Page 95 of Brutal

It’s my fucking company. I don’t have to answer to anyone.

At least, it’s my company for now. The clock is ticking on that, apparently. Soon, I guess I’ll have all the time in the world because my shareholders are going to take everything away from me.

Fuck.

I scrub my hands over my face, over my tired eyes, and I grab a t-shirt from the dresser. I’m too drained to change from the pants into my jeans or even sweats, and what’s the point anyway? It’s not like anyone will see me like this.

Mimosa is gone, and I despise her for having left me like that.

I know on some level that it was the logical thing to do. I bought her and used her and tortured her. Of course she couldn’t have ever cared about me. Of course she ran as soon as she had the chance.

But I’d wanted to believe she could care.

My thoughts start to go in circles, just as they had the night before, and I head to my liquor cabinet. I’m down to vodka, and while I normally hate the taste, it doesn’t matter now.

Nothing does.

I’m down to the last dregs in the bottle, dimly wondering if I’ve pickled my liver yet, when I pick up my phone again.

Yo, I text Chase. Guess who’s getting kicked out of his own company?

I think I manage to spell everything right, but I don’t particularly fucking care. Why bother sounding professional in a text?

My phone starts ringing a few seconds later. The caller ID says it’s Chase.

I laugh. Fuck. He’s going to realize I’m drunk as fuck and not at work like I should be. But why care? He’s one of the shareholders. He might as well know now to sell his stock in the company. Or is that insider trading? Fuck if I know.

I answer the call, trying not to slur my words but not managing very well, “What? You really need clarification?”

“Yes, I need fucking clarification! How the fuck would they kick you out?” Chase demands. I can hear somebody in the background, but after a few seconds, there’s nothing but silence.

I can’t help it. I start laughing again. “Because my fucking secretary has been going behind my back and fucking me over. Wait.” I take another drink from the bottle, finishing it off. “Okay, I fucked up first. I think. Whatever. It’s happening, so sell your shares or whatever.”

“I’m not selling my shares,” Chase snaps. “I have voting shares. If I sell them, I have no say in how the company is run.” I hear him beginning to type. “The board meeting is next week, we can?—”

Fucking hell, how far had this whole thing extended to? “The board meeting is tomorrow,” I correct him. “Got moved. Rescheduled. I don’t fucking know. And I guess my fucking secretary knew you would mess things up for her if you attended.”

I set the now-empty bottle on the bedside table. I’ll have to get up to get another, but I don’t have the energy for that.

“Tomorrow… Fuck. Okay, where are you? I’ll call Hunter, we can figure this shit out.”

“Oh, fuck off,” I say. “This little… conspiracy or whatever is too far gone. Just enjoy your new CEO.”

I hang up on him.

He tries to call back, but I turn my phone off. I’m dizzy, and I’m tired, and I… I fucking miss Mimosa.

Amber.

I miss her so fucking much.

I close my eyes. I don’t know why I care. I can’t even point to anything that said she might’ve liked me. She’d been so quick to tell me all the things I’d done wrong, and no matter what I’d done, it had been too little, too late.

I wonder if I should’ve told her about Irene.

I wake up to my pillow getting pulled out from under my head and the blankets getting ripped away.

I groan, trying to reach for them, but I’m too weak to do much of anything about it. I squint into the light, wondering when it had gotten so bright, when I see that Chase and Hunter are standing over me. Hunter is glaring, but he’s always glaring, so I guess that’s nothing new.

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