out on my own.
Kamaya responds with a giggle. She never giggles like that with me!
“So, do you want to go out this Friday?” I hear Zach ask.
Alarms are going off in my mind. I’m sure Zach doesn’t know about the kiss Kam and I shared, but this move of asking her in the office, a few feet away from where he knows I can hear everything, feels calculated. I think back to the night of the rehearsal dinner and whomever he was speaking to. Kamaya, of course, has never agreed from the beginning that Zach could be behind all this, but what if he was doing this to distract her?
No, no. I couldn’t think that way, right? Kamaya was a fantastic woman, and why shouldn’t Zach take an interest in her? Any man would be lucky to have Kam.
Extremely lucky.
“I would love to,” Kam says, sounding slightly flustered, though I’m sure she was mentally doing cartwheels.
“Perfect,” Zach said. “I’ll text you later about Friday night.”
Kamaya, sounding way too breathless for my liking, asks, “Don’t I get to know what we’re doing first?”
My efforts to appear like I’m hard at work on this side of the desk are probably fruitless, but I start typing to make it more believable. I’m not seeing anything on the screen, just moving the mouse around on the DiLaurentis file.
“No, I want to surprise you,” Zach says, stopping to glance down, presumably at his phone. “If I don’t get out of here, I’ll be late. I’ll talk to you later, Kamaya.”
“Okay,” Kamaya says.
“Bye, Max. See you around, man.” He chucks his chin in my direction with a barely there smirk before turning around to the exit.
As soon as the doors shut behind him, Kamaya slides her desk chair so quickly that the wheels nearly catch on the carpet.
“Oh, my God! Can you believe that? After two years, Zach finally asked me out!”
“Your awkward stammering didn’t put him off,” I jibe.
“Shut up, Max! Be happy for me. If this goes well, I can finally get my mother to stop forwarding those articles,” she says in a joking manner.
“Yeah, if you’re happy, then I’m happy,” I say, lying through my teeth and hoping I’m a convincing actor.
“That’s not weird for you, right? I mean, you and me are cool, right?”
I wave off her concern and lean back in my seat. “Of course, we’re cool. We’ll always be straight.”
Kamaya smiles, practically beaming ever since Zach left. “Good, now I just have to figure out what I’m going to wear.”
“Typical,” I say over the partition.
“I forget I’m talking to a man who could not care less!” she calls over.
I’m glad we’re back to our usual banter.
CHAPTER 10
Kamaya
I look up at the sound of the elevator chime. Bree breezes into the office, her blonde hair pulled back in a chignon. “Hey, Kam, the mail guy stopped me on the way in and said this was for you.”
Bree hands me a manila envelope, legal pad size with the FJ logo on the top left corner.