chapter 18

Andrew and Nate drove us back to Future's apartment. The brothers are busy planting plants for Future on her small balcony in the pot plant and she has an ice pack on her knuckles.

"Are you going to accept Chads' offer?" Future asks me.

"I don't know, all I know is that I need a distraction."

"I know how you feel. When I found out what Andrew tried to do to me, I felt betrayed and used. But there's no love without bruises and heartbreak; it wouldn't be so intriguing and heart-warming, trust me I know from experience. I tried fighting my feelings for Andrew, but I was only hurting myself. Listen to Tay's side of the story, perhaps is not as bad it looks," she tells me, and I look at her like she has grown two heads.

"What! Don't look at me like that," she defends.

"You just punched Tay an hour ago and now you are defending him. Unbelievable!" I exclaim, and she chuckles.

"I acted on impulse, and besides, I needed to blow out some steam because of Nate and Tay was the unlucky one," she continues.

"I'm going to kill Nate for playing cupid." she blows air on her knuckles, and I wonder how she figured it out as if she reads my mind; she replies.

"Nate is easy to read, and he kind of helped me, but I don't approve of his methods," I chuckle.

"Why did you change your mind about Tay?" I implore.

"Ria is the kind of a woman who would do anything or blackmail anyone to get what she wants. She thinks she is the center of the universe, and we all must bow down to her and bitch, I am not bowing down to that ass bitch!" with that I laugh my lungs out. Jeez! This woman is something else. Could it be that Tay had no choice but to kiss her? I thought.

"We are done!" Nate's voice draws us out of our deep conversation.

The plants are not that bad for first-time planters. "What do you think?" Nate asks.

"It's not that bad," I answer truthfully. We make our way inside and the guys order pizza. Future flips over Netflix and settles for 13 Reasons. Watching it takes me back to the dark place I am trying not to get swollen in. Hannah Baker and I are similar even if I don't want to be. She chose death, and I once considered it. She smiled every day like everything was fine and I did, too. The only difference is that she knew who raped her and I don't — I don't think I will ever know. The ringing of the doorbell breaks me from my painful thoughts and seconds later, Nate and Andrew walk to the couches with two large boxes of pizza. Andrew sits next to Future and Nate close to me. Andrew's hand feeds Future a slice of pizza, and it takes me back to the penthouse.

Why am I thinking about him? Why does my brain have to be the one to betray me? If not thinking about Tay, it betrays me by not responding quickly when I need it to.

"Jeez! My eyes are still holy guys!" I haven't realised that Future and Andrew were kissing until now. Nate has covered his eyes like a little kid, and I chuckle.

"Oh! Come on, your eyes have never been holy since you were in your mother's womb," Future says rolling her eyes.

"Get a room at least," Nate tells Future and Andrew.

"Don't you have anything to do than to sit here and annoy us?" Andrew asks.

"Okay, fine! There's no need to be so sassy, I'm leaving," Nate says, grabbing his phone on the coffee table.

"Sister-in-law? I will see you when I see you." A thought crosses my mind when Nate walks to the door. "Nate," I yell and walk to him.

"Missing me already?" Nate flirts, and I roll my eyes at the back of my head.

"Keep dreaming... I need Chad's number," I inform him.

"Why?" Nate asks, seriously.

"Um, He offered me a job, remember?" I remind him. He murmurs something under his breath.

"Are you going to give me or what?" I ask. Nate takes out his phone from the back of his pocket jeans and texts me Chad's number. He leaves as soon as he sends the text and I grab my phone from the kitchen island. We watch TV until 8 pm.

I have 25 missed calls from Tay; I ignore them and save Chad's number. Future and Andrew walk to Future's room. I make my way to the small balcony and dial Chad's number, and he answers on the first ring.

"Chad Brown speaking?"

"Hey, it's Olivia,"

"Oh hey, so have you thought about my offer?" he asks.

"Straight to the point, huh? And yes, I thought about it and it would be my pleasure to work with you." I tell him as I lean on the balcony.

"You just made my night. Come to the office tomorrow, and we will take it from there."

"Okay,"

After sending me the address he hangs up, and I stay on the balcony for a while. Later I make my way to the guest room, put on my pajamas, get under the sheets, and stare at the ceiling until my eyes burn to sleep.

****

The buzzing of my phone wakes me up; I groan and switch it off. One thing I hate about having a job is waking up early. Now I regret taking Chad's offer. I drag myself off the bed and make my way to the bathroom; strip off of my clothes, and turn the shower on. The hot water wakes me up completely; I wash my hair, body, and later wrap my myself with a towel. I grab my pajamas from the floor and walk back to my room. I dress up in blue denim jeans, a light pink tank crop, and a denim jacket. I put on black superstar sneakers, grab my phone and my backpack, and walk out of the room to the smell of coffee.

Future is in the kitchen holding a mug.

"Morning," I say, and take the coffee mug from her.

"Hey! That's not for you," Future whines, and I sit on the stool around the kitchen island.

"You can make Andrew another cup of coffee. I need this one," I tell Future.

