Jake never returned and I was left worrying all night. I was unable to fall asleep because I couldn’t help but worry that something terrible had happened to my dad. I ended up cleaning because I couldn’t sleep and I couldn’t bring myself to get out of the house the next day. I knew I would hear it from Greg and the others about missing work but for once, I was leveraging my status and Michael Davis’ daughter.Alara came early in the morning at her usual time but I asked her to go back home. She was confused but I promised that I would explain it all later. I didn’t want anyone in the house, I just wanted to sit and wait for my dad in silence.My dad returned sometime around noon. He looked like he had been through hell. The bags under his eyes were dark and I knew he hadn’t been sleeping properly over the last few days. When he saw me, he sighed deeply and just collapsed into the chair. I rushed over to his side but he waved me off to assure me that he was fine.“I’m not going to let
I was at work religiously the next day and I tried to ignore the weird looks and whispers that I got as I walked in with my dad. When I first started working, I always made sure to stay as far away from him as I could, I didn’t want people to think that I had gotten to where I was because of him. I was grateful for the opportunities that his name gave me but I was also smart enough to know that part of what brought me so far was my own brain.Dad walked me over to my office door but stopped me from going in. “Is there a reason that they are all staring at you like you kicked their puppy?”I just shrugged because I didn’t really feel like talking about the issues I was having with Charles. My father was nothing short of overprotective and the last thing I wanted was for him to go ahead and fire Charles or start up something even worse with HR. It was something he could do and unlike Jake, he didn’t take no for an answer where I was concerned.“I’m sure it is nothing, don’t worry about
The next Friday rolled around quicker than I would have liked and the thought of being locked in the same place with my co-workers for another night was exhausting. The only good thing was that this time, we were asked to dress casual. The bad news was that we were not told anything about where we were going. We were simply given directions and a time.I arrived five minutes before six and found that there were only two other people there. The person in charge of the event was one of the nicer workers. I had never spoken to him before but he never gave me shit for being my father’s daughter. If I was being honest, I didn’t even know his name.When I arrived, he just gave me a blue tag and asked me to stand in one corner. The only other people there were Jenna and another paralegal but they had different colored tags. It wasn’t until six thirty that everyone else arrived and I soon realized that we were being split up into three groups. I cursed when I realized that both Charles and Gr
It took us a minute to realize that Greg and Charles had used the distraction to grab the stuff and run. I didn’t know whether to be pissed or impressed. I could have also bet my kidney that one of them was responsible for pushing the innocent girl into the water. Speaking of her, she was shaken but fine and thankfully, her phone wasn’t on her when she fell.“I just called them,” the other female paralegal said. “Apparently they found the next container and took off with it. We are stuck in the middle of nowhere with no way to go. Fuck them.”There was a grumble of discontent between the people and I couldn’t help but feel the same way. They had screwed us over and now we had nowhere to go. I ran my hands through my hair in frustration when I saw something glistening in the water. It was close to the bank and it had a blue sheen to it. I carefully reached out for it only to find another blue container similar to the first one we found.“Guys,” I called out and everyone turned to me. I
I loved talking to Jake because he always listened. It didn’t matter what I was talking to him about, he would stare at my lips the entire time as if he were hanging onto my every word. I wasn’t used to getting that kind of attention from men. Maybe it was the men I dated, or maybe it was the fact that he was older, but he seemed more interested in what I had to say. It seemed pathetic on hindsight but it was one of the most endearing things about him.“Where did you go just now?” he asked tapping the side of my head and I shrugged. We had moved from the living room and I was sitting on the counter while he made me something to eat. I made the mistake of mentioning that I didn’t have anything for dinner and he immediately sprung into action.He was so attentive and I couldn’t help but wonder why he was still single. I vaguely remembered my father saying something about him having a bitch ex wife but I never probed because I never wanted to draw attention to my crush on him. I wanted t
Jake took the seat next to me and I couldn’t stop myself from grinning from ear to ear. He placed one hand behind my back and draped it over my shoulders. We were alone for the first time in almost a full week and I couldn’t help but place my head on his shoulder. It felt like our very first date and I was excited. I tried to hide it because I didn’t want him to see how much I loved it.He reached across my lap and stole some of my popcorn making me frown. “What movie are we watching?”I raised a brow at him. “Why did you come here if you don’t know what movie this is?”“You’re a smart girl, why don’t you figure it out?”He did it for me. It was obvious but I couldn’t bring it to myself to say the words. “Thank you,” I whispered and he shrugged.The movie started and I barely paid attention to it. All that mattered was Jake’s presence around me. The fact that he was here and we didn’t have to hide was more than enough for me. His hands never strayed from touching me, in fact, I would
We went out for dinner and somehow, I ended up seated next to Jake. I knew grandma had a hand in it because I was meant to be seated next to dad but she had jumped in at the last minute. We tried to keep our hands to ourselves for the most part but whenever no one was paying attention, he would slide his hands up my thighs.Halfway during lunch, someone walked up to our table and I barely repressed a groan. I didn’t know if the world was against me or something because it made no sense that Charles would have somehow been at the exact same restaurant that we were. Dad smiled up at him while I tried my best not to stab him in the eye with a fork.“Mr. Davis,” Charles said flashing his brightest smile. “I didn’t realize I would be seeing you here.” He turned to my grandmother and gave her a wide smile. “I presume you must be Mrs. Davis, it is an honor to meet you.”Grandma chuckled. “Who is this young gentleman?”I snorted before I could stop myself and all eyes turned to me. I could fe
I walked into work on Monday to find Charles standing in front of my door with a cup of coffee in his hands. He shot me a wide smile and I rolled my eyes at him. I knew what he was doing and I had no intentions of playing his game. Everyone was obviously still pissed off at him and he was hoping to use me to restore his lost reputation. With Greg, they couldn’t outrightly ignore him, but Charles was fair game.“I don’t know why you’re playing hard to get, Hayley, I was literally with your family this weekend,” he added the last part out loud and I stared at him blankly.“You barged in on a family dinner and forced a seat for yourself when no one wanted you there,” I shot back equally as loud and I heard a few snickers. His cheeks heated in shame and I dropped my voice to a whisper. “I can play this game a lot better than you can, Charles. You should know better by now.” I took the coffee from his hands and took a spit. “At least it isn’t black like the last time.”“Look, it was a stup