5

Three days later, Ty walked into Pam’s Place. Lo wasn’t there (again) so he told the pretty athletic lady at the counter that he wanted to speak the owner, Pam. The woman went into the back and came out a few minutes later.
“Go on in. She’s in the last door to your right.”
Ty thanked her and passed through the door that said ‘STAFF ONLY’. He found the door, knocked and entered a small office with files everywhere. It took everything in Ty not to ask the little curly haired woman why she didn’t opt for computers but he held his tongue figuring it was none of his business.
She looked up at him when he entered the room. She had a muted wild look in her brown eyes that reminded him of a tamed bull he had seen at a rodeo once. Her curly hair was also brown and tumbled all over the place. She had a cute button nose and full downturned lips. She was a pretty woman but Lo kind of floated his boat much better.
“How can I help you?” she asked.
Pam had recognized him immediately. He was the guy she had dared Lo to kiss two years ago and had opened the avenue for them to have a tumble. But last she had heard of him, she and Yaz had accused Lo of not getting it over with him fast enough. She legit didn’t know why he was in her often right now.
“Hi, my name is Ty. I’m a… um… friend of Lo’s,” he found it weird referring to Lo as just a friend when he wanted her to be so much more than that, “I was wondering if you’ve heard from her lately.”
Pam raised an eyebrow, “She’s my best friend. Of course I’ve heard from her.”
“That’s great… but,” Ty tried to swallow past the lump in his throat, “I haven’t been able to reach her for the past three days and I miss her like hell.”
Pam leaned back in her chair. Well this was getting very interesting. He was a very handsome man. If it wasn’t for Lo, she would have snatched him up for herself. But he looked terrible. Well put together, but terrible. He reminded her of a child who had lost his favorite blankie and wanted to sleep but couldn’t. Knowing Lo, they had probably had sex three days ago, which, she calculated, was the day after she and Yaz had put their big ass mouths into it. Then after having sex, Lo the idiot had avoided him like the Black Death.
“What happened the last time you saw her?”
“Well, we spent the night together,” Ty replied, “or rather half the night. Because I woke up around 3am and she was gone. I’ve been trying to reach her since then but she hasn’t answered any of my calls or returned any of my messages.”
“So what would you like for me to do for you?” Pam asked. Of course she already knew but it was way more fun to make him suffer by telling her.
“I need to know if there’s any other way I can contact her. Maybe you count give me her house address or something,” really going she would agree but he was disappointed when Pam shook her head.
“You should know I can’t do that Mr. Ty. Especially not without her permission,” Pam said sadly, “I wish I could help you but I really can’t. I hope you understand.”
Ty looked crestfallen, “Of course. I understand,” he turned away from her, “but thank you for your time, Pam.”
Pam felt really bad for him. It wasn’t his fault her friend was irresistible and didn’t have common sense.
“You know, I make my special banana-chocolate brownies on Friday mornings,” Pam said when he was at the door, “they’re a major hit and all of my friends come over to buy them. They’re addicted and they never miss it for anything.”
She looked straight at him and he broke into a grin so wide she was tempted to tell him to calm the fuck down.
“You know, I might just as well come and try them for myself this Friday.”
Pam nodded and went back to her paperwork. Ty left feeling a brand new spring in his step. He stopped at the counter to thank the woman there before heading out.
Yaz wanted to know what the fuck was going on. She couldn’t wait for her trip to be over so she could know why the sexy-as-sin man came to find Pam and why he looked like someone who just had an orgasm when leaving. He looked good enough to make any woman want to give him an orgasm.
Finally, when her shift was over, she went to corner Pam in her face.
“Who was he? What did you guys do? I want details. Tell me everything,” she demanded.
“Calm down PornoBabe,” Pam chuckled, “that’s Ty.”
“No way,” Yaz said, her eyes growing wide, “the guy Lo was onto?”
Pam nodded. Yaz sighed.
