27

CARLY

 

Ally and Meryl’s sofa pulls out into a bed and it’s quite comfy. Ally had a new toothbrush still in a package and lent me a cotton orange Tigger onesie with a tail and built-in-feet, telling me that Tigger is her spirit animal. I believe that about her. She’s bouncy, trouncy, quite flouncy and pouncy, and full of fun, fun, fun.

I’ve had a good sleep despite the tail kind of annoying me.

During banana chocolate chip pancakes, I fill them in about the disaster with that ad campaign and the kiss.

“I think he might’ve even fucked with Twitter that day,” I say. “It took me hours to sort that out and I was sick to my stomach about it.

“I bet he did,” Meryl hisses.

Yep. Me, too.

“You need to report that,” Meryl says.

“I love this job. I love San Diego. I don’t wanna go to HR or Mr. C. and complain. Yeah, they might stop him from harassing me, but it’d be a career limiting move. Any woman who rocks the boat like this with the CEO’s son will wind up typecast. It’s sad, but true. I might think I’m getting justice, but it’ll be talked about behind my back and people will be wary of me. I’ll be seen as weak and too sensitive. I’ll be passed over for promotions. And it fucking sucks.  It’s still very much a man’s world in the business world. You can’t let them smell menstrual blood in the water when you’re in a shark tank. In other words, all signs point me to the belief that I have to operate somewhat like a man.”

They’re both quiet. They know it’s true.

“So, unless I wanna quit my job and go find another one, which I don’t, I’ve gotta just deal.  Find a way to ignore him until he goes back to the New York office. I was thinking last night I wanted to pay him back for his treachery. Make him think twice before screwing me over again.”

“Starting by shooting him with lasers and wishing the gun was real?” Meryl asks, looking up from her smartphone. She’s been obsessively reading all morning, pink-faced for most of it, biting her lip like Anastasia Steele.

“Maybe not a bullet gun, but a zapping with electrical currents gun? Sure. But then he gives me this non-apology excuse and says he was wrong and ‘my bad’ and then he’s got his tongue in my mouth and I’m a slutty whimpering mess.”

“That kiss? That was hot,” Ally says this matter-of-factly.

Meryl nods. “It was like… a movie kiss.”

It was. It was the hottest kiss of my life.

I shake my head. “He’s such a player. And if Mr. C had been in front of you guys instead of behind you, he’d have seen it.”

“Doh!” Ally winces.

“What?” Don’t tell me…

“I think he saw, too. He started to walk in that direction and then came back and talked to Austin for a second and they were laughing.”

I groan. Mortified.

“A player?” Ally asks. “You think he’s just a player?”

“Yeah. This has got to be some new game. He was flirting before, but this? He’s all about games. I can’t let it happen. I have to keep my crazy hormones in check, resist the sex potion, and find a way to hold my ground. I’m gonna rock my job, watch my back, and hopefully he’ll go back to New York soon. If he’s here the full three months, I’ll keep my head down and stay out of his way, and then see if I get offered full-time employment after my three-month contract is up.”

I love this job. This company. I want a permanent job. Eventually, he’ll see something shiny and turn his attention away from me.  Right now, I’m just the something shiny.

Maybe I should wait on paying my Visa and use the bonus on Monday to get myself an apartment. Stay here all weekend with the girls, away from him.

“What if he actually likes you? What if he’s actually interested? Maybe this is him putting your ponytail in the inkwell.”

“I’m not interested in him, Ally,” I reply firmly. “And it’s really shitty that he’s prioritizing screwing with me over the company’s wellness. His stunts show that he’s a man-baby. A spoiled brat stomping his feet for not getting his way.”

I need to think about my living situation, my options, how I’m going to get to the other side of this time of him being parked in an office with a perfect view of my cubicle. But for now, I want to think about anything but Aiden Carmichael.  “Enough alphahole talk. What shall we do today, girls? How about a trip to the mall? Food court for dinner?”

“Dinner is on me,” Meryl announces. “Food court sushi!”

“I am down! I’m gonna run up and shower and change.  I’ll bring stuff down to get ready for clubbing, too.” I gather up my stuff.

“Bring down enough for the weekend. Stay away from him,” Meryl warns.

“Bring those strappy peach wedges,” Ally says, “Meryl can borrow them.”

“Carly’s feet are smaller than mine. I have giant feet,” Meryl tells us with a pout.

“Well, we’ll get you wedges today, then. They’re easier to walk in than heels.”

“I still don’t think so,” she scrunches up her face.

Ally waves. “Trust me.”

I wonder if Aiden is home. Or if he’s gone out. So far, I hadn’t ever seen him just lounging in the living room. He was in his room, getting food or making coffee or some weird athlete drink in the blender, or he wasn’t there.

I’ll run upstairs and be fast and hope I don’t see him.

I tell the girls as much and grab my clothes from the day before, my backpack, and dash upstairs in the Tigger pjs Ally had lent me.

***

It’s about five o’clock and as per usual, we meet one another in the hallway. I’m coming in from the stairwell and he’s just getting off the elevator. I thought I could be discreet in the Tigger onesie. Wrong. Of course, wrong. I should’ve known better.

But, screw it. I don’t care what I’m wearing.  Because I don’t care what he thinks of my appearance.

I ignore him and dash for the door and stick my key in the lock, moving quickly so I can be into my own bedroom before he gets to our door.

Somehow, he magically gets there before I’ve shut the door.

“Carly,” he says, with amusement in his voice. His eyes are traveling the length of me.

“Don’t.” I raise my hand two inches from his face.

“Nice jimjams.” He’s smirking.

