Chapter 11

11

JUNE

" O wen, you'll be getting a basket too," I tell him as he helps me carry in all the crap I got from my shopping spree. I'm excited for my little project.

"You don't have to do that, Ms. Graysen."

"Owen." I sigh. I thought we were past this.

"Sorry," he says, clearing his throat. "June." I can tell he is still reluctant to say it. He's been fine with it for the past two days. I hate that everyone here is always so formal. It makes me feel as though I can't get to know anyone.

"Thank you." I move the flowers off the coffee table. It looks like a florist exploded in here. I had to demand Luka stop sending them. I felt guilty whenever they died. I may come from the country, but I sure as heck don't have a green thumb.

Luka doesn't need to send me flowers; it's obvious to me that he's not pleased with the time we have to spend apart. I do love that I get to spend my nights with him. When we make love, it makes me feel connected to him in a way I have never felt before. I just wish he could make it home a little earlier. He does some nights so we can have dinner together, but not always. It gets lonely for me.

I try to hide how I feel about it. But I'd be a liar if I didn't admit that each day gets harder and harder. Not only do I miss him terribly, but I also miss people in general. I have been here for almost three weeks now and have made zero friends. Making friends has always been easy for me, or so I thought. I even started taking the other public elevator so I could meet people from inside the building. The most they have given me is their name and a hello. Most look at me suspiciously, like I'm crazy for talking to them. I swear a few of the women even clutched their purses tighter when I tried to make conversation.

I think I'm slowly wearing down Owen, though. He's been stuck with me a lot. Since Luka spends his time either in his office or at home, he doesn't have much use for Owen. He does, however, want him to be with me whenever I leave the building.

"Are you hungry? Want a drink?" I offer.

"I'm still full from lunch." Owen sets all the bags down; he helped me carry them up.

"Okay." I try to come up with something else, not wanting him to leave yet. "Oh, I found another cool lunch place we can try tomorrow." I pull out my phone to show him. The only cool thing I've discovered so far about living in the city is all the different food places.

"I'm not sure about that."

"Oh." I can't help the disappointment in my voice.

"Your clearance came through."

"Clearance?" I ask, knowing he's changing the subject. I'm not sure I should let him get away with it.

"To go downstairs to Mr. Woods' office. It came through a bit ago."

"Do I need a fancy badge?"

"No, just your normal scan. It will allow you now to go to the bottom floor."

"Cool." I'm not sure if I should go down. Luka is working, after all. "You going to tell me why you can't have lunch with me tomorrow? Is it just tomorrow?"

"It's not professional." I roll my eyes.

"We both have to eat." No one can dispute that.

"It's nothing personal." It's hard for me not to take it that way lately. No one wants to be around me here. Not even someone whose job it is. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

"It kinda feels like it." I can tell Owen wants to say more. "What?" His mouth forms a tight line. "Out with it." I poke him in the shoulder. His lips twitch. "Owen."

"Luka has a problem with it." Never in a million years would I have expected that to be the reason.

"What!" I shout. "Why?"

"I didn't ask. I can only assume."

"Is he jealous?" Owen only shrugs his shoulders in response. This is beyond ridiculous. "You're gay."

Owen's eyebrows rise in surprise. "How did you?—"

I roll my eyes. "You're good at masking your emotions, but I've seen those eyes wander a few times when we've been out."

"I'm scoping out our surroundings." I raise my eyebrow at him, letting him know I'm not buying what he's selling.

"You were scoping out the waiter at the Italian place last week." Owen's cheeks flush. "I knew you were into him. We can go back. He might be there tomorrow." I wiggle my eyebrows.

"We can't."

"Right, because Luka is jealous. Shouldn't I be jealous that he works with a hot blonde who clearly doesn't like me?" I start unloading the bags to organize everything.

"She's not hot," Owen mutters, making me smile. I might have one friend around here, after all. Except Luka is trying to take him away from me. It really makes me mad.

It's easy for Luka because he's used to living without human interaction, but I'm not. He should understand that.

"What's her deal anyway? I try to be nice to her, but she's not having it. It takes everything in me to not snap back at her."

"I don't know her well."

"Really? Haven't you both been with Luka for years?"

"We have."

"Ah, you don't want to gossip." I huff. "That blows. I love a good gossip session."

"Don't we all?" Owen mutters again. I'm pretty sure he mutters when he's saying something he believes he shouldn't.

"Come on. I got the extra clearance. I think that covers a little workplace gossip, don't you?"

"Okay." He cracks. That was easier than I thought it would be. I hide my smile, not wanting to scare him off now. "She can be possessive of him. They worked together even before I came along. Dana isn't a fan of me either, so don't take it personally. I don't think she likes it when anyone has Mr. Woods' attention."

I had a suspicion in the back of my mind, but I didn't want to go there. The last thing I want is to be catty with a girl over of a man. This man is different, though. He's mine.

"Do you think it's a professional thing?" Could it be that she admires him, or is it something deeper? I already know what he's going to say, but I try to give Dana the benefit of the doubt. Even though she doesn't deserve it.

"It's more." He reluctantly admits it. "I don't know if Mr. Woods is aware of it, in all fairness." It wouldn't surprise me if Luka is unaware of her attraction to him. It would kind of make sense. Even though that may be the case, it still doesn't do anything to make me feel better.

"But they spend a lot of time together." Hell, they might spend more than Luka and I do together. They for sure do if you cut out the time when we're asleep.

I wonder why Luka never went for her. The two of them together make way more sense than Luka and me. I'm honestly not sure how we'll ever work. I hate it here. This city is slowly chiseling away at me.

"Thanks for being truthful with me. It means a lot."

I'm just not sure what, if anything, I should do with this information. It only makes me feel more alone.