The laws of love, lust, and lies

CHAPTER TEN

ALICE

George has made sure to keep a full eye on me for the past week; when the day after the shopping bag debacle , I walked out of my room in my new outfit , a cream - colored dress , and black pointy shoes , along with my black handbag , and walked into the kitchen to pour my coffee into my bottle and grab an apple , George looked up from his plate of eggs and bacon and gave me a murderous look , then simply announced that from now on he is going to drive me to and from work , he said it in a tone that it was clear that there was no room for discussions , so I could only nod and keep my mouth shut until the moment he left me half a block before the office door.

His warning was clear: a misstep and I was going to regret it , so that day I walked into the office internally praying that there was no more late leavings from work and that all was well , at least until George calmed down a bit , and fortunately there were none , because the rest of the days they came and went without much news , I have always boasted of being a quick learner and here I had to put it into practice almost immediately because there were so many things to do that I did not even have the time to ask how I should do them , and on many occasions , I had to figure it out myself and then pray that I hadn't screwed up everything.

Kim congratulated me a couple of times , telling me how well I was doing and how many assistants had not lasted more than three day s, as Mr. Pemberton is not famous for his patience , so he got tired of mistakes pretty quickly and just ended up firing them. Which is surprising , because although my new job has been relatively easy for me , I am aware that I have made several mistakes that could have cost me my job , such as messing up a couple of meetings and getting Dominic to show up a little late , which he hates , as I have heard and he himself has told me , but apart from a slight scolding , he did not lose his temper with me at any time and even gave me guidelines not to make the same mistake again in the future.

Which was totally surprising , because on those occasions I felt that I wanted to bury my head in the sand , and mentally I was already preparing to collect my things and go through my dismissal check , so I was very surprised when that did not happen , he didn’t even seemed as angry as everyone else had led me to believe in those lunchtime cafeteria talks; What did bother him , however , was the closeness of other men, every time an office colleague approached me , which happened on more than one occasion in which they even asked me out , he would frown at them and then to me , to later tell me not to be distracted with boys and to focus on doing my job.

And in a very tiny corner of my mind , I harbored the slight hope that he would do it because he was bothered by the possibility that I was going out with other guy s, or that he was jealous , but that hope was dashed almost immediately when I heard him talking on the phone with the girl that everyone says is his girlfriend , the tall black - haired beauty that I saw the day of the interview , even the press says so , and I know from the coffee shop talks that the week before I came to the interview , he had been in London with her and that he had taken her to meet his parents.

I cannot deny that this information bothered me excessively , to the point that I was distracted all day and did not realize what time it was , nor that George had been waiting for me for a long time in the same place where he always left me at mornings , so when I realized it , I basically ran out of the office and did not notice that I almost crashed into Dominic who was going out with a client , but I did not have time to stop to confirm if it was indeed him or not , because as soon as I passed him , I could glimpse George's car stopping in front of the office while he took off his seat belt , with the clear intention of coming in to look for me.

So , I picked up my pace and practically ran to get into the front seat at the same time that George was opening the door to get out , and he was surprised when he saw me , but instead of saying something , he just gave me a murderous look and sped up the car as if we were in a formula one race , while I saw in the rear - view mirror what seemed to be Dominic's confused face , but I can't be sure , because George was going too fast to be able to distinguish anything.

" Don't drive so fast , please, " I asked in a small voice , and he accelerated even more , causing me to grab onto the seat with all my might.

" I am sorry , okay? I was in a meeting and couldn't answer the phone , it was unexpected so I didn't have time to send you a message to let you know , but I ran away as soon as it was over, ” I lied and begged him to believe me , but it didn't have the desired effect, because before I knew it , he raised his right hand like a lightning bolt and slammed it against my mouth causing my head to bounce against the passenger seat , I felt the taste of blood fill my mouth almost immediately and tears start to spill down my cheeks.

" Next time I won't be so kind, " was all George told me , and then he drove in silence the rest of the way home.

As soon as we arrived I took the bag of frozen vegetables again and put it on my lips until the cold made them numb , I think he also made me bite my tongue as it continued to hurt until the next day when I woke up to go to the office again , when I looked in the mirror I noticed that my lip was only slightly swollen and that a slight wound was noticeable in them but only when they were seen closely , so with a little makeup I was going to be able to hide it.

Since I didn't really want to play barbie with my new wardrobe , I simply put on the same blue dress that I used for the interview and it is a little too large for me because I bought it in a second - hand store and had not had time or money to modify it , I looked in the mirror for a few seconds and then I just resigned myself to not being the star of the place today , I just want to end the day quickly and come back home to rest , today is one of those days when everything seems gray and I am only consoled by the fact that , for some reason , I wake up every morning wanting to see him , and today despite my gloomy mood , it is no exception.

However , when I arrive at the office, he is in a worse mood than mine , he has black bags under his eyes as if he had a bad night , and the little wrinkle in the middle of his eyebrows has accentuated until it becomes almost like a permanent frown , he has said few words to me and when he does , it is in a cold and almost surly tone, plus he has decided to give me a lot of difficult tasks and has been upset if I do not finish them quickly.

I really don't understand what his problem is.

The phone on my desk suddenly rings making me jump in my seat and when I see that it is him , I hasten to answer:

" How can I help you , Mr. Pemberton? " I answer him in a formal tone.

" I need the Lancaster case file right now, " he barks into the phone before hanging up , and I take a deep breath to give myself the courage to walk into his office and face his bad mood.

So , when I walk in with the file in my arms , held firmly against my chest as if it were my shield , and I go over to his desk to hand it to him, I am surprised when he looks at me curiously and then jumping to his feet , he puts his hands on the desk and leans towards me with a frown staring at my lips , and I feel my breath catch in my throat.

" What happened to your lips? " he asks me with his face dangerously close to mine , and I feel like my mind goes totally blank.