When I woke up the next morning, I had a sudden head rush once I sat up, which automatically made me roll back to bed. As I squinted my eyes at the bright light from the window, I wasn't entirely aware of my surroundings. I stretched myself in bed and inadvertently hit something slightly hard, which was followed by a grunt.
"What the … ?" I almost jumped out of bed in surprise.
"One more minute, please," a masculine, deep voice begged as my sheets suddenly moved.
I used my foot and kicked the sheets away to reveal the sleeping face of my ex-roommate. I let out a sigh of relief and thanked the heavens that I still hadn't made any terrible mistake in my life.
"Terry, hey. Wake up!" I hissed silently, nudging his legs.
He finally opened his eyes from the sound of my voice. In his surprise, he fell out of the bed as he jumped backwards.
"Ouch!" he hissed in pain as he rubbed his behind. Terry was half naked, which I finally noticed. I sometimes forget how fit he was, which I found mouth-watering even though I knew he wasn't straight.
"Why are you sleeping in my bed?" I asked to distract myself.
"I don't like sleeping on the couch. Besides, you wouldn't do anything to me since you were knocked out cold," he remarked with a grin.
"Yeah. True," I agreed then let out a chuckle.
"So, do you mind telling me why you drank yourself to sleep last night?" he asked, all humor gone from his voice.
"Yeah. That," I muttered, not in the mood to talk about it just yet.
As my mind swirled around yesterday's happenings, I regretted that I even drank last night since I wasn't drunk enough to forget. With a defeated sigh, I got myself out of bed.
"We can talk about it after I shower. I smell like a drunk," I said as I walked towards the bathroom on the left side of my bedroom.
"I thought I'd never get to hear you say that," Terry shouted in amusement as I closed the door behind me.
When I finished showering and dressing up for work, I offered Terry to get himself clean. It was weird to ask him that, like we did the deed or something, but I didn't really let that bother my conscience. I cooked breakfast for us both and waited for him to finish before I ate. While we ate, I narrated to him about my frustrating meeting with William Maxwell.
When we were done and ready to go, a thought crossed my mind: What would people think if I walked out of this door with Terry? Mind you, he spent the night with me. Though, it would be awkward if people think that we were together.
"Are you alright?" he asked as he stopped beside me.
"People would think that you stayed the night and..." I said but trailed off since I couldn't say the words.
Terry smirked and shook his head. "You worry too much sometimes," he said as he opened the door for me.
I hesitated for a bit as he gave me an encouraging smile. I took a deep breath and walked out, mentally telling myself they wouldn't notice. But the moment I thought that, the door across mine suddenly opened.
"Oh. Good morning, Andy. How are you?" Ally greeted with a strained smile as she glanced between Terry and me. Well, there goes the ‘they wouldn't notice' mentality.
"Morning. I'm good. How about you?" I asked out of courtesy, my voice almost as soft as a whisper.
"Good," she replied softly, looking anywhere but us. "Are you guys going down?" she asked after a short pause.
"Yeah," I nodded. "Are you off to work?" I asked to drown out the awkwardness.
I asked some really standard questions, keeping the conversation light and flowing as we descended to the lobby. Terry kept his mouth shut throughout the conversation and didn't bother to introduce himself. I actually wanted to punch him for it since that would add more fuel to the fire.
As Ally walked out ahead of us, I stopped in the middle of the lobby, watching her as she jumped into a silver car, which I suspect was driven by her boyfriend. I waited until she was gone before turning to Terry, my eyebrow crunched in frustration. Although I wasn't pissed that Terry didn't bother to correct Ally's assumption, I pretended to be pissed because of his indifference.
"Why didn't you help me resolve the situation? You could have just pointed outright that we were not an item."
"She didn't say that she thinks we were together."
"Really? Like it wasn't written all over her face?" I asked sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "Well, it would be your fault if she thinks of it that way," I added, brushing the topic off as I turned around and walked towards the glass door. I couldn't really stay mad at him for that long. Besides, I needed a ride. And then, another thought crossed my mind and I decided to act on it.
