POVMillie “I’m surprised it took you this long to grill me,” I say looking over to Mia as we walk to her car. “Yeah well you looked a little distressed so I figured I’d hold off,” Mia says lightly pushing at my shoulder. “It’s been a lot lately..” I say running my fingers through my hair, only making it like four inches through before hitting a tangle halting my motion. We make it to her car and get it. It’s so overheated in here I instantly sweat. The heat of June is overwhelming but at the same time, I love it. I love the warmth of summer but at the same time, I absolutely hate the month of June. June 22nd. June 22nd is less than two weeks ago. It’s a Wednesday this year. 12 days away. It’ll be four years since I lost my role model, my guiding light, my best friend, and my one and only hand-picked by god, mother. I pray this year I don’t go into my week-long, stay in bed, don’t eat, cry myself to sleep depressive state. “Millie, you with me?” Mia asks glancing over and
POVXI can’t believe she just kicked me out like that. It was kinda fun fucking with her and watching her get all heated up to make me leave, especially since she invited me over. What can I say, I love a psycho. Was she embarrassed to be seen with me around Mia?Ahh fuck it, I got my girl back and I don’t give two shits what anyone thinks, Millie though, does. Don’t know why..but she does. When I get back to my house, everything just seems lighter, I don’t know how to describe it, it just effin does. The dark cloud that lingered over my head, over my house, and everywhere I went feels as though it has vanished and everything now seems…better? More vibrant I guess? I walk into the house and this time I don’t hate everyone’s face. Well, I don’t hate their faces as much as I did previously. When I make it upstairs to my place, I go into my office to call Marco. He picks up after a few rings. “My man,” he says through the line. “Yo, Marco, any update on a replacement? I really n
POV MillieFuck…I scoot myself back into the aisle before she sees me. I pretend to be checking out a set of porcelain plates so the other woman sharing the aisle with me doesn’t mentally question my sanity.I quietly glance over her way. Who is she with? Is that…no…Adria? I get a side profile of the girl but it’s not Adria, just some girl that resembles her, the same sleek long black hair, around the same size but not her. Thank god! I could not handle the both of them right now, not doubled up ready to chew me out and spit me back out. Not here. I wait until they’re out of sight to move out of the aisle. That was a close one..I get my groceries, looking around here and there to make sure I don’t have an awkward run-in situation with them. Luckily, by the time I make it to the check-out lane, I see them walking out of the door. I can finally relax again, that is until the cashier tells me my total. Jesus Christ, what did I even buy?! Ugh, whatever, it’s all shit I need. I
POVXIt’s now Saturday morning and I got next to no sleep last night. Marco sent me the two details about the girl that's gonna start working for me.Dani. She’s 29. And yep that’s all I know so far. When Marco and I got off the phone last night, he called her and she agreed to work for me. She’s coming by on Monday to go over shit and I guess we’ll see what happens from there. I don’t know if I should tell Millie yet or not. I mean I already have two girls that work for me, Nicoletta, previously Adria’s bff or whatever, and Jade. Can’t stand Nicoletta for obvious reasons but also can’t afford to let her go either. She’s quiet enough I guess, and hasn’t stirred up any shit in a while. Jade, Jade is a good one. Doesn’t get herself into trouble, never goes to the club, just does her job, and lives her life not bothering anyone. She’s so much to herself that I don’t even think Millie knows of her. Dani…please be like Jade. I text Julian letting him know about the newcomer and t
POVMillie Woo, okay, I look around and this place is looking a little better, a little more me. I spent all morning and early afternoon decorating and cleaning this place. I removed the dark maroon floor-length drapes from the living room window, so much brighter in here now. I set up the lamps, hung a couple of pictures, placed a few fake plants throughout the house, put the couch cover on, which was a son of a bitch to do, and put on the cute little throw pillows. It’s much more homey now. It still needs a lot of sprucing up but in time, I’ll get it all done. I’m sweating bullets from scrubbing the hell out of the floors, walls, and honestly just everything in every corner. I’m a combination of gross and concoction of cleaning solutions embedded into my hands. I need a shower before going to X’s. I undress out of my shorts and tank top in the bathroom and step into the shower. “Holy shit!” I scream out at the feel of ice-cold water. Why in the hell is the cold and hot opposi
POVMillie X walks away towards the bedroom leaving me to go back into mental overdrive again. It could be nothing, right?He comes back out, sinfully covered up with a black shirt on now. He walks over to the kitchen pulling something out of a drawer. Oh. The famous joint..“Ready?” He asks placing the joint at the top of his ear. I don’t respond I just nod and follow him out the door. We remain voiceless for the walk down to the beach. The silence is killing me but I can’t seem to form words with my seized vocal cords. X sits down on the sand and I sit beside him anxiously awaiting for what he needs to tell me. “You’re breaking up with me aren’t you?” I ask, going from seized vocal cords to on-fire ones. He quickly looks over to me with a seriously confused expression, “What?! No!” He shakes his head, “You thought this whole time I was going to break up with you?” “Well..I dunno, maybe, yeah.” I say with a lack of confidence, I mean what was I supposed to think? I always go
