Her Suited Savior

Chapter 21

Hunter King's POV

I did a fantastic job of fucking tonight up.

I came over here to have a serious conversation with Calla and I definitely accomplished the goal. Except, I ended up getting way to personal with her, as per usual. It was fucked up and I seriously needed to learn how to control myself. My selfish ass had complicated things yet again with all of my direct questioning. I should have realized she was overwhelmed before things got any worse than they had. It's not like I'd never seen her that way before. I should have known better but I felt too confident after our talk in the living room - too close, really. I was her boss for fuck's sake.

I'm sure she knew that. It was me who was forgetting it.

Or maybe I was just ignoring it.

I wouldn't be at her apartment, sleeping on her couch - again - if I hadn't already decided that I couldn't care less about being her boss. I had already crossed countless lines with her, and I had learned a lot in doing so. Calla highlighted some major flaws in me. She still was. Too bad I upset her once again tonight. She had already shared so much with me during our conversation and I ended up pushing her too far yet again.

Calla was a quiet and determined woman, so she tried to be fine even though she was far from it. I should have known better than to think I could ask her all of those questions after our discussion in the living room. I just wanted to be close with her, but I sucked at helping her. It seemed like I was making things worse every chance I got.

I had felt guilt settle in my stomach as soon as I recognized that she was filled to the brim with anxiety. It started spilling out of her and I went into auto-pilot. At least for a moment. Once she was settled into her mattress it sunk in that I truly had no idea how to help her. And it was my fault to begin with.

Thankfully, she calmed herself down over the next several minutes. She cried and apologized while trying to control her breathing. It certainly didn't help that I was useless at comforting people. My general presence was probably not too helpful either. I was no good for calming Calla down.

All I could do was try my best to reassure her while she cried. I responded to her apologies with a lot of "No, It's okay, Calla, you've got this."

I hated seeing her in such a panicked state but I felt some relief when she was finally able to catch her breath. She ended up relaxing into her bed and closing her eyes for a bit before I left her room guiltily with a pathetic, "I'm so sorry... Goodnight, Calla."

I didn't stick around for her response and I swiftly closed the bedroom door behind me. I wasn't sure if she was sleeping or not, but I didn't want to stress her out any more than I already had to find out. Obviously I was being way too much tonight and I needed to give her space. At least as much as I could.

So now here I was, attempting to sleep on her couch after disrupting her whole night. How gentlemanly of me. It had been at least an hour since I'd left her alone in her room. I was feeling bad and trying to figure out how to make things better between us. The events from earlier tonight kept replaying in my head and I wished I could reverse time and be less of an idiot.

Really, I had no chance at sleep. At least not until I had a game plan.

I rolled over on the couch, pulled out my phone and tried to do some research, squinting as I consulted Google. I hated not knowing how to help Calla when she got overwhelmed, especially since I was pretty much always the one causing her to panic to begin with. I felt doubt creeping in.