by Anna Collins
My eyes were closed, still, I was unable to let go of the image of Robert Hudson, torturing himself mercilessly.
I jumped out of my bed by hearing a few constant knocks on my door and Kate came inside.
"Hey, are you fine? It's just me" she reassured, reaching towards me.
I swallowed "I'm okay, why will I be not fine," I said while wiping the drops of sweat from my forehead.
She smirked "really?Is that what fine looks like?" she emphasized on the word fine and pointed towards my shaky feet.
"Wait, are you still thinking about that Hudson?" she raised an eyebrow.
"No..umm..why will I think about him?" I looked away, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
"Oh please, don't even try to lie, I know everything, he offered you your job back and you are thinking whether to take it or not" Kate rolled her eyes at me.
Defeated, I held her hand and we sat down on my bed.
Burying my face in my hands, "I really don't know what to do Kate, I really love my job but I don't want it as a gift from Robert Hudson. I might have said yes at that moment but now when I think about it, it just feels wrong" I sighed, feeling suffocated by my own emotions.
"But that's what you wanted right, to get your job back?" she asked holding my shoulder and making me look at her.
"Yes, I wanted to get my job back, but not in this way, I wanted to earn it, I wanted to show the world that I'm not a loser who will just let someone walk over her and crush her dreams. I wanted to give it back to Robert Hudson for treating me like garbage" I sighed.
Maybe my face was reflecting the feelings of burden and discomfort that had covered my heart like a blanket that's why Kate was giving me a look of softness; it looked like she was trying to understand my situation.
"You know what, you are right. You should not compromise with your self-respect, just go to Robert Hudson and say it on his face that his money can't buy your dignity" Kate stated.
Kate's words seemed correct and a part of me wanted to do the same as she told, but for that, I needed to face Robert Hudson, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that. What if something slipped out of my big mouth about the night we had spent together or even worse what if I said about his 'masochism' activities?
"And why are you biting your nails like a teenager? Ahaan...your shaky state tells me that you are afraid to see him? Is he going to hit you to death?” Kate asked trying to stop herself from laughing by pressing her lips together.
Kill me! He surely had the capability to do that. A person who was that extreme brutal to himself, he would not think twice before killing me. And the handsome frame of Robert Hudson appeared before my eyes. He was approaching me with his bare body and had a hunter in one of his hands.
"No!!" I screamed out of fear.
Kate shook me by my shoulder "Freya, relax!"
I was panting.
"For God's sake, he is just a normal human being. He would not dare to harm you" she explained.
Ya, you wish! He wasn’t a human being, he was a damn bloody monster and it would take him seconds to be hungry for my blood.
"Look at yourself, what have you become? You are behaving like a caged bird. He is all over you, did you realize these days you only keep thinking about him; you even forgot that you have a life of your own" she exclaimed.
I sighed "you would have done the same if you were in my position".
She shook her head “no way! I would not let him destroy my inner peace. And you will also do the same. Tomorrow you will go to his office and break all deals with him. Promise me that you will rub him out of your life" she asked.
I could see the genuine concern in Kate's eyes. She was worried for me as she knew that Robert Hudson wasn’thing but toxic for me. And she was right, that person could only harm me it would be better if I lost all connections with him.
Robert
"Still unsure? How can he even say that? Darn it!" I slammed the receiver of my land phone. That Wyatt was such a disturbing character! I was doing everything to please him but nothing seemed to be enough for him.
I started to tug on my hair in frustration. I even made a fake relationship with Freya just to prove him that I was worthy enough to run his company. But what went wrong? He seemed very pleased with me the last time I had seen him.
I leaned my head against the wall, I can't lose it, I said to myself, I am not a loser. The reflection on the sliding glass window frame reflected my glassy pair of eyes that was filled with determination and maybe a bit of sadness.
The intercom buzzed, breaking my intrusion with my alter ego "What is it?" I snapped.
"Sir, Freya Lawrence is here, she wants to see you. I tried to avoid her, but she says that it's something important" informed Riley from the reception desk.
Freya? What the hell was she doing here? I hope she didn't get any ideas in her head about our steamy night at Wyatt's farmhouse. That was really hot, but it was a one-time thing. I needed to clear it out to her "send her in" I demanded.
Running my hand over my unruly brown hair, come on Robert act cool, I said to myself.
"Can I come in?" that followed by a knock on the door.
"Yes," I answered.
Pushing the brown door, Freya Lawrence entered into my office, she was wearing a pink colored jumpsuit, which really complimented her skin color. Her long black hair was gathered in a low ponytail. Her cheeks looked flushed and the way she was licking her lower lip was making it almost impossible for me to just sit and watch her. A part of me wanted to dominate her tiny frame and take her right there on my office table.
