You Again

by M. E. Clayton

  “Why not? It’s true,” I challenged. I knew I miscalculated the second her head reared back, and she looked at me like I was dirt on the bottom of her four-inch heels.

  Henley leaned forward and her voice dripped with venom. “You want to know why I snuck out?” She didn’t let me answer. “I snuck out because, at the bar, you were talking about how women couldn’t keep their legs closed, and what did I do? I prove your statement correct by spreading mine for you, hours after walking away from a man I thought I loved enough to marry.” Her green eyes were on fire and I knew this was headed in a direction I hadn’t wanted to go. “I was too embarrassed and humiliated to look you in the face after letting you do all the things I let you do to me that night.” We both knew what she was referring to. Not only had she spread her legs for me that night, in a million different positions, she also let me slide my cock up her ass, and that had been what had finally wrecked us both and had caused me to pass out. “And I was right to feel embarrassed and humiliated,” she continued. “Because here you are, talking to me at my place of business like I’m a common whore, who needs everyone to know she takes it up the fucking ass!”

  “Whoa,” I rushed out, both my hands on her arms now, doing my best to keep her from swinging. “That is not what this is.”

  “Get your hands off me,” she seethed.

  She looked like she hated me.

  “Henley-”

  She wrenched herself from my hold and told me just how badly I had miscalculated when she said, “You know what? Arnold can have your account. I don’t need this shit.”

  Scott waltzed back into the room before I could explain that she had it all wrong. “Time’s up,” he announced.

  My heart was racing and the feeling of…alarm started clawing at my neck as I watched Henley smooth her skirt down and compose herself with some sort of professionalism. She looked at Scott and said, “You’re right, Mr. Weston. It would be best if someone else handled your account.” Her voice burned when she added, “M…Mr. Harrison would be a wonderful choice for your company. He’s very good.”

  Fierce protectiveness and unreasonable jealousy sent waves of anger coursing through my body. How dare Henley say anything positive about that asshole. I might not know the full story, but it was clear from what little she had shared that she’d been engaged to him and he had cheated on her. He didn’t deserve her decency. He was a fucking piece of shit and I didn’t want to hear her saying how great he was at his job.

  Scott’s fire cooled, and he actually looked sorry for her. “Oh, okay. Uh…thank y-”

  “Not happening,” I jumped in.

  “Dash-”

  I ignored my brother and stared at the woman who looked like she hated me with the fire of a thousand suns. “It’s you or we go to another firm,” I threw out.

  “Goddamn it,” my brother grumbled, while Henley was more colorful with her response. “You’re a real bastard, you know that,” she spat.

  I didn’t confirm or deny her accusation. Making sure Arnold didn’t benefit from her was more important than her opinion of me right now. “The choice is yours.”

  “Dash, what are you doing?” Scott asked. “If Henley doesn’t want our account-”

  “Oh, she wants to work on our account,” I argued. “She just doesn’t want to work with me.”

  “And I don’t blame her,” he countered. “Hell, I don’t even want to work with you half the time.”

  Ah, brotherly love.

  There was nothing else quite like it in the world.

  “What’s it going to be, Henley?” I asked, not caring that she was probably plotting my death right now.

  “I’m going to kill you,” she snarled.

  See?

  Scott started pacing and mumbling shit and I knew I needed to wrap this up. Once Scott got to pacing, all bets were off. I knew he was feeling blindsided and I knew he detested that feeling. “What the fuck?” he kept mumbling over, and over.

  “Henley?”

  She shot me a scathing look and walked over to my brother. He stopped pacing and eyed her. She stuck her hand out and said, “It would be my pleasure to work with Weston Technologies, Mr. Weston,” she bit out between clenched teeth. “Please have a seat, so we may discuss how Salinas Advertising and Marketing may further enhance your vision for your company and its valued customers.”

