Devastated (Anger Management Book 1)

by R. L. Mathewson

  This was definitely going to be an interesting job, Kylie mused as she continued going through emails, replying to some, deleting others, and flagging some all while devouring the foot-long hot dog with extra baked beans and sipping the twenty-four-ounce Coke that she’d picked up on the way back from the post office. Definitely interesting, Kylie thought, as she came across another email describing all the things her boss had done to some woman named Gillian and all the things that she wished he’d do and-

  “Women actually do that?” Kylie couldn’t help but ask even as she shook her head, amazed that anyone would want a man to shove his-

  “Enjoying yourself?” the man that for some reason she continuously had to remind herself had an anger problem, whispered seductively in her ear as she sat there, wondering how she should respond.

  Since she didn’t think that he would appreciate an honest answer, she simply acted as though he wasn’t there and deleted the email and moved on to the next one, hoping that it was actually about security only to find another email reminiscing about just how talented his tongue was, but in a lot more detail.

  A lot more.

  There was a heavy sigh, and then he was reaching past her and closing the laptop, and she could honestly say that she’d never been more thankful for anything in her whole life. Not sure where she was supposed to go from here, she cleared her throat, grabbed her pen and reached for her-

  “Leave it,” the man that made it a point to ignore her most of the time said when she reached for the rest of her hotdog.

  Since she really wasn’t hungry anymore, and she told herself that she really hadn’t been looking forward to finishing off the one cheat meal a week that she allowed herself, she left the hot dog and reached for the-

  “And the drink,” he said, not bothering to look at her as he sat down in the chair that she’d just vacated.

  Biting her tongue, something that she’d gotten used to doing over the past two weeks since coming to work for him, she grabbed the iPad that he’d insisted that she use and headed for her bedroom. As she made her way upstairs, Kylie tried not to think about how lonely her new job was.

  During the day, she did her best to avoid her new boss. Thankfully, she only had to see him in the morning, first thing in the morning. It had taken some time getting used to getting up an hour before the sun, but now she could get up without hysterically slapping at her alarm clock until she finally managed to hit the right button. Once she was up, had three cups of coffee, her daily breakfast of yogurt and fruit, she forced herself to walk into his office, sit down in the uncomfortable metal chair and wait for Mr. O’Mallery to finish snapping off his list of demands for the day.

  Once he was done, she was free to go about her day without worry. Whenever she saw him during the day, he either ignored her or asked her follow-up questions. Beyond that, he left her alone, which was great. As long as she did what she was supposed to, answered the phone he’d given her and kept up on his emails, he left her alone to do whatever she wanted.

  It was great. She had a lot of free time to read and to be bored out of her freaking mind. Yeah, it was great, Kylie thought as she walked into her room and shut the door behind her.

  Just freaking great.

  *-*-*-*

  God, he was bored out of his fucking mind.

  Every day was the same. He got up, ran on the treadmill, worked out as he thought about the depressing day ahead of him, and came up with a bullshit list to keep his assistant busy and out of his way so that he could be miserable in peace. He took calls, checked on jobs, made sure that no one was fucking him over, strolled the short perimeter around his house, swam laps, played video games until he thought he’d lose his fucking mind and then did it all over again the next day.

  Fifteen down, and only three hundred and fifty days to go, Hunter thought with a sigh as he finished off the surprisingly delicious hot dog that his assistant had been so kind to leave for him. He washed it down with the Coke as he sat there, staring at the pool, unable to help but wonder how he was going to make it through another day of bullshit. He just needed-

  To kill whoever was ringing his fucking doorbell.

  He might be bored out of his fucking mind, but that didn’t mean that he was in the mood to deal with anyone’s bullshit today. Cursing, he stormed over to the door, ripped it open, and-

  “Good morning, Mr. O’Mallery,” the smiling woman standing on his doorstep said brightly. “How are you doing today?” she asked, cocking her head to the side as though she was studying him. When he didn’t answer her, she continued staring at him, head cocked to the side, smile wide and somewhat insane.

