Rebecca
As I satat my desk, typing away on my computer, I couldn’t help but sigh heavily to myself. Now that my hours at work had stabilized, I found myself sinking into a routine that simultaneously made me feel purposeless and grounded. Every time I went to lunch with the girls, Brit talked about some new concert she went to go see over the weekend while Angelica and Kayla talked about their new D.I.Y. projects they had started tackling together. It seemed as if everyone had their hobbies and passions except for me.
And judging by how strict JoJo was with his schedule, something told me him and I were in the same boat.
Sucks to be him.
It’s true, though. My life had not only become predictable, but empty. This job was all I did, and then the weekends were spent being an absolute slob in the same pair of pajamas until I was forced to shower and return back to work. This job guided my life. This paycheck fueled me to get out of bed. And while I tried not to feel sorry for myself, I most certainly felt sorry for the empty life JoJo seemed to lead.
Which only made me more confused about the feelings I already had about my own existence.
Isn’t that what I wanted, though? A simple daily routine?
My hands stopped typing along the keyboard as the questions washed over the forefront of my brain. I hated the voice in my head sometimes, but other times it forced me to think. Yes, what I had been looking for was a simple daily routine. Something that gave me purpose and filled me with pride. But was that enough? Was working and lounging around on the weekends enough for me?
I mean, what about travel? Seeing new places? Trying new foods? While I’d never been an outdoorsy kind of person, there was so much of this world to see, and yet I was okay with being complacent about it? Some days, I criticized myself for not being more passionate than I was. So many women my age yearned for travel and more education simply because they could obtain it at this point in their lives. But, not me.
The only thing I dreamt about while at work was the next time JoJo cornered me in his office.
“You asked for me, sir?”
He pointed to the chair in front of his desk. “Sit.”
I moved quickly and did as he asked. “Did I mess something up again?”
He scoffed, folding his arms over his chest. “I don’t know, you tell me. Did you fuck something up again?”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek. “No, sir. I’m confident in the work I’ve turned into you lately.”
His eye twitched. “You didn’t forget about something?”
Panic gripped my heart. “I don’t—I don’t think--.”
He bent down in front of me, his hands on his knees and his eyes level with my own. “I don’t pay you to fucking think, Becca. I pay you to do. I pay you to be exact. I pay you to be accurate. So I’ll give you one more pathetic chance before you’re fired and blacklisted for good. Did you, Rebecca Loren, forget something?”
Tears crested my eyes as a surge of strength soared through my veins. Maybe it was the fact that I was fed up with his bullshit, or maybe it was the fact that I no longer cared about losing my job. But, as I slowly stood to my feet, he straightened his back and lifted his nose into the air as if he were better than me.
Then, I drew in a deep breath and spat out the words I had long since dreamt of saying to him.
“You are disgusting, you know that?”
JoJo’s eyes widened. “You’re fi--.”
I held up my hand, stopping him in his tracks. “I don’t give a shit if I’m fired, because the only thing you’ve done since I took this job was abuse and berate me just like you did in high school.”
His eyes narrowed but he didn’t speak, so I continued.
“And I get it, right? I get that my sister was just as fucked up as you all those years ago. But, if you really thought I had anything to do with what she did to you, then you’re fucked up, too. I didn’t have shit to do with my sister in high school and I barely have shit to do with her now. Do you know what my older sister was to me? A role model on how to not do things. That’s who she was to me, and that’s who she still is to me. And I’m sorry she fucked you over, or fucked you up, or whatever the hell she really did to you, but I had nothing to do with it. And I’ll be damned if you ruin my life for another second, Joseph Ryker.”
He unfurled his arms and reached his hand out for my neck. He wrapped his fingers around my skin, pressing against either side of my carotid before he whipped me around. I gasped with shock, wrapping my hands around his wrist as he barreled me into his bookshelf.
And as his lips came closer to my own, my nipples puckered against my bra.
“You’re going to pay for those words,” he growled.
A shiver of anticipation wafted up my spine. “Try your best, JoJo.”
“Knock, knock!”
