“Paige,” Gavin sighs and leans back in chair while pinching the bridge of his nose, “this was his final revision submitted for approval by the client this morning.”
“But—,” I sputter out when no words will come to me. I’m taken aback by the fact that Parker screwed up so monumentally. He put his reputation and that of the firm at stake. It isn’t like him to be so careless.
“Take a few minutes and jot down your notes for Mark.” Gavin stands and walks towards the door. With his hand on the knob, he turns back to me. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry you have to learn this the hard way.”
With that he’s gone, and I’m left to wonder what the hell I’m going to do.
My mind is spinning by the time I leave Mark and Gavin in the conference room. I’m ready to puke at the thought that I just tore apart Parker’s design and made Mark question his abilities. A small part of me knows I’m being a bit overdramatic, but it feels like the world may be ending.
Instead of feeling pride at how impressed Mark was with my thought process and visions for how to correct the design, all I can think about is the fact that I hope Parker can forgive me.
I know I shouldn’t, but I’m compelled to warn him of the shit storm that is coming his way. Parker isn’t in his office when I peek my head in at the end of the day, though, so I leave the building and head to catch my train with a heavy sense of dread weighing on me.
I barely pay attention to the other passengers or the scenery on my ride home. It’s all a blur as I exit the train and get in my car at the station. I barely even remember the drive from there to my house. It isn’t until the sun has long since set that I realize it’s ten o’clock at night and I haven’t even eaten dinner. I’ve been too busy pacing with each minute that ticked on where I still hadn’t heard from Parker.
A loud banging on the front door has me jumping out of my skin. I rush into the foyer, my heart in my throat and my palms sweaty. Parker’s on the other side of the glass. He’s beautiful as always but I can’t miss the angry expression on his face—lips pressed together in a grim line and jaw tight.
As I open the door, I steel myself for the well-deserved lashing I’m most likely going to get. I open my mouth to greet him, but it slams shut when he shoulders past me into the house, where we stand off against one another in the foyer. I swallow hard and battle the overwhelming urge to apologize profusely. While I expected his anger, I didn’t expect it to this degree.
“You couldn’t wait to sabotage me with Gavin could you?” He practically spits Gavin’s name out like it tastes foul on his tongue. The accusation is harsh and like a slap across the face.
“Parker, I never—,” I start to defend myself but he cuts me off with a swipe of his hand through the air.
“You never my ass,” he fumes. Talking to me like this is so out of character for him and while I do deserve his anger, I’m not about to be trampled by it either.
“Hey! I get that you’re upset, but that doesn’t give you the right to be a dick.” I leave him standing in the foyer and walk into the kitchen where I set about pouring myself a healthy glass of wine. I’m going to need it. Men can be so stupid. They have no idea how to properly approach a situation. I went from feeling guilty to being ready to lob my shoe at his head in under a minute.
Parker storms into the room. I can hear his heavy breathing and picture him seething behind me. I turn and lean against the counter, lifting the glass to my lips and wait. On the breeze, I catch the faint smell of bourbon and wonder how much he’s had to drink.
“I’m not saying anything that isn’t true. You deliberately threw me under the bus to my uncle today. I just spent the last three hours defending myself and why I shouldn’t be forced to resign from the company.” I wince at that fact. It seems a bit extreme of Mark given the situation. “I have to admit I was fooled by what a good fuck you are. That mouth of yours would convince any man you were worth the trouble. What I want to know, though, is why you used your body to get to me to trust you just so you could take advantage of me and ruin my career.”
I’m at a loss for words. How could I have been so wrong about Parker? It’s like I don’t even know the man standing before me. The very idea that I would ever sleep with my boss to get a leg up at work is ludicrous and highly offensive. The man I loved would never say such hurtful things to me.
“Go fuck yourself,” I shout at him. My arm reflexively pulls back and then forward, releasing my wine glass with it. The glass sails past Parker’s head by mere inches and shatters against the wall, spraying the kitchen with its contents. Later, once I’m not so angry and hurt, I’ll be glad that I was drinking white and not red.
“Why fuck myself when I can fuck you?” His hands make to work at his belt buckle. “Might as well get something out of this fucked up situation. I’ll come all over you like the dirty whore you are. Just don’t think I’m going to buy anything that comes out of your mouth ever again.”
I stagger back with the weight of his words. Their foulness has bile rising up in my throat. Instead of finding something to throw at his head, I throw a punch at his face. Even with alcohol in his system, the bastard catches my fist in his hand, stopping me from connecting with his nose.
“You were the one without your head in the game,” I shout. “You were the one who put together that bullshit design. None of this is my fault. If it hadn’t been me who said something to Mark, it would have been someone else. At least with me, I wasn’t trying to shove a damn knife in your back and take over your project.”
“Oh but that knife is definitely lodged in my back, Paige. The only thing you didn’t do was twist it.”
“That is such bullshit.” My voice is raw with emotion and I feel tears prick the backs of my eyes, but I will not allow myself to crack. Not now with him standing in front of me. After he leaves, that is when I’ll allow the tears to fall and take stock in the damage to my heart.