The idea of having her full bosom pressed against my torso was waking up my man part. I was actually hearing her sweet sounds of moaning. It wasn’t like she used to wear very revealing clothes on the contrary, her body language and clothes were always very conservative. Then why was I not able to control myself the other night? It seemed like a trance of need had overtaken my senses. My actions were all involuntary and that's the reason I was regretting them now. Freya wasn’t the one-night stand type of girl, nor was I that kind of guy; then what happened? We don't even like each other. She hated me and I..somehowcouldn’t stand her.
Gulping down my thoughts I shifted my attention to the bowl of natural sweetness that was standing across my table. She was staring at her feet. She looked a bit shaky, not in the actual I-am-ready -to-fight-you-attitude, that I liked.
"Are you just going to stare at my expensive wooden flooring like that and waste my time?" I asked with my pricy, proud tone.
She immediately looked at me, her eyes were squinted, the kind of look she made when she was annoyed. Yes, that's what I was talking about, nervousness didn't suit you, babe, you look hot when you are mad at me.
"I don't have the free time to stare at anything that has your name associated with it. Here, take the papers and the key of the apartment and I also don't want to take my job back as a piece of offering from you, so feel free to tell Kent that I don't want the job with the recommendation of a monster like you. I am capable enough to earn it" She said without a pause in a high pitched voice and I kept looking at the burning rage in her eyes. Her eyes told me that she hated me more than ever!
I smirked, got up from my chair and while walking to her I said "cool down, little girl and about that piece of offering that you are speaking about..." I paused on reaching next to her and taking my time to stare at her sweetness "Robert Hudson is not generous enough to offer something to someone for free, you worked for me it's a payment term that we agreed upon" I spoke.
Freya took a few steps backward, indicating that the closeness was too much for her. Well, not something new to me.
"Umm...I know, but...it just doesn't feel right" she stammered looking away from me.
Oh, now I got it, it was hurting her self-respect as she slept with me. God! Her thoughts were so tangled. I shook my head and closed the distance between us.
Tracing the shape of her cheek with my finger, I
bent down to speak in her ear "sweetheart, then take it as a gift for spending the night with me".
Freya jerked my hand from her face and pushed me away with her both hands.
Her eyes reflected some hint of pain, but it got overshadowed by the burning anger "I was so wrong about you, you don't have any softness in you. You are a dirty and disgusting person. Are you trying to say that I'm a whore? " She stomped.
I laughed, rubbing my chin and that made her angrier.
She struggled with her white handbag to take out a file and key.
Then she took a deep breath "you know what, this is my piece of offering to you for sleeping with me. Now think what you are!" she spoke rudely. Then kept that file and the key in my hand and stormed out. It was the documents and keys of the apartment that I had given her.
My first instinct was to be angry at her for misbehaving with me, but instead, I burst into laughter by seeing her audacity. That little girl had it in her to pay me for sleeping with her. She treated me like a hooker!
Chapter 14
Freya
"He is a nightmare, wrapped in a catastrophe and covered in sexyness. I get it, are you done now? Seriously girl, we have met after so long and instead of celebrating your new job you are complaining about that Hudson guy and the funny thing is that he is not even your boyfriend with whom you had a dramatic break-up" Danny made a face at me while sipping his bottle of beer.
He was my college friend, it was a co-incidence when I met him at a job interview and now we were working for the same company. Yes, I had finally managed to get a job as a copywriter. Well, not exactly what I had dreamed about, but the salary was good. So I put my dreams of becoming a celebrity journalist at rest, but only for the moment. This job was only for the time being when the situations would cool down a bit I would apply for a job to be a Tv reporter. I know it was a tough time, but I would wait for my golden chance.
Though I and Danny studied in the same college, we were in different departments he was studying Marketing and I was continuing my love affair with journalism. Well, he hadn't changed a lot since then, he was still the young good looking fellow with a white skin and blonde hair, God! I could still remember how the girls used to fight for him. And he was a total player. Maybe that was the reason I never asked him out in spite of having a little bit of a crush on him. I was so silly, I even used to count up our height difference, he was 5'9 and I used to think that we would make a nice couple. But I know why he only used to see me as a friend, I used to be very chubby back then.
Danny's light green eyes sparkled at me as he waved his hand in front of my sad face.
"Aww look at you, you are so cute, Freya you just need to forget about him and relax" he wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
"Jeez! Freya you have changed so much, you used to be so fun back in college" Danny made a you-are-so-lame face at me, removing his hand from my shoulder.
"You just didn’t say that, I am super fun to be around, everyone loves me," I said while gulping down my glass of cocktail.
Danny rubbed his clean-shaven cheek and his expression told me that he wasn’t buying my words "I should have gone out with my gym buddies" he stated.
"What? You can't take me for granted, I can do anything that those hot muscular guys can do, okay...except for taking my shirt off, that will be too much" I bit my lip.