“Lemme guess. They fucked, Lo disappeared and now he’s here looking for her.”
“Yep,” Pam replied, “wanted her house address and all.”
“Well, surely you didn’t give it to him,” Yaz looked at her suspiciously.
“Of course I didn’t,” Pam rolled her eyes.
Yaz fished out her phone from her bag and started tapping on it, “I’m calling Lo right now because she has to have a thong up her ass to be avoided that piece of fine meat.”
After a few rings, Lo’s voice flooded out of the phone.
“Hey girl, what’s up?” she greeted.
“Lo, I’m here with Pam and I just wanted to tell you and I think you’re a stupid ass hoe.”
“Well, wanna tell me anything I haven’t heard before?” Lo asked and they all laughed.
“But seriously, Lo,” Pam said, “Ty came to the bistro today looking for you.”
Lo was silent for a few seconds then she asked quietly, “Really?”
“Yes, really,” replied Pam, “and he looked like a lost puppy. You really did a number on him.”
“You dumb bitch,” Yaz nearly screamed, “how can you let a man that fine go? Don’t you know this is a once in a lifetime opportunity?”
“I know,” Lo said sadly. Unknown to her friends, she wasn’t talking about his looks. She was talking about how amazing of a man he was and how perfect he was for her.
“Was the sex bad?” Yaz asked. It would be a big shame if a man that fine didn’t know how to hit it right.
Lo finally found her voice, “Of course not. The sex was amazing.”
“THEN WHY YOU BEING STOOPID?” Yaz screamed. Lo had to hold the phone at a distance while Pam laughed at her friends antics.
“Look, Lo, we all know what you’ve been through,” Pam started, “but don’t you think it’s time you actually gave dating a man a chance? These fuck-and-disappear acts you keep pulling off won’t be beneficial in the long run.”
“She’s right,” Yaz said, “what are you going to do when you’re lonely at night? Or when you’re sick and Pam and I are too busy with our own lives to be there for you?”
“I don’t know,” Lo croaked.
“That’s what you need a partner for, Lo,” Pam said, “and to be honest, from both you and Ty’s demeanors, I don’t think there could be anyone more crazy about you.”
“The man looked like his mum just died,” Yaz hollered.
Lo was quiet again for a few minutes, then she said, “I’ll think about it. Thanks girls.”
Then she hung up.
Yaz looked at Pam in disbelief, “This skank still wants to think about it? What is there to think about? The man is nuts about her and she’s obviously cuckoo about him,” she shook her head, “I have some dumbass friends.”
“She won’t really have a choice but to talk to him,” Pam told Yaz.
“What do you mean?” Yaz asked, “we both know she’s a stubborn goat.”
“I told him she would be here on Friday for brownies. There’s no way he’s passing that off.”
“You sneaky bitch,” Yaz smiled, “I love it.”

When Lo hung up, she also hung her head in her hands. He had actually come looking for her. She didn’t want to feel so but she felt special that he had actually taken time out of his day to seek her out after relentlessly blowing up her phone since she snuck out of his house.
The truth was that she had been miserable since then. Every time she had the slightest reminder of Ty, she would start reminiscing about their night together and how different it was and how sweet he was to her even before they had bad sex. She had even Googled him out and found out that he was the CEO of a billion-dollar enterprise that she knew very well (hence the expensive stuff and mammoth house) and he was also the favorite topic of every blogger in the country. His good looks, amazing physique and fat account balance made him the desire of every woman within a hundred mile radius of him. She definitely couldn’t blame them but she felt like smashing some bottles as she scrolled past picture after picture of him with some perfect model on his arm. She had even seen him with one of her clients.
He’s a manwhore, she had thought, better reason to stay the hell away from him.
But that was before she came by a much more recent article that contained a picture of she and him at the restaurant they had been to for dinner. The blogger had said that she was the first woman he had been seen with in over two weeks, which was disparate to the new women he was often seen with every few days.
