Page 25 of Executive Benefits

11

NICK

“Alright, Clint. Thanks so much.” I hung the phone up and leaned back in my chair. The loan came through. I would be able to pay the IRS off in less than a week, right before Christmas. The weight I’d been carrying since I got the news about the IRS lightened a little, and I rocked forward, placing my head into my hand.

If I could feel this relaxed with just a small bit of news to perk me up, did I even really want to make Kendra pay me back for it? Wouldn’t that just bring more tension and stress that I wanted to be clear of? That was why I divorced her. That was why I wanted to have the restaurant and I gave her everything else.

For the last two years, all I’d wanted to do was to be free from her lies, manipulations, and the pain that came with it all because I was a damn fool for letting it go on for so long. That was something I was going to have to look into. I wouldn’t make that decision quickly.

Fifty thousand dollars was a lot of money. But wasn’t my happiness and clarity worth more than that?

My cell rang. It was Kendra.

That twisted up the knot between my shoulders right back to where it was only a few minutes ago.

Of course, she knew I was thinking about trying to get rid of her.

I answered the phone reluctantly. “This is going to be one of the last times I answer a phone call from you. I hope you know that.” I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of knowing how fucking pissed I was that she screwed me. She already knew she’d screwed me, and starting a fight with her was exactly what she wanted.

“Nick…” I could hear the hiss on the edge of her words. She was up to something. Yay.

I released a long sigh. “What do you have to tell me now?” Seeing Julia’s kindness and concern for others was making me see the world in a bit of a different light. I really just wanted to be done with Kendra. Although I hadn’t forgotten how she treated Julia the other day, either.

“I just got off the phone with the high school. They’ve decided to go with someone else for their staff luncheon this year. I just wanted to let you know.”

Anger shot through my veins. My teeth ground into each other, and my fingers clenched the cell phone so tightly I thought I was going to crack it in half.

“Fucking hell, Kendra. Your games don’t affect me anymore. You are not the end all, be all of the information from the school. Don’t contact me again.”

“Don’t you want to know where they’re going?” she purred.

“No. I’m not interested in any lies you have to say or any information you may or may not have to give. You should probably move on with your life. We’re no longer legally obligated to each other. Go find someone else to fuck with.” I punched the call button and hung up before she could say another word. “Fuck!” I pounded onto my desk and stood. Shit like this would just keep happening as long as I let her get to me. She’d been doing it for months now, waving her nasty little power trip in my face. I needed to get out of here.

“John,” I called as I rushed out into the kitchen. “Take the lead. I need a break.”

“Heard,” he shouted, and I slammed the door on my way out the back. My blood was boiling. The loss of that business would hit us really hard. Why would Kendra do something like that? I knew she was behind it.

I got into my car and huffed.

There was no sense in calling the school, even though Kendra was a liar. She and the principal had been friends for longer than I’d known either of them. I just wanted her to stop fucking with me. I knew she pulled strings to make this happen.

I started the car, having no idea where I was going, but I knew I had to drive.

Driving always made me feel better. There was something about the way the tires rolled over the road that calmed me. Aside from throwing her something shiny in the opposite direction from where I was, I had no idea how to get her off my back. When we were married, she’d pulled shit all the time on me.

And I’d react.

It was our cycle.

But once I stepped off the hamster wheel, I thought I’d be out of it.

As I weaved in and out of town, driving down one street through the next, I stopped at a stoplight and looked over.

The light for Julia’s office was on. I didn't see her through the store front, but I wish I could've.

Things didn’t end well the last time I saw her, but there was something calming about her when she was around. She was very much the antithesis of Kendra. She had very much the opposite effect on me.

I pulled the car over to the curb and saw that herOpenlight was still on. I didn’t want to sit here like a creeper, and when I looked through the bay window more closely, I saw that she was, in fact, sitting at a desk with a black-haired woman.

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