He looked at me with a challenge in his eyes and scooted closer to me "oh really, this big girl can do anything?... then what about playing shot and score?"
"Yes, I can do that; umm wait...what is that?" I bit my lip in hesitation.
"Haha Gotcha! you are not so cool as you claim to be, Miss little Bo beep" he smirked.
I hit him on his chest, "I'm not a Bo peep, and I am going to prove that to you, lets play shot and ...whatever that is called" I raised my head.
He laughed mischievously "okay, here is the thing. As you can see we are in a pub and are surrounded by hot singles. So I will pick one guy for you and you will pick a girl for me. Then we will take a vodka shot and will score on that person, let me dumb it up for you I mean make out with that person" he winked.
"Are you kidding me? that's your idea of fun? making out with random strangers?" I rolled my eyes at him.
He squinted his eyes at me "Ah! just tell me you can't do it loser. You can't make any stranger fall for you" and he made that L sign on his forehead with his fingers.
"I didn't say that..." I took a pause and gulped down a vodka shot.
"Hey, Frey take it slow, aren't you drinking too much?" Danny said while snatching away the shot but it was of no use I had already drunk it.
"Uhuuu! let's play shot and score" I winked.
Danny swallowed "okay, cheers then".
We scanned the bar to find out the proper match for each other. Damn! The vodka shot was too strong for me, I was already getting a blurred vision. But I couldn't tell that to Danny, I needed to prove that I was the fun stuff.
"Okay, let me see, let me see, hmm okay that tall guy, black shirt, blue jeans, brown hair...hmm seems like quite a stud I pick him for you" Danny pinched me.
I gazed at that guy, but only could see his back and his back as he was turning around and talking to someone. Oh God! What was I really doing? Planning to make out with a stranger? only to show how cool I am? but I can't let that stupid Danny win. Oh, I got it, I would pick a hotty for him and he would surely win her over with his sexy looks and witty charm. He would not even notice when I would sneak out of the bar. And the next day I would tell him that I had a sleepover with that black shirt guy. Way to go Freya! I patted my shoulder.
"....And that's how it will end...wait...why are you smiling? are you even listening to me?" Danny shook me.
"Ya, ya totally. Game on Bro!" we hi-fived.
"Now, game on! Chose a girl for me" he demanded.
"Oh, I forgot," I said and looked around, Arghhh! None of the girls seemed hot enough to match my hot blond friend with six pack abs and the ones who seemed a bit okay types were already taken.
Damn! Whom should I pick, whom should I pick. Then I saw a hot girl in peach colored mini-skirt hmm she would be nice. Crap! It was Emily! Well, Danny could try his hands on her, she and Robert weren't actually dating, or were they? Whatever, why would I care?
"Danny, I pick that girl in a peach colored skirt" I pointed. Yes, I was mean.
"Cool Freya! She seems hot. Thanks, Girly" he hugged me happily.
Well someone was surely going to turn red hot with anger. Take it Robert Hudson! yay me!
~
"No! Oh Hell No, this is the reason you called me back from my date? Do you even know how much effort I had to put in to impress that Italian beauty?" Rick complained.
"I know I'm selfish wait …Italian beauty? I thought you were dating Kate" I asked , shockingly.
"Huh! Learn to catch up sissy, Kate and I are old story actually it was more of a one-time thing like you and Robert" he winked.
"Shut up! I don't know why I told you about that in the 1st place" I frowned at my own stupidity.
"Ahh its, not a big deal, everyone makes mistakes and I have to admit he is kind of hot just look at him move" he pointed.
"Freaking Hell! What is the monster doing here?" I covered my face with my hands in panic.
"What? You did n't know he was here? I thought we were going to do something with him, like teaching a lesson. Damn, I thought it would be fun than that boring date. I hopped in here for nothing?" he frowned.
"Hey, I don't always call you for Hudson related things" Rick rolled his eyes at me, I looked down, "okay, maybe I do but my dear friend you have not missed the fun. I asked Danny to shot and score Emily and later she would stood upRobert or even better, this could also turn down the Wyat's deal" my voice was beaming with excitement.
"Confusion…Robert is sexy as hell and he is super rich, then why would Emily leave him for that muscle shop Danny?" Rick crooked his forehead.
"That's a good point, but nothing
that I can break. Look Robert has everything but Danny will do something to Emily that Robert won't he will sleep with her and Mr.Hudson is a bit reluctant to sleep with Emily" I winked
Rick rubbed his hand on his faded jeans as we sat on the counter chairs in the bar keeping our eyes fixed at Emily and Danny who were sitting at a table which was almost 2 feet away from us. And Robert was sitting at the far corner of the bar with his scotch, but most of the time he was busy with his phone. Why did he even come here if he had to keep his eyes fixed on his phone? No wonder Emily was sitting with Danny. Best plan ever!