"Are you going to give me a ride to work, honey?" I asked playfully as I stopped in the pavement, turning to face him with a sweet smile.
Terry's eyes narrowed at the nickname, his teeth clenched. "Don't kid around, I don't like pet names," he said in protest and looked me sharply.
I chuckled at his guarded expression. "I'm just kidding, except about the ride," I amended, just so he could tell I was joking. "I'm going to be late for work because you couldn't get your hands off me," I added as I glanced at my watch then gave him a playful smirk.
"You're not dropping this one, are you? Just because I didn't help you?"
"Maybe," I replied as I playfully wiggled my eyebrow at him.
"I'll give you a ride if you stop making such awful jokes," he countered, but he was already smiling.
"Deal!" I laughed at his words, gesturing for him to lead the way.
As Terry walked away to where he parked his motorcycle, I glanced at the street for a second, feeling someone staring at me. For a moment there, I thought I saw a familiar dirty blond hair as a black car sped on the street when the light turned green. I brushed the thought away and followed Terry, knowing it was just my mind being paranoid.
Twelve
It didn't take long for us to arrive at Maxwell Enterprises. I hopped off and removed my helmet (I was surprised and touched that he remembered to bring it in the first place) as soon as Terry turned off the ignition.
"Thanks for the ride, ‘boyfriend'."
"Whatever, ‘girlfriend'," he retorted as he took off his helmet, chuckling in response as he rolled his eyes. "Don't do anything rash, okay? And ask someone to get you some coffee. You need it," he commanded, his voice stern, although there was still a teasing glint in his eyes.
"Yes, sir," I replied with a salute.
This made him explode with laughter and shake his head in disbelief. He gave me a salute before he drove away. As he sped off, I stood there and giggled while I watched him disappear on the busy street.
When I snapped back to reality, I glanced down at my watch and cursed silently at the time. I was one minute late on my second day. This wouldn't look good on my record since I was already an hour late yesterday without my knowing. I didn't want Mr. Mogul to have more things to use against me.
Although I was bothered that I got to the office a few minutes late, I wasn't that nervous as I skipped towards my desk. But my mood turned a complete one-eighty when the door in front of me opened.
In a black, three-piece suit, red tie, and his dirty blond hair styled back, William walked out of the room looking like the mogul I knew him to be. My eyes slowly scanned him from head to toe and my stomach slightly squeezed in effect. Suddenly, it dawned on me that I was mentally eye-raping him! I was glad that I managed to get a hold of myself, or it would have been obvious that I found the man attractive.
"Ms. Peterson. Finally, you are here," he greeted sternly, his face plain and serious.
"Morning, Mr. Maxwell," I replied in the same tone, turning away from him as I walked towards my desk. I mentally gave myself a slap for thinking that the man was attractive. Considering how arrogant he was, I'd find a fig leaf to be more attractive than him.
I didn't pay any attention to him as I sat down, so I was startled when he stood in front of my desk. I even did a double take as I looked up at him. For a moment, we just both stared at each other with lifeless eyes. Well, I couldn't really say his eyes were lifeless at that moment. They were sparkling blue, like the ocean on a sunny day.
"Ms. Peterson, would you kindly get my coffee this morning? Maggie is busy with some work I've given her," he asked in a dull tone.
I glanced at Maggie, who was looking at us with amusement. I raised an eyebrow at her in question, which she replied with a smile. I wasn't really sure if that was a confirmation of whether she was busy or not. So I made a quick glance at her desk and found that it was full of files. That answered the question for me.
"Sure," I replied with a defeated sigh, closing my eyes for a moment. "How do you want it?"
"You can ask Maggie about my preference. I'll be in my office, waiting. Make it quick and be back in fifteen minutes. I have somewhere to be by then," he replied as he walked away from my desk and towards his office.