Leaning over, I grabbed my shoes, purposely escaping his grip. His hand sluggishly dropped to the bed behind me.
"Don't be like that Jer," he said sadly.
I pretended I didn't hear him and walked into his en-suite to make myself presentable. As soon as I looked at myself in the mirror, I felt disgusted, and tears started to well up in my eyes once again, I fought for them not to fall. I opted to give myself a side braid, so I wouldn't have to look at myself any longer. I took a deep breath, slowly meditating to soothe my soul. I could feel myself starting to store the pain away.
"It's after seven, " I said gingerly to Leo when I entered back into the bedroom.
He nodded in response; I knew he was angry. He expected a certain reaction, one which was humanly unreasonable. In his world, if he apologized it was to be accepted right away.
"Could you take me home?"
" I'm not feeling good anymore," he said dryly.
"OH, alright, I'll take a cab then. Will I see you at work tomorrow?"
"Probably not," his face was emotionless. I stood there for a moment while he ignored me, an unwelcoming pang in my chest formed. Why was I the one feeling sorry when I haven't done anything wrong? I grabbed my bag and headed for the door a second later.
"Call me when you get home," he said before I disappeared out of his line of sight. His voice was still monotone, but I felt relieved he cared.
I wanted to care less. I wished he would never call me again. At the same time, I worried he wouldn't.
I was an Idiot.
I was well acquainted with the walk of shame by then, but it always felt terrible. The feeling worsened as I exited Leo's building and realized the same cab driver from earlier was picking me up. He smirked at me in the rearview mirror. I could only imagine what he thought I was doing; or worse, what hewanted to do. The thought made me nauseous. Then I remembered Leo's promise to let me hire whoever I wanted.
And I wanted to hire Charlton Burh.
He was in no position to take back such a promise and I knew how to force his hand. I decided to give Charlie a call, it was better than the cabby staring me down, whilst he got up the courage to ask me about whatever was on his mind. Pulling up his file on my phone I dialed the number.
"Hello," he answered after the second ring, catching me off guard.
"Hello?" he repeated when I still hadn't answered.
"Oh, um," I cleared my voice, "This is Jerrie Howard, from Lion Publishers Group."
"Ah Jerrie, sorry I had to cut our interview short today."
"Oh, it's no problem, life happens," I assured him.
"I appreciate your understanding. Well, why do I have the pleasure of talking to you for the second time today?"
"Actually," I said stretching out the last syllable of the word, "I talked with Mr. Cordell, and we both think you're perfect for the position, we'd like you to start next Monday if possible."
"Great! I'd love to start next week, thank you so much for the opportunity," excitement filled his voice.
"Lovely, well I'm not home yet but, I'm on my way now and I will send you over the in-depth position and salary details once I get there," I grinned, though he couldn't see me.
"You're not talking and driving, are you? Because that's illegal I think," I heard the concern in his sarcasm.
"No, I'm not," I laughed, "I'm in a cab".
"A cab!" he exclaimed, "You have a successful business and you don't have a car? Sorry, I didn't mean to judge..."
"Not exactly, it's- I never learned to drive. I usually ride with Leo... Mr. Cordell, but he's ill," I explained, stumbling over my words and sharing far too much information.
"I see, and you'll be taking a cab to work tomorrow as well?"
"Most likely," I said cautiously.
"No." he declared.
"No?" I asked confused.
"I have a better solution, how about I start work tomorrow and I pick you up on my way," he decided.
"Oh no, Charlie, that's not necessary."
"Yes, it is, I can't in good conscience let you take a cab to work while I'm sitting at home doing nothing. Cars need exercise too."
"I don't know," I sighed.
"It's the least I can do after I left during my interview," he persuaded.
My mind visualized Leo's stone-cold face refusing to take me home. "Fine, I'll send you my address, along with everything else," I told him.
"Fantastic," I heard him smile, "I will speak to you later."
"Yes, and congratulations Mr. Burh, glad to have you join us, goodbye," I hung up the phone.
What had I gotten myself into would be more than I could comprehend.
By 7:30 the next morning, I was sitting at my peninsula with a cup of tea in one hand and an espresso in the other. Initially, I thought I felt like death, but death felt like me. Bruises from the night before showed up as ugly, purple and painful as I thought they would be. I was grateful to have pain killers on hand, and a stylish black turtleneck dress and black thigh-high boots to cover them.
As much as I'd tried, sleep evaded me, which made my eyes bloodshot. It accented with my all-black ensemble which made me look like I was still mourning the death of Versace. My buzzer rang, and I was knocked out of nowhere land, which felt like my real home. It must have been Charlie to pick me up. He was five minutes early, which was a breath of fresh air.
"I'll be right down," I spoke into the intercom.
Walking outside, I noticed Charlie leaning on the passenger side of a silver Audi. He looked quite... mysterious, wearing a shiny black shirt along with daringly tight black jeans and a black blazer, topped off with black ray-bans. I was still impressed with his sense of style, most guys I knew couldn't grasp the idea of fashion. If it weren't for me, Leo would still be wearing pastel-colored Polo shirts and flip-flops. Which his parents hated as well.
"Miss Howard," he beamed and spoke once I got closer.
"Mr. Burh," I weakly said, I curled my mouth back at him.
I was about three feet away when he lifted his sunglasses, smirk on his face. "There must be a funeral on the runway or something."
I looked up at him and bit my bottom lip to keep from laughing.
"What," he asked, "Was that a bad joke?"
"Well yes but, um, I thought the same thing actually," I giggled a little. There was a small second of awkward silence before Charlie eagerly opened the passenger's door.
"Shall we?"
"Oh
