With dinner finished, and conversation pouring I was surprised when another couple approached out table, placing their hands on the back of the two empty seats at our table.
“Mind if I join you, Fox?”a man questioned, a woman who I assumed was his wife stood beside him.
Immediately, Colton shifted, and an uncomfortable look came over his face.“Ah, sure thing,” he said, sitting back down beside me after shaking hands with him.
I leaned over to him once he’d sat down.“Who is that?”
“John Martins,” Colton whispered.
I grabbed my phone, quickly pulling up the list of donors Pamela had warned me about, and sure enough there was his name.Since I knew this could turn bad, I placed my hand on Colton’s upper thigh and leaned into him once more.
“Just remember, keep things in check, okay.Just like we went over,” I whispered.
Colton nodded, picking up his glass and taking a drink.
I took a drink and then noticed John was watching us.I gave him a small smile, but he looked away and whispered something to his wife.
“So, Colton, I saw your apology last night,” John said, the entire table turning their focus on him.
“Great, what did you think?”Colton asked.
“Well, let me see, I think that most of it was great, but I don’t believe a fucking word of it when it comes to the two of you.”
I was mid-swallow when he’d finished, and I couldn’t help but begin to cough.
“Why is that?”Colton asked.
“Oh, I don’t know.The two of you don’t really seem to mesh.”
I sat forward in my seat, about to say something to John, when Colton placed his hand on my upper thigh.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Colton said, stopping me before I could say anything.
I grabbed my phone and was about to message Pamela to see if we could get John relocated to another table when I noticed Mark had messaged me.Instead, of closing the message like I should have I quickly got lost in a replay of a conversation we’d already had, quickly forgetting all about asking Pamela to move John and his wife.In fact, I was so deeply rooted in the conversation that I also forgot that I was supposed to be focused on the now until I heard voices raise.
“It’s not okay.It’s rude!”John yelled.
I lifted my head from my screen to see he was glaring at Colton and then me.I had no idea what he meant by that, but I noticed the entire table was now looking my way.
“Unfortunately, it may come across as rude, but Emma is a very busy executive and sometimes her career takes precedence,” Colton said, looking over at me.
Just as John was about to say something, my phone vibrated against the tabletop once again, this time going off more than once.
“For the love of god,” John said, throwing his napkin down.
Immediately, his wife gripped his arm, quietly reminding him where he was, when Colton turned to me.
“Get up from the table, deal with whatever it is, and get back here,” he said, gripping my upper leg tightly, his eyes burning with frustration.
I didn’t say a word, but I did as he suggested, and as I walked away from the table, I heard Colton continue to apologize on my behalf.
I’d just made it into the ladies room in time for my phone to ring.I quickly looked under each stall to make sure I was alone and then answered.
Mark’s harsh and hurtful words hit my ears, quickly sending me to tears as he brought up another article he’d seen that had just been published, along with the video from last night that had gone viral.This was why I never drank, because whenever I did, I lost the ability to have a backbone, and I allowed my emotions to take over.I struggled to compose myself before someone came into the bathroom.
I’d had no clue how long I’d been in the bathroom, but when Mark finally ended the call with the date in which he’d planned to return my key, I hung up the phone, dried my eyes, and then stepped out of the stall to an empty bathroom.
I shut my phone off and made my way back over to the table.Immediately, I noticed John and his wife’s empty chairs.Then I noticed Aurora was with Colton, helping him with receiving donations from the others.
