by Claire Adams
I was such a strong woman until I met him. Now I felt powerless.
Even more idiotic was that I had trusted him with my body! It wasn’t in the contract, and against my own better judgment, I had decided to sleep with him. Because I trusted him. Despite all the reasons the world gave me not to, I trusted Zayden and believed that he wasn’t going to hurt me. I had caused this to myself and no one else was to blame. He must have had a good laugh. His grand master plan to sleep with me had worked – I had willingly ran into his arms and asked for it.
I pictured him snuggling with his ex-wife and laughing with her about how stupid girls were. They probably even made a whole game out of it. Both of them insanely attractive, both could easily have anybody they desired. That was probably how they even kept their marriage interesting; the divorce must have been some kind of charade that helped them in the games they played with vulnerable people.
I kept telling myself I could, and gathering all the courage I could muster I walked back to my desk.
Mrs. Brian was waiting there for me with a smirk. “Been crying, have we? Sleeping with the boss. Feeling rejected.”
God, she was a bitch.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” I snapped. “So I would appreciate it if you could just let me get back to work. Thanks!”
“Work!” She laughed. “Do you do any work? Do you even have to? You’ve found other ways to please the boss-man after all.”
“Yes, I have,” I said, losing my temper with her. “And if you don’t stop with the taunting, I will use my influence to get you fired.”
That shut her up, but she looked ready to hit me. I didn’t care. She deserved it.
With even more reserve than before, I started typing out the documents in front of me, not looking at Zayden, not looking at Mrs. Brian, not letting myself think even for a second, just working as fast as I could. When the phone rang, it startled be back to reality and I jumped.
It was Zayden, and he was looking right at me.
Chapter 2
Zayden
It was obvious from the puffs underneath her eyes that Aria had been crying. She had definitely seen Gina in my office and jumped to the worst possible conclusion. It was Gina’s fault. I had told her not to show up at the office, and that’s precisely why she had come here snooping, hoping to get me to admit to seeing another woman. The way she had kissed my cheek was not for my benefit, but rather for the audience that was peeping through my glass door. She had guessed that the woman I was seeing was in this office – rightly so – and intentionally done that to create complications. What a fucking sly fox she was.
It had worked wonders. Aria looked like she had just been run down by a train – I had never quite seen her this way. She answered my call with what appeared to be extreme reluctance.
“Yes?” Her voice was wavering.
“I need you to come into my office,” I said softly, worried about causing any further damage.
“Uh, I have a lot of work to catch up on. I am sorry…. Mr. Sinclair,” she said the last words with a lot of emphasis. She was trying to undo the last few months, undo me.
“I don’t recall, Miss Roberts,” I said, returning her formality with the hopes of throwing her off. “Giving you a choice in the matter. And last time I checked, I was still your boss and I call the shots.”
She shut her eyes tightly. After what felt like hours, she finally said, “I’ll be there in a few seconds, boss.”
She seemed to take her sweet time, as I watched her finish up whatever she was typing, then remove and replace an insane amount of objects from her desk drawers. If she was trying to hide the fact that she was intentionally delaying our encounter, she made a poor attempt of it. Frustrated and eager to tell her my side of the story, I called again.
“Now,” I said and hung up, staring at her with the iciest gaze I could muster.
Finally, she began walking towards my office, leaving me wondering what exactly I was going to tell her. I could claim Gina was my coworker; she hadn’t exactly heard anything we had been talking about, and it wasn’t a completely ludicrous notion that I would be discussing business with an attractive female coworker at my office. At the same time, if I was considering Gina’s offer, Aria was bound to find out who she was sooner or later, and if I lied now, I would not only be accountable for being married, but also for lying to her about it.
When she was outside my door, she knocked. “May I come into your office, boss?” She put so much stress into that word, as though she was taking all the bitterness she felt towards me and our situation and expressing it through that single word.
“Just get in here, Aria,” I said, starting to lose my patience.
“Do I need to, like, curtsy or something, since you’re trying to make it clear that you’re the boss?”
“I am though,” I said helplessly. “I wasn’t trying to rub it in like that but–”
“You did. And that’s exactly what you were trying to do, which is okay. You’re right, you’re the boss and I do as you say if I want to keep my job. So what do you need, Mr. Sinclair?”
His face was turning red. My attitude must have been pissing him off.
“Zayden. We’ve been over this Aria. Let’s not go through this whole ordeal again,” I said and shook my head.
“Oh, so it isn’t just who I talk to that you control, but how as well? Duly noted, boss,” she snapped.
“Stop! Just fucking stop. We have a lot to discuss, Aria, and for the sake of both of us, let’s not make it more difficult than it has to be. Just take a seat will you,” I said, trying to sound a little more gentle.
She didn’t say a word and sat down across from me, her expression unreadable.
“You have been crying?” It wasn’t really a question.
“Hah,” she snorted. “Wouldn’t you like that? I suppose it helps your already inflated ego quite a lot, the thought of a girl crying over you.”
