by Amy Brent
It had to be the stress at work. Between the Helsinki trip, the training I was undergoing and this massive project I was being bombarded with, I was under nothing but stress. And sure, L was an incredible stress reliever, but my sleep was suffering as well. Interrupted by dreams of paperwork only for me to scramble out of bed and write down notes. I had been like that for years—dedicated to my work and growing my future in real estate development.
Well, until L came along, anyway. Apparently, I was willing to throw all that away just to love the man.
I thought back to all the nights we’d ever had sex. I thought about our date last night and how I had taken my pill before I’d gotten to the marina. I thought about the night we danced in my living room and how I’d taken it just before he’d gotten there. I thought back all the way to the Helsinki trip and how I had taken it before we’d even gotten off the damn plane!
Then, I thought back to that night at the bar. The night he was supposedly done with everything before we salsa danced. The night we stumbled into a cab, went up to my apartment, and completely devoured each other’s bodies.
I came home from work, changed into my clothes, thought it would be funny to tease him by not wearing any underwear, and I should have reached for my birth control pill. Shaking my head, I knew it was ridiculous exercise, since that wasn’t how they worked anyway.
But still, I just couldn’t remember if I had skipped any pills. But one missed pill shouldn’t have mattered, and I would have noticed the next day, right? I took them like clockwork. With the exception of L, my life was very orderly, and reliable. Wasn’t it? Even as I said it, I recalled in the hubbub of travel with L, I started taking pills out of two different packs, so it was entirely possible I could have missed pills and not realized it.
I scanned the pregnancy tests and felt my hands begin to shake. I reached up and plucked one that had three separate tests in it and tossed it into my cart. If I wasn’t pregnant, I needed to go see a doctor to make sure I was alright.
But, if I was pregnant—
Holy shit, what would a child between L and I be like? I knew I was being an idiot about this, it had to be stress, but still. Ellison James was handsome, headstrong, successful, and highly intelligent. I was determined, driven, and very competitive. A child who inherited even a few of the character traits in that combination would be absolutely unstoppable.
I began pushing my cart as I daydreamed about the physical features our child would have. They would most certainly have L’s dark hair. My red hair was an incredibly recessive trait, but maybe our child would luck out and have a few of my cute little freckles around their nose. Maybe they’d have my green eyes along with L’s steely gaze. Or maybe we’d have a long-legged, beautiful daughter, with L’s height and my curves.
She’d be a knockout, for sure.
I got up to the cash register and began piling things onto the moving belt. I felt my hands begin to tremble as I saw the pregnancy tests, and the reality of the situation hit me.
What if I was pregnant with L’s child? Everyone would know. There would be no more hiding what had been going on between the two of us. I’d probably lose my job if we wanted to keep it secret, or I’d have to lie about who the father was if I wanted to keep working there. L would never be able to be the father he wanted to be because we’d be sneaking around in the shadows.
It would ruin him, and it would ruin us.
By the time I swiped my card and got out of there, tears were flowing down my cheeks. It was getting hard to breathe as I threw the groceries into the back of my car, and I threw up one last time alongside the back tire before I climbed into the driver’s seat. I took it nice and easy back to my apartment, deep breathing through my nausea, but I knew what I had to do when I got home.
I had to take one of those tests.
Chapter 27
Ellison
I got to my car and swung my things in before I barreled out onto the street. With each passing second that Charlie didn’t answer, I grew more and more worried about her. Maybe she really was sick, or maybe Michael had said something to her that made her sick. I cursed my coworker, wishing he’d have just kept his fucking nose out of my business. Charlie and I were adults and we were going about this the only way we knew how. I knew the promises I’d made to this company-- the sacrifices I’d made throughout my career. Why the fuck couldn’t I also be in love?
Why the fuck couldn’t I also have Charlie?
I raced down the road and pulled myself into Charlie’s apartment complex. I threw open my door, not bothering to look around for her car, and I started up the steps to her place. I stood at her door, taking a few deep breaths before I raised my hand to knock, and it gave me time to really digest the place. It was rundown and dark. Half the lights in the stairwell didn’t work and I could hear a couple fighting a couple floors below her. She lived in a part of town no one should deem safe enough for their girlfriend, and I figured I could make that part of the conversation we were about to have.
Girlfriend.
Girlfriend.
Charlie was my girlfriend, and I wanted her to live in a better part of town.
I smiled, chuckling lightly to myself at the thought. I don’t think anyone would’ve ever thought Ellison James would’ve given two shits about where some woman lived. Then again, I don’t think anyone would’ve ever taken me for the type to fall in love.
But, that was the wonderful thing about Charlie. She never assumed to know my personality based on my media reputation or the rumors around the company. She’d taken the time to get to know who I was while not dampening who she was for a second. She was unabashedly herself, and I raised my fist to knock on the door as I thought forward to all the things we would enjoy together.
Vacations.
Trips to the tropics.
Bikini weekends where I’d marvel at how her body spilled out of them.
Fancy dinners where her humor shone at the forefront.
Concert halls where I could watch her-
“Can I help you?”
I hadn’t even realized the door had opened, but when a man was standing on the other side, I was shocked. He looked like a bit of an idiot—scrawny, tall, and a bit shaggy. His bug eyes were staring back at me with a creepy sort of curiosity, and he rolled his eyes up and down my form before I cleared my throat and spoke.
“I’m sorry. I must have the wrong apartment. Which apartment is Miss Charlene’s?” I asked.
“Nope! Got the right one,” the man said. “And you are—?”
“Adam,” I lied. “One of Charlie’s coworkers.”
“Ah, at the real estate development company. I’m Rick, Charlie’s live-in boyfriend.”
My entire world came to a halt in that split second. I held my hand out to shake his hand, trying to be as polite as possible while I kept the confusion off my face. I drew in deep, silent breaths through my lips, trying desperately to stay calm while my mind swirled and melted into a puddle at my feet.
I thought back to the first time Charlie and I had hooked up in her place. I mentally searched the room I could remember, and I simply didn’t recall any male paraphernalia lying around. No oversized shoes, no t-shirts, no double toothbrush or boxers lying around. If there was one thing Charlie wasn’t, it was a slob.
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.
I pulled into a drug store and went in to buy a bottle of water. I came back out and grabbed the pregnancy tests, my hands shaking as I tried to keep myself together. I went to the counter and asked the man if I could use their restrooms, and he looked at the contents in my hand before giving me this sympathetic look.
“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.
