by Amy Brent
And by the look of the man whose hand I was shaking, he was an absolute slob.
But, we were also drunk that night, and drunk memories are never really accurate. I had left in a hurry after we’d made ourselves sweaty together, and I honestly didn’t get a good look at the place. It wasn’t what I was concerned about at the time, and now I was kicking myself.
I had allowed myself to drop all my normal guards with Charlie, only to find myself standing in front of her fucking boyfriend.
How the hell was she arranging all this shit we were doing at her place while he was gone? Was this a new development? A knee jerk reaction to her interaction with Michael? Was she really that conniving? I mean, I knew she was a fucking shark in the boardroom—that much was for certain when I witnessed it in Finland—but this didn’t seem like Charlie.
Yet, here I was. Standing in front of him. Listening to the truth fly from the lips of the man who was living with her, while he shook hands with the man she was running around with in the shadows.
She fucking told me she loved me.
“Well, Charlie’s not here right now. Would you like to come in and wait for her?” Rick asked.
“Oh, no.. She left work in a bit of a rush. I don’t think she was feeling well, so I was sent to check up on her,” I said.
“Man, that place where she works is really nice. I hear the owner’s a tool, though. She’s been taking lots of business trips lately with the company, and I think she maybe just brought home a bug or something.”
“So, she came home sick?” I asked.
“Yeah. She’s not the type to fake a sick day just to come home. She practically worships where she works.”
“I bet that’s rough on your relationship,” I said.
“You can only imagine. It’s hard enough just to get her to sleep with me after her long days,” he said, smiling.
I felt my blood boiling with every word that flew from his mouth. My vision was clouded and I could feel it tunneling. I was trying to read his body language, but all I saw was a cocky brat leaning against an entryway I had thrust Charlie through on multiple occasions. All I could see were his hands crossed over his chest, like he’d somehow won some sort of game and was rubbing it in my face.
Did he know who I was? Was this his way of boasting that he’d won?
Did Charlie really fucking thing this joker was better than me?
“Yeah. That’s probably one of the reasons why Mr. James doesn’t allow interoffice romances. He works us all so damn hard we’d probably cheat on those we love most,” I said.
“Mr. James?” he asked.
Good. This bastard had no idea who I was.
“The owner of the company,” I said.
“Oh, oh, oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.”
“Yeah,” I said, nodding.
“You sure you don’t wanna come in and wait for Charlie? I’m sure she’ll be back soon,” he said.
“No. I was really just coming by to make sure she was alright. If she’s out and about, she couldn’t be too sick,” I said.
“Then you obviously don’t know Charlie,” he said, chuckling. “That woman would be hobbling around with her foot cut off and she’d be trying to work and shit.”
He was right. I obviously didn’t know Charlie. All this time she had me convinced I had found the perfect woman for me. Competitive, driven, passionate. A body to kill for and didn’t give a shit about my wallet. She had me on her hook and sunk me to the bottom of the ocean. Probably just to see if she could.
Every interaction I’d ever had with her was now flooding back to my memory. Every time she’d ever passed me in the hallway and every time she ever smiled at me was now coming under close scrutiny. What signs did I miss? What facial reactions did I cast off as simply her being Charlie? What keywords or phrases did I shrug off because I was entranced with that tight little pussy of hers?
“Well, just let her know I stopped by,” I said. “Tell her everyone at work hopes she feels better. And if she needs anything, she knows how to get in touch with some of us.”
“I’ll let her know, but I’ve got it under control,” he said.
I nodded and said my goodbyes before I slowly walked back down the steps. The man seemed unassuming and nice, though his stance was a bit cocky. He was ill-dressed and obviously didn’t bother cleaning himself up every morning, and if that was the kind of bullshit that tripped Charlie’s trigger, then who was I to say otherwise? She’d pulled the wool over my eyes in a way no woman ever had, and if I wasn’t so fucking angry I would have hired her on the spot to be my third in command next to Michael.
I got into my car and pulled out before I went and parked myself under a tree. Charlie had a fucking boyfriend. A live-in boyfriend who probably fucked her brains out every single night. He lived there with her. Breathed her same air. Held her close at night. Probably cooked dinners for her. I bet he was packin’ a serious dick in order for her to disregard what the fuck he looked like, especially after being with the likes of me.
I was Ellison fucking James. I was the best there was.
And I was the best Charlie would ever have.
Charlie—the luscious shark who had entranced every single part of me—was cheating on her boyfriend with me.
I was the fucking side piece.
The man who could be thrown away.
The disposable one.
How the fucking hell did I not see this coming? How did I not know!? I’ve spent my entire life reading people for the betterment of myself and my company. How did she scoot this past me!? Maybe she was never really serious about me. Maybe she started dropping her guard and her act when she saw I was on her little hook. Maybe she’s nothing but a cheating whore who really was comfortable fucking her way up the corporate ladder.