“You are the very reason why my head hasn’t been in the game lately. You and that fucking cunt of yours. I guess it’s only fitting you’re the one that….”
Thoroughly over this conversation, I square my shoulders and compose myself. With a quiet and lethal voice, I say, “Get out of my house. I never want to see you again.”
Thankfully, he spares me any further commentary on his way out the door. Only after the click of the door shutting, do I crumple to the floor and cry like a baby. It isn’t until my back is sore and my eyes are bloodshot and puffy that I stop. And when I do, I vow to not give Parker Stone anymore of my tears.
Chapter Fifteen
It’s been a month since the Parker explosion, as Amira so affectionately calls it, and I have yet to see the man since he’s on a sabbatical. He hasn’t tried to contact me either, which does nothing to help my healing process along. Especially since he owes me an apology.
My heart hurts any time his name is mentioned—or hell, whenever I think of him, which is far too often—but I refuse to cry. Whenever I feel the impending tears, I call Amira and she always finds a way to cheer me up. At first she thought tales of her sexual exploits would help. All they did was leave me lonelier than I already was. You don’t realize how much you come to rely on someone for comfort until they are suddenly cut out of your life.
“Your flight leaves tomorrow at what time?” Amira asks from her perch on the edge of her bed. She’s flipping through a magazine and sipping on wine, waiting for me to finish getting dressed. A girl’s night out on the town is just what the doctor ordered before I fly down to Florida to visit my parents.
I hadn’t planned on taking a vacation, but I panicked when I overheard Parker’s new assistant say he was back to work on Monday. For all my blustering about being over what happened, I’m still not ready to share a space with him. Gavin was understanding when I asked for a week off with such short notice. Since I’ve been doing so well with my internship and given the length of time I’ve been with the company, he was more than willing to grant my request.
“A car is picking me up for the airport at seven. I figure I’ll just crash on your couch tonight.” I walk out of her closet and strike a pose. Amira looks up from her magazine and whistles appreciatively.
“Yowser,” she says while taking me in. My black dress is low cut, tight and stops several inches shy of my knees. My hair is messy and wild, and my makeup is set to drama. I’m ready to step outside of my comfort zone tonight. I might wither away and die pining over Parker if I don’t make myself see what else is out there.
“You think?” I smooth my hands down the front of my dress and do a little spin.
“I know. Maybe we’ll even get you laid tonight.” She winks and before I can object she says, “Let’s go, sister.”
There’s a flutter of excitement in my belly as we walk out onto the sidewalk and towards the club.
The club is packed and the music’s beat is reverberating through my body as my hips dip and sway with the rhythm. I feel free of all the tension that’s been surrounding me since the incident with Parker. I miss being carefree. I relish in the sensation, not wanting it to go away again.
Todd’s strong hands grip my hips, assisting my ass in grinding against him. He introduced himself earlier after buying me a drink at the bar, then asked me to dance. I was hesitant at first. Even Amira didn’t seem overly keen about me dancing with him, but I finally said yes to him after much cajoling on his part. I’m not going to move on from Parker if I don’t put myself out there. Even if it is just to dance.
As I move to the sounds of Drake, I feel no oomph when Todd touches me. No zing when we make eye contact. No dip in my belly whenever his lips are a hairsbreadth away from mine. I resign myself to enjoy these few moments in time with him, though. It isn’t as if I expected to find someone to replace Parker anyway. Just someone to help me heal my broken heart a little.
Now face to face with Todd, I’m dancing a little dirtier than I normally would courtesy of all the alcohol I’ve consumed. Luckily, I’m still at the happy drunk stage where I feel good but I haven’t gone too far yet. I make a mental note to switch to beer when Todd grips my ass with one hand and using his other hand on my back, he dips me.
A burst of laugh bubbles out of me and I let my arms dangle towards the floor before he pulls me back up. No sooner does the room right itself, then I’m being pulled from his arms.
It’s all happening so fast, I’m not sure what is going on. All I know is I blink and Todd is laid out on the floor with a fuming Parker standing over him, his hand balled into a fist.
What is he doing here?
“What are you doing?” I shriek and kneel down to help poor Todd. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Amira worrying her hands and biting her lip. It’s what she does when she’s feeling guilty. I shake my head and focus on the scene in front of me. I can worry about Amira later.
“He was touching you,” Parker answers through clenched teeth.
“So?” I look over at Todd, who is rubbing his jaw and throwing daggers at Parker with his eyes. “Are you okay?”
He turns and looks at me, nodding his head.
“Maybe you should get the fuck away from her,” Parker shouts over the music.
“You are impossible,” I yell at him before Todd can say something that is sure to wind Parker up even more. Standing up, I storm past him and a worried looking Amira.
Outside the club it’s quieter and the night air is a bit chilly against my heated skin. The scene in the club coupled with the dip in temperature wakes me up, sobering me almost instantly. Hearing my name shouted, I stop pacing on the sidewalk and turn towards Amira. She’s standing next to Parker, looking guilty as fuck.
“Was this your doing?” I ask her.
“I thought you should hear him out,” is her only reply.
