14

14
The first Friday rolled around and to say I was annoyed would be an understatement. I tried to plead with my dad to get me out of it but this was the one time that my last name could not get me out of a situation. Jake tried to assure me that it was fine and I just needed to get through the early hours of the night.
Greg had organized a dinner at a restaurant. It was lazy if you asked me and it was obvious that there was no thought behind it. I didn’t mind because I knew dinner was something I could easily bail from if need be. It was nothing fancy so I went for a simple black dress and heels. Dad wished me luck to which I flipped him off.
Dinner was set by 7 and I got there by a few minutes after. A handful of people were already there including Greg and Charles. Greg was the first to sight me and he gave a dismissive smile. “I’m glad you took time out of your busy schedule to attend Hayley. I was beginning to doubt whether you were going to.”
I ignored his obvious taunt and took the available seat closest to me which happened to be next to Charles. Jenna was on the other side and I could feel her glaring at me ever so slightly because the moment I sat down, Charles cut off his conversation with her and turned to me. I ignored her but her expression had caught the eyes of many people. I had given her my fair share of advice about hiding her expression, if she didn’t want to take it then the consequences were going to be on her neck- not mine.
It turned out to be a buffet and honestly, I wasn’t hungry. The more people that filled up the table, the more irritated I got. The girl to guy ratio was outstanding. Excluding Jenna and I, there were only two other females while the majority were men and to say that the topics of discussion were disgusting would have been an understatement.
“Don’t you have anything else to talk about besides women?” I drawled from the rim of my glass and although my voice wasn’t quiet, they all heard me. Charles was the first to turn to me.
“It’s just guy talk, Hayley, it isn’t a big deal.”
“If it is guy talk then why is it about women considering there are women at the table?” he fell silent and I turned to the others. “Don’t stop on my account, if this is what you discuss on a daily basis then it is no surprise that your clients are lacking severely.”
I knew it was a low blow but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I was irritated by their conversation and I was annoyed at being forced to be here when I could have been with Jake or in my bed. Speaking of Jake, I took my phone out of my pocket and sent him a text. I wasn’t afraid of anyone reading my messages because I was using a privacy screen.
He responded to my text almost immediately.
Jake: Is it that bad? It isn’t even up to half an hour.
Me: I want out of here so badly, you have no idea. Can’t I just sneak out or something?
Jake: You have an hour or two tops. I’m sure you can handle it.
Me: Are you home?
Jake: No, I had to see my niece. She was having some issues at school. I’ll tell you about it later.
“Who are you texting?” Jenna’s voice had me locking my phone screen as fast as possible. I looked up to find her staring at me innocently. “Is there a boy involved?”
“I don’t see how that matters.”
“I think it would be cute if you have someone who can see past the hard exterior,” she turned to Charles. “Don’t you think so?”
I knew what she was doing immediately and I shook my head in disbelief. Her game was so obvious that it was pitiful. Charles didn’t respond to her, he just kept his gaze forward and his jaw locked tight. I could feel her frustration and I genuinely felt bad for her. I saw her shoulders deflate as she reluctantly went back to her food.
The tension was so much that I cleared my throat and rose to my feet. “Excuse me.”
I didn’t wait for a response before I was walking away. As soon as I got into the bathroom, I placed my hands on the sink and let out a sigh of relief. This was our first team building exercise and it was already shitty, I could not imagine what the last one would be like. I loved my dad but this was quite possibly the worst idea that he had ever had.
I was in there for a few minutes when I heard a knock. I expected to see Jenna but to my shock, Charles was the one who walked in. He locked the door behind him and I got a sense of déjà vu, only, this time, I wanted nothing to do with the man who was locked in with me.
“This is the girl’s bathroom, the men’s is next door,” I said simply but he made no move to leave. “Didn’t you hear me?”
“I came to see you, I wanted to talk.”
“We can talk when I am not in the bathroom, leave. How did you even get in here?”
“I slipped the waiter a hundred dollars to get me ten minutes with you. You look beautiful,” I rolled my eyes and made to walk past him but he grabbed my upper arm. “At least say thank you. Come on, Hayley, do you enjoy seeing me beg?”
“I didn’t ask you to beg. I asked on multiple occasions for you to leave me alone and you never did,” I jerked my hand out of his grip. “I think it is time that you left.”
“Is there really a guy?”
I stared at him in disbelief and when I realized that he was serious, I burst out laughing. “You are kidding me, right? You accosted me in the bathroom to find out if I am seeing someone. Are you crazy?”
“What did you expect me to do?”
“I expected you to take your loss with dignity and leave me alone.”
He ran his hands through his hair in frustration and did something I did not expect. He grabbed my face and kissed me. It took me a second to realize what was happening and when I did, I used all my energy to push him off me. He didn’t budge, instead, he kissed me harder and despite my struggling, he only let go when he was ready.
“Can’t you see that we are perfect together?” he asked and I slapped him across the cheek. I didn’t even realize I had done it until he held his reddened cheek. “What the hell was that for?”
“That was for being a sleazy dick,” I scoffed and this time when I tried to walk past him, he didn’t reach out for me. “If you ever try something like this again, I promise you, I will file a HR complaint about you and I will use every weapon in my arsenal, including my last name to make sure that you never work in this city again.”
When I got to the table, all eyes were on me and I knew everyone had a million questions. I was in no mood to answer any of them and in no mood to continue the dinner so I grabbed my bag. I could feel everyone’s confusion but the only person who had the balls to ask was Greg.
“We haven’t even brought out dessert yet,” he said blandly. “I forked out a lot of money for this. The least you could do is sit through it. I know it isn’t the fancy restaurants that you go to with daddy dearest but-”
“If you’re insecure about me being richer than you then just say it,” I spat making the whole table fall quiet. “If you’re so concerned about the money you spent then feel free to send me an invoice for whatever I wasted and I’ll pay you back.”
I didn’t wait to hear his response before I stormed out of the restaurant. I saw Charles coming out of the bathroom just as I was leaving and thankfully, he had the brains to not follow me. It wasn’t until I got into my car that I lay my head against the steering wheel and allowed the reality of the situation dawn on me.
I always prided myself in being strong and untouchable but in that moment, Charles had reminded me that he was stronger and he could have done anything to me and I wouldn’t have been able to fight back. I wanted to text my dad but I knew he would lose his shit. I didn’t have anyone I could talk to and before I knew it, I found myself calling Jake. He picked up immediately.
“Is the dinner over?” he asked and I could hear a door opening. “Give me a second, I’m just getting home.” I waited until there was silence. “Is everything okay?”
“Can I come over?” I asked and he immediately fell silent.
“What happened?” I couldn’t answer. “Hayley, tell me what happened.”
“I just want to see you,” I could feel his annoyance on the other end of the phone. “it’s fine if I can’t. I can just see you tom-”
“I’ll text you the address,” he cut me off, “and Hayley, you better be prepared to talk.”