Her heart had warmed and a stupid smile had crept into he face. He had stayed away from his playthings since he had met her (again?) and from what she could see, he hadn’t gone back to any of them even after she had so rudely walked out of his house.
Now, she didn’t know what to do. She would actually HAVE to think about it because right now, her head was a jumble of different thoughts which all seemed to be determined in driving her crazy.
She knew what to do. She would go to Pam’s on Friday and get loads of brownies. Then she’d get a tub of ice cream on her way home and then she’d think about it. She refused to bother her brain anytime before that.

Ty went into work the next day with a huge ass smile on his face that had refused to disappear since he left Pam’s Place. There was a spring in his step as he took the private elevator reserved for the management team to his office at the very top of the skyscraper. He greeted his secretary and his assistant and strutted into his office to start a very busy day. He hadn’t been to work for the past three days that he had been trying to reach Lo and despite how hard his team worked, delegatus non potest delegare.
He stepped into his office to find his COO and best friend, Lee, sitting on his chair looking fucking comfortable and spinning around like it was a carousel at an amusement park.
“Get out of my chair, white boy,” he said.
“I’m not white. I’m Asian,” Lee retorted.
He studied his friend. It was extremely strange for his friend to miss work. Even when he was sick. He had been trying to reach him to no avail but immediately he had seen him enter the building through the security cameras in his office a floor below, he had hurried up the stairs to make sure he caught him.
“You look like the cat that ate the fucking canary, Ty,” Lee observed, “did you go on some vacation I didn’t know of during these 3 days that you’ve been slacking off?”
Ty’s smile grew wider, if that was even possible. He couldn’t manage to hold himself. But he didn’t know if he was ready to spill his guts to Lee, even if he was his best friend.
“I’ve just been tired. Been getting some rest at home.”
“Hmhmm,” Lee said knowingly, “now tell me the real reason why you haven’t been to work.”
Ty groaned. Lee was very far from the Asian stereotype, except he was bloody brilliant. By far the smartest person Ty had ever met in his life. They had been best friends and brothers since Ty’s parents had adopted Lee when they were both five. They had a smooth working relationship and Ty loved the handsome man to bits, except in moments like this when he was crawling up his ass.
“Fine,” Ty finally gave in, “it’s this girl.”
Lee’s ears pricked immediately he heard that. He had never seen his friend bothered about any woman. Ever. He listened to Ty explain what had happened with Lo and pondered the situation. He wasn’t exactly an expert on women but he was more into serious, meaningful relationships unlike his friend who liked to play around. He remembered the day of the party where Ty had met this woman. It was their third degree and Ty had left their penthouse apartment to go to the party with a mutual friend of theirs. He had come home earlier than usual wearing only boxers which was hilarious to Lee and now, he knew why his friend had looked so miserable.
“So you’re going to meet her tomorrow? At this bistro,” Lee asked when Ty was finished.
“Yep. And I’m going to convince her to date me,” Ty said triumphantly.
“I don’t think you should,” Lee said. Ty looked at him like he had grown an extra head, “I don’t mean you shouldn’t go to her but don’t try to convince her to date you yet. It’s obvious that there’s something she’s been through or whatever that’s holding her back and making her run away. I can bet you’re not the only man she’s run away from.”
Ty thought for half a minute and realized that Lee wasn’t right. He felt very stupid but he shrugged.
“It wasn’t that obvious,” he grumbled.
“Yes it was,” Lee said, smiling, “you’re just an idiot.”
Ty rolled his eyes but smiled back nonetheless. Seemed like his game plan for tomorrow had changed. He’d try to get Lo to talk to him instead of rushing her into a relationship with him.
He and Lee spoke about a few other things before Lee left and Ty called his assistant into his office so they could work out an agenda for the day. He had a lot of work to do and he’d push Lo out of his mind for a few hours so he could get shit done.