Chapter Three
Abby Hale
~•~
The next morning, I slid out of bed quietly and got dressed. Then I ordered a ride back to the bar where I’d left my car.
Before driving off home, I pulled out my phone from my bag and was about to call my best friend to tell her about the crazy night I’d just had.
But my fingers froze around the screen when I realized that I couldn’t tell her anymore. For a brief moment, I’d forgotten that I caught her in bed with my boyfriend the previous night.
I let out a deep exhale.
My eyes burned with unshed tears as the memories came flooding back, but I blinked them back. Those two backstabbers didn’t deserve my tears.
Even after what happened the previous night, none of them bothered to contact me. No call. No text. No apology. Nothing.
I tossed my phone on the passenger’s seat and drove back home, so I could get ready to leave for the office. Even if I was heartbroken, I still needed to show up at work.
The bills weren’t going to pay themselves.
When I got to the house, I prayed deep down that Michael had gone out or something.
I wasn’t ready for drama that morning. I knew myself, I would end up doing something crazy to him because I was still filled with rage.
Fortunately enough, I didn’t see any sign of him. I used the guest bathroom again because I was really irritated.
I mean, who knew what they must’ve done in my bathroom after the nasty things they did at night.
A few minutes later, I was done showering. I changed into a decent outfit, then I made my way to the kitchen.
I grabbed an apple because I didn’t even have any appetite to eat. Just as I opened the front door, I saw Michael standing outside.
He was startled. “Hey… I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” he said with a nervous chuckle as he ran his hand through his hair.
I responded with a bitter scoff. “You weren’t expecting to see me at my house?”
He shrugged. “No—not really, after what happened, I thought you’d be too upset. You didn’t even come back home last night.”
He didn’t even have an ounce of remorse on his face. It was as though what he did was deliberate.
I forced down the lump that had formed in my throat. “You know what? I want you gone before the end of the day. I don’t want to see any trace of you in my house when I come back from work.”
Yes, it was my house.
His eyes widened. “You’re really going to chase me away?”
I couldn’t hide the irritation on my face. “What were you expecting when you cheated on me with my best friend?”
“That we would have an open relation—.”
I didn’t let him finish his sentence, I just shook my head and walked to my car. But before I drove off, I yelled at him. “If you don’t leave, I’ll have to call the cops on you.”
With that, I zoomed away.
How did I even get attracted to someone like him? I felt so stupid and humiliated. And the worst part was that my family always warned me about him, but I was too deep in love to listen to them.
But there wasn’t even anything to love about him. Maybe there was something at the beginning, but he switched faster than a light bulb short-circuiting when we moved in together six months ago.
I let out a wistful sigh, my grip tightening on the steering wheel. I needed to focus on the road if I wanted to get to the office in one piece.
After a short drive, I pulled up at the parking lot. I took multiple deep breaths to calm myself down before walking into the office.
“You’re late today,” the receptionist said as I walked past her. “Today isn’t a good day to be late.”
“Why?” I muttered under my breath as I made my way to the elevator.
When I got to my desk, I noticed that everyone was talking in hushed whispers and most of them seemed really tense.
I dropped my bag before turning to my friend who worked beside me. “What’s going on?” I asked curiously, my eyes darting around the large room.
“You haven’t heard?”
I blinked. “Heard about what?”
“The new boss is coming today. They talked about it in the group chat,” she replied. “Everyone is scared that he might make certain changes because from what I heard, he’s really strict.”
Our old boss had to retire because he wanted to focus on something else. It even slipped my mind that a new one was going to take over soon.
I chuckled lightly. “You have nothing to worry about. We both have important roles here and there’s no way we would lose our jobs or anything,” I said, trying to reassure her.
Our company dealt with marketing and advertising, and I played a really vital role there.
The thought about losing my job had never crossed my mind, not even once. I just hoped that the new boss wasn’t going to try anything funny.
I booted my computer and focused on emails and other stuff I needed to take care of that morning.
About an hour later, they announced to us that the new boss had arrived and wanted to see us in his office.
Everyone rushed to his office because we all wanted to make a good first impression. But as soon as I stepped one foot and saw who the new boss was, I froze and a cold chill ran down my spine.
I forced myself to steady my breathing as I continued walking.
“How could… Why would— is he? It can’t be…” I couldn’t even form a coherent sentence as I whispered to myself. “I f****d my boss last night? Wow, the universe is really playing tricks on me.”
One of my co-workers raised a brow. “Did you say something to me?”
“No, no,” I shook my head.
Everywhere became silent as we all waited for him to address us. As I stared at him, my p***y automatically became wet.
I couldn’t stop thinking about everything we had done the previous night. God, he f****d me really good. Just like he’d said, it was actually the best night of my life.
“Good morning,” he finally cleared his throat and began, his eyes scanning all of us in the room. “As you all know, I’m Landon Lancaster and I’m going to be your new boss.”
Wow. Landon.
Such a nice name.
I didn’t even bother to know his name last night because I wasn’t planning on seeing him again.
The meeting with him was brief.
I felt a little bit offended because he acted like he had no idea who I was even though our eyes locked a few times. He just stared at me like I was a stranger.
Maybe he just wanted to keep things professional and didn’t want anybody to know about our one-night stand.
After everyone left, I stayed back at the office. I closed the door behind them and everyone was too engulfed in their own conversations to notice me lingering.
He raised a skeptical brow when he saw me walking towards his table. “What—.”
I cut him off with a kiss before he could say anything. “Hey,” I murmured against his lips. “You didn’t tell me you were going to—”
The next thing I realized, he pushed me away with full force. “God! Are you insane?”
My stomach dropped.
Why was he acting like I’d crossed an invisible line? Suddenly, the office felt colder than I’d ever imagined.