Just Us Box Set

And This Is Ed-10

Tuesday was ridiculously busy, as I knew it would be. Plus, there was the weekly staff meeting in the afternoon. I sat in the back, as usual, and noticed Titus at the front, talking to two managers, Bryce and Gus. One of them patted him on the back, and the other gave him a high five. Both of them handed Titus cash. What on earth was going on?

Just then, Barb came in and the meeting got underway. Titus hadn’t seen me as he immediately took a seat at the front, but Bryce and Gus sure did. Their smirks were not encouraging, and it was becoming annoying. All throughout the meeting, they would turn around and look at me, then chortle like I was the best joke they’d ever heard.

By the time the meeting was over—none of which I actually heard—I’d had enough. I watched Titus run out of the room like his ass was on fire while I went up to the two men and demanded to know what was so funny.

“Aw, man, aren’t you the sweetest thing ever?” Bryce insincerely asked. “You feed the elderly on your time off? God, if you could be any more boring, I think I’d gag.”

Gus chimed in with an ugly sneer. “And you dragged Titus into it? Don’t you know he’s one of us? We bet him that he couldn’t get you to loosen up a bit, and find out what you, Mr. High and Mighty, ‘my s**t don’t stink,’ did with your spare time. We swore you were hiding something.” He snorted in disgust. “We should have saved our money.”

It was the last straw. Apparently I’d taken all the abuse I could handle because my mind went blank, then rage surged through me. I punched Bryce in the nose—instant gusher, by the way—and when Gus came toward me to defend his friend, I kneed him in the groin. I stood there, panting and fist throbbing, as both of them left the room, limping and swearing. People were staring at me now, but I ignored them as I tried to get control of myself.

I’d never been so angry or humiliated. Betrayal washed over me as everyone emptied the room, whispering back and forth. They wanted to know about me? Well, now they knew. God, had it all been a lie? The karaoke thing; Memorial Day; the date on Friday? What I did know was that I needed to end this right the f**k now.

I made my way to the property management office. I stalked past the receptionist at the front desk, who gawked at me, likely having heard through the rumor mill what had happened. I headed to Titus’s office. Barb was in there, twittering like a bird as usual, while Titus typed something on his keyboard. I knocked on the doorjamb to get their attention.

Barb turned to me, and at the look on my face, her eyebrows rose. “Something wrong, Ed? I heard something about a fight—?”

I held up a hand and she shut up. “I’d like to speak to Titus for a moment please, if you wouldn’t mind. Feel free to reprimand me later about my behavior.”

“Uh, sure. Fine.” She edged around me and I closed the door behind her.

Titus hadn’t looked at me yet, but his face was red and his fingers trembled where they still typed on that f*****g keyboard.

I leaned against the door and crossed my arms on my chest. My knuckles were sore and I could use some ice, but I needed to get this said. “I heard you won a bet today. Mind telling me why I was worth so much effort for a few bucks?”

He ran a hand through his hair and finally looked at me. Not sure if I saw regret there at being busted, but there was shame, no doubt. “It was supposed to be harmless fun. The guys assured me you wouldn’t care, that it would be a joke. But then, you sang with me on stage and blew me away. And then I found out that you spend all your spare time taking care of old people unable to help themselves, and I, for one, couldn’t ever do that. Old people creep me out. It started out as a bet, sure, but as I got to know you, the whole thing began to feel a bit…sordid.”

“I see.” I did, actually. “But you still took the money.”

He smiled sheepishly. “It was a lot of money.”

Curious, I asked, “How much?”

“A thousand dollars, total.”

Jesus. Such spawns of Satan. “First of all, you were unprofessional. Don’t those guys technically report to you? As the senior manager, aren’t you supposed to set an example and not be ‘buddy buddy’ all the time?”

“Sure, but I thought—”

“I don’t give a s**t what you thought. You know, there’s a reason why I keep things to myself, especially in this environment. It’s because of assholes like them, and now you. You led me on, made me feel like I could trust you, like maybe you were different, though I had my reservations at first. God, I should have known better. You’re all the same, aren’t you?”

Titus stood and started to move around his desk, but I raised a hand. “Nope, don’t wanna hear it, though at least you told me the truth, I suppose. I’ll never be able to trust anything you say ever again, you know that, right?”

His face fell, and I wondered if he finally realized what he’d done in that stupid jock brain of his. How could such a handsome, confident man be so dumb?

I opened the door behind me. “Thanks, by the way, for ruining my trust in anything anyone has to say to me ever again about dating. I hope the money was worth it, and I’d rather hang from the top of a burning building on a rusty nail puncturing my eyelid before I’d ever think of going out with you. Anywhere. So feel free to take someone else out for steak on Friday.”

With that pronouncement, I went back to work, and a wall was completely erected around my heart in concrete, likely never to be broken through ever again.