“What?” I was perplexed. “Don’t be ridiculous. You think I want you to cry? The last thing I want is for you to be miserable. You should know that by now. I would think it was pretty obvious.”
“Right. Between trying to tell me who I can or cannot talk to and romancing another woman in your office in broad daylight, it is so very obvious that the last thing you wish to do is hurt me. Don’t mind me, I am clearly just blind and stupid.” She was looking at her fingernails instead of making eye-contact. Her voice sounded solid and confident, yet there was an underlying tone of despair.
I reached out to hold her hand but she pulled away. “You are neither blind, nor stupid, Aria,” I said. “What you saw in here? I was just talking to the woman that was here about a business deal that had recently gone wrong.”
“I know she’s your wife – or ex-wife or whatever. You should know that before you begin your elaborate web of lies. It will just be a waste of time.”
“How do you know?” There was no way she could. Gina had never been here since Aria began working, and not many people knew… and then I realized. “I am going to fire Mrs. Brian!”
That piece of shit. She did not have any right to tell Aria. She must have known what was going on between us. A strange and unpleasant feeling came over me at the thought of Mrs. Brian taunting Aria about Gina.
“You can fire every single person who works for you, but it won’t change the fact that you are a liar.” She was fighting back tears hard.
“I never lied to you!” I exclaimed. It was true. Gina was never mentioned because when Aria and I had started the contract she was a non-entity in my life. And even though we were technically still married, it was merely in the name. Since the topic had never really come up, I could have never really lied.
That made her burst into hysterical laughter. “Whatever. Your wife just walked out of here after passionately kissing your cheek and you sit there and tell me you never lied to me?” She shook her head as though she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
�
�She is not my wife, she is my ex-wife. The divorce proceedings have been underway for a while now and we are married in name only.” I slammed my fist on the desk, feeling the fury begin to swell inside of me.
“Oh wow, that is a perfectly reasonable explanation for what she was doing in your office, acting exactly like a non-ex-wife would act.”
“She was trying to provoke a reaction. Out of you, funnily enough. And it seems to have worked.” I shook my head. “Listen, Aria, I never lied to you. Gina and I are working through certain things that pertain way more to my mother than either one of us. That is the only reason she is anywhere near me. I have no feelings for her and I am not sure I ever did, really. For all intents and purposes, she stopped being my wife a long time ago. That doesn’t stop her from showing her malicious ways; that is just in the woman’s nature. She somehow figured out that I was seeing somebody in the office and she walked in here this morning with the intention of scaring whoever it was away. You. And by reacting like this you are letting her fucking win.”
“Oh really? Because I care so much about the games you play with your wife and whether or not you’re winning? Are you really trying to convince me that none of this is what it looks like? If so, just save us both the time and yourself the energy, boss man.”
“It’s not a game and she’s not my wife. I would never, ever want to hurt you.” I looked deep into her eyes, hoping she would sense that somewhere in my words was an ounce of honesty. With a much gentler voice, I added, “I really care about you. More than you realize obviously.”
I regretted saying those words as soon as they left my mouth. Not because they weren’t true necessarily, but because she didn’t need to know that. Until this very moment, it was something I hadn’t even accepted myself, but now I knew it was true. Because the fact was, watching her look upset with puffy eyes and a little blush over her perfect little nose was making me feel way more uncomfortable than it should have.
Upon hearing those words, her face seemed to gain some color. Perhaps she hadn’t even entertained the idea that I actually cared about her…. I hadn’t entertained it myself, until now, so I shouldn’t be surprised.
The room was silent for a long time, as Aria seemed to be weighing my words in her mind.
“If you really mean that,” she eventually whispered. “I have a request: I would like to re-arrange the terms of the contract.”
“What do you mean?” What could she possibly want to change? Sex was not a part of the contract as it is…
“You don’t get to control who I talk to. Given that you somehow happen to have a wife up your sleeve, I should at least have sovereignty over who I communicate with.”
“Sure,” I said very carefully. “As long as it’s not your ex.”
“That’s amusing, coming from a married man who has been seducing me. If you remember correctly, as a part of the contract, you’re not allowed to have sex with any other woman. Yet your wife–”
“We’re not having sex!” I exclaimed. Hadn’t she been listening to a word I was saying? “I told you, Gina and I haven’t really been married in a while. Whatever shenanigans she was pulling here before were an act. Part of some evil master-plan she has to win me back. And by me, I mean my money.”
“So you’re telling me you’re married to that woman and you don’t even touch her? You don’t have any regards for my intelligence, do you?” She was starting to sound hurt again.
“On the contrary, Aria, you are one of the most intelligent women I have ever met. And I can say this with confidence because I have seen your work. Both as your boss and as someone who worked through your economics course work with you, I know what your mind is capable of. I would never underestimate that.”
“Then stop lying to me! You want to have a wife and keep the contract? Fine! Let me have my freedom back. That’s not too much to ask is it?”
