After 2

Chapter 103.

"Do I look that bad?" I shrug weakly.

"No, of course not. You just look.. exhausted." She lies. I know how terrible I look.

"I am exhausted." I tell her. I haven't decided if I will tell her the truth. Honestly, I am too ashamed to tell her.

"Did you and Hardin have a fight?" She asks and I nod.

"Let me know if you want to talk, otherwise I will let you be." She smiles.

I am grateful for her not pushing me to talk about it right now. I walk past the breakfast table and only grab coffee, my appetite is non-existent. I thought I wouldn't be able to concentrate on this week's manuscript but once the thoughts of Hardin and I on my desk disappear, I focus all my attention to the manuscript. It isn't an interesting or well written one so it keeps me busy all the way through lunch and most of the afternoon until someone knocks on my door. My heart sinks to the floor and I hold my breath as I call for them to enter. I have kept my phone off all day to avoid any attempts from Hardin to talk to me.

I am relieved to see Mr. Vance at the door. "Good afternoon Tessa." He smiles.

"Good afternoon." I counter.

"I just wanted to touch base with you and let you know how impressed I am with your work so far. You are doing a better and more detailed job than most of my actual employees." He compliments.

"Thank you, that means a lot to me." I tell him.

"That being said, I would like to invite you to the conference in Seattle this coming weekend. It might be quite boring, its all about digital publishing but you could do a lot of networking and meet a lot of people. I am opening a second branch in Seattle in a few months and I need to do some networking myself." He laughs.

"So what do you say? All expenses would be paid and we will leave Friday afternoon, Hardin is more than welcome to come along. Not to the conference but to Seattle." He explains with a knowing smile. If only he knew what was going on.

"Of course I would love to go, I really appreciate your invitation." I tell him. Finally something decent happening to me.

"Good, I am glad you will be coming. I will have Kimberly give you all the details." He smiles.

The idea of going to Seattle soothes my ache slightly, I will be further away from Hardin. On the other hand, Seattle now reminds me of when Hardin wanted to take me there. He really has ruined every aspect of my life. I feel my office getting smaller, the air in the room getting thicker.

"Are you feeling okay?" Mr. Vance asks, his eyebrows lower in concern.

"Uh, yea I just... I haven't eaten today and I didn't sleep much last night." I tell him.

"Go ahead and go home then, you can finish that at home." He says.

"It's okay, I can stay." I tell him. I don't want him to think I am taking advantage of him.

"No, go on home. We will manage without you." He assures me and I finally agree.

I gather my things to leave as soon as Mr. Vance leaves my office. On my way out Kimberly calls my name.

"You're going home?" She asks and I nod.

"Yea, I need to sleep." I tell her, knowing that probably won't happen.

"Hardin is in a bad mood so beware." She half laughs.

"How do you know?"

"Because he just cussed me out for not transferring him to you." She smiles.

"He called?" The burn returns.

"Yea, only about ten times. I figured if you wanted to talk to him you would have on your cell."

"Thank you." I tell her. I am glad she is as observant as she is, the fragile wall I have built over the last few hours would have crumbled instantly if I would have heard Hardin's voice on the line.

I manage to make it to my car before breaking down again. The pain only seems to get worse when there is no distraction, when I am left to my thoughts and memories.

After pulling myself together enough to drive, I do what I have been dreading to do. Call my mother.

"Hello?" She answers on the first ring.

"Mom?" I sob.

"What did he do?" She asks. That has been everyone's reaction, such an obvious conclusion to jump to.

"I.. he.." I can't form a sentence. "Can I come home, just for today?" I ask her.

"Of course Tessa. I will see you in two hours." She says and hangs up. Better than I thought but not as warm as I had hoped for.

The small envelope is present on my screen and my phone beeps repeatedly until I finally read one of the messages.

*Call me Tessa, I am not going to stop until you call me.* It reads. I shut my phone off before I do something stupid, like read anymore messages from Hardin.

(Some of you have asked who I picture for the other characters and if you read on your phone sometimes you cant see the cast list on the side so here It is ,

Tessa is Indiana Evans from Blue Lagoon

Noah is Zach Roerig from The Vampire Diaries

Trevor is Ian Somerholder from the Vampire Diaries

Kimberly is Elizabeth Banks from a lot of things lol

Ken is Dylan McDermott from American Horror Story and a lot of things lol

Karen is Landons actual mother hah

Tessa's mother is Denise Richards