Tyler

I was thinking about her this morning and here she is.

I didn't know what to say or how to react.

I wanted to yell at her, but at the same time I wanted to reach out and touch her just to be sure that she was really there.

"Excuse me..." The man that had come with her spoke up. "You're staring, sir."

I saw her chair shift over a little and knew that he had pulled her closer.

Was that her husband?

"My apologies." I said fixing my tie and looking anywhere but Amari.

"Hey." Danielle finally spoke up. "You went to high school with Tyler, right?"

"That is correct." Amari cleared her throat.

"Really?" Her husband asked looking at her with an amused smile.

"Yes really." Amari smiled instantly.

A second ago she was nervous and maybe annoyed, but the moment she looked at him, a smile appeared on her face. Maybe she was faking it.

"In that case..." He said reaching his hand out. "I'm Justin Alden. Amari's boyfriend."

"Boyfriend? Not husband or fiancé?" I asked shaking his hand.

"Not husband or fiancé." He shook his head. "Yet anyway." He mumbled and Amari looked over at him.

"What was that?" She asked hiding a smile.

"Nothing." He shook his head. "Go ahead and handle business, boo."

Amari smiled and shook her head.

"And this is Lisa. My assistant." She said. "How has things been for you?" She finally asked.

"Things have been great for me." I said. "The business is at its most profitable right now and I'm married."

"Really?" She asked sitting up with a shocked expression. "Congratulations. I'm assuming Danielle is the... Lady?"

What happened to 'Lucky'?

"She is." I nodded.

"I am." Danielle held her hand out to show them the ring.

"Ooh." Lisa said leaning up to get a better view on the ring. "It's beautiful."

"Truly." Amari added. "Okay. About business."

Amari

Tyler and I were discussing business with Drew and Lisa adding in a note every now and then. I could tell that Justin was bored with all of this by the way his hand kept creeping up my thigh and beneath my dress to try and throw me off. Whenever I would stutter or come up blank, I could see him fight back a smirk out of the corner of my eye.

"Are you guys ready to order?" A waitress came over to us with her own and notepad ready.

"Uh, yeah." Danielle said glancing around the table.

The waitress started with Danielle and was gonna make her way around the table.

"Stop that." I whispered grabbing Justin's hand under the table.

"Why? I'm bored." He said.

"I'm working." I said.

"So? Work on me." He whispered and leaned back in his chair.

He patted his lap holding back a grin and I glared at him.

"You're disgusting." I said moving away from him.

"Only for you." He winked at me.

I opened the menu and pretended to look through it. Justin leaned into me and rested his hand on my knee.

"How about when we get home?" He asked.

"Why are you always like this?" I laughed.

"Three months without you." He said. "Can you blame me?"

"Yes and I do." I said grabbing his hand that was creeping up my thigh. "Not tonight."

"Fine." He nodded. "In the morning. Called it."

And before I could refute, it was my turn to order. I glared at Justin and order my food before he ordered his and the waitress walked away.

"So, what was Amari like in high school?" Justin asked Tyler.

"Which year?" Tyler asked leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

"Just go down the line." Justin said amused.

"Well, how about I paraphrase it for you?" Tyler asked and Justin nodded. "Freshman to Junior year she was cool. Fun even. Then Senior year came and she changed and it was really the worse thing that could've happened."

"She got mean, huh?" Justin asked.

"Something like that." Tyler shrugged.

"Something like that?" Justin repeated.

"Yeah. She went from being one of the boys to being a girl. It was cool at first, but she just changed." Tyler said before drinking some of his drink.

"Hm." Justin nodded. "I'm gonna need to see every photo you have from high school."

"You're gonna have to kill me first." I said.

After Dinner

"Okay. So we have a deal?" Tyler asked glancing over the notes one last time.

"We sure do." I nodded looking down at the notes Lisa had typed up.

"Great." Tyler said standing up. "I'll have Drew type up a contract and email it over to you."

"Actually..." I said also standing up. "I would like the contract to be a physical copy and I'll need a week to look over it and have my lawyer take a peek at it as well. Then, I'll type up a new contract if necessary and have Lisa bring it over to you herself."

"Are you serious?" He asked with a blank expression.

"It's nothing personal. Just business." I shrugged grabbing my bag from Justin. "Enjoy the rest of your night, Mr. Brooks."

"You too, Ms. Rose." He nodded.

We left the restaurant and Justin held my hand tightly.

"Did you enjoy seeing your old friend after all of these years?" He asked with a teasing tone.

"You have no idea." I nodded.

—————————

Okay. I'm done for the day.

I think I got too excited and just started typing endlessly.

I need to stop before this book end up complete after three days.

Self control. I'm practicing it.

Bye!