“No. I’m busy, and we’re going to be busy all night, so you’ll have to find somewhere else to sleep tonight.”
While she was saying that, Wilder had gotten up from her bed, and he came up behind her, sliding his hands around her waist and kissing her neck.
All I could do was stare at them. Angry at what she’d said and crushed, watching him touch her like that.
Then, his eyes lifted, and he looked straight at me. His eyes were glazed from alcohol. “Let her in,” he said to Tori but not taking his eyes off me. “She can watch. Maybe even join in. She looks like she could do with some loosening up.”
I heard a strangled noise, and when Wilder smirked, I realized that it had come from me.
Embarrassment stung my cheeks. I curled my hand into the hem of my work shirt.
“You ass!” Tori slapped his arm as she turned in to face him. “Aren’t I enough for you?” She pouted.
“Course you are, babe.” Wilder let an arm drop from around her and shut the door in my face.
I was too flabbergasted to react.
Then, I heard Tori say from behind the door, “You didn’t mean that, did you? About her joining in?”
He chuckled, deep and low. “Course not. I was just fucking around.”
“Good, because I didn’t think Wilder Cross was into fat chicks.”
Fat? I’m not fat!
Okay, sure, I had curves, and I was a size eight or ten, depending on the store, but that wasn’t exactly fat.
Is it?
He laughed, and that hurt more than her fat comment. Because his laughter only confirmed that he agreed with her.
And it was proven when he said, “You know me, babe. Anything over a size four, and I show her the door.”
I sucked in a painful breath as I staggered away.
I didn’t want to hear any more. I’d heard enough.
He thinks I’m…fat.
I’d never been called fat before. I knew I wasn’t super skinny, but fat never came into the equation.
I glanced down at my body, suddenly seeing myself through their eyes…his eyes.
Tears started to blur my vision, and I swiped a hand over my eyes. I hated them both in that moment…and myself for letting them get to me like that.
And for having a crush on such an asshole.
An asshole who only cared about the physical size of a girl and had no qualms over kicking me out of my room with no regard for where I would be sleeping tonight just so he could get laid.
Those two things told me everything I needed to know about Wilder Cross.
The bang of the door in the lecture hall brings my eyes to it, as it does everyone else in here.
It’s Wilder, arriving late for our lecture. His arm is slung around the shoulders of a girl who’s not Tori. Honestly, I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen her in this lecture before. He probably just picked her up outside.
She’s definitely under a size four, so I guess she won’t be shown the door.
Meow. Saucer of milk needed in the front row for yours truly.
I will not let Wilder’s idiot comment from last night bother me. I don’t care what he thinks about me.
Only that’s a lie, and I do care.
Wilder strides through the lecture hall, heading for the seats, with his minus-four companion in tow. Neither of them apologizes to our professor for their tardiness.
Assholes.
But, even still, my eyes track him without my permission.
Without warning, he looks straight over at me, like he felt me staring at him.
Heat rises in my cheeks, but I don’t look away. I let all my anger into my eyes.
I want him to know that I’m pissed at him for last night.
I see a whisper of confusion cross his brow, like he can’t figure out why I’m annoyed with him.
The fact that he can’t remember annoys me even more. The moment—no, I was so insignificant for him that he can’t even remember.
My hands curl into fists, and my pulse starts to throb in my neck.
I want him to remember. And I want him to feel bad.
I watch in those seconds that feel like hours, hoping for a hint of an apology in his eyes. Hell, I’d even take guilt.
But I get neither.
I get something, but honestly, I’d rather have had his ignorance.
Because do you know what the bastard does?
He smirks and winks at me.
My heart falls into the pit of my stomach, and hurt and embarrassment fill me.
And that is the exact moment that I stop crushing on Wilder Cross and start hating on him instead.
The meeting finished half an hour ago. I was dressed in a clean shirt and suit. Thank God I keep spares in my office. Never thought I’d need them for that reason though.
The announcement about Morgan and me was made, and Morgan stood up to introduce herself to everyone. I’m pretty sure she told everyone where she was from and regaled her previous job history to them along with what she hoped to achieve here, but I didn’t absorb a word because, honestly, I was stuck in my head, silently fuming over the shirt incident.
I swear, it’s like someone has it out for me.
I mean, who in the hell writes a note about how great the sex was? Granted, it was great because, hello, this is me we’re talking about. But, writing that and her phone number on the back of my shirt, it’s just crazy behavior.
Whatever happened to just slipping a guy your number on a piece of paper? Is writing on the guy’s clothes a new thing? I hope to fuck not. Thank God I won’t be seeing that chick again.
I could really have done without that happening the first time I saw Morgan after all these years.
She looked at me like I was the same piece of shit that she’d thought I was in college, and I can’t blame her.
I didn’t get a chance to explain, not that my explanation would have had me coming off sounding great, because my mom ushered her out of the office, leaving me with Chrissy and my dad, who thought it was highly fucking amusing. I bet he won’t be laughing about it to my mom though.
I know for sure that I’m in for a lecture from my mom.
Aside from the side-eyed stares she kept giving me during the meeting, I was treated to the look right before she and Dad left to go to their meeting with their broker.
But I’ll deal with Mom later.
Right now, I need to speak to Morgan.
I wanted to talk to her after the meeting was done, but I couldn’t get her alone for a second. Then, I had to take a business call on my cell, so I stepped out of the conference room, and when I came back, she was gone. I asked Chrissy if she knew where Morgan was, and Chrissy told me she was up in her new office, checking it out.
So, here I am, on my way to her office. Tail between my legs. Figuratively. Because my actual tail is very keen on getting between her legs.
But that’s never going to happen.
A: Because she probably still thinks I’m the same prick that she thought I was nine years ago.
And B: We work together now. She might be on my level managerially, but ultimately, this company is going to be mine one day, so in an indirect way, that makes her an employee.
The door to Morgan’s office is open when I approach. She’s got her back to me, staring out the window.
Her office used to belong to Dennis Walsh. He was Deputy CEO. He died suddenly a year and a half ago of a heart attack. My parents never refilled his position, and his office has stood empty ever since. They just distributed his work between themselves and me. He’d worked for them forever, and he’d been a good friend to them, so it hit them hard, losing him. It hit us all hard.
So, it’s a little weird to see Morgan standing in here, in his office. I half-expect to hear the sound of Dennis’s big, booming laughter.
The office is bare, except for Dennis’s old desk and chair.
She’ll need new furniture.
“You like the view?” I say in a soft voice so as not to startle her.
I see her back stiffen at the sound of my voice, which isn’t a good sign, and then she looks at me over her shoulder before turning to face me.
“It’s stunning.”
So are you. The thought pops into my head out of nowhere.
But I’m right. She is stunning.
“You’re going to need new furniture.” I gesture to the sparse space.
Her eyes move around. “Yeah.”