Page 42 of Use Me

We’d texted a few more times, and then it stopped, and I hadn’t heard from him since.

For my date with Philip, I dressed in a sophisticated rosebud print, maxi length, crepe fabric dress with long sleeves and frilled details. Given that it was winter and snowing outside, I paired it with knee-high black boots, a black belt around my middle to give the dress more of a waist, and my wool coat I had dry cleaned after the coffee was spilled on it.

Before I called for an Uber, I tousled my hair that I loosely curled to give it a little more volume, and then I shrugged on my coat.The car pulled up a few seconds after I made it downstairs, and I slid inside. Without thinking, I looked over at Rhys’s building. A slight pain squeezed my heart as I realized I was really going out on a date with another man. I envisioned him running outside, opening the car door and pulling me out to tell me he didn’t want me to go. However, I knew he wasn’t home because he told me he had a game tonight.

What if I never saw Rhys again? If things worked out with Philip, could I walk away from the man who made me laugh? The one who made me coffee each morning we were together? The one who I could be comfortable with and not care how my ass looked as he took me from behind?

The car pulled up to the skyscraper, and right away, I saw Philip standing outside in the freezing cold. When he saw that I was getting out of the car, he rushed to it and held out his hand.

“Thank you.” I smiled as he helped me out. “I hope you weren’t waiting long.”

Philip smiled as he gestured for me to start walking. “Not at all.”

We walked into the building and right into the waiting elevator. Philip pressed the button for the ninety-fifth floor.

“I see the coffee came out of your coat okay.”

I nodded. “See? I told you it was no big deal.” It really wasn’t. My coat was dark grey, and after it was dry cleaned, there was no evidence of the spilled coffee.

“You’re right. K & K Cleaners does an excellent job.”

“How—” Before I could ask how he knew which dry cleaners I went to, the elevator door opened.

After checking our coats at the coat check, we were seated at a table against the window. Philip ordered the braised short ribs to start and a bottle of the most expensive merlot on the menu. I wasn’t sure if it was meant to impress me or if he really did like that wine.

“How did you know I go to K & K Cleaners?” There were several dry cleaners in Chicago.

He continued reading the menu as though he didn’t hear me.

“Philip?”

“Oh … What was that?”

I repeated my question. “How do you know I go to K & K Cleaners?”

“I don’t. Just a lucky guess because it’s by your studio, right?”

I let out the breath I was holding. “Right.”

We both returned to our menus, and once I figured out what I was going to have for dinner, I asked, “What is it you do for work?”

“I’m a nuclear engineer.”

“Wow, that’s amazing.”

“Yeah, it’s not boring at all to play with radioactive materials and get paid for it.”

“I bet.” The waiter came over and poured us each a glass of the burgundy merlot and then I ordered the center cut for my meal. The moment the words came out of my mouth, I couldn’t wait to tell Rhys. He’d be proud of me. I took a sip of my wine.

“You know, you look very familiar to me, but I’m not sure from where.”

“Judy’s,” he stated against the lip of his wine glass.

I balked. “Judy’s?” The only people I’d met at Judy’s were Rhys and then his friends the next time I’d been there. When I was with Jaime the other night, we didn’t talk to anyone except when Rhys showed up.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked, changing the subject instead of clarifying when I’d met him at Judy’s.

I furrowed my brows. “If I had a boyfriend, then I wouldn’t be out on a date with you.”