  Scott took her hand but said, “I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”

  Henley’s fake smile was still in place as she replied, “I am confident that we can work well together to ensure a positive experience for both sides. I understand it’s you who is in charge of the business side of things for Weston Technologies. I’m sure we will be able to handle things smoothly from here on out, Mr. Weston.”

  I watched silently as Scott dropped his head back and ran his hands down his face in frustrated defeat. When he looked back down at Henley. “I think Mr. Weston is ridiculous at this point,” he drawled out. “Call me Scott.”

  Henley inclined her head. “Scott.”

  Scott looked over at me, and he looked like he wanted to throw blows with me. “Are you going to tell her, or shall I?”

  Henley’s eyes flew back and forth between me and Scott. “Tell me what?”

  I stuck my hands in my pockets and didn’t say a word.

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Scott exploded.

  “What?” Henley asked, her voice touched with a bit of panic.

  Scott shook his head and looked back at Henley. “Henley, I’m not the one you’ll be working with,” he finally said. “We’re promoting Dash’s visions and ideas and future programs and software. It’s the reason he’s here. He’s the one behind everything that is Weston Technologies.”

  I watched Henley pull out a chair and crash down on it. Her head was next as it fell with a thump against the tabletop.

  And another thump.

  And another thump.

  I finally walked over and placed my hand in between the table and her head. When she looked up at me, I smiled at her. “Hey, babe.”

  “Goddamn it,” Scott mumbled again.

  Chapter 9

  Henley~

  The introductory meeting with Scott Weston-not Dash, because I had refused to acknowledge his existence-had gone as well as could be expected, considering how the appointment had started out. I also had a newfound respect for Scott Weston when he had lifted me as if I weighed nothing and had hauled me off to the corner of the conference room after his brother ran his hand over my ass when we were saying our goodbyes.

  Struggling with all my might to get out of Scott Weston’s hold, Dash had winked at me and said, “See you next week, baby,” before walking out the door.

  Scott didn’t let me go for a solid ten minutes, giving his brother enough time to get to safety.

  Now I was three glasses deep in a bottle of wine, wondering if it was time for a new friend as Ellie sat on the other end of the couch laughing at me.

  Siblings were assholes.

  “This shit is not funny, Ellie,” I said-again.

  Ellie settled down, but her smile was still spanned across her entire face. “I’m sorry, Hen,” she lied. “This shit is just too unreal.”

  It really was.

  “However, I think you’re missing something very important in everything you’ve just told me,” she continued.

  “Other than the fact that you believed I could be a freakin’ prostitute?” I harrumphed.

  “Hey! I love you,” she cried. “I’m not going to judge your chosen profession.”

  My eyes bugged. “Because prostitution is an option?”

  Ellie shrugged a shoulder. “I try not to judge, lest I be judged,” she misquoted.

  “You judge all the time, Ellie,” I deadpanned.

  “Can we get back to the subject at hand, Hen?” she replied, ignoring the self-help wisdom I was imparting on her.

  “And what’s that?” I asked, taking another drink of my wine. Max knew Ellie liked
to test out wines, so he was always getting her different bottles and brands. It was one of the millions of things he did for her. The man was a god and I knew they were going to make great parents because their future children’s father loved their mother completely.

  “The fact that Dash wanted to know why you snuck out on him,” she said, and I was just happy she wasn’t calling him Hotel Guy anymore. “He obviously hadn’t been ready to say goodbye to you, Hen.”

  “Ellie, it was a drunken one-night stand,” I reminded her. “And I’m not sure what his story was, but if he was woman-hating, it had to be because he’d been screwed over by someone.” I shrugged a shoulder. “Even if he did want more, everyone knows it’s a bad idea to be someone’s rebound.”

  “Come on, Henley,” she cajoled. “By all accounts, that meeting this morning went horribly. But he still insisted on giving you their business. That has to mean something.”

  “It means he likes to mess with my head,” I grumbled as I polished off my third glass and poured myself a fourth. It was Friday night, I was at my apartment, and I had no life. I had every intention of drinking this day away. Max was picking Ellie up later, so the bottle of wine didn’t stand a chance.