POV XWell, that went…the way I expected it to if I’m really being honest with myself. I can’t believe she thought I was going to break up with her, fuck no. I know I ruined her night, her whole demeanor changed after I told her but what was I supposed to do? I want to be transparent with her even if it makes her uncomfortable, it’s better than the alternative, I learned that the hard way. My phone buzzes on my nightstand right as I’m pulling away my black comforter to climb in for the night. It’s JulianYo, surprise birthday party for my lady Friday night at the club. Me: ok Is Millie going to this? She fucking hates the club.. but I know she’d do anything for Stephanie so she's probably going and she’ll just conceal her misery the whole time. That’s my girl though, always thinking of everyone else’s happiness before hers. …It’s now Monday morning. My Sunday was spent sleeping in, working out, drinking too much for my own good, and working for hours on end per usual. Texted
POVMillie The week has gone by fast, it’s already Friday morning. One more work day and it’s the weekend, oh, and Steph’s party tonight. I met with Mia twice this week to go over Steph’s birthday party. It doesn’t really seem like it’ll be too different from any other weekend club night except for maybe some birthday banners, a huge cake, and the DJ will play all of Steph’s favorite songs. Pretty much everyone in the house is invited and I hope no one has spilled the beans on tonight. I’m beyond excited to see X tonight. We’ve texted all week but I haven’t seen him since Saturday, the night he revealed a new girl is coming to work for him. I’m still uneasy about the whole thing but really, what can I do? This will either rebuild my trust in him or make it crumble. We haven’t talked about it since and the less I hear of her from him the better. That won’t stop me from asking Steph all about it tonight though. I wonder if she feels the same way about it as me or if I’m just being an
POV Millie 6 months later “Ow!” I screech out. “Well if you’d just hold still!” X says looking up at me. “Are you sure you’ve tattooed someone before and I’m not the first?” I ask starting to regret my decision. He keeps his gaze on me and shakes his head in disbelief, “I’ve done this before baby, I’ve tattooed Julian plenty of times.”“Seriously? Julian? That’s not making me feel any better,” I say shaking my head back at him. He laughs, “I’m hurt you don’t trust me.” “Oh, whatever,” I roll my eyes at him and he gets back to work on my arm. The past six months have been quite life-changing but also in a good way. Julian proposed to Steph last month. I swear I question his mindset sometimes. He pulled another psychopath role-play scenario scaring her to death. “Marry me or I’ll kill you” I mean c’mon Julian…she’s been traumatized after walking in on me drenched in blood that day. My mind goes back to that day. It was a beautiful disaster. Stone worked overtime cleaning the
POVMillie & X XAs soon as the words fall from Stephanie’s mouth that Millie is in trouble I book it out of the door. I practically fly down the stairs, holding onto the railing for support but jumping four stairs at a time. Time is of the essence, every second that passes is a second closer to Millie’s death. I don’t know Dani’s motive here but I can only assume the worst. I’m finally on the third level of the house, sprinting through the hall. I hear Stephanie and Julian behind me, gasping for air as they try to keep up for Millie’s sake. A thunderous bang fills my ears and my heart plummets immediately. A gunshot. I want to fall to my fucking knees and die. “No!” Stephanie cries out but continues running behind. “309! It’s 309!” Stephanie sobs breathlessly. 312, 311, 310, 309! I instantaneously slide my master keycard in the door. “Fuck, hurry up!” I scream out kicking the door. Fucks sake an eternity later the green light appears. I hastily open the door barging thro
POVMillie I tell Steph I need some pain relievers for an oncoming headache but really, my nervousness has gotten the better of me. In the past two weeks, X has been a madman in his office for more hours than not. I’m not entirely sure what is going on or if it’s just investigating the incident from two weeks prior. Sure, I told him I thought it was Dani that one day but I chose not to press the issue after, for now at least. I roam the hall for a few minutes, something in my gut is feeling…off? I feel the presence of someone behind me, I go to turn around but I’m pushed against the wall, hard. “Don’t. say. A. Word” a husky voice from behind me demands. Fear strikes me within. Could this be X role-playing the way Julian and Steph did? Something tells me no though. I know X’s touch, his scent, his body and this is not it, it’s not him. The fear creeps over every inch of my body and into terror. I’m forced to move my legs to a black door and I’m slammed against it facing forward
