Chapter 6: Chapter 6

ODETTE

I couldn’t allow myself to get involved with Reece. I shouldn’t have let him kiss me; it was such a foolish thing to do.

I was nowhere near stable enough to be in a relationship right now.

“Hey,” Winston said in a low voice.

I quickly wiped my eyes as he sat next to me.

“Hey,” I responded with a sniffle.

“So…I talked to Reece.”

“It was stupid, I know.”

“I’m not here to lecture you about him. I’m here to say you can trust me and can tell me anything,” Winston gently reassured me.

“He told you, didn’t he?” I asked.

“Yeah, he did. Why didn’t you tell us?” Winston asked.

“I’m ashamed; you guys like him. No one else believed me until I told my boss. They told me I was doing something wrong because Tyler would never do anything without having a cause.”

Winston stroked the back of my head.

“Odette, we love you, and we will always believe you. Do you want us to kill him now or later?” he asked.

“I want to forget about it, move on, and pretend it never happened,” I responded.

“You can’t. It’s changed the way you view things, especially relationships. Reece also told me you turned him down,” Winston confessed.

I rolled my eyes. “He doesn’t know when to stop talking.”

“If he didn’t tell me, I would have assumed he did something to you, and I would have beaten him.” Winston let out a small laugh.

“I guess that’s fair.” Winston could be intimidating, and it cracked me up when people said they were afraid of him.

“I love you and always remember you can come to me with anything.” Winston wrapped one arm around my shoulder, pulling me into him.

“I just have one question… When do we get to meet Kolten?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“Soon.”

I hugged Winston before we joined the group again. I hoped the others would react the same way, and I hoped Winston would show the real him to everyone else soon. The longer he waited, the longer he was pretending to be someone else.

***

The morning quickly came, and I regretted staying up so late. I had to get up and meet my new boss and coworkers. My first official day wasn’t until after the wedding, but I had promised I would start the onboarding process at this branch and get to know people.

I went to school for graphic design and landed a web page design job. Now I was transitioning into marketing. It was different, but it paid more, and it brought me home. Not all my brothers lived here, but they all came back.

I knew I would be early. I didn’t want to chance being late for this. I had twenty minutes, but I figured I could let the receptionist know I was here.

“Hello, I’m Odette Hart, and I’m here to see Mr. Ryan,” I said as I greeted the secretary.

“Have a seat, and I’ll let him know you’re here,” she responded.

“Thank you.”

I took a seat and watched people as they walked in or out of the suite.

“Ms. Hart?” Mr. Ryan asked as he approached me.

“Yes, and please call me Odette or Etta.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” he responded.

I took his hand and shook it.

“Thank you for this opportunity, Mr. Ryan.”

“Please call me James. Let me give you a tour before we sit down and discuss the job. As you already know, I run the marketing and web design departments. I’ve been with the company for almost ten years, and I enjoy what I do. My goal is to make sure my staff is happy and taken care of.”

We spent thirty minutes walking around not only the suite but the building. There was an onsite gym, cafeteria, coffee shop, and a small convenience store. My last branch didn’t have any of this. Of course, it was in a small town in Maine, so they weren’t into all the amenities. We ended the tour in James’s office.

“Do you mind if I shut the door?” he asked.

“Not at all.”

“Your last boss explained why you put in for this job and the transfer. I want you to feel safe, so I’m asking you to provide a photo of your ex to security.”

I had to hold back tears. I never thought I would be so supported, especially by someone I just met.

“Thank you.”

James handed me a tissue. I wiped my eyes so my makeup wouldn’t run down my face.

“Now that we have that out of the way, I want to go over what is expected in this position,” he began. “This position is a team lead position, so you’ll be in charge of projects and assembling groups within the department to work on them.”

“You’ll be responsible for meeting the deadlines, so you’ll need to monitor the groups and keep them on track. Can you handle that?” he asked.

“Yes. My life with five older brothers has prepared me for that,” I retorted.

“Perfect. I think you’ll fit right in, Odette. Please take some time and get to know the people you’ll be working with.”

“I will.”

I did just what James wanted me to do. I decided to start small and find someone whom I thought was going to be easy to talk to.

I thought it was going to be hard until I spotted someone I knew. I knew her from high school. Her name was Olivia.

“Hey.” She spun around in her chair and looked at me.

“Odette?”

“Guilty,” I jokingly said.

“Wow, it’s been a few years. How are you?” Olivia asked.

“I’m good. I took the team leader role, so we’ll be seeing more of each other.”

“Cool, have you met anyone else?” she asked.

“Only James,” I responded.

“Well, let me take you around and introduce you to some of the people.”

Olivia did just that, and by the time we were done, I had met half of the people that I would be working with. They invited me to lunch, and I agreed.

I thought it would be rude not to go. I felt good about this job and about the people I would be working with.