Cocky Roomie_ A Bad Boy Romance Novel(40)
At least with Edward, when he started cheating, I didn’t really love him anymore.
It didn’t hurt like this.
“When do you get back, Charleybomb? You’re still staying at my place tonight, right?”
Glass scraped my veins up when she called me that. I slip on my shoes, dazed, and mutter, “I know I’m not staying here tonight.”
“Oh honey, I thought you said you were just friends!” She pads over to me, pulling his shirt over her shaved pussy.
Croaking, “We are. It’s fine. I’ll see you after five. I’ll go straight there from work.”
“You okay?”
“Totally.”
I practically run out there, feeling vomit threatening to come up. My Honda has never been driven this dangerously. At the office, Don is sitting at the front desk. His eyes leave the computer to meet mine as I enter the room. I’m all apologies. “I’m sorry. I didn’t set my alarm.”
He nods curtly and with uncharacteristic coldness, says, “Don’t let it happen again.”
“I won’t. I promise I won’t.”
Rising, he motions for me to take my seat. “I need you to go through these old proposals today, Drew. I’ve marked down the things you’re looking for. We need to catalogue these in a way that help us write new proposals according to the successful ones of our past. This is the stack where we landed the job. This is the stack where we didn’t. Find the commonalities. This is going to take weeks, so start slow. Small things. Make notes of verbiage, what we offered, the time frame in which we offered it. Start there. Reference this list, then branch out after you’ve completed it. Look for themes. Got it?”
I nod, reading the list to see if I have any questions. “I’ll do a great job, sir.”
He pauses and his eyes soften just a little. “Don’t call me sir.”
“Okay. Again, I’m so sorry for being late!”
He waves it away, but the softening vanishes. He heads back to his large, private office and I don’t see him again all day.
I wish I could say the same about Jake. As soon as he hears Don leave, he comes out of his office and heads right over to stand in front of my desk. My eyes dart up and catch the guilt in his eyes, and I instantly want to punch him in the neck.
“I should have woken you up. I had other things on my mind.”
My eyes go tight. “Yes, well…it’s my responsibility to wake myself. I’m a big girl. And I have to focus now. So if you don’t mind.”
He frowns and slides his hands into his pockets. “You’re pissed. I can understand that.”
“Why would I be pissed at you? You got me this job.” All I can see is Bernie sucking his cock and him telling her what he’s going to do to her next. “I’m indebted. I just want to do a good job, so I don’t think it looks good if you are hanging out here at my desk when this huge binger needs to be read.”
He walks away, footsteps lagging. I am intensely aware of his footsteps, each one bringing him further away from me. I’m about to cry.
I put all of my attention on doing my best at what Don needs of me. An agonizing hour later, Jake is sent to the job site to take care of a problem, thank God.
JAKE
Glancing to my phone, I see it’s five-forty. I exhale and turn into the office parking intent on apologizing to Drew. This whole day has been shit. I should have done this before.
When I walk in, her desk is empty. I look around for her purse, but it’s gone. Heading back I knock on his door. “Uncle Don? Drew take off?”
With his eyes glued to the computer screen, he nods. “Mmhmm.”
“Shit,” I mumble.
“I don’t think I saw her smile all day.”
“She was upset she was late.”
Uncle Don spins his pen in his hand and regards me with a wise look. “It was more than that. She made some good headway on that work I gave her, and I told her so. She just nodded and kept at it. Juan came in at one point and said hi to her and she barely looked at him. She looked shell-shocked, if you ask me. What happened last night?”
“I’ll go home and talk to her,” I mutter, turning around. “Talk to you later.”
“See ya tomorrow…oh wait! Jake! Get over here.” He follows me out and I turn to walk into a big bear hug. “You’re flying out in the morning.”
We slap each other’s backs and separate. “Jason’s driving me to the airport.”
“Your family isn’t going to be easy on me until you’re back.”
I chuckle, “Yeah. They really won’t.” Clapping a firm hand on his shoulder, I say, “And I won’t apologize for that.”