“I expected you not to get down like a wanton hussy the moment my back was turned,” Lance hissed.
I rolled my eyes. “Toots? Hussy? Where the hell did you find this guy, Emma? The 1920s?”
Both Emma and Lance glared at me. Emma’s glare was colored by a hint of amusement. Lance’s was absolutely riddled with hatred.
“Why are you still here? Go home,” Lance said, trying his best to intimidate me.
“He’s here because I want him to be,” Emma replied. “And as far as you’re concerned, well... you’re not. This has nothing to do with you and I think you need to leave.”
Lance’s face took on an even darker cherry shade. He gritted his teeth, looking back and forth between Emma and me while he mulled this over. Clearly, the guy had come here with some sort of intent and I was messing up his plans. Good. He was messing up mine, too.
Lance turned his body away from mine, like he could ignore my very presence if his back was to me. Even though he spoke a little quieter, I could still hear his pleas.
“Em, please. Just talk to me a little, okay? I’m sorry about what I said. I just wanna talk.”
Emma’s gaze flashed over to me and I made a show of looking elsewhere. She could handle this. I wanted more than anything to grab Lance by the collar and toss him out onto the street, but that wouldn’t endear Emma to me. I wasn’t going to leave her either, though. Not with this guy. He was wound up like a spring and I didn’t trust him not to do something rash.
“This is not a good time,” she said. “And after the way you’re acting, I don’t think any time is a good time. The things you’ve said tonight are a good reminder of how you treated me while we were together.”
“I treated you like a princess!”
Emma snorted. I chuckled a little too, because she looked like an actual princess right now and that was all my doing. I highly doubted Lance ever treated her half as well as I did, and I was only just getting started.
“Rather than trying to work on our relationship, you opted to toss me out like a bunch of expired produce,” she said, levelling an accusing finger at him. “You always criticized my weight, how I dressed, and the fact that I never went to college. And now that you’ve noticed I can get along just fine without you, you’ve come over out of the blue to try to make sure I don’t get too comfortable and to reassure yourself that I need you. Well guess what, Lance.” Emma crossed her arms, and the expression on her face was truly daunting. “I don’t need you. In fact, you’re just the opposite of what I need.”
“You’ve always needed me,” he sneered.
She laughed. “Wanting and needing are two different things. And yeah, I wanted you, but I don’t anymore. You make me sick.”
Her words hung in the air, and I felt like breaking out into applause. If I hadn’t wanted Emma before, seeing this would have put me over the edge. She was fearsome and fearless, and her beauty suited such savagery. She was a funny, quirky girl who liked to eat pretzels and look at wedding dresses for fun, but she could also stand up to a bully like a world class fighter. I was more desperate than ever to get her back in the limo and naked as soon as possible.
Lance exploded. “You filthy trollop! Of course you don’t want me anymore. You probably get way more money from sucking that guy’s dick than you ever did waiting tables. I’m surprised he even wants you. You’re a disgu—”
Lance didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. He might have, if my fist hadn’t collided with his nose so hard that I heard it crack. Warm blood spurted over my fist, and I shook my hand in disgust.
Emma ran up to me, eyes wide with horror. “What the fuck, Max?”
“Not quite the thank you I was expecting,” I said dryly.
“Not quite the... are you fucking kidding me?”
Apparently she hadn’t turned off her Amazon death glare yet, as I now felt the full brunt of it.
“God damnit!” Lance yelled, still staggering with his hand over his nose a few feet away. Blood oozed through his fingers, dripping all over the sidewalk. It was a sight worth smiling over.
Emma walked toward Lance, but didn’t get close. “Is it broken?” she asked.
“I don’t fucking know! I’ve never had a broken nose before.” His voice came out nasally and thick, like he had a bad cold. I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“You should go to the hospital,” she said. “I’ll give you some money for a cab.”
“Are you going to give me money for a new nose, too?”
I rolled my eyes, “That’s dramatic.”
Emma jabbed a finger in my direction. “That’s enough out of you, mister! Capiche?”
I liked her when she was a little bossy. I didn’t think I could hold back much longer. I needed her, and I needed her soon.
I clenched my fist, feeling the ache of my knuckles from where I’d connected with Lance’s face. If he didn’t leave soon, I was going to punch him again.
“Lance, get out of here,” Emma said. “We’re done. This is frankly a little sad.”
Lance wiped the back of his hand over his face, smearing blood across it. “Emma—”
“Go!” She waved him off like a disobedient dog. “You’ve done enough damage for today. Just leave.”
He looked like he was going to fight her on it for a sec, but then he turned on his heel and huffed away. I watched him go, a victorious smirk widening my mouth. Now it was just Emma and I. No distractions, no interruptions...
“You need to go too, Max.”
Emma’s face was slightly downcast as she said this. She’d lost some of the fire she’d had fighting with Lance, though I could still see it coiling in the air around her.
“Why do I need to go?” I walked toward her, stopping close enough to smell her delicious scent. With my hands in my pockets, hiding her douche of an ex’s blood, I looked down at her with concern.
