Chapter 10: trouble!

"Shit."

That was the next word that passed my ears.

The room fell so silent, all that could be heard was the ticking of his damn Rolex. My throat fell dry at the sight of Wilson, our manager. My hand brushed against him as I hopped down from the counter.

"Why are you here?"

I looked up at how authoritative he was. Even I couldn't believe he was the one about to give me, without no doubt, one of the best sex of my life.

The poor guard beside Wilson was as red as the tomato sauce on my dress. "I- I've got a spare key."

"You didn't answer my question." There he was again, with the whole checking his Rolex thing. "It was locked for a reason." His eyes went to me for a second.

"I'm really sorry for the mix up, sir."

My eyes snapped to his date at the word of endearment.

Sir?

"I panicked when I didn't see you."

Did she just call him sir?

His face more than mirrored his dissatisfaction. "That's why cell phones were invented, Denice."

My eyebrow arched at that. Maybe she wasn't his date and maybe someone needed to put him down. "She was only worried about you, sir." My smile didn't reach my eyes.

Matching my gaze, his sea green eyes radiated so much intensity, I almost stepped backwards. My pride, however, didn't let me.

"Excuse me?" his words were laced with so much calm and quiet, it rang bells all through my head.

"Yeah, you are," I took a step to him, "from treating people like shit."

His chuckle, I could've sworn, reverberated. I wonder how many people had heard it before their end. Because that's what it felt like, my end. Swallowing, my eyes fell. I couldn't stand the intensity anymore.

"The quiet ones," I almost flinched when his hand wove through locks of my hair, "are always the prettier ones, love."

Turning from me, his voice, as low as it was, vibrated throughout the room. "Denice," his eyes went to her, "bring the car around."

Without so much as a last glance, he was gone. My eyes didn't leave the door even when he'd disappeared behind it. His smell still lingered in the air and I could tell at this point, I smelled of old spice.

"I want you in my office. Now."

Wilson, who had surprisingly watched the drama unfold quietly, finally decided to speak. Now that they were gone, it was my turn to be called out on my own shit. With how promising his voice sounded, if I wasn't puree by the end of the meeting, I'd be plain ashes.

"Sit."

Wilson was mad. Red hot mad. His fists clenched and unclenched and when he spoke, he rubbed his teeth against each other so hard, I feared they'd cave in.

"I didn't know your sexual provocations were permitted here."

Shit.

"Mr. Wilson, I-."

"And answering back to a customer?" With how his grip on the pencil tightened, I knew just how done for I was. "Didn't you know that the customer is always right? It's damn printed on each wall, damnit."

"He came onto me, sir. I didn't have any intentions of getting sexually involved with a customer. He followed me to the female restroom and forced himself on me."

"I don't care if he came onto you or under you. That's your damn business to deal with. You shouldn't have answered back! The customer is always right here."

My eyes and mouth were even rounder than saucers at the end of his response. Just what was he getting at? We could get hurt just like that?

Water brimmed my eye lids. "He almost raped me in there."

"This is a professional institution and it has no tolerance for such. You should respect the customer's decisions, even if it is at a disadvantage to you."

My eyes didn't leave him. Even as a tear slid down my cheek. Age really was just a number. He was a man well into his fifty's yet he still lacked perspective like a child.

"One more confrontation and you'll be out of a job."

Nodding, I wiped my eyes. My nose scrunched up on its own accord. I couldn't even hide my disgust if I tried to. "Anything else, sir?"

"Get out of my building."

My eyes rose to him.

"Turn in tomorrow for your regular shift."

Slamming the door on my way out, my mind and thoughts went into overdrive.

Why the hell did I let him kiss me?

And most importantly why the hell did I kiss him back?

What the hell was wrong with me?

Running frustrated fingers through my hair, I halted when I heard my name.

"What happened?"

The concern in Jenna's eyes got me even more worked up. "I'm fine. Everything's alright."

"Everything's alright?" her hands went in the air before pointing to my bag. "You're leaving mid-shift. What could possibly be alright about that?"

"Wilson let me off early. I'll explain later. Get back to work."

***

My eyes snapped open at the sound of a vehicle honking. A second later, a bout of tiredness washed over me as I sat up and yawned. I looked back to the road when the cab driver honked again. We were a few blocks from my apartment. Blinking, I had to bring my hand to my head just to be sure no one was pounding it.

"Just stop me here," I managed to the driver.

Grabbing a fifty from my purse, I slapped it on his palm, painfully ignoring the churning in my stomach. I'd better puke out in the street than in his vehicle.

Trudging into my room, I stripped and after tying my hair, I made to slip into the bathtub. The eruption in my stomach stopped me. Swallowing multiple times, I stilled myself in hopes that it'll pass.

It didn't.

Everything I ate at Jenna's rushed back to my mouth.

Sprinting to the sink, I wrenched everything out, vibrating, coughing and at a point even choking. When my body had nothing left to give, I slid down to the bathroom floor with eyes closed.

Fuck my life.

The cold water from my shower calmed my racing nerves. My head ached significantly less and the urge to puke had disappeared. The latter being solely because I'd vomited everything I could.

My mind was drawn back to reality by the ding of the microwave. Putting on the tv, I sat back on the sofa with a can of chili in my hands. After wrapping myself up, I focused on my favourite show.

It'd been a few hours and I was down to the last catch-up episode. Deciding to save it for later, I pressed the pause button on the remote and grabbed my phone. My eyes snapped to the door when the sound of the doorbell echoed throughout the room.

Struggling to get up and wishing on my, well unlucky stars, I prayed it wasn't Eric. I just didn't have the energy.

"Jenna?" My eyes fell to the overnight bag slouched over her shoulder as she gave me a small wave.

"Hey."

After opening the door wider for her, I trudged back to the sofa.

"What's wrong?" Jenna followed me in and as soon as I was seated, she felt my head.

"I think it's a fever. I need to go to the pharmacy tomorrow to get some dr-."

"You're pregnant?"

My eyes rose to her. Goosebumps instantly appeared on my skin. My mouth fell dry and bitter at the same time and puking all the chili I'd had didn't sound farfetched anymore, not to my brain. That's how entertained I was by the thought.

"I've got a fucking implant, Jenna."

"Lexi had implants." She did the thing with her eyes where she scrutinized me so much, I could've dissipated. "She's a mother now."

My breathing became even harder and I blinked more. "I'm not some stupid teenager with hormonal issues."

I knew she was just fucking with me and trying to get under my skin for fun.

My eyes left my stomach and went to her.

I hoped she was just fucking with me and getting under my skin for fun.

"Gotcha," her smile revealed her perfect dentition.

"Fuck Jenna." My body tensed a little less and the pounding in my head reduced.

"But I don't get it." She chuckled through her words as she made herself comfortable on the sofa. "If you love your boyfriend so much, what's so wrong with being pregnant by him?"

"Fuck you, Jenna." I hissed, climbed back into the sofa and wrapped myself up in my favourite blanket.

"Oh, don't be like that." She appeared in my line of vision and sat on the floor in front of me. "Tell me about what happened at work today. I wanna have juicy gossip for Eric when next he comes to sex me up."

Opening my mouth, I turned to her with knitted brows and wide eyes. After roughly considering the end of her statement, my body for some obvious reason, settled for a glare and my eyes went back to my phone.

********************

-C