Chapter 36 Chapter Thirty Six
CANDY’S POV
It got worse.
It fucking got worse, what the hell!?
First my car chose this morning of all the mornings in the world to break down on the most inconvenient part of my route to work and as if that wasn’t enough fuckery already from the universe, I got stuck in the worst traffic I’ve ever experienced and ended up getting to work after Mr. Cunsulo. Flustered from my lateness, I messed up his schedule and double booked his 10 am and right now I’m standing in his office, just before his desk while he decides between threatening my soul to hell and back and actually firing me because I also missed the call from the Berger group rep we worked so hard to close because I’d been in the bathroom crying my eyes out.
“You can stop looking at me like it’s the fucking end of the world, Candy. I’m not going to fire you because of this but even you can agree with me that this was stupid and costly, no?”
He pauses from striking the keys of his system with vengeance, the only sign that he’s heavily pissed, before finally bringing his fiery eyes up to meet mine.
“I don’t know what you have going on with you at the moment and as much as I want to respect your privacy and give you your space, I can’t ignore the fact that it’s spilling into work now and it’s messing things up for us.”
“I’m sorry sir, it won’t happen again.” I apologize, my voice small and quiet and on the verge of breaking.
His left hand lifts briefly to his face, his index finger rubbing roughly against the bridge of his nose.
“I know it won’t, but that’s not the issue here. What’s going on? You were crying Saturday night when I picked you up and you look like you’ve just been bawling your eyes out and I just know they’re connected to the same reason. Who the fuck is hurting you?”
I swallow hard and remain silent because even if I wanted to, how does one even explain this shit hole I’m in? The words are not coming and yeah, hate them as much as I do now, I’m not in the business of washing my family’s dirty linen in public and definitely not to him. I can’t trust that he won’t flip one day and use it against me.
When I don’t say a word, he lets out a resigned sigh, reaching into the top drawer of his desk to pull out a black, skull case that not so surprisingly holds the fat, fancy cigars he smokes occasionally.
“Be secretive if you want but please, for the love of God fucking deal with it okay?” He says, pulling out one of them before snapping the case shut and shoving it back in the drawer.
“I hate kissing ass and this morning is one too many for a lifetime for me, don’t ever put me in a position where I’ll have to even consider doing it again, do you understand?”
I nod quickly, glad he’s truly letting me off with a warning.
His eyes are fixed dead on my face while he lifts his lighter to the cigar caught lazily between his full, pouty lips....fuck, what is wrong with me! He’s my boss and even though he’s less evil now than he usually is, I have no right to notice these things about him, not now, not ever.
“I’m sorry.” I whisper, keeping my eyes down before they start going over him like hands and noticing other things they have no right to, with a mind of their own.
He takes a drag, letting out a curl of smoke and before I can stop myself, my unsolicited advice forces itself out of my mouth as my nose wrinkles in immediate disapproval of his vice of choice.
“This is bad for you.”
His fingers pause from sticking it back between his lips, one of his brows arching slightly to match the smirk suddenly playing at the corner of his lips.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah.”
That stupid smirk of his somehow stretches into a full blown smile making me roll my eyes because it’s definitely between that and admitting that the man is impossibly handsome without his horns.
“I figured you’d be the happiest person around here if anything were to happen to me.” He takes another drag of his cigar while staring pointedly at me as if daring me to argue his point.
“Before Saturday night, you always ran in the directions that got you the farthest from me and every time I managed to get you to come within touching distance of me, you acted like you were suffering my presence, so why do you care what happens to me?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I say quietly, looking away so he doesn’t see how flushed my face is fast becoming from listening to him sound exactly like he is now.
It’s not even about the words he’s saying as much as it is the way he’s saying them, like he’s shamelessly seducing me with the most basic facts just to prove that he can.
“I......I’m just saying smoking is not healthy for your lungs, sir. If that’s all can I go now?”
Instead of saying yes like any other sane, normal human being would or even wave me off in his usual manner when he’s being a jerk, he shakes his head and then stands from his seat, walking over to where I’m standing with intent shinning brightly in his eyes.
Intent for what exactly, I’m not sure but I’m sure I don’t like this version of him either.
I thought this whole new Adrian that’s anything besides an ass died with the weekend and starting today we’ll be back to the office and to some semblance of normalcy but boy was I wrong.
He stops just a few inches before me, his cigar resting between the index and middle finger of his right hand. He smirks when he notices my disapproving glare at the curling smoke from it but instead of stepping away, his other hand comes up to lightly graze the side of my jaw.
Using his fingers, he tips my head back until I’m looking into his face and his intense, unsmiling eyes.
“Wha......what are you doing?” I stutter, uneasy but not in the disgusted, run for my life way I’ve always imagined with Adrian.
“Why were you crying?”
His fingers trail up to my cheekbones, absently caressing it while waiting for my answer and I just stand there, transfixed.
“I wasn’t.” I finally get past my throat, the lie hanging so unconvincingly between us.
“And I’m a blind man.” He sighs.
“I’m not the enemy, Candy, I’m not saying you can’t handle your business on your own but will it be that bad if you let me help?”
A moment passes while my brain stays fixed on the way he just said my name and how funny it has my insides feeling. It’s not the same as when Nikandr says it but I can live on this.
“You’re confusing.” I finally say in a breathless whisper, for lack of a better response, making him smirk.
“I made you a deal to stop being an asshole, unfortunately, this comes with the new territory. You’re going to have to get used to it.”
Oh, that’ll be interesting but maybe, just maybe it’s exactly what I need to get over Nikandr and to forget everything that we made on that vacation because that is a dream and this, my family and his world, is our reality and that reality sucks.