Ethan stepped out of his vehicle on Monday morning, a coffee in one hand and his keys in the other. It'd been a long weekend, and for the first time in forever, he was ready to get back to work.
After his weekend out with Abe, he'd felt proud of himself for shoving off the brunette. It wasn't like him to brush off a pretty girl, and since she didn’t take it well, she knew that, too. However, it'd been easy with Aria on his mind, and frankly, he felt relieved that Abe knew about it now.
Ethan rounded the corner of the building, weaving through the foot traffic and determination of people rushing to work. He took a sip of his coffee, and his gaze fell on the newspaper stand outside of his office where he normally picked up the paper each morning.
There was something about a freshly printed newspaper and a cup of coffee. However, it wasn't the stand outside of the building that caught his attention. It was Aria's frown.
She stood in one of her flowery dresses, her saddened eyes searching the cover of a magazine, while she pressed her lips into a thin line.
Aria's gaze lifted, as if she sensed his presence, and he smiled at her, hoping she just had a case of the Monday blues, but he soon realized it wasn't.
The magazine in her hand dropped, and he felt his stomach drop with it. He kept walking toward her, and he asked over the growing voices, "What's wrong?"
But she didn't stay around to answer, she turned and ran from him. Ethan kept moving, shoving into people and barreling through like a loose bull. He made it to the end of the street but couldn't see her anywhere. No sign of her colorful dress, or bouncy brown curls—she just vanished.
He turned a circle, sliding his fingers into his hair and cursing in aggravation. He dug his phone from his pocket and dialed her number, only to get her answering machine. "Dammit," he cursed.
Ethan walked back down toward the entrance of Devry Media but stopped by the newspaper stand, picking up the magazine she dropped.
He sucked in a sharp breath and let it out shakily. There he was on the cover of the local gossip magazine with the brunette from the bar, her arm reached around him, right before he shoved her away.
Ethan screwed his eyes shut and rubbed his temples slowly. This looked bad for him, and he didn't know if Aria would believe him or not, especially considering her reluctance in the beginning.
"Hey! Are you Ethan Devry?" some girl asked beside him. She sat on an electric scooter, chewing on a piece of gum loudly with a lifted eyebrow.
"Yes."
"I thought so. Can you please sign this magazine? My mother has a huge crush on you. She says she's waiting on you to want to settle down and then she's going to strike. She'll totally love it if you sign this."
She handed him a pen, and Ethan glared at her.
"Jerk," she mumbled. "You could have just told me that you weren't interested." She lifted her nose and rode off on her scooter, leaving him staring after her in complete frustration.
Ethan considered settling down, but now the one girl he wanted it with just raced off with no intention of looking back.
He stormed into the building, ignoring the front door receptionist and all of the 'hellos' and 'good mornings,' as he made it to his office. Once he sat down, he tried to call her again, but her voicemail answered. He shot her a text begging her to turn her phone back on and answer him.
Groaning, he rested his head back against his seat and closed his eyes. Not two minutes later, someone knocked on his door, jolting him from his round of devastation.
"Come in," he said, clearing his throat and straightening his tie.
Abe waltzed inside, the gossip magazine hanging from his grasp, and he wore a smile that rubbed Ethan the wrong way. "Well, good morning, Mr. Devry. Or should I say," he said, looking down at the headline of the paper, "Mr. Billionaire Devry Media Bachelor Spends Saturday Night with Local Girl."
"Piss off," Ethan snapped.
Abe dropped his hand. "Excuse me? Don't shoot the messenger—"
"You asked me to go out, and you know that I didn't want to. This isn't true."
"I didn't say it was, Ethan. What's got you so upset?"
Ethan's phone rang and he answered it.
When Marilyn's voice came over the other end, Ethan's irritation hit its limit. "We need to have a conversation with you, Ethan. Meet us in the conference room."
Ethan slammed the phone down without a word. "I'm needed in the conference room," he said.
Abe shifted in the doorway. "That's why I came by. Marilyn wants to have a meeting."
Ethan shoved by Abe, making sure his phone was on vibrate in case Aria called him back. The heads of the departments all sat around the conference table, mostly chatting until he barreled through the door and took his seat. "Let's make this quick. I have something to do."
Marilyn, sitting in her bland business suit, straightened her shoulders. "We've all been talking about your escapades this morning," she said, sliding the magazine across the table as if it was news to him. "Have you finally found you a girlfriend—"
"I'll kindly say this once: shut up before I kick you out," Ethan said. "What's this meeting about?"
Marilyn swallowed and lowered her gaze to her hands. "This is our monthly meeting, Ethan—"
"I think Ethan's head isn't here this morning. Maybe I can take over, so he can do whatever he needs to do," Abe said.
Ethan was up before the others had time to process it. "Thank you," he said, walking through the doors and toward his office.
He grabbed his keys from his desk, locked his door, and raced out of the building. His head raced with what ifs and the feeling he'd been set up. But why? He couldn't fathom someone caring about his face being on that magazine or the reason behind it.
Ethan got into his car, and started the engine, giving Aria's phone another ring, which she didn't answer. He slammed his fist against the steering wheel, spinning tires on his way out of the parking garage and toward Aria's house.
He'd just gained her trust, so it looked sick that he was out with another woman so soon after trying to win her affection.
He searched his brain to make sense of the planned picture and why the other girl looked so familiar to him. He'd seen her somewhere before, but where?
Ethan parked in front of Aria's building, locking his door on his jog up the stairs to her apartment. He knocked several times, listening for any noise on the other side of the doorway, but he didn't hear anything.
She didn't come home. Where would she have gone? He started toward the stairs when a delivery man made his way up, carrying a huge box.
"You need a hand?" Ethan asked.
"I've got it. Thanks, though," he said, dropping the box beside Aria's door. Ethan noticed a picture of a car seat on the side of the box. He guessed Joan had it delivered to Aria's house for some reason.
Where did Joan live? Aria must have went there, but he had no way of finding out. Ethan thrived on being in control at Devry Media, and suddenly, he felt completely helpless, and it stung.
His chest felt tight with a pressure he wasn't used to.
Ethan Devry had no control over Aria Linetti, and it broke his heart to think she would spend the day imagining him with another woman.
When he just wanted to be with Aria.