  “I’m so excited to get to know you, Mr. O’Mallery, and I can’t wait to start our session!” she said, standing there smiling and making him wonder how much fucking crack this woman snorted.

  Deciding that he’d wasted enough time on the smiling idiot, he slammed the door shut, threw the lock and decided to kill a few more brain cells in front of the television until it was time to call it a night and start this bullshit all over again tomorrow.

  *-*-*-*

  “Open the fucking door, Hunter!” a very angry sounding man said, as he continued pounding on the front door while Kylie stood there, spoon in her mouth, container of fat-free plain yogurt in her hand, blinking at the front door and wondering where this fit into her job description.

  “I’m not fucking kidding, Hunter!”

  Should she open the door to the obviously angry man pounding his fists on the door or go upstairs, close her door and pretend that she hadn’t heard him, Kylie wondered. When he added a kick to his demands, she decided that yes, yes, she would very much like to spend the remainder of the evening holed up in her room with her fat-free plain Greek yogurt. She turned to flee when she spotted her boss coming down the stairs, which of course prompted her to turn right back around and head towards the front door.

  Deciding that a stroll around the yard would be lovely at this time of night, she opened the door, noting that the large angry man that had been pounding on the door was none other than her boss’s lawyer. She moved to duck beneath his arm and make her escape when she suddenly found herself plucked off the ground and set back down in the foyer.

  “You bellowed, Ryan?” her boss drawled, as she stood there, pulling the spoon out of her mouth as she tried to decide if she was needed here or not.

  “I put my ass on the line for you, asshole!” Ryan snapped. “Start following the terms of your house arrest or find a new lawyer.”

  “And how exactly am I ignoring the rules of this bullshit sentence that you so kindly fucked me over with?” her boss asked, sounding bored, but there was just something about the way that he was standing there watching his lawyer that told her that it would be a good time to call it a night.

  “Because that fucking prick just called my office an hour ago, announcing with glee that the next time you skipped your anger management session they’d be sending you to prison. When your therapist shows up, let her in, and let her stay the whole session. I don’t care if you sit there glaring at her, just let her in.”

  With that, he turned around and-

  “And start doing your fucking job,” Ryan snapped at her before storming off, leaving her stunned, because she’d been doing her job.

  “Fuck this,” her boss snapped, kicking the front door shut as she stood there, really hoping that he’d forgotten about her while she re-played Ryan’s words in her head, wondering if she’d missed something in her contract.

  It was worth another look, Kylie decided a few seconds later when Hunter leveled a homicidal glare on her. Definitely worth another look, especially if there was a chance that she’d missed something that would save her from becoming just another statistic.

  Chapter 8

  “Before we start, I just have a few questions that I’d like to ask you,” the woman that never should have been allowed in his house said while Hunter sat there, glaring at the woman responsible.
<
br />   “Don’t fucking care,” Hunter said absently, as he watched the small woman that he wanted to throttle as she shifted nervously in his desk chair, clearly trying to come up with an excuse to leave, but she wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Would you be more comfortable in another room?” the therapist, who wasn’t going to last the hour, asked, as she gave Kylie another pointed look that had the little traitor perking up.

  “I’d be more than happy to go somewhere else,” Kylie offered, as she quickly gathered her things, looking really fucking hopeful.

  “No,” Hunter said, taking a disturbing amount of pleasure in seeing her small shoulders slump in defeat as she reluctantly put everything back on the desk and sat back down.

  He still wasn’t sure how’d she’d managed to do it or why she’d purposely disobeyed him, but he planned to find out. Until then, he was going to teach her a lesson that she would never forget so that the next time that he told her to do something she did it without question. If she’d been anyone else, he would have sent her packing, but that wasn’t an option, not if he wanted to avoid spending the next year in jail.

