CHAPTER 082 Back To Earth
CHAPTER 082: Back To Earth
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~~SLOANE~~
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It’s strange how you can go through ten years of your life knowing someone exists but not caring about that existence, and then one day, you meet them, and suddenly, they‘ re all you think about.
You start wondering where they are, if some girl is looking at them the wrong way, what kind of evil they’re up to–because let’s be honest, I’m not deluding myself into believing Knox is out there doing anything noble. Probably intimidating someone into silence or convincing a public figure to break a law or two.
It’s Friday. Barely five days since he took me in the shower, and here I am, mentally spiraling. Wondering when I’ll get to lie beside him again, pretending to resist while he seduces the resistance right out of me. When he’ll bury himself inside me and silence every logical thought in my brain. God, I’m losing it.
I’m not going to be one of those needy, clingy girlfriends who can’t get enough of their men. Their very busy men. I’m not.
But it’s hard to stay grounded when the rest of your life starts to pale in comparison. Case in point: two days ago, my sister sent a picture of her boyfriend, Nathan, a picture where he’s holding up an appointment letter that says he’s now the new Head Wizard of his Dungeons & Dragons club. She’s kissing him on the cheek like he just won an Oscar, and of course, she posted it on the family group chat.
Poor guy doesn’t even know his girlfriend has the hots for her stepfather. Makes you wonder if she’s trying to overcompensate. Prove some point. Like, hey guys, I’m definitely straight and definitely not fantasizing about the man who married my mom.
At least Mom has finally stopped pestering me about getting a new boyfriend. For now, at least. It’s probably because I haven’t told her I’m still with the man she disapproves of, who also happens to be her husband’s boss. I haven’t heard from Finn or Jade either, though I’d bet good money Jade is the one Knox sent to break into my apartment and leave a flower on my table, the exact replica of the one I threw in the trash last week.
That man, Knox, doesn’t take rejection well. Or boundaries.
It’s past closing time now. Most of the office is quiet except for the hum of the vending machines and the click of my fingers on the keyboard as I finish the last
pieces of this report. I breathe out when I finally hit print, watching the progress bar crawl across the screen.
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I stand, stretching the stiffness from my spine, and head for the printer station next to the breakroom.
The second I round the corner, Wes from project management strolls out of the breakroom, looking… weirdly startled.
“Sloane,” he says.
“Wes,” I say, keeping my eyes on the printer as the machine whirs to life.
Wes is the same guy who spent a month trying to ask me out before settling for a girl
in his own department. Even though office dating is against company policy, which is hilarious, everyone here dates everyone.
Someone else steps out from the breakroom behind Wes, adjusting her blouse.
Carla.
Not Wes’s girlfriend.
“Sloane,” Carla says, trying to sound casual even though she’s breathless. “What are you still doing in the office?”
“Printing. How about you? Playing chess with Wes in the breakroom?”
Wes blushes and bolts, keeping his head down, shoulders hunched like a kid who just got caught stealing candy.
Carla, on the other hand, clearly plans to do damage control.
“That’s not what it looked like, Sloane,” she says.
I grab my printed files and start walking away. “I didn’t see anything, Carla.”
She follows me. “I’m glad you didn’t. Really glad. By the way, how’s your hot stepdaddy?
I roll my eyes. “If you want me to keep quiet about you and Wes, don’t mention my stepfather again.”
“Okay, cool, cool.” She pauses. “Hey, you want to know a secret?”
“Not particularly.” Can she just go away? It’s not like I have anyone to tell she was screwing Wes in the breakroom.
“There are rumors that the company has a new majority shareholder. The man came out of nowhere and bought up fifty–one percent of the company. Rumor has it he’s bald. A bald man owns us.”
“How is that my business?” I reach my desk and immediately begin arranging and stapling the documents I need to drop off for Harper on Monday.
“You work here. It’s your business.”
“Last time I checked, shareholders are up here.” I raise my hand above my head. “We’re down here. If my paycheck stays the same, they can all be bald and British for all I
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care.”
Carla smirks. “I’m just saying–there might be changes in management. You should be ready to snatch one when they walk in.”
“Snatch?”
“You know, scratch their backs, maybe scratch something else, so you can climb the ladder. Notice how the current management are all taken by some ambitious bitches, and we don’t have a chance? Now’s our turn to shine.”