I don’t even care that he’s seen me in this ridiculous thing. Not a bit. I’m on the move. I get to my room, open the door, and stride in, ready to slam it shut, but before I get the chance, he’s in it with me. He slams it.

“Out of my room,” I hiss.

“No.” He folds his arms across his chest. “You didn’t come home last night. I told you I wanted to talk.”

“Well, I guess Aiden the Alphahole doesn’t always get what he wants. Out.”

“Alphahole?”

I say nothing.

He stares, eyebrows up in challenge.

I glare at him. “Alpha-male asshole. Now… this is my room and you said I’m entitled to my room in this apartment and so while I’m here, this is my space. You’re not welcome in my space. I won’t be back in your room, so don’t come into mine.”

His face changes. He’s looking at me with some sort of intensity on his face. It’s a look I’ve never seen from him before.

His lips part and his voice comes out husky. “Maybe I want you in my room.”

“Well, that’s not happening,” I state.

“Don’t usually want women in my room,” he says, looking off into space like he’s deep in thought, like he’s not even saying it to me.

“I find that very hard to believe.”

“No. You’re not understanding me. I don’t usually want them in my private space. I’ll do ‘em on my couch, against the wall, in a hotel, stairwell, public bathroom.”

Such a pig. I give him a look of disgust.

“You, though? I’d consider taking you to my bed.”

“How chivalrous. As flattering as it is, never gonna happen.”

“Why don’t we start here first. I’ll fuck you in your bed. If it goes anything like that moment we had in that dark hallway, I could wanna do you in my sheets, too.”

“Go fuck yourself,” I snap.

“Been doin’ a lot of that, peaches. Haven’t touched anyone since that morning I first saw you when that skank Bella left. All I can think of fucking since then is you. And since you haven’t given in yet, I’ve been fucking myself imagining it’s you.”

“Oh, I’m so flattered.” I roll my eyes.

He starts advancing on me and I stand my ground and glare at him.

He gets to me and his arm goes around my waist and then he starts laughing and tugging on my Tigger tail.

“Wanted to grab this perfect ass, but since I’ve got a little tigress by the tail, I’ll make it work.”

“Get out,” I tell him, pointing at the door.

“Carly.” He’s smirking. He thinks this is all so hilarious. “I’m gonna fuck you. It’s gonna happen. Give in, let it. And then once it’s out of our system, let’s see where we’re at.”

“It isn’t gonna happen, Aiden. Not ever. I’m here for a new start. I’m serious about one thing right now. My job. That’s it, that’s all. You don’t interest me. And you’re not a nice person. If I was remotely interested in fooling around with anyone right now, it wouldn’t be someone who videotapes some girl he’s having sex with so that he can use it against her. It wouldn’t be someone who would screw with his own company to make an employee look bad.”

“You don’t have all the facts there, so you have no call to judge all that.  With you, I’m not looking to hold something over you. That play with her happened for a very specific reason.”

“I don’t care. I’m not interested.”

“Alright, so you’re down for the thrill of the chase then. I’m game. Sounds more fun anyway. You’re gonna take my cock, baby. It’s gonna happen.”

He is so fucking cocky!

“Did you not hear a single word I just said to you?”

“I did.”

“Go away.”

He still has the pajama tail in his hand, still has his body right against me; the backs of my legs are flush against the foot of my bed.

“One shove and I’m on top of you. Wonder how much fight I’d get before I get your whimpers again, your fingers yanking my hair some more.”

“Fuck this shit. I’m outta here.” I shove him back.

He laughs.

“I’m moving downstairs,” I announce.

“No, you’re not.” he shakes his head.

“I am,” I insist.

His expression changes. “Nope. You’re not allowed to move in with the girls. We have company insurance and it doesn’t cover three people in that apartment. Just two. You move there, you’re violating a Carmichael Consulting rule.”

I glare at him. He’s so full of shit.  “I’m not living there. I’m having a weekend sleepover and then I’m getting my own apartment Monday.”

He raises his eyebrows in challenge. “You sleep here. Be here tonight or you’re violating a Carmichael rule.”

“I’ll sleep at a hotel,” I say. “Or maybe I’ll go home with someone tonight.”

His expression changes and he shakes his head. “No.”

“Yeah,” I challenge. “Maybe I’ll go get my rocks off with some guy on a dancefloor who I don’t even tell my name or my number. Get it out of my system that way. Feel free to do the same. Out of my way.”

He eyes me from head to toe and my blood runs cold at the calculating expression in his eyes.

He needs to get that I’m not digging some thrill of the chase game here, looking for him to put effort into getting me into bed. This is not that.

“You’re so up your ass with your Texas, no Siberia-sized ego that you can’t conceive of the notion that I don’t like you. I don’t want you. I don’t care about your looks, your expensive stupid motorcycle, or your bank account. You’ve shown me your insides and they are butt-ugly. So, get the hell out of my room and stop thinking I like your games. I hate them. I work for your company. I’d really like to keep doing that. Please, just leave me the hell alone outside work hours. And stop screwing with me at work. Let me do the job you are paying me to do. That’s it. That’s all.”

I sweep my hands in an ‘all done’ gesture and fold my arms across my chest.

He stares at me a beat. I can see his wheels turning. Maybe he finally gets that I want nothing to do with him. Please get it. Please do not be plotting your next move.

“Can you go now? I have to get dressed. I have plans with Ally and Meryl.”

He looks at me thoughtfully for a beat.

I look at him with all my emotions on my face. I look at him like I have zero respect for him. Like I want zero to do with him.

He turns, and goes.

Maybe I got through to him.

Hopefully.

I lock my bedroom door and go to my closet, so I can pick out an outfit for tonight. Screw it. Maybe I’ll buy something with my Amex gift card.