My blood feels cool and anxious now. My clothes have never felt cheaper. Even my shoes seem off-balance.
He didn’t tell me there was an early meeting.
I rush through the office, abandon my purse at my desk, and grab the first notebook and pen that come to hand.
Then I peek into Will’s office, half-hoping the receptionist is wrong.
He’s not there.
I want to run to the conference room, but I don’t. I choose my steps carefully. I take even, steady breaths.
I’m steps away from the conference room door when laughter spills out into the hall.
The laughter of at least three men.
Will’s words ring in my ears.You’d service every man in the conference room.
I want to believe he wasn’t serious, but he followed through on blackmail. He followed through on fucking me in his office in exchange for the money I stole.
My heart feels like bare tires on a shitty stretch of highway. It won’t stop rattling.
He’s waiting for me.
I take the final steps to the conference room door on shaky knees and cross the threshold before I lose my nerve. “Good morning, Mr. Leblanc.”
Will sits at the head of the conference.
One glance at his face, and I know who he is.
The volatile, demanding boss from my very first day. Impatience comes off him like a heat mirage. It looks like water on the road. Like you’ll eventually drive into something cool and clear.
Will’s company space might be cool and corporate, but he’s not.
He’s only pretending.
His apartment, his office…they offer context, and people accept him as part of it. They never see past.
There are three other men at the table with him, and they’re all looking at me.
None of them looks at me like Will. His eyes scan my entire body, head to toe, and I flush wherever his gaze lands. I was just naked in his bed on Saturday night. It seems like decades ago.
Or like it never happened at all.
“Now that you’re here, we’ll need some water, Bristol.”
I force my knees not to give out. Shame burns across my cheeks. I’m not sure whether I’m more relieved or disappointed in the order.
I don’t want to have sex with any of the men sitting around the conference table. Not at all.
But Idowant to do something hot and illicit with Will.
Anything to be as close as we were in his bed.
Anything to take advantage of the last week we have.
“I’ll be right back with that.”
The break room, with its kitchen and dishware, isn’t far away. I get out the small tray and the heavy water glasses. A slim container of ice. A pitcher of water. My hands don’t shake at all on the way back.