It was just too good to not enjoy at least three times a week.
The weekend slipped by without so much as a peep from anyone, and when I made my way back into work Monday morning, I felt more rejuvenated than ever before. I’d gotten a few nights of good rest. I’d eaten all of the junk food I could muster the strength to stomach. I’d even taken an extra-long hot shower before putting on the little bit of makeup that I did own.
Hell, I even decided to wear my favorite little sundress to work.
But, as I stepped off the elevator and onto my floor, I saw JoJo standing at Brit’s desk.
“Sir, it’s going to be impossible for me to--.”
He slammed his hand on top of the stack of binders. “I don’t care if you don’t go home until tomorrow afternoon, Brittney. Get these done and on my desk before you go home.”
Brit scoffed. “But, Mr. Ryker, my sister has--.”
He glowered at her as I moved silently to my office door. “I don’t care if your mother’s dying. Get this work done, or you’re fired. That’s an order.”
He turned toward the elevator and our eyes met. His back straightened as he slid his gaze quickly down my body, then harrumphed as if what he saw wasn’t to his liking. He brushed past me without a word spoken, and he didn’t even peek over his shoulder at me as he stormed into the elevator.
He even kept his back to me until the metal doors closed, adding insult to injury. And as I looked over at Brit, reality dawned on me.
He’s torturing her now.
She wiped at her eyes and avoided my gaze, and I eased my way into my office. I leaned against the door to close it, though I didn’t flip the lock. Jealousy unlike anything I had ever experienced wafted through my system. JoJo was giving his attention to another woman. He was riding someone else’s ass instead of my own.
Holy shit, maybe this is my punishment.
Maybe his punishment is to no longer give a shit about my presence in his world.
And the thought shattered my heart.
“Fuck,” I whispered.
I looked up at the ceiling and tried my hardest to fight back tears. No. There had to be another reason. Maybe he had figured out who really filed an H.R. complaint against him, and he was lashing out because of it. But that was the only reason I could think of. And even then, he could have simply fired her.
So, why hadn’t he?
Because he’d rather have her.
I walked over to my desk and sat down. It felt as if my soul were flying outside of my body as I leaned back. My actions didn’t feel like my own. It felt like someone else was piloting my body as I turned on my computer and logged in with my credentials. And as I checked my email to see what JoJo had in store for me today, a lone tear escaped my cheek.
Because he hadn’t even sent me an email with a list of what I needed to accomplish today.
“No,” I whispered.
I kept refreshing my email for the first hour of work, knowing damned good and well that he had things for me to do. There was no way in hell he’d just up and remove my job from me like that instead of firing me altogether. Fiscally, it didn’t make sense. But the more I refreshed, the more worried I grew when I didn’t see his email come through to my side.
And after going through my trash, spam and starred folders, I relinquished myself to the possibility that my punishment was JoJo no longer giving a shit about me.
He had officially written me off.
And as I stared at the wall, trying to make sense of everything, all I wanted to do was go home and collapse into a fit of tears in the shower.
It’s not like he’d miss me if I went home anyway.
I sat there all day staring at my computer. I waited for something—anything—to come through. Any assignment from Bonnie, or JoJo, or Lexie, for crying out loud. But the longer I stared at my computer, the more defeated I felt. After all the dancing around that we had done and after all of the energy he put into keeping me safe, he was just gone? Like that? Without a second thought as to how it might make me feel?
It wasn’t as if it shocked me. It seemed to be right on brand with the persona he put on for the rest of the world. But a part of me wondered if he had been this ice cold to Maggie back in high school. Part of me wondered if he had been this much of a dick even after they had declared their relationship to the entire world by fucking in the corner of the gym and her shouting out his name to anyone that might’ve been passing by to listen.
Which then made me wonder if that was the reason why she had cheated.