I mean, she told me she took pride in not doing that, but it sure as hell was easy to get her down onto her knees when it came to my dick. Who was to say she hadn’t done it before? Hell, we hadn’t even been in Helsinki for 48 hours before she was throwing those massive tits in my face!
She was just like every other woman I’d ever dated. Dated and discarded. There was a reason I had the track record I did with women. There was a reason I never got serious. There was a reason why I didn’t fuck employees or let them fuck each other. There was a reason I kept everyone at arm’s length.
And it was this fucking reason right here.
I’d almost thrown my entire company away for some cheating bitch who was looking for a quick way up the ladder.
I was blind to not have seen this before now, but she wasn’t going to do this to me anymore. No again. Not ever.
Just then, my burner phone buzzed in the cup holder of my car. I chuckled to myself, shaking my head as I picked it up, and I read the text message Charlie had sent in response to mine.
L, we really do need to talk. Could you come over to my place? I’ll be there soon.
I threw my car door open and stepped out. My vision was going in and out and I felt unsteady on my feet. I was holding, in my hands, the text message that would lure me to Charlie’s place. I bet she was going to confront me in front of her bullshit boyfriend, telling me the whole truth. Maybe he was smirking at me because he’d caught her in her lies. Maybe she wasn’t really sick. Maybe that’s why she left work early. He figured out her whorish little secret and he was waiting to talk with her about it.
Well, she wasn’t involving me in her bullshit. He could do whatever the fuck he wanted to do with her.
Because I was done with Charlie. Just like I was done with the rest of them.
And I threw my burner phone down onto the ground before I stomped on it with my heel.
Chapter 28
Charlie
On the way home from the grocery store I couldn’t see straight. I kept having to pull over and wipe the anxious tears from my eyes, and I knew I had to do this now.
This test couldn’t wait until I got home. I had to know what was happening now.
“They’re right back there. Take your time, alright? If you need anything, let me know.”
His voice was so soothing, I broke down right there at the counter. I laid my forehead onto the cool surface, knowing exactly how crazy I looked. How in the world could this have happened? How in the world could I have been so careless?
I got back to the bathroom and vomited again in the toilet. I hit my knees, banging them on the tile floor while my stomach emptied contents I didn’t even know it had. My brow was sweating and my back was sore, and all I wanted to do was take this damn pregnancy test so I could settle my mind.
I sat back on my ass with tears pouring down my face. I wished I would’ve grabbed my burner phone out of the car. I bet L had already messaged me back, and I bet he was confirming my worst fears. I bet Michael knew and he was telling the entire company. I bet L was trying to find a way to fire me easily. I bet I’d pick up my phone and no longer have a job.
How the fuck was I going to raise a child without a fucking job!?
I grabbed the water bottle and chugged it quickly. I could feel the remnants of my vomit flutter down my throat, and I grimaced while I tried to keep the water down. I knew once this message told me I wasn’t pregnant I would feel a lot better, but that didn’t negate the fact that L and I had to talk.
We really, really needed to talk.
I finished off the bottle of water, took a deep breath and sat on the toilet. I unwrapped one of the tests and waited impatiently for my bladder to do its thing. Tears sprung to my eyes when I finally had the urge to pee. I stuck the stick between my legs before I set it off to the side, and I unwrapped a second one while holding back my urine just to make sure. If both tests were negative, I was really in the clear. That meant my stress and anxiety was just wreaking havoc on my body.
“Just be negative. Just be negative. Just be negative.”
I cleaned myself up and washed my hands while the pregnancy tests sat on the back of the toilet. I paced around in the drug store bathroom, my mind reeling with every possible thing that could go wrong. L was going to lose everything and I was going to be stuck with a child I couldn’t raise. L was many things, but a father was the last word anyone would use to describe Ellison James.
And I wasn’t sure if it was a word I could use to describe him either.
I looked over at the tests and felt a sense of dread boiling up in my stomach. I bent over the kitchen sink and vomited again, watching the stomach bile and water swirl down the sink drain. I turned on the faucet and washed my mouth out before I looked at myself in the mirror, and that’s when I realized just how bad I looked.
My mascara was running, my eyeliner was smudged. My foundation was streaked where tears had been flowing down my cheeks and my blush was now sitting in the crook of my neck. I splashed handfuls of water in my face before I reached for a ton of paper towels. I needed to erase this woman. This under-confident, lazy, anxious woman needed to flee the scene. If I was pregnant, I needed to buck up and be a woman about it. If I wasn’t pregnant, I needed to buck up against L and figure out why the fuck he wasn’t messaging me back.