Emma tilted her face up to meet my eyes, and her expression was so sad that it nearly sent me staggering back.
“This wasn’t a good idea,” she said. “This hasn’t been a good idea from the start.”
I was shocked. What about this little run-in with her ex had made her change her mind? We’d been on the same page until now, so ready to tear each other’s clothes off and explore the forbidden fruit.
“Because I hit him?” I prospected. “I won’t apologize for that. He completely deserved it.”
She shook her head. “No, not that. Although I’m not impressed with that either.”
“Then what, Emma? Because I don’t think it’s worth missing out on this if you’re just getting cold feet because of an unfortunate chance encounter.”
“It wasn’t chance,” she said. “And it’s not like I’m only a tad anxious about it all. I was already a little anxious before I even got in your limo tonight. This is about me seeing something clearly for the first time.”
“Tell me.” My murmured command sent her lips curling back, and I wondered how she would react if I just leaned down to kiss her right now. Would she still send me away?
“I wanted my independence,” she said. “After Lance kicked me out, I realized that I’ve spent my whole life going from one steward to the next. I’ve never actually just dug my heels in and did things on my own. I can’t go straight from Lance to a new guy, especially not my boss.”
My jaw clenched. I had a feeling my thoughts about Lance and the nature of their relationship had been spot on. I couldn’t promise her that I wouldn’t break her heart. I couldn’t promise her anything. That left me without words to tell her why I didn’t want her to make me leave.
A pained look passed over Emma’s face. “Have we gone too far? I don’t want to have to quit my job, but I’d like to keep things professional from now on.”
Those words cut a bloody hole in my side. I didn’t want to keep things professional. I wanted to keep things very unprofessional. I wanted to fuck her over my desk, push her up against my office wall, and generally make filthy an otherwise im
maculate office. But I couldn’t force her to continue things, nor would I ever do something that low. So if she wanted to keep things professional... well, I didn’t agree with it, but it was her choice.
“We haven’t gone too far,” I said. “I daresay we could go a bit farther before turning back.”
The lightest of smiles touched her face, but even my humor couldn’t sway her now.
“Thanks, Max. I’ll see you on Monday.”
Emma turned and began striding up the walk toward the building, and I watched until she’d passed through the door and was out of my view entirely. Then, with a dejected sigh, I slid back into the limo and told the driver to take me home. Alone.
Chapter 16
Emma
It was a perfect day for moving. Spring was now wholly upon us, and the entire block was filled with the sweet scent of blooming cherry blossoms from the trees lining the avenue. I took it as a good sign, a welcome omen of things to come. Moving into my new apartment was a huge step for me. I couldn’t wait to have the entire space to myself.
“Can we go furniture shopping after this?” Willow asked, dropping the third and only box of my belongings onto the living room floor. “It’s looking a little bare in here.”
I’d started collecting housewares in the last couple of weeks before moving out of Willow’s, since I didn’t own any plates or cutlery or really anything of my own. Apart from these small bits and pieces, I had absolutely nothing to fill the little apartment.
“That might not be a bad idea,” I replied, leaning against the wall and surveying the space. “I think a bed is a bigger priority though. I wouldn’t mind not sleeping on the floor tonight.”
Willow laughed, “Maybe we should make a list. You’re probably going to need some food at some point too.”
My stomach gave a woeful grumble, and I checked the time on my phone. It was just after four pm, which meant it was close enough to dinner time.
“Should we order something in for tonight?” I asked. “My treat.”
Willow nodded enthusiastically. “We should start investigating which is the best Thai place in the area.”
Since I didn’t particularly like Thai, I figured this was because Willow intended to come over lots. I was glad, since I knew I’d start to get lonely pretty quickly when she left.
Willow pulled out her phone and started Googling madly, while I started pulling things out of the boxes and assigning them homes. Since I didn’t have any furniture, the only place I could really put things was either the cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom or the closet, but I was determined to make it work. It was only Saturday, so I had all the rest of tonight and tomorrow to run out and grab some furniture to make this place more of a home. I was already pretty happy here, and couldn’t wait to see what it would look like once I’d given it a more personal touch.
“I found a place!” Willow announced, coming into the kitchen a couple minutes later. I’d been hanging a dish towel over the oven handle, and turned when she entered. There wasn’t much space in the kitchen with Willow and I in there at once. Good to know for hosting dinner parties.
“How did you find it so quickly?” I asked. Willow could be very picky when it came to her take out.
“I have a friend in the area who recommended it.” Lowering her voice, as if that friend might be listening, she added, “Though I’m reserving my judgement. It could be crap.”
“Whatever,” I said, laughing. “I just want some food. Order me some pad Thai and let’s get this show on the road.”
Willow saluted me and walked out of the kitchen. I went back to my towel, straightening it until it hung perfectly, with no corner out of place. Things wouldn’t always be so pristine here, but for now they were perfect.
Willow finished ordering and came back into the kitchen a moment later to give me the ETA. Then she and I went to continue unpacking in the living room.
“You should have scheduled some furniture deliveries for today,” she said. “We could’ve had this place filled up in no time.”
