Page 55 of Heartless Boss
Her face looks like the calm before a storm, and I regret my words. Can this day get any shittier?
Without responding, she slides oven mitts on her tiny hands, opens the oven, removes the cake, and places it on the counter. She grabs her purse and slings it over her shoulder, leaving me in the quiet apartment. I take the birthday cake and toss it against the glass wall and watch it slide down to the floor, leaving a streak of chocolate.
“Fuck!” I scream at the top of my lungs, then head to my room and slam the door behind me. I unleash my rage and go apeshit by tossing crap off my dresser, kicking the nightstand. All my shit rattles to the floor.
The smell of iron crawls up my nostrils, and all I see is blood painting the fucking walls. The horrified look on Rylee’s face when she found Ellis, and the screams at the top of her lungs. Like a goddamn coward, I stood in the rain, watching as Rylee went into a state of shock.
I go to my walk-in closet, snatch a bottle of Jack Daniel, unscrew the lid, and down it like I’m dying of thirst. My demons want to come out and fight. With every sip I take of my favorite brand of liquor, I fight back harder.
It isn’t real. It isn’t real.
My sanity is hanging by a thread, and I want to put a bullet through my head so I can end it all.
* * *
Gia didn’t come home last night, and I don’t know where she stayed. But knowing there wasn’t music blasting as she made a cheeseburger for breakfast, and the bathroom wouldn’t smell like an orchard full of fresh apples, hurts my soul. When I checked her bedroom, the bed wasn’t made, which isn’t surprising though because she never makes it.
We don’t sleep in the same bed on weekdays because she says she wants to be by herself at night.
After I clean up the disaster I made last night, I shower and throw on a black Armani suit. I need to kiss Gia’s ass figurative and literally, so I stop by Molly’s Cupcake’s on Bleecker Street and buy her two dozen vanilla cupcakes with apple pie filling. I also head to Happy Socks on Broadway to buy her bubble gum knee-high socks decorated with music notes. Maybe, she’ll accept my gifts as a peace offering, and I won’t be in the doghouse for too long, or maybe she kicks my crazy ass to the curb.
Who knows?
Either way, I won’t blame her. Who wants to deal with someone who’s fifty shades of fucked up?
When I open the glass door to her office Gia is typing on her iPad.
As I clear my throat, she twists around and glares at me in a way I’m not used to. The normal glares she throws my way say, “I hate you, but I’ll let you fuck me. This glare isI’m about to rip your dick off and feed it to you.
She jerks her chin toward my office, and her eyes soften as she speaks. “Your coffee is on your desk, and you have a conference meeting with Darien. Oliver’s lawyer sent over the draft of the contract for American Banking. Troy from the IT department wants to go over some software he thinks will be better for the customers and employees. Mrs. Donna called in sick.”
Her voice cracks like an egg. She eyes the gifts I bought her but doesn’t even acknowledge them and turns back around in her chair.
I take long strides toward her, spin her chair to face me, and shove the gifts in her hands. Sadness colors her face and she gulps loudly. “These are for your ass, so stop staring at me like you’re planning to murder me in my sleep.”
“I’m not, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about it,” she admits, examining the cupcakes like they have rabies. “Is this your way of apologizing? By buying me my favorite cupcakes and knee-high socks?”
“Yeah. Does that mean you’ll come home and let me fuck you until you’re sore?”
“No. But I’m willing to talk.”
“Then will you come home?”
“It depends on how the talk goes.”
She’s lucky I adore the fuck out of her ass because if she was any other woman, I’d toss her out of my life faster than Speedy Gonzales. And I wouldn’t even care how bad I fucked up. She would be another woman I don’t have to explain myself to. Well, color me shocked and fuck me sideways scissors- style. I’m actually digging Gia. I don’t know when I started to like her in a romantic way, but it snuck up on me like a thief with a knife. Darien was fucking right for once in his life.
This is not good for us. I need to call off the experiment, but I don’t want to.
“Deal.”
And I stand there like a sad fucking puppy waiting for her to spit out what she wants to say to me. Is she waiting on hell to freeze over so the devil can go ice-skating to tell me I’m off the hook?
“So are we going to talk?”
“No, not right now. After work. At my hotel room.” Then she licks her lips, eyes her cupcakes, grabs one, and devours it. “I’m only breaking my eating sweets rule because they look too good to waste. Just because you buy me a bunch of gifts doesn’t mean I forgive you for acting like a class-A jerk.” She frowns. “Does the word ‘sorry’ hurt when you say it?”
I fold my arms across my chest. Gia knows she’s got me wrapped me around her tiny finger.