  Still…

  Hunter couldn’t help but find himself intrigued by her rebellious act. It made him wonder about her, which was why he’d asked a few of his men to look into her background. It was also the reason why he’d texted Ryan a few minutes ago and asked for a copy of the background check the D.A. ran on her. It wouldn’t tell him much, but it was a start.

  “Are you married?” the court-appointed therapist asked, trying to draw his glare away from the small woman doing her best to pretend that she wasn’t there.

  “Read the fucking file,” Hunter said, leaning back in his chair as he watched Kylie throw one last wistful glance at the door before returning her attention to the computer.

  He ignored the woman determined to piss him off with the rest of her asinine questions as he sat there, bored out of his fucking mind, which was the only explanation that he could come up with to explain why he was suddenly wondering about the shy little thing that he normally went out of his way to avoid. If she’d continued to do as she was asked, he would have happily continued to ignore her, but unfortunately, that was no longer the case.

  When her lips twitched and she suddenly turned her head with what sounded suspiciously like a snort of laughter, he couldn’t help but wonder if she’d lost her goddamn mind. That is, until a chill tore down his spine and he turned his head to find himself face to face with a fucking sock puppet.

  “I’m Mr. Cuddles and I want to be your friend!”

  *-*-*-*

  “You’re a horrible, horrible man!” the therapist screamed somewhat hysterically as she hugged the remains of that really disturbing sock puppet against her chest right around the time that Kylie decided that now would be an excellent time to find something else to do, somewhere else…and hopefully behind the safety of a locked door.

  Unfortunately for her, the man that had reduced a trained mental health professional to tears with barely a half dozen softly spoken words decided that it was time to acknowledge her presence. She would have been fine, more than fine in fact, with continuing with the way things were, but apparently, she’d made a tactical error this morning and now she was about to pay for it.

  Granted, she’d known when she did it that it was going to bite her in the ass. She’d kind of been hoping to use Hunter’s therapy session to buy herself a little more time before she had to face the consequences of her actions, or rather the actions that the contract that she really wished that she’d never signed, dictated. If it had been up to her, she would have happily left the very angry man that was slowly turning her chair around so that she was forced to make eye contact with him alone, especially since she’d finally worked up the courage to Google him last night.

  And she really wished that she hadn’t Googled him.

  As the man who had a history of violent tendencies that she was really trying not to think about at the moment, leaned down and placed his large hands on the chair’s armrests, effectively trapping her, she couldn’t help but regret not making a run for it when she had the chance.

  “Tell me something,” the man that she’d seriously underestimated drawled seductively as he leaned in until she was close enough to see that his emerald eyes were actually two different shades of green, “why did you let her in?”

  “Because she knocked?” Kylie found herself saying as she tried not to notice just how good he smelled or think about the video she’d watched on YouTube of him beating quite a few angry-looking men into submission.

  “I see,” Hunter said, sounding thoughtful as he moved in closer so that his mouth was next to her ear. “Anything else?”

  “Because it’s part of my job,” Kylie said absently, struggling against the urge to shove him away as memories of the last time a man had been this close to her hit, making it difficult to focus on the large man toying with her.

  “It’s your job to do whatever I tell you, Miss Daniels,” he reminded her before he pushed the chair away and walked off, leaving her sitting there, wondering what just happened, because she was pretty sure that something just happened, and she doubted that it was something good.

  *-*-*-*

  “Miss Smith?” Hunter said, biting back a smile as he waited for the small woman who thought she’d outmaneuvered him yesterday to say something.

  Instead, she continued to stand there, clearly struggling to come up with a way to save herself from getting on that treadmill, but thanks to the contract that he’d finally had a look at last night, there was no getting out of this and they both knew it. Unless she quit, that is…

  But they both knew that she wasn’t going to do that, not with that clause that Ryan snuck into the contract. At least now he knew why Ryan had allowed the court to force an assistant on him, because it had been his idea to give him a fucking babysitter. He probably thought having her here would keep him in line. It wouldn’t, but then again, that was something that Ryan should have realized before he’d decided to fuck him over. But more importantly, Hunter now knew why she hadn’t quit yet. He still couldn’t figure out why she’d signed the contract in the first place when the only one that benefited from it was him, but he would.