I drew in a deep breath before I walked back over to the pregnancy tests and I picked them up. I studied them closely as tears filled my eyes once again, and I clutched them tight in the palms of my hands while my stomach dropped to my knees.
I was pregnant.
I threw the tests away and grabbed the last one I hadn’t used. I could take it again in the morning just to be sure, but two tests didn’t lie. I burst from the bathroom and ran through the store, making my way to my car as I scrambled for my phone. I realized I had a missed text message from L on my burner phone, confirming my worst fear with Michael.
But all that seemed to pale in comparison now as my hand mindlessly migrated to my stomach.
L, we really do need to talk. Could you come over to my place? I’ll be there soon.
I sent the text message before I scrambled into my car. I needed to get this food home and get Johnson fed. I had to keep myself distracted until I could get face to face with L, and the best way to do that was with my cat.
I raced home, my mind no longer flying at warp speed. The only thing I could think about was those two pregnancy tests. They were glaring in my mind, mocking me for all the terrible decisions I had ever made with my life. In one fell swoop, I’d gone from legitimately working my way up the ladder to carrying the boss-man’s child, and I cursed myself as I pulled into my complex.
“What the fuck’s wrong with you, Charlie?” I asked myself. “What the hell were you thinking?”
I grabbed my purse and shoved the burner phone in it before I grabbed all my groceries from the back. Even though I knew I needed to eat, I wasn’t hungry. My stomach was rolling with nausea and all I wanted to do was lay down and go to sleep. I felt exhausted, I felt spent, and I felt like the worst was yet to come.
And when I realized my front door was unlocked, I knew I was exactly right.
“Hello?” I called out.
“You really should lock your door, you know.”
“Damn it, Rick. What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked.
“It’s a good thing I popped by. Johnson didn’t have any food and you didn’t have any here,” he said.
“What. The fuck. Are you doing in my apartment?” I asked.
“I came by this morning to check in on you. You didn’t let me know when you got back into town from your last business trip or whatever, and I was worried. Your front door was fucking unlocked, Charlie. That’s not safe.”
“There’s so much wrong with that statement, I don’t even know where to begin,” I said.
“Here, let me help you with those,” he said.
“No, Rick,” I said, yanking away from him. I walked over to the counter and tossed all my shit on top of it before I turned on my heels to face him.
“Put down my cat so I have your full attention,” I said.
“Charlie. What’s wrong? Something’s happened at work, hasn’t it?” he asked.
“Why would you even—? Forget it, I don’t care. Look. I don’t tell you when I’m coming and going because I don’t have to. We aren’t dating anymore, nor will we ever date again in the future. Are we clear on that?”
“Charlie, are you feeling—”
“I do not want to be with you, Rick!” I yelled. “Are you listening!?”
“Yes, Charlie. Fuck. I’m listening,” he said.
“You will never know when I’m coming and going because it’s none of your damn business. You will not watch Johnson because he is fine. You will not come by my apartment just to check on me because it’s not your job.”
“Oh, but its Adam’s?” he asked.
“Who the fuck is Adam!?” I shrieked.
“No one,” he said. “It’s obvious you’ve been distracted lately, though. I’m serious. Your door was unlocked this morning when I came by. I thought someone had come in and hurt you or something.”
“And if someone had, I’m more than capable of defending myself. You are not my knight in shining armor. Now, get out,” I said.
“Charlie—”
“Get the fuck out, Rick!”
“You’re gonna regret this, you know,” he said. “I’m the only man who treats you with any sort of dignity. Who follows you around and tells you like it is. Who brings you back to the ground whenever you’re floating in the clouds.”
“And there is where the issue lies, Rick,” I said. “I don’t want someone who treats me with dignity. I want someone who treats me with respect. I don’t want someone who follows me around, I want someone who walks by my side. I don’t want someone to tell me like it is, I
want someone to support my words. And I don’t want someone to bring me back down from the clouds, I want someone who floats up there with me. Who chases my dreams with me. Who believes in me as much as I believe in myself. Who doesn’t try to hold me back because they’re lazy. That’s what I want, Rick. And that’s not you.”
I held his gaze for quite some time as I watched the red tint of anger brush his cheeks. For a split second, I thought he was going to lash out. I thought he was going to lunge at me or shut the door and not leave. I thought I was going to have to forcefully make him leave or have someone escort him out.
But all he did was slowly turn around and slam the door behind him.
“Stupid bitch!” he yelled outside.
I brushed off his words and picked up my burner phone. L hadn’t messaged back, so I sent him another one. I really needed him to come over so we could talk, and I was getting very worried. He wasn’t answering again. He didn’t answer the first time because Michael was probably tearing him a new one, and part of me wanted to go back into work to see if everything was alright.
