Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Her cheeks flushed crimson as she looked down again. “I’ve been seeing someone.”
“Omigod! Who? That’s fantastic!” My excitement boiled over any worry I had. My BFF had a boyfriend!
She cringed. “Roger.”
Clasping a hand to my open mouth, I cried, “Roger!”
She smiled bashfully. “We were together one night late at the lab, and can you believe it, he asked me for help. From there, we just started hanging out.”
I squealed. “That’s great!” I paused suddenly remember Roger’s cockiness. “He’s nice to you, right?”
She laughed. “He is! He’s pretty sweet if you get to know him.” She pointed at her shirt. “Look what he got me.” Her magenta colored shirt said, Turn it off. Then, turn it on again.
I laughed at the reference to the BBC show we both loved. “I was going to ask you about that shirt. I thought it was new!”
She nodded. “We’ve been binge watching The I.T. Crowd. So, yeah. I understand that you’ve been gone so much because you know, I get it,” she offered.
I was so happy for Jill. “I think it’s absolutely fab. I just hope Roger is treating you right.”
She took my hand. “He is. My worry is if Theo’s treating you right.” She giggled. “He is so much hotter in person!”
I grinned, remembering the first time I saw him. “That’s what I thought, too!” Looking at my friend, I said sincerely, “He is honestly a great guy.”
Mia’s face was etched with worried. “I want to believe you, but all the news stories about him…”
I shook my head thinking about how the media talked about him. “That was the old Theo. Theo isn’t like that anymore.”
Jill bit her lip. “Are you sure? Some of the stuff that I read. And the photos! I mean…” Her eyes popped open wide. “The photos!”
“He really isn’t like that anymore,” I insisted wanting my friend to not worry about Theo and me.
Jill put a hand on my shoulder. “Okay. I hope so. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that you care.”
“Just be careful,” Jill warned me again.
“Okay. I will. But don’t worry. Theo would never do anything to hurt me,” I answered, trying to reassure my friend that Theo was no threat to my happiness.
But maybe I was also trying to convince myself.
There was no reason for me to think that Theo was cheating on me or that there was another woman in the picture. We spent so much time together, but still, Jill’s concern planted a seed of doubt in my mind.
What if Theo couldn’t change? What if he went back to his old ways? What if he got tired of me and traded me in for another woman like he’d done with all the women before me?
Could I truly believe that he was a changed man and only cared for me?
Jill hugged me. “You look so upset now. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
I faked a smile. “No, I understand that you’re just looking out for me.” Jill was a tender hearted person. Her concerns were coming from a good place.
She said kindly, “If Theo hasn’t done anything to make you doubt his feelings for you, then forget everything I said. I just want you to be happy.”
Hugging my friend back, I said, “Thank you.”
Pushing all the doubt out of my mind, I assured myself that Theo only had eyes for me. Fiddling with the diamond and ruby necklace Theo had given a couple weeks before, I smiled at my best friend, hoping Theo was as true to me as I believed him to be. Jill always had my back and she was just being cautious. Truly, there was nothing to worry about.
14
Theo
The Board meeting was excruciating to sit through. Warren sat across from me with his eyes trained on my every movement. Every time it looked like I was going to implode, he gave me a stern look and raised his hands to stay me.
Warren, an old friend from college, lived on the same floor I did in the dorms. We became friends due to our mutual love for hip hop music. Blasting Souls of Mischief from my room with my door wide open had drawn him like a moth to a flame, and he popped his head in to see who I was.
We became instant friends from there on, trading mixtapes of E-40, Mob Deep, and Master P. Our musical tastes were eclectic, and we bonded over sharing knowledge of the underground hip hop that we’d found.
As our friendship grew, I showed him the project I was working on at the time, an early version of Pictogram. A business major, he’d been impressed by my endeavor and saw the money making potential right away. When Pictogram became official, Warren was the obvious choice as my COO, my right hand man.