“You know the hideous things he said to me, yet you want me to get back together with him?” I ask incredulously. Betrayal hits me like a rock.
Amira steps forward and grips my hand in hers. “No. I think you both owe it to one another to talk. You’ve been fixtures in each other’s lives for a while and you were so good together. I think you need to hash this out with calmer heads regardless of what the outcome ends up being.”
“It’s my fault,” Parker adds. “I called her, not knowing how to approach you. I fucked things up with us so badly and I was afraid you’d turn me down if I called you.”
“I would have.” I wrap my arms around my middle and shake my head. “You didn’t just fuck things up, Parker. You broke my heart. No, that’s too tame for what you did. You took it from my chest and ripped it to shreds before stomping on it.”
I can’t do this. Not now. Maybe not ever. I feel myself breaking down now that he’s in front of me. I’ll be damned if I allow that to happen on a street in New York City. A taxi coming up the street proves to be my salvation. I hail it and jump inside as quickly as possible, leaving Amira and Parker behind.
The next morning, I board my flight to Florida a little hungover and a lot saddened by my encounter with Parker the night before. If he was there to apologize and beg for my forgiveness, he had a funny way of going about it. His possessive show might have made me wet not that long ago, maybe even ended in a quick fuck in the bathroom or a dark corner of the club. Now all it did was anger me. After everything that’s happened, he had no right to react the way he did.
And Amira. Please don’t get me going on how far over the line she stepped by plotting with him behind my back. It might have been with good intentions, but it felt more like betrayal to me. I haven’t talked to her since I left the club. I had grabbed my suitcase from her apartment and stayed in a hotel instead of waiting to see what she had to say for herself.
Eventually we would talk. Just not now.
The flight attendant goes through the customary instructions for passengers. I’ve flown enough to know what is expected of me, so I close my eyes and rest my head against the back of my seat. Someone flops down into the seat next to me, but I’m just too tired to open my eyes and find out who my seat neighbor will be. I just don’t really care.
Instead I start to doze. My inability to fall asleep last night surely has something to do with my exhaustion.
I jerk awake as the plane begins taxiing down the runway. I blink away the fogginess and curse myself for falling asleep like that. Turning my head to see who’s sitting next to me, I’m overcome with shock and surprise, my jaw practically hitting the floor.
“Paige.” His dark voice wraps around me like the softest silk. It used to make me feel warm and safe. Now it makes me angry that he can still affect me.
“What are you doing here?” I hiss and look around in a panic, wondering if it’s possible to get off the plane.
“We need to talk.” He angles his body so he is all I see. “This was the only way.”
“Are you nuts?”
His answer is lost when the plane accelerates, lifting up into the air.
Well I guess I’m stuck now aren’t I?
Unless…
No…
Threatening to kill someone would not be an effective way to get them to land. Unless I want to end up in jail.
“You have no choice but to listen now,” he says to me once we level out in the sky.
“Funny, but I beg to differ.” I pull out my earbuds and put them in my ears before turning on the music from my phone.
I’m smiling smugly when he pops an earbud out and whispers, “I’ll wait then.”
Bastard.
For almost an hour I effectively ignore him. Well, that’s how it seems anyway. Inside I’m annoyed as hell at how calmly he sits there, sipping his water and tapping on his iPad.
Each tap of his fingers makes me want to stab him with the pen inside my purse.
Each stretch of his leg makes me want to kick him.
Each time he swallows his soda and the thick column of his throat moves, making me want to suck on it, I want to scream.
Each breath he takes
has me gritting my teeth. I’m practically grinding them by the time I snap and shout, “God, I hate you!”
His head turns before his body angles itself towards mine again. His mouth turns up in a self-satisfied grin. “At least you’re talking to me now.”
“I don’t believe you had the nerve to follow me to Florida after what happened last night. Or better yet, after you called me a dirty whore who sucks her boss’s dick in order to steal his job. That is what you said isn’t it?”
A couple of people sitting around us clear their throat and peer over their shoulders. I restrain myself from flipping them off and telling them to mind their own business.
Parker, on the other hand, has the graciousness to wince at the memory of the accusations he hurled at me that day.
“I’m sorry.” He swallows hard and looks out the window for several seconds before his eyes meet mine. In them I see remorse and love and maybe even fear. “If I could go back and undo every single word that came out of my mouth, I would. I love you and I’m miserable without you. I’ve spent the last month trying to work out how the hell I was going to get you back. But every time I thought I figured out a way, I knew it wouldn’t be enough.”
“It still isn’t,” I tell him.
His face falls and he gives me a sad smile then. “Maybe not.”
“I don’t know what you expect from me, Parker. I can’t forget all the things you said just because you ask me to.”
“I don’t want you to forget them. I only want you to listen to me and hopefully forgive me for them.”
I sit back in my chair with a huff. There really is no reason why I can’t at least hear him out. It isn’t as though I don’t have the time. By my calculations, I have the next seventy-four minutes to fill. At this point, it’s my pride keeping me from letting him do this. Besides, even if I let him speak, it isn’t as if I have to forgive him.
Against the Glass (Office Liaisons Book 1) Page 7