“I’m not sleeping with some old guy for a raise. I’m very okay where I am.”
“I’m not okay,” she says with a shrug. “Anyway, that’s just inside info I’m offering as a bribe for you to keep your mouth shut. If you don’t want to use it, great. Stay in this position forever.” She turns to leave, mumbling, “People just wasting their gifts.”
What is her problem?
Before I can think too hard, my phone pings. A message from Serena.
‘Where are you?‘
Oh, shit. We were supposed to meet. I glance at the time and mutter a curse. Serena’s probably outside already, pacing and glaring at her phone. I scoop my bag off the desk, stuff the last of my documents into it, and practically jog toward the elevator.
‘I’m coming out, I text as I walk.
When I reach the elevator, I slam my palm against the call button and bounce slightly on my toes, willing it to hurry.
The ding comes a beat later. The doors glide open.
And of course–because the universe has a twisted sense of humor–Hunter, Knox’s friend who’s still mad at me, is inside.
You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m not in the mood to feel guilty for what happened in Asheville. What is he doing here anyway?
He looks up. Recognition hits. “Sloane?”
“Hunter.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I should be asking you. I work here.”
“Really?” He chuckles as the doors slide shut. “What a coincidence. And they say karma isn’t real.”
I turn to face him. “What does me working here have to do with karma?”
“I just helped a client buy a huge amount of shares in this company. And he’s offered
to make me CEO. Which means I’ll be able to make your life a living hell. Your workload,
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CHAPTER 082: Back To Earth
your schedule–everything. I can keep you so busy with projects and travel that you won’t even have time to see that evil boyfriend of yours. Hell, I could have you
transferred to another state. Or another country. Maybe even another continent. Just to make sure you pay for ruining my wedding.”
The elevator opens, but we don’t move.
“Jesus,” I mutter. “Why are you being so petty? I only came to your hotel room that day to tell you the truth. It’s your own fault you cancelled the wedding.”
“You did what you did for yourself alone, Sloane. What did you expect I’d do? Marry a girl who didn’t have the decency to tell me she once fucked my close friend?”
“You were prepared to marry her knowing she only wanted you for your money. You knew she was sleeping with Knox’s brother, in the present tense even, but her having a past with Knox is where you draw the line?”
&
“I’m not competing with my friend over a girl. What if she still wants him? Exes do that. What if she thinks about him anytime I’m with her?”
“Your insecurity was the problem, Hunter, not me. Not Knox. And honestly, if you’re going to keep blaming us after you willingly dated and proposed to a cheating gold digger, then maybe you made a grave mistake leaving her. You two are meant for each
other.”
I step out of the elevator, and he follows.
“I see why he likes you,” he mutters. “You do have a mouth and a temper. But that mouth isn’t going to save you now. Tell that boyfriend of yours that I want a written apology, one each from both of you for what you did to me.”
I stop and turn. We’re nearing the parking lot.
“A written apology? Or what? You’ll fire me, Mr. CEO?”
“I won’t fire you. But you’ll become the busiest employee in this company, and by the time I’m done with you-”
He freezes.
“Sweet mother of God,” he breathes.
I turn to see what he’s looking at.
Strutting across the lot is Serena. Tight pencil skirt, cropped blazer cinched at the waist, and killer heels. Waves of dark hair bounce around her shoulders, glossy and full. She pulls off her oversized sunglasses in one smooth motion, stopping when she
sees me.
“Sloane!” she calls. “Over here.”
“Be right there!” I say before turning back to Hunter, who seems far gone.
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He’s still staring, and Serena doesn’t even notice. Her head’s down on her phone, typing away.
“Hey, Hunter,” I say. “Back to Earth. I’m not writing that apology.”
“Who’s that?” he says.
“Who’s what?”
“That girl. Waiting for you.”
“My sister.”
“I didn’t see her at the barbecue.”
“She was there. You probably missed her because she was with her boyfriend.” I emphasize the word boyfriend, not ready for any matchmaking scheme.
“Boyfriend, huh?” he murmurs, eyes still fixed on her. “Not husband?”
“Hunter, don’t even think about it.”
“I’ll take my apology one way or another, Sloane. It’s best you and your boyfriend start writing that letter.”
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