  Ellie followed my lead and finished her glass and poured herself a refill saying, “And what about what his brother said about pissing a circle around you? Men don’t do that for one-night stands.”

  I had to admit, Scott Weston’s remarks about Dash’s behavior had been concerning. I hadn’t seen what Scott had seen, but Dash hadn’t denied it either. Dash had simply claimed that Scott was overreacting, but he hadn’t denied pissing that circle.

  “Maybe he was just being a dick,” I retorted. “How would I know? And, don’t forget, he’s a woman-hater.”

  Ellie rolled her eyes. “If pounding your vagina, until you’ve lost count of all the orgasms he’s given you, is hating women, then men should hate women all over the world,” she snorted.

  I blushed.

  Her eyes narrowed.

  I bit my lip.

  Her eyes widened.

  “Oh, Mary, Mother of God,” she breathed out. “You still want to bang him.” My fresh glass of wine was gone in three seconds flat. “You’re mad because you still want him,” she accused. “Holy shit, Henley.” Then the heartless demon started to laugh.

  “It’s not funny, El!” I cried.

  “What in the hell is wrong with you, Henley?” she asked between her unwarranted bouts of laughter. “By your own accounts, the man is hot as hell and packs a weapon he knows what to do with. Why aren’t you flipping your skirt up and bending over your desk already?”

  I grimaced. “Thanks, El,” I said sardonically. “Thanks for that visual.”

  Ellie’s grin was enough to make me call Max and demand he come get her. “Come on, Henley,” she chuckled. “What are you scared of?”

  “The truth?” Ellie nodded. “I’m scared that I might actually like him. I felt more with him in one night than I did the entire time I was with Arnold.” Ellie’s face softened in understanding. “Yeah, we were drunk and vulnerable and hurt and angry, but…towards the end, I was no longer drunk or angry. I was still hurt and vulnerable, but…God, Ellie, his touch made everything better. He had made all the pain fade into the background and there was a real chance of me handcuffing myself to him, so that he could keep doing the magic that he was doing.”

  “That good, huh?”

  “Better,” I replied. “And then he passed out, and everything he had been holding at bay came crashing through the floodgates, and I wondered how I could get so lost in this complete stranger when I was supposed to be in love with Arnold. I felt ashamed.”

  “Oh, Henley,” she whispered. “That just means Arnold wasn’t the one for you. The cheating dirtbag actually did you a favor, Hen.”

  “I know that, El,” I muttered pitifully. “I knew it when I realized I was hurt for all about three days about the entire thing. I knew it when I started to feel more bothered by wondering if Dash thought I was a whore than my fiancé cheating on me.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “He was right,” I mumbled.

  Ellie leaned forward. “What?”

  I let out an opera-worthy sigh. “He was right,” I said louder.

  “About what?”

  “When he was woman-bashing that night, he said us women were too caught up in worrying that we’ll be labeled as whore to communicate what we really want in bed, and it’s not their fault if they fall short of the goal when they have no idea what we want.”

  Ellie’s blonde brows shot up. She had taken after our mother in her coloring of blonde hair and blue eyes, and I had taken after our father with my dark auburn hair and green eyes. “He said that?”

  I shrugged a shoulder. “More or less,” I confirmed. “There was a lot of other nonsense he spewed, but that was one of his lopsided arguments.”

  “Sounds to me that he doesn’t see you as an easy one-night stand at all,” she replied. “You were just fulfilling his wish that women should be more honest in the bedroom.” She cocked her head. “You were honest in the bedroom, right?”

  I set my empty glass on the coffee table next to the couch and grabbed for the entire bottle of wine. I took a drink straight from the source. I needed reinforcements if I was going to go TMI on my sister. Three gulps later, I said, “I let him go where men should only be allowed to go during anniversaries and their birthdays.”