“I thought about it,” I said. “I just haven’t had the time to look. Things have been busy at work.”
Willow stopped what she was doing and looked over at me out of the corner of her eye. “Oh yeah?”
I knew she’d been resisting the urge to ask me about Max every day since I’d ended things with him. I’d given her the bare facts of the evening, but held back on some of the more sordid details. She didn’t need to know that I’d come all over his fingers in the back of the limo on the way home. I wanted to keep that to myself. Especially since I still masturbated to the thought of it sometimes, even though I knew it was a bad idea.
“It’s just a busy time of year for us I guess,” I replied.
I’d known that Willow had been at her breaking point for a while now, but I’d been putting off the inevitable. I could put it off no longer.
“Emma, you’re killing me!” she said, tossing the tea towel onto the floor. “What is going on with you and Max? Or what isn’t going on? Isn’t it hard working alongside someone whose tongue was down your throat only a couple of weeks ago?”
For someone who spent most of her days around small children, Willow certainly didn’t act like it. I didn’t mind this confrontation as much now as I would have back when I first ended things. I’d been more cut up about it than I let on, and maybe part of me wished that Max would make more of a fuss. It was stupid, I know, but losing him before I’d even gotten him properly in the first place had hurt like hell. It might have helped if he’d have fought me on it a little more.
“Max is a perfect gentleman,” I said. “We don’t talk about what happened. We’re both adults about it.”
“Adults?” Willow scoffed. “Pretending like it never happened isn’t being adult about it.”
“What would you suggest? Ignoring him for the rest of my life? You know it’s complicated. Pretending it never happened is the only way we can continue our professional working relationship.”
“I guess I just don’t understand the point of ending things in the first place.” She picked up the tea towel and refolded it, setting it gently on top of the other few in the box. “I thought you liked him. Doesn’t it hurt?”
“It was bound to sting a little,” I replied.
It hurts like hell, is what I wanted to say. Being so close to him and yet not being able to have him is one of the most frustrating and disheartening experiences I’ve ever had.
Willow rolled her eyes, clearly not believing my assertion that it only stung a little. She could read me like a large-print newspaper, so that didn’t surprise me. I was more surprised that she had such an opinion on the matter in the first place.
“I thought you’d be happy about this,” I said. “Everything’s gone back to being professional. We tried it, it didn’t work. The timing just wasn’t right. End of story.”
Willow thrust her hands in the air. “So what if the timing’s not right?”
I opened my mouth to list off the other reasons, but Willow waved it back closed.
“No, listen up for a sec, okay?” She grabbed me by the shoulders, staring deep into my eyes. One thing I wouldn’t miss from living on my own was how touchy she could be.
“Max isn’t Lance. They’re not even slightly comparable. One of them is a good guy with a good job who has been nothing but nice to you, and the other is a literal pile of shit with a face.”
Again, how did she work with kids all day?
“It doesn’t matter if they’re not the same person,” I sighed. “And anyway, I’ve missed my chance. Even if I changed my mind—which I haven’t—what’s the point of rocking the boat? Things have been good at work and I would only make things weird by changing my mind.”
I hadn’t changed my mind about the Max issue, but I also hadn’t fully accepted it yet. I just wished there was another way things could work between us. He was everything that I wanted—smart, funny, successful, attractive. And I knew him to be a
good guy, too. Being around him every day only made me want him more, but I couldn’t let myself go there. There was too much keeping us apart. He was my boss, I was just getting out of a relationship, and did I mention that he was my boss?
“I still think you’re crazy,” Willow said. “But hey, I can’t stop you from living your life the way you want. But let me tell you, that’s the kind of man I’d eat some meat for, if you catch my drift.”
I made a disgusted face and shook my head. “You’re one of a kind, Willow Nelson.”
“You know it.”
The buzzer for the front door rang, and Willow jumped up. “You go get the food,” she said. “I’ll uncork the wine I brought.”
“You brought wine?” I asked.
She shrugged, smirking. “Don’t I always? You better drink it or I’ll force some kombucha down your throat next time you’re over.”
“Say no more.” I rose to my feet and went to the buzzer. “Hello?”
“FedEx here. I’ve got a package for a Miss Valentine?”
I frowned. It wasn’t the food at all. My curiosity was piqued though, so I buzzed him in. He arrived at the door a minute later, holding a wide, squat box. He thrust his machine out for my signature and then handed me the package. He turned to leave, and I looked at the sender to see where the parcel was coming from. All it said was that it had come from an online art store, one that I was familiar with from my time of sketching. Willow was still in the kitchen, and I wanted to know what was in here before she found out it wasn’t food and asked.
I ripped the box open and sorted through its contents. A sketch pad, some drawing pencils, some charcoal, a gum eraser. All of it was super high quality, and had clearly cost a ton. There was nothing about the person who’d sent it, except a little note on top.
Happy Housewarming.
I scowled. I knew exactly who it was from.
“That’s not food,” Willow observed from the kitchen doorway. She was holding two glasses of wine and her mouth narrowed into a pinched frown. My stomach grumbled, so I knew how she felt.
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