Chapter Ten
ELLE
The snap of my glasses breaking echoes throughout the office. I bite the corner of my cheek, keeping my eyes on my Intruder as he looks down at his feet and I see in real time the blood drain from his face. I’m only slightly frustrated because that was my last pair out of the 4-pack I had recently purchased but I’m not mad at Patrick, which was…. new. I buy them cheap and in bulk, it will be nothing to reorder online, I could honestly do it quicker than it would take to clean up the mess.
“I am so sorry.” He sounds so distressed, I have to roll my lips between my teeth to stop myself from smirking at him. Instead, I look down at the broken glasses, next to his dirty boots. His dirty boots bother me more than the glasses. “Seriously, dude?” I grumble under my breath—broken glasses almost forgotten—I turn on my heel to grab the dustpan and brush I purchased after I agreed to let my Intruder stay in the office. I knew something like this would happen.
Patrick is still frozen, I’m sure he can feel my frustration and doesn’t want to make any sudden movements. I start to bend down to clean up the pieces of my glasses and his dirt but his hands shoot out, wrapping around my wrists. “No!” Theexclamation startles me but I stop. “Sorry, no, I’ll clean up.” He lets go of me as quickly as he grabbed me and practically rips the dustpan out of my hands. He walks to the door and toes off his shoes, placing them just outside of the door.
I watch him, stunned. My wrists are cool without his hands, my body’s reaction to Patrick’s touch is so drastically different to when Loop put his hand on my arm.
Nope.
Not going to question that. That’s for damn sure.
“You said you had to get going, get ready for tomorrow? I got this, you can go.” Patrick coughs and there is a pink hue to his cheeks that wasn’t there moments ago.
I don’t know what’s going on but I do have to go and if he wants to clean up the mess he made, I’m not going to complain. “Ooookay. I guess I’ll be seeing you.” I make my way over to the other side of my desk, collecting my bag and keys.
“Yeah, see you. Sorry about all this.”
I almost tell him not to worry about it but I stop myself. When have I ever brushed off someone else’s mistake?
I shake my head and make my way out of the office. My walk to my car is quick and quiet, just like I prefer. My phone vibrates, notifying me of an incoming text but I don’t want to immediately check it. There must be something going on in the family group chat, the vibrations are coming in consistently now.
No one in my family does multi texts, we all instead opt for one long text, so I know everyone is responding quickly.
I’m only part of three group chats, all different groupings of the family. One with Mom and all the kids, one without mom but all the kids, and the last one just the sisters.
I keep walking as I start to dig around in my bag for my phone but stop myself when I notice a gopher hole, I don’t need to step in that and hurt myself.
Those fucking holes are everywhere.
Paul: Hey, Henry has been throwing up and has a fever. We aren’t going to make it on the hike tomorrow
Mabel: Oh no, poor baby. Do you need anything???
Lola:
Paul: Anika is on her way home from the store with medicine and electrolytes so I think we will be fine.
Me: Keep us posted, I can come over if needs be.
Lola: No!
Mabel: Yeah, they can handle it.
Lola: I mean, if Paul is staying home, I’m sure he and Anika can handle it.
Paul: …..yeah. We should be fine.
Lola: And Mama’s not going, so she will be around for emergencies.
Mabel: If Anika is there, Henry will be better in no time.
Paul: Hey! You’re not wrong, she’s pretty amazing.
Me: Interesting reaction but okay.
