BRANDON’S POV
Everything went in a blur while on the drive to the office, my head running full of thoughts about the spat with Natalie. I could see her face all too clearly, and now it seemed she had been angry, hurt, and unwilling to listen. I could feel the scene replaying before my eyes as my hands tightened further on the steering wheel, and I so badly wanted to have done things differently, wanted her to give me a chance to explain.
But she hadn’t. Not like she used to.
She hadn’t been warm. She had said all the right things, but she still hadn’t been warm.
I drove into the underground garage of the Martinez Building. Familiar surroundings that did very little to ease the tension starting to knot in my chest. I blew out once, then stepped out into the large echoing sound of footsteps in the cavernous, quiet space to get into the elevator. I bent forward toward the lighted buttons as if by pushing one in with more vigor than usual, it would take longer to register so.
How could it have gone so wrong so quickly? How one moment everything was beginning to feel. normal. Well, normal as it could be, considering the circumstances. The next, Natalie walked in at the worst possible moment. Of course, she sees Arlys kissing me and understandably believes the worst.
That really hit, seeing the hurt in her eyes, it’s betrayal. Way more than I care to admit.
With a soft ding, ding, the doors of the elevator slid open, and I stepped out to staff buzzing normally in my office. I nodded through to the receptionist, who gave me her ever-so-polite smile but really hardly registered in my mind. It was too preoccupied with the mess that now was the inheritance from Arlys.
I strode up the corridors, past my people, and through doors with the feeling of daggers in my back, feeling no doubt that I was radiating the turmoil that seethed just below the surface, even though I didn’t care. I was fixed on how I was going to fix this, how I could make Natalie see that she was the only woman I wanted.
I walked into my office, pushed the door behind me, and, as I walked in, I started to loosen my tie. Right in front of me was a large window view of the city and sleek furniture. On one of the desks lies work which I do not feel like dealing with today.
I slung my briefcase across the top of the desk, plopped into the chair, and ran a hand through my hair. Before me, the day lay long, unwelcome as an ill-conceived sentence. It was early enough.
Sat back in the chair, exhaling heavily. I had been so angry during the drive over, but now my anger started to boil. How dare she? Arlys knew we were done. No going back. So, what was this all about?
I was about to dial her number and chew her out when the door knocked. I frowned upwards. Nobody was supposed to interrupt me this early.
“Enter,” I growled, my patience already frayed thin.
In walked Arlys. I rose so fast that my chair almost fell over.
“What in the hell are you doing here?” I demanded, my voice cold.
She closed the door behind her with a soft click, her lips curving into a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Good morning to you too, Brandon.”
“You haven’t answered my question,” I reminded her as I crossed my arms over my chest. “What are you doing here?”
She walked with a sway in her hips that had been hard not to find seductive once upon a time. Now, it was just plain aggravating. Arlys stopped a few feet from my desk, her gaze locked on mine.
“I came to apologize,” she said, her tone sweet but insincere.
“Apologize?” I echoed.
Hell no. Not one damned bit. “For what, exactly? For kissing me without my permission? For trying to ruin my marriage? Or for just showing up here like you own the place?”
She fumbled for words, and a vast smile split her face in seconds. “I was just trying to-”
I cut her off before she could finish, not very politely. “Save it, Arlys. I don’t want to hear whatever excuse you’ve cooked up. What you did was totally out of line.”
She had the gall to look offended, her lips pursing as though she was the one wronged. “I was only trying to-”
“Try and do what? Make me remember what we had?” I growled, finally finding the voice of my anger, which had been suppressed in me. “Let me spell this plain as day, nothing’s happening between us now. Whatever it was, we were having ended, it’s in the past, and that is where that is going to stay. You had no business kissing me and you had no business dragging Natalie into your games, period.”
Something dangerous flickered across her face, and her eyes narrowed. “Is that what you think this is? A game?”
“That’s exactly what this is,” I said, rearing back over my desk in my arms. “You didn’t just kiss me out of some nostalgic impulse. You did it on purpose, knowing Natalie would see it. You wanted to create drama, to drive a wedge between us.”
She didn’t flinch to deny it. Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest, a very off-putting gesture in body language. “Maybe I did. But you can’t deny there’s still something between us, Brandon.”
“Are you hearing yourself right now?” I said, aghast. “There is nothing between us, Arlys. Nothing. Whatever it was that we had, it’s dead, buried, gone. I’m married now.”
“To a woman who doesn’t even love you,” she shot back with a couple of bitter vocals.
“That’s none of your business,” I snapped. “My marriage is my concern, not yours.”
“‘But it falls under my business,’ she said. She took a step closer to where I was, and her voice subdued like she was cooing. “Brandon, we were good together. You can’t just throw that all away like it was nothing in the end.”
“‘I’m not throwing away anything,’ I said. My battle was trying to keep the cool. ‘I’m moving on. You should do the same.'”
Her hand reached out to touch my arm. “We could get another chance, Brandon. We were so good together.”
I drew back from the touch, feeling really disgusted that things could be easily manipulated by her. “No, Arlys. We aren’t getting back together. I’m with Natalie now, and that’s the end of it.”
She flinched momentarily at the finality in my tone before her expression went cold. “You’re making a mistake, Brandon.”
“I only made one mistake-that of letting you think you still had a shot,” I replied icily. Now, if you don’t mind, we’re finished. Don’t ever come into my office, nor wait to see me because I will have you evicted.”
She flicked her eyes onto me, something flickering in those blues, battling against hot anger. For a second there, she looked as though she might break in on me, then she stepped back and composed her face to some semblance of an icy mask.
“Fine” she spat “And when your little perfect wife leaves you, don’t you dare come crying to me.”
She said all that turned her back on me, and then walked out of my office banging the door behind. The sound reverberated in the room. There was a heavy silence after.
The reasonable part of me felt that I should hardly, indeed, suffice; one part of me really wanted to go storming after her to show her just how serious this was-seriously, not a joke. But the reasonable part of my brain said that it would only get worse. Someone like Arlys wasn’t really someone you reasoned with if she didn’t get her way.
I walked up toward the window and stared down at the city. My anger at her bled slowly away into deep, dark exhaustion. That fight with Natalie, the confrontation with Arlys, it all caught up on me. I’m so tired of the games, manipulation, and constant taut nerves.
What I had wanted, what I really wanted was peace: just being with Natalie and working out how we could make this thing between us work. But now, well, after everything, all this, I didn’t know if that was even possible anymore.
I had to pull out my phone and hover over Natalie’s contact. I had to call, explain everything, and tell her that Arlys meant absolutely nothing to me. But deep down, I knew she wouldn’t pick up-how we’d left things.
I heaved an angry sigh, slammed the phone onto the desk, and raked a hand through my hair. I had to think, to figure out what was going to happen. But the more I thought about it, the more cornered I felt. How could I ever convince Natalie that I was telling the truth when she refused to even listen?
And that was it, what with everything weighing on me, well, I just stood there and made up my mind-I decided Arlys wasn’t going to win this thing. That I wasn’t going to let her screw up what little I did have with Natalie. That I was going to prove to her that she was the only damn woman I cared for.
I reached for the phone and dialed the company head of security. It rang twice before he picked up. “Sir, what can I do for you?”
“From now on, I don’t want Arlys waters entering this building. If see her inside my company again, I’ll have you and your whole team replaced,” I said in a commanding tone.
“Yes sir, I understand.”