“I don’t trust that guy around you,” I said broodily. “He has hurt you before and he will hurt you again.”
“And what do you think you are doing?” she snapped loudly. She had clearly been holding it back so far and now the anger was flashing red hot on her face.
“I am not hurting you... At least I had no intention of fucking doing so.” I tried to catch her eye but she was looking away from me.
“Well, it’s a little too late for that,” she said in a barely audible whisper, making the knot in my chest feel heavy.
“I am sorry. And I’m sorry to say that I am not going to be okay with you talking to that moron. It’s for your own good.”
“I know how to take care of myself. Been doing it for twenty years without you, thanks. And if you’re going to be sleeping with other women – and after seeing your wife, I don’t believe for a second that you’re not, no matter what you say – then I should have the right to at least decide who I keep company with.”
“For the last time, I am not fucking Gina. Or anybody else for that matter.”
“For the last time, I don’t believe you. And I have work to do,” she said, then without any warning stormed out of my office, leaving me perplexed.
Chapter 3
Aria
These days, being inside an active classroom was the only respite my mind got. Tired of Zayden, the contract, and all the drama surrounding it, I had made a newfound resolution to concentrate on one thing: school. If I was constantly thinking about numbers and graphs and economics theories, there would be very little time to worry about much else. I had begun staying in the library late every night and avoiding catching Zayden’s eye while at work.
As my mind began drifting off in my Public Finance class, I tried to bring myself back. Focus on school. That was my new motto. My Econ and Finance teacher, Mr. Weber, and I were on excellent terms; so far I had aced all his classes with top marks, so he often counted on me to have the right answer. It was an extremely comforting intellectual environment away from the royal mess that the rest of my life had become.
Class had just started and after Mr. Weber finished taking the roll call, he made an announcement.
“Class, today I have a little bit of a surprise for you.” He flashed his white teeth, as though very pleased with himself. It made his old, wrinkly features light up a little bit. He didn’t laugh very often. “A surprise guest!”
Oh, that was interesting. Last year we had had a guest in his Intermediate Macroeconomics class and it had been incredible. He had brought in the Vice President of Finance of Dylan Motors – a multi-billion dollar corporation – and he had told us his amazing rags to riches story and taken the class by storm. Who could it be this time? There was a murmur of excitement through the whole class and I couldn’t help but be overcome by enthusiasm myself.
“Our guest has taken time off his incredibly busy schedule in order to speak in front of you today. Most of you probably know him by name – if not, you should if you want to get anywhere in the world of finance. The school and many professors far more capable and venerated than myself have been trying to get him to come and speak for years, but he has only now found the time. So we should consider ourselves extremely grateful.”
You could slice the anticipation in the room with a knife. Everyone was suddenly sitting upright with perfect posture, and the guy in front of me, who usually napped through class, was ready with a notebook and a pen. It was rare for the whole class to be so alert and present.
“Who is it?” a couple of students asked, unable to conceal their excitement.
“He is a young man – much younger than myself, to my shame – who has taken a family empire and built it into an incredible corporation. Students, please let me welcome, Mr. Zayden Sinclar, owner and Chief Executive Officer of South National Bank!”
Wait, what? I must have heard that wrong… It couldn’t possibly be? No, no, no. This was just not happening. He wasn’t going to walk into my classroom right now, it had to be some kind of a sick joke. Maybe there was someone else with that name? Hah, I was being stupid. One Zayden Sinc
lair who was the CEO of South National was more than the world could or needed to take. I pinched myself hoping to wake up from a bizarre dream and jumped with pain.
Unable to take my eyes off the front of the classroom, I waited in a panic. Maybe he would cancel? Could I stealthily escape the classroom before anyone noticed? I could pretend to faint, nobody was going to see any reason for me to fake passing out, since nobody knew about Zayden and I. And I was in Mr. Weber’s full confidence; he would never suspect me of ditching a class for no reason. Yes, I could totally pull that off!
But just as I was gathering the courage to fall down flat on to the floor, Zayden walked in, looking like he just zoomed out of a magazine, and staring right ahead at me. The class broke into a loud applause as though they had just seen the President of the United States. He caught my eye with a sly twitch of his mouth, his face ridden with amusement, and I looked away. I would have a full-fledged panic attack at any moment.
“Welcome, Mr. Sinclair,” Mr. Weber said cheerfully. “Thank you so much for coming here to speak with our students today. The class collectively could not be more excited!”
“Is that so?” Zayden asked Mr. Weber with a slight laugh. “Collectively? Each and every one of them? Are you sure?” He was facing Mr. Weber, but looking at me from the corner of his eyes.
If there were ever a time to want to disappear into the ground beneath me, it was right in that moment.
“Of course!” Mr. Weber exclaimed in pure delight. Gosh, did he have to sound so ridiculously excited? “In fact, I have never seen my whole class so alert this early in the morning before. Everyone is awake, for starters.”
Zayden chuckled, sending goosebumps down my spine. If only he didn’t look so damn good, my life would be so much easier.