"Where are you going?" Future asks.

"Chad Media House," She finishes making coffee.

"You don't need luck, so I will see you later," Future says and disappears from the kitchen. I finish my coffee and wash the mug. It's a ten-minute walk to Chad's company, so I walked and listen to music while walking.

Ten minutes later, I am in front of Chad Media House building. I open the door and walk-in, there's a lady in her early thirties sitting behind the reception desk.

"Hi, I'm here to see Chad. I'm Olivia Ferguson," I inform the lady.

"Oh, Mrs. Payne, Mr. Brown told me about you. His office is on the top floor on your left when you exit the elevator." It feels so odd when someone calls me that. I'm used to Ferguson.

"Thank you," I say and walk towards the elevator. I stepped in and pressed the last floor. I tap on my phone as I wait for the elevator to beep open. Minutes pass and the elevator door opens. I make my way to the direction the reception lady gave. I knocked on the door and a voice shouted, 'come in' on the other side. I opened the door and slid my head in.

"Olivia, please come in," Chad says, and walks towards me and we meet halfway.

"I thought you changed your mind?" Chad says.

"I walked, that's why I got here a little late," I informed him.

"What matters is that you are here... Where are my manners? Please take a seat." I sit on the chair across from him. He takes out a contract from one of his drawers.

"Here is the contract, it's nothing major. Read it and if you have questions, you can ask. You can work from home, there's no need to come to the office every day. As long as you get the job done on time, it's fine by me." Chad informs me. The part of me working from home brightens my morning. After reading the contract, I sign it.

"Great, let me show you your office." We exit Chad's office and walk towards the office opposite to his.

"Here we are. You can decorate it however you want," Chad tells me. The office is big, but not too big. There is a black desk, an apple laptop, and a landline phone. There's a small window bay too.

"Thank you, it's beautiful," I tell Chad. I walk towards the table and sit on the chair.

"If you need anything at all, you know where to find me, and your first task is on the laptop, see you later," I nod and watch as he walks out.

I pull my hair into a ponytail and get to work. I read deep this story that I lose a track of time. The book had some typos, but they were not major. The story is fantastic and would be a rollercoaster when it hits bookstores. There are so many teenagers out there with amazing stories, but don't get a chance, all because they are inexperienced. I, myself, know more than anyone that you don't need to have writing skills just to write a good book. I wrote Behind Closed Doors with zero experience and besides, we all start somewhere, and today-there are published authors who are same as me.

A knock on the door grabs my attention. Chad's head pops in. "Hey, I thought I would invite you to lunch. You haven't been out of this office." I chuckle and close the laptop.

"I could use a burger right now," I say, and we make our way to the canteen. I ordered a burger and chips with sprite which Chad and I argued about who will settle the bill. I ended up losing, and Chad paid for my lunch.

We choose the table at the corner, "So how is your work experience so far?" Chad asks and takes a sip of his Coca-Cola. He bought donuts.

"Great, there are great minds out there, and the story I was busy reading was freaking amazing. Just when I thought I had read every book out there or there are no longer ideas to write about; I come across something else on another level… "Chad is staring at me with so much admiration.

"I'm so sorry. I am rambling, aren't I?" he laughs.

"Don't apologize; you look cute when you are rambling." I blush and eat my chips. We finish our lunch and get back to work. The next few hours passed by quickly, and it was now time to go home. I grab my small backpack, cell phone, and walk out. There are few people left in the office, and I slid into the elevator with some co-workers. I exit the elevator when it dings open and walk towards the front door. I tap on my phone and find five missed calls from Future, ten from Nate, and lastly six from Andrew. I wonder what happened. I walk out of the building focusing on my phone, trying to dial Future's number that I didn't even notice a figure walking in the same direction as me.

We collide and I close my eyes, waiting for the impact, but strong arms snakes around my torso.

"Are you okay?" a voice asks, and I open my eyes to find none other than Chad Brown. He gets ripped off of me before I can reply, and I end up on the floor. Ugh! The luck I have in this world.

"Never touch my wife again!" Tay's voice booms. A jealous husband is the last thing I need right now.

Tay rushes to help me up, but I yank his hands away. "Don't touch me. I can't believe you.

"You made me fall!" I give him death glare.

"He was touching what belongs to me." Tay stares at Chad on the floor.

"I'm not an object, and I don't belong to you or anyone else." With that I drag myself from the ground and grab my phone.

"Are you okay?" I ask Chad as he adjusts his suit.

"This is just great!" Tay exclaims.

"What is your problem?" I am certain this man is crazy and not the one I married.

"You ask Chad if he is okay, but you don't ask me how I felt when I saw my wife in another man's arms!" he shouts, glaring at me.

"Are you drunk or something? He saved me from falling, but that doesn't seem to matter since I ended up on the floor, anyway." I yell.

"We experience a problem in our marriage and you flirting around with Chad Brown out of all people!" His words cut me deep; not in million years had I ever thought that Tay would say such words to me; they just brought back memories of that man. He treated me like a whore, a toy. I do the one thing I should have done a long time ago. I slap him across the face.