Dirty Deeds (An Office Romance #2)(18)

“Fine. But I will tell you this Ryan, you can take the poor girl out of the slums, but you can’t change her. No matter how much attention you give her, or how much stuff you buy her, she'll always just be the dirt poor girl who will never fit in with our crowd.” I shoved from my seat with so much force the chair fell backwards. I was seconds away from ripping her to f*cking pieces and if it weren’t for Cameron, I probably would have. Cameron’s hand shot out gripping my arm and holding me in place.

“You’re a f*cking bitch, Scarlett. Chloe might be poor, but the difference between the two of you is that even being poor she has more class and more character then you will ever have. She can change her social and financial status at any time. You however cannot change the fact that you are a cold, heartless bitch riding on the heels of everyone else's success.”

You could practically see the steam coming out of her ears. “Fuck you both. I don’t need this.” With that Cameron and I watched as she stormed out of my the conference room.

I wish I could say I was relieved but in reality I had only taken care of half the problem. Chloe was still refusing to answer my phone calls, and even though it had only been a few days without hearing her voice or feeling her touch I still felt lost without her.

“Thank God you called this meeting. Sadie has been on my ass to get rid of her forever… All I needed was a legit reason.” Cameron sighed, his hand moving from my arm and to my shoulder.

I wanted to be happy, and I was, I was so f*cking happy to have gotten rid of the bitch but I wanted Chloe, and I wanted her right now. All I had to do was find a way to get her here and tell her exactly what happened.

“You look like you’re going to puke.” Cameron said, stating the obvious.

“Probably because I feel like it. My stomach has literally been rolling for the last few days. I never thought it would physically pain me to go without a woman, every f*cking second I’m away from Chloe feels like an eternity.”

Cameron shook his head in disbelief, a grin pulling at his lips. “I never thought I’d see the day that Ryan Fucking Nelson got tamed by a woman. You're in f*cking love, Dude. I know that feeling, the one where you feel like you might die if you can’t touch or talk to them in the next hour. The pain of it makes you sick and your heart beats loudly in your ears reminding you that they own that piece of you.”

My eyes drifted closed for a moment, my fingers gripping onto the chair in front of me. God, how I wish I would’ve stayed at the apartment with her instead of coming in to clean up Caroline’s mess. Fucking Caroline, she couldn't keep a ruler straight.

“I f*cked up. Had I never screwed Scarlett back in the day, maybe none of this would be happening?” I couldn’t help but wonder how different my future would be had I made better f*cking choices then. I guess I should have listened to my father instead of my dick.

“None of that bullshit man. The past is the past. It doesn’t define you. The person you were back then isn’t the person you are now. Chloe knows that. Nothing you could’ve done would have changed Scarlett showing up at your apartment and running Chloe off. Scarlett has wanted you for as long as I can remember. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that she would pull a stunt like this. Especially if she knew you actually liked someone. Scarlett is a conniving bitch after all.”

I had to agree with him there, if Scarlett could sabotage me in any way, she would do so with a vengeance. Still I wondered how she knew exactly when to show up. “I don’t care about anything but making things right with Chloe.” I shrugged his hand off my shoulder, I needed to pull my shit together so I could go win back the woman that I loved.

“Well that’s a good thing since her and Sadie are both down at the homeless shelter today, but…” Cameron scratched at the back of his head like he was trying to figure out if he should tell me something or not. “What?” I snapped much harsher than I meant to, breaking the brief moment of silence. “Well, Sadie and I were both waiting to say something but since I know you’re going to go down there and raise hell, I think I should tell you.” He was beating around the bush, and my annoyance was rising with every second he stood here stalling.

“Spit it the f*ck out, Jefferson. I don't have all day.” I ordered. “Okay…” He stalled but then picked up right where he left off. Waves of anxiety rolled off of him and into me, hitting me with enough force to knock me off my feet. “Sadie is pregnant and I want you to take it easy on her okay? I know you want Chloe, and you love her, but Sadie is her friend and she’s going to be protective of her now that she knows what happened.”

I exhaled a breath, “Holy f*ck, Dude. I’m…. that’s f*cking awesome. You’re going to be a dad.” It was such a foreign thing to be saying. Cameron Jefferson was going to be a dad. It felt like just yesterday he was calling me to be the best man in his wedding. He nodded, “I know. I’m shocked and scared as hell, and that’s another reason I wanted to get rid of Scarlett. Sadie is going through some crazy insecurity issues. She’s all f*cking worried about her weight, and if I’ll love her after she has the baby and it’s just like seriously?” I realized then that I was a piece of shit friend for not being there for him to vent when he needed it.

“I’m sorry for being a dick of a friend, Man. As soon as I get this shit with Chloe squared away we’re going out for beers.” I confessed.