XX
J&B
I sighed and, as I went out to my car, my face went red-hot at the thought of telling them what had happened.
My twenty-year-old Toyota had been acting up lately. Another thing to add to the growing to-buy list, along with socks without holes, black pumps with non-peeling soles and now some new undies. But I just couldn’t afford a new car right now—or ever—not between paying back loans and secretly sending money home to my sister Katie.
“Please start, please start, please start,” I pleaded with the hunk of metal junk.
My job was the most important thing in my life. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to help Katie and she’d be at our dad’s mercy. And there was no way I was going to let that happen. I simply couldn’t afford to do anything that would jeopardize it especially since I was one of two interns vying for a permanent position at the company. Being late didn’t exactly scream “hire me.”
I also knew what being late meant. I would surely walk slap bang into an apocalyptic crisis lifted straight from the Book of Revelation. Working at an ad agency means going from one emergency to another. High stakes, lots of money on the line, demanding clients, demanding creatives and deadlines tighter than the skinny jeans they all wear.
My car finally started after a few smoky chugs and I threw a few thank-yous out into the universe. But as soon as I drove out of my apartment complex and turned onto the highway, I was assaulted by bumper-to-bumper Jo’burg traffic, made even worse by minibus taxis and their “creative” driving techniques. Currently I had one only centimeters from my bumper with a painted sign on his back window that read, “What goes surround, Comes surround.” At least something about this morning was vaguely humorous. But the static traffic gave me too much time to think and reflect . . .
What the hell had happened last night?Most of it was a blur, but every now and then an image flashed through my mind.
Vodka. Lots.
“Is this seat taken?” That smooth move and that husky voice . . .
Slowly grinding himself into me on the dance floor of Club Six, running his hands up my thighs, creeping way, way too high for public decency laws, until his hands were . . .
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he’d whispered in my ear, his hands coming up and cupping my face.
“I want you so badly, Sera.” Hang on, how had he known my name?
“I need you.” That was the moment I melted completely and decided to walk outside with him . . .
Fumbling for his car keys . . .
On him . . .
Under him . . .
Windows steaming up . . .
“Fuck, you’re amazing.” More words that made me lose my mind as I writhed on his lap and totally forgot myself in the moment . . .
His tattoos . . . those dark piercing eyes . . .
“I could do this forever,” he’d whispered in my ear seductively.
“Sera.” He rasped as he came on top of me, the weight of his body crushing me into the seat.
Oh. My. God.
Had I really fallen for every lame jackass line in the book? He probably said that to all the girls he had anonymous back-seat sex with. Was I really that stupid, or sex starved, or mad, or drunk, or all of those to have actually bought into his smooth-play-boy moves.Mortified AF.My only consolation was that I’d never see him again.
After a frustrating hour in traffic, I finally arrived at work, but the only parking space I could find was all the way on the other side of the office park, so I was forced to run with a pounding head and lurching stomach.
But when I finally got inside, I was downright shocked. Something wasverywrong.
I was expecting to run straight into the usual office chaos: people screaming at each other, screaming into the phone, screaming at the coffee pot or the copy machine. But something bizarre was going on today. People were sitting around lazily . . .chatting?
It was as if someone had come in the night and tranquilized all my co-workers. Had someone put Xanor into the air conditioning system? That was surely the only explanation for this eerie calm. I inched my way to my desk feeling very uneasy—was this the calm before the storm?
Before I had a chance to pull out my chair, Becks slunk up to me and whispered conspiratorially into my ear.
