Page 26 of My Heartless Soul

This day needs to be over.

Hell, I am over this week. But that light at the end of the tunnel doesn’t even peak through at this point. If only I didn’t need the money so desperately right now.

Kira releases Henry and ushers me into the shiny, polished elevator, silently standing at a great distance from me. But no matter the distance, my skin feels hers. “Why do I need to be here again?”

“I already told you; you will have to stay here.”

“Yes, but why? Surely, you like your alone time, and I am afraid I will have to testify if they ask me how many puppies you kill each night. So, you really want me to be here for that?” I ask, my exhaustion getting the best of me and letting my thoughts run rampant.

“Look at that, I got myself a real jokester. Aren’t you full of surprises tonight, Mr. Levidis?” Once again, she talks without looking at me, and it is starting to piss me off.

I am not part of her furniture or some kind of a toy she always likes to think I am. I am a human with feelings and a beating heart, and I am about done being treated as anything but one. I’ve stuffed it all for far too long.

“What? No comeback for me?” Kira asks, but I clamp my lips together, refusing to indulge her.

The elevator dings open, and the door opens to what looks to be a private hallway of a penthouse suit.

What else did I expect?

“Welcome to your new residence,” she says, walking into her apartment first, and I trail behind her once again.

I should be looking at my new prison cell, yet my eyes are currently occupied by a far worse torture chamber. Damn it, it would help if those hips, along with that perfect ass, couldn’t move that much.

But as she opens the door, my lust haze dissipates as the freezing cold air brushes against my skin. Why the fuck is it so cold inside her home? Did she forget to turn up the heat? I am waiting for her to say something about it, but when she doesn’t, I realize this is her norm.

Cold blood requires a cold environment.

“Levidis? Did you inhale too much xanthan today? Why the sudden clog up?” Oh, I think I like her nervous, because that is exactly what she is right now. As much as she likes to pretend otherwise, Kira is not okay with having someone in her space. She’s not okay havingmein her space. And especially not when I am bristling with silent rage.

“Oh, you are talking to me?” I am aware that I am acting somewhere around the teenage zone. Will I stop? No. Not until she treats me as an adult I am. A colleague or at least a respectable employee who is doing her a huge favor at the expense of his own life that could definitely use more of my time.

“I didn’t realize I ever stopped talking to you.”

“Well, usually when two people are talking, they share what is called eye contact.”

Kira’s eyes narrow down on me as she clicks her tongue. “Look at you. I am getting a whole new Vassar tonight,” she says and takes off her shoes with a little too much force sending her shiny Louboutin’s halfway across the marble floor I am just now noticing.

Black marble floor. Does this woman even know what color is? Because the walls are crisp white all over the place, or at least where I can see. The furniture is either white or black or glass. The paintings on the walls are black and white and lack any personality, as if she bought them for the sake of buying. Not enjoyment of art.

“Well, tonight, I am your boyfriend, not your employee, aren’t I?”

“Ohhhh, so you think that little title—which you forgot to add fake to—gives you some special rights?”

“Fuck. Yes.”

“Fuck. No.” The black wool coat is off with just as much force as the shoes. “Your room is to the right of this hallway.” She points with her finger. “Goodnight.”

“Charming as usual, Ursula,” I say and move toward the room she designated for me.

This is one idiocy after another. I don’t have any clothes here, not even a toothbrush. But most importantly, I don’t have my daughter here. The tightness in my chest grows, trying to claw its way out.

I already feel like the worst father for never being there for her, and now this? This is complete and utter bullshit.

“This is a one-night arrangement only. I am not staying here ever again.”

“Yes, you are! Those crows with their clicky-clacks need to see you coming in and out of here with me. That idiot, Steven, needsto see you because he is still running his stupid mouth about us reuniting. And I didn’t step into this pile of fake relationship shit to have you ruin it right away.”

“You do realize I have a life outside my work?”

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