Lily
What does one wear for work the next day after screwing their boss?
At first I suppose it depends on whether I’m going to see him. But that’s silly. I know I’ll see Luke. He’s always there unlike his absentee father, Floyd Hanley, who only recently handed complete control of day-to-day operations to Luke.
Luke passes my desk on his way in at the start of the day and as he heads out at the end. I’ll see Luke, all right. I wonder if he’ll acknowledge me and our night together.
I try to be prepared either way. On my way out to my car, I get a glimpse of myself in the mirrored wall in my apartment building’s foyer.
My coat is parted, so I can double check the color coordination of my blush pink sleeveless blouse and burgundy cardigan with its pearly white buttons. I paired it with a simple black pencil skirt, the hem brushing my knees.
Makeup is a bit of foundation, a brush of blush, black mascara, and plenty of concealer to cover the dark circles thanks to Luke. After Russ had taken me home, I stayed awake for hours thinking about what had happened.
I know Luke provided me with an alibi in case I’m ever questioned about last night, but what kind of woman sleeps with her boss?
One who was shock from having a gun pulled on her.
And a horny one, I guess. I’m no virgin, but I’d spent four years without a man.
The sight of Luke, his confident stare daring me to contradict him, awakened feelings long dormant. His kiss, his touch were mesmerizing, like I was under his spell.
And now I’m expected to go to work, knowing Luke’s only a few feet away.
Before I contemplate heading back up to my apartment and calling in sick, I’m swiveling from the mirror in my black peep-toe pumps and hurrying to my car. I need the hours and money.
For a small enough town, Potentia doles out some expensive rental rates. With her private school teacher’s salary, Kerry has a place of her own. She complains about barely making a dent into her mortgage, but she says it beats the years of rent she’d accrue if she hadn’t been a homeowner.
I make about a third of what she makes, and with my school loan still a cloud over me, I’m lucky to have a roof over my head. One day, I tell Kerry and myself whenever we get to talking about it. One day I’ll own a home, too. And whenever I think about the future, I can’t see past Potentia.
Part of the reason why I want to keep Luke happy…
I want to live here. Really live here.
But the Hanleys run this town, as far as I’ve been told. So Luke and his father are not the kind of men I’d want to irk. Luke pretty much proved that last night.
The sex had been amazing, though, better than I remember sex being, and then Luke drifted off to sleep. I tried to do the same but mostly just stared at the ceiling. When he woke almost an hour later, he snapped away from me like I had a deadly contagion, walked off with his phone, and returned to tell me to dress. Then he passed me off to his thug, Russ, who dropped me off at my place.
The only thing keeping me from dwelling on his reaction, his switch from sleeping cherub beside me in his bed to insensitive jerk is the memory of having left my car in the dealership’s lot.
I jerk to a stop in front of the apartment’s entrance.
“Oh, no,” I moan, sucking in a reviving breath of nippy early autumn air. Unable to decide how to move forward, I do my thinking out there, in the seasonal bitterness.
My hair, with its wild abundance of waves, keeps my cheeks warm, but the unwelcome breeze creeps up my legs. My toes shrivel in their heels and I’m back to seriously considering calling off. Playing hooky isn’t as bad as having sex with a virtual stranger—a stranger who happened to be my boss.
Just as I’m ready to cave and head back inside, a flashy silver Mercedes sports coupe pulls in from the main road and draws to a quick stop in my path. The driver’s side opens and a dark-haired man, dressed in head-to-toe black, rounds the hood and comes to a stand before me.
“Get in, woman.”
It isn’t until he speaks that I recognize who I’m facing.
Russ the thug.
Without his hoodie and the black scarf over his mouth, he looks dramatically different. Good-looking even. Then I remember how he murdered in cold blood. Or how he stood and watched while his taller friend killed somebody.
“I’m your ride to work today,” he says.
Then without checking if I’m following, he opens the passenger side and gestures for me to do as he tells me. When I don’t hop to his order, he hooks an arm over the open door and heaves a sigh. “Listen. Mr. Hanley sent me, cool? You need a car, I got one, and we happen to be heading the same way.”
“You’re going to the dealership,” I blurt.
“That isn’t your business.” He slaps his hand over the car door. “Now get in, or deal with finding your own way to your damn job.”
I’m ready to go with that second option, but I recall the bills that’d be landing in my mailbox at the end of the month next week. I need to go to work, if not for the money, then to get out of the apartment where I’d probably end up pacing and thinking about Luke some more.
Why not go see the man for myself, perhaps figure out where we go from here?
“Fine,” I say, keeping my eyes on him. Clinging onto the strap of my purse with both hands, I prepare to use it if he tries anything funny. But Russ lets me pass into the car unharmed.
He shuts the door after me, and then he comes around, sliding into the driver’s seat. The engine is on, so all he does is move the gear out of park and we’re shooting off, the vehicle smooth and fluid in its handling.
Between keeping an eye on Russ and ensuring he’s indeed driving to my workplace, I’m enjoying the leather interior cushioning and the hand-crafted, polished wood paneling on the dash and the side of the car. It’s truly a magnificent vehicle. Expensive, obviously, and maybe not procured with clean money, but my mind is moving to a happy place for the duration of the ride.
If the roads aren’t busy, the drive to work is about fifteen minutes. That almost doubles this morning, and it has nothing to do with Russ’ driving. Most of Potentia heads out on an hour drive to St. Louis for their jobs, but there are enough car owners here who work locally to make me regret not waking up as early as I usually do. Even though that had something to do with not falling asleep until 4:00 a.m.
If I had woken up earlier, I would probably be catching a bus to the dealership. But I can’t complain much when Russ signals his blinker and pulls into Hanley Auto. This was definitely more comfortable than the bus.
Russ doesn’t park, which means he has no plan to come inside. Parking in front of the main entrance, he waits for me to exit his ride. He doesn’t give a farewell either. He revs his engine and motors off like I’d been a minor speed bump along the way.
Good thing for my ego that the sentiment is mutual.