POVX“Ah, what the fuck man,” Julian complains as I hit yet another solid ball into the pocket. I smirk his way taking all the glory as I’m currently kicking his ass in pool. “Gimme the lighter,” I say with my hand open towards his way. He hands me the red Bic lighter. I spark it up and light up my joint, take a hard hit, and hand the joint to Julian. “Good shit,” I say and then blow the smoke out in his face. “Fuck you, bro,” he says as it goes straight into his eyes. Oops. “Shoot your shot already,” I badger him.I sit on the crocodile brown leather bar stool and lean forward to watch him miss the shot. “Calm your tits,” he says concentrating on the yellow-striped ball. “Fuck yeah!” He yells out, dammit he got it. My phone vibrates in my pocket and I lean myself backward to reach inside the pocket of my black jeans to retrieve it. My spine stiffen from the text from an unknown number. +34 85601-1337You fucked up X. Now you’re going to pay. Blood will be shed Who the
POV Stephanie I bring my computer to life, type in my password, and open up the browser to search for morning flights. “Do you think everything is okay?” Millie asks me laced with suspicion. “Yeah mills, don’t worry this isn’t unusual,” I remark calmly. “Okay,” she balls her hands into a fist on her lap. She notably looks uncomfortable as I go to work and it’s distracting me. “I think I’m getting a bit of a headache, do you mind if I grab some ibuprofen from your room?” She asks rubbing her head. “Oh yeah for sure,” I say handing her my keycard and she gets up stepping out of the office. Okay, now I can actually concentrate. I click on various flights, Julian didn’t say anything about a return flight so I choose a one-way ticket until advised otherwise. I book them their usual hotel rooms for three nights, once again, I can adjust it at any time. I text Julian that they have a flight booked for 9:30 tomorrow morning. I close my computer down, turn off my office light, and
POV Millie It’s been an extremely interesting last couple of days. I sit on X’s lap wrapped in a light blanket on the balcony while we watch Julian and Slim risk their lives lighting off fireworks, the real Fourth of July. Although I hold my breath every time they bring a flame to the firecracker, the beauty of the lights over the ocean almost makes it worth one of them losing an arm. I snuggle into X’s hard warm body, wishing to be cocooned into him forever. I’m a lot more at peace now, X sat me down and explained his talk with Dani which I appreciate him doing. She’s still on my shit list though and I promise she’ll pay. …It’s Friday evening and It’s been two weeks since the Fourth of July. I’m physically and mentally in a better place but I of course still have my moments. X and I have been in a much better place as well since our brawl that one night. “Oh my gosh, you guys! We need to discuss chapter 23!” Mia says fanning her face. Oh yeah, somehow in the past two week
POVXI pull Dani outside of the door and close it behind me. I run my fingers through my hair in frustration towards Millie. I don’t know what that shit was but this is obviously not working out right now. “Dani, look,” I start off as she looks up at me expectantly. “Millie is not okay right now and I apologize,” I say trying to be nice. “Look, X, it’s fine. She’s hurting right now and she needs someone to blame, it’s okay, I understand it and I’m not taking it personally,” she says being mature about the whole situation. “Thank you, but like I said, she’s not okay. Something about you is triggering her. She may be out of line right now but she is my main priority. I’m not firing you but I need you to stay away from me. As for work goes, I need you to go to Julian for everything. As for a friend, I like you as a person I really do but I need you to not text me anymore or come here unannounced or at all for that matter. Millie is my main focus and I need to respect her feelings,
POVMillie I’m awoken by a knock at X’s door. X is still sleeping, miles away from me may I add. He was incredibly sweet to take care of me, holding me in the shower, dressing me, and sleeping next to me when I knew he didn’t really want to do any of it but he still did. For me. “X” I gently shake him awake. “What?” He grumbles out. “Someone is at the door,” I say. “Ugh!” He grunts, “stay here I’ll be right back.”He yawns and sleepily sits on the edge of the bed running his fingers through his hair and walks out of the bedroom. I rub my eyes and grab my phone from the nightstand, five o’clock?! My god that’s the longest I’ve slept in days, I really needed that. I have a text from Steph How are you feeling? Let me know if I can bring anything up for you. Do you need a spicy novel? Also, how’d the conversation with X go? That was two hours ago. Hey! Sorry I fell asleep. I’m feeling fine. We haven’t talked yet because we fell asleep. I might need some new yoga pants in a bit
POVXI’m on my tenth set of pull-ups, sweat glistening my entire body. My hair is drenched and pissing me off as it falls to my eyebrows, constantly needing to be pushed back. I’m trying to channel my rage without alcohol and working out is the only way I know how. I’ve been in my gym for two hours now, Julian joined for forty five minutes and then dipped like a weakling. I’m on my sixth rep when my phone vibrates and lights up with a notification. I finish my pull-ups, wipe myself off with a towel, gulp down some water and check my phone. Millie. I can’t do this right now. I do fifty push ups before I decide to text Millie back so I don’t lose my shit on her. She wants to talk tomorrow, I just don’t think I have it in me to face her yet. I don’t respond to her requests because it’s something I need to sleep on. We’ll see how I feel about it later. I do a few sets of Russian twists before I decide to end my workout for the night. I leave the gym dripping sweating, patting mys