  Ellie’s blue eyes nearly popped out of her pretty little head. “Holy Virgin Mary and everyone else, Henley!” she shrieked. “How fucking good was he?”

  I took another swig from the bottle. “Good enough that I hate myself for wanting to jump his bones again when he’s clearly a jerkface,” I answered truthfully.

  Ellie looked baffled, then…flushed. I watched as she grabbed her phone and dialed. I prayed she was calling Max when I heard her say, “Making a baby is going to have to be put on hold tonight, Max. Because, tonight, I want you to bend me over and pretend it’s our anniversary.”

  “Eew! Ellie!” I yelled, scarred for life.

  “Okay, babe. See you in five minutes,” she said, ignoring my outrage, and failing to remind Max that they lived at least twenty minutes away.

  “Seriously, Ellie?” I cried, still horrified by knowing what her plans for tonight were.

  My sister grinned at me. “Max is on his way and said he doesn’t want to hear any crap about whatever tickets he’s going to get running the red lights on the way over here.”

  The Universe really was out to get me.

  Chapter 10

  Dash~

  I had to have her again, and that was the end of it.

  The second Scott had returned to the office, he had lunged for me, and I wasn’t too ashamed to admit I ducked and ran. I was used to it, though, and knew I could outrun him. He might still be in shape, but I didn’t have children who zapped my energy every day.

  I had stamina.

  However, it wasn’t until I had called Dani from a locked bathroom and promised her that I’d babysit her offspring for a weekend of her choosing that she called Scott and told him she needed him home. I couldn’t say what all she had said to usher my brother home, but a few moments after I had hung up with her, there had been a pounding on the door and a, “You’re lucky my wife’s happiness matters more than the need to kick your ass, Dash!”

  Wwwwell…

  And now I was home, unscathed for the moment, wondering what the fuck I was going to do about Henley.

  I knew what I wanted to do, and that was to fuck her until it was her who passed out this time. But I was in serious doubt that she’d let me after the way the meeting had gone down today.

  Damn, the woman had been fiery pissed.

  I wanted to blame her, but I really couldn’t. She’d been right when she had pointed out that her workplace was not the time nor the place to walk down memory lane. The only excuse I had was that I’d been feeling sal
ty at being blindsided. When she found out who I was, she could have easily gotten a hold of Scott and asked for my number or something, so she could warn me. Instead, she let me walk in there blind and feeling like a chump.

  Then her fucking ex-fiancé had walk in, smiling, as if he hadn’t broken her heart just three months ago. Not only had he walked in like he owned the place, he’d had the nerve to offer his services right in front of her. That little move had me seething. Like the fuckcunt hadn’t already taken enough from her.

  And I could admit-now-that there might have been some truth to Scott’s remark about pissing a ring around Henley, but what did he expect? Even if Scott didn’t know our history, I knew our history, and history told me to kick Arnold’s fucking ass on sheer principle alone.

  And why the fuck would she date someone named Arnold, for fuck’s sake? The name alone made him sound like a pompous asshole. And then there was the fact that she was going to have to quit her job because there was no way I’d let her continue to work with him once she realizes she’s in love with me, and we get marry next Friday.

  Holy, Mary, Jesus, and Joseph, I was losing my fucking mind.

  I walked to the kitchen and grabbed the beer-that I clearly needed-and drank half of it in one fucking swallow.

  Or maybe I needed weed?

  Whatever it was I needed, I needed something to clear the ridiculous thoughts running through my head. The woman hated me, and here I was, already picking out our children’s names.

  What the fuck? Jesus.

  And let’s not forget her business card that I had snatched out of Scott’s hand, forcing her to have to give him another one. The numbers broadcasting her phone number were just burning a hold clean through my wallet and taunting me.

  Then, before I knew it, my beer was gone, my phone was in my hand, and Henley’s business card was sitting face up on the kitchen table. This was a bad idea for so many reasons, but I found myself not caring.

  Henley Everhart was driving me insane.

  Me: What r u doing?

  Unknown: Who is this?