  Until then…

  “Ready?” Hunter asked, gesturing to the treadmill that he’d had delivered last night.

  “I’m not going to be able to take notes,” Kylie mumbled weakly even as she reluctantly stepped onto the treadmill.

  “I already sent you an email with today’s list,” Hunter said, as he reached over and started her treadmill.

  “Then why-” Kylie started to ask, only to end up releasing a startled squeak when the treadmill started, nearly knocking her on her ass and forcing her to grab onto the treadmill as she struggled to get her feet back under her.

  With a heavy sigh, he reached over, grabbed her arm, and pulled her back up. As soon as her feet hit the belt gaining speed, she mumbled a, “Thank you,” and did her best not to fall on her ass. Deciding that they should run an extra mile today, he pulled off his shirt, tossed it aside and-

  Was forced to reach over and save his assistant before she fell on her cute little ass and destroyed the plans that he had for her.

  *-*-*-*

  “Is something wrong, Miss Jones?” the sick bastard asked while Kylie lay there, struggling to move her arms that refused to cooperate.

  But, since she refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was getting to her, she simply slapped a smile on her face, pretended that every muscle in her body wasn’t in agony, and said, “Of course not, Mr. O’Mallery,” even as she prayed for a miracle that she damn well knew wasn’t coming. Knowing that she had no other choice but to keep going, she slowly exhaled, placed her hands firmly on the mat, and pushed herself up only to fall flat on her face a few seconds later when her arms gave out.

  “I guess that’s enough for now,” the horrible man said, as he picked her up, ignor
ing her groan of agony, and set her down on her feet only to end up grabbing her and pulling her back up when her legs gave out. “Why don’t we knock out a few more miles on the treadmill, hmm?” Hunter suggested, already dragging her towards her demise and inwardly making her snort, because if he thought something like this was going to break her after everything she’d been through, then he had another thing coming.

  Chapter 9

  “Now, will that be ribbed for her pleasure, double ecstasy, ultra-thin, ultra-ribbed, or lubricated?” the devious thing that refused to admit defeat calmly asked, as she looked up from the list that he’d given her.

  “Double ecstasy,” Hunter bit out, beyond fucking intrigued by the cute little thing nodding absently as she returned her attention to the list that he’d made with the hopes of finally getting a normal reaction from the woman who was proving to be a challenge.

  Yesterday, when he’d decided to move their morning meeting an hour early and had her join him for his workout, he’d expected her to balk at the idea, or at the very least, beg for mercy after the first mile so that they could finally come to an understanding, but not Miss Davis. When any other woman would have cried, bitched, or tried to entice him with a sweet smile and a little cleavage, she’d simply redoubled her efforts. Instead of admitting defeat so that he could clear up any misunderstandings that she may be harboring about her job and duties, she’d slapped one of those disturbing smiles on her face, clung to the treadmill, and forced her severely uncoordinated feet to move as she’d tried to discuss the busy work that he was throwing at her to keep her out of his hair for the day.

  Everything that he’d thrown at her yesterday she’d accepted with a smile, a nod, and a murmured, “Yes, Mr. O’Mallery,” and if it hadn’t been for that defiant glimmer that he saw in her eyes every time she did it, he would have grown bored and dismissed her as a fucking kiss-ass and moved on. But it was that defiant look that had him once again wondering about her. He’d been around a lot of ass-kissers in his lifetime, men and woman who could make anyone believe that it was their greatest joy in life to be at someone’s beck and call, but Kylie definitely wasn’t one of them. It made him wonder why she’d taken a job where she would be expected to kiss someone’s ass and fucking love it.