The CEO's Secret✔️

14: The Discovery

"I know." She rolled her eyes, still annoyed at him but couldn't help caving a bit. "Get some sleep, we both have work tomorrow."

"Goodnight." He said before turning on his side. She switched off the light and went to bed, wondering whether it was even worth her while trying to go back asleep, she would be up for work in an hour or two anyway.

She fell asleep for what only felt like a couple of minutes before her alarm was waking her up for the day. Katie rolled over and let out a sound of exasperation and annoyance. She just wanted two more minutes in bed but knew she would be late if she stayed in bed, she would end up promising herself every five minutes she could get up in another minute. With all the willpower and strength she had left, she forced herself to pull back the covers and get ready for the day.

Once Katie was dressed and almost ready to go, she went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee before checking on Colin who seemed to be in a deep sleep. She decided it was probably time to wake him up but he was not budging.

"Colin for god's sake, get the hell up." She shook him again and heard him mumble something although he still looked to be asleep. She would give him another minute or two while she drank her coffee.

The sight of Colin's jacket crumpled up on the floor behind the sofa made her roll her eyes. She reached down to pick it up and fold it when something dropped out of the pocket. Her eyes were wide with shock as she stared down at the floor. A small Ziploc bag was lying there, willing her into disbelief. She did not know what to do initially but then this spontaneous anger washed over her.

Katie picked up the bag and looked at the white powder inside then at Colin who was stretching. He had yet to notice her discovery and was in a playful mood.

"Who knew I'd end up in your place after last night huh?" he wiggled his eyebrows but then saw the look of disgust on her face.

"What the hell is this?" she was calm although breaking on the inside.

"Where did you get that?" Colin avoided her question.

"It was in your pocket."

"Why did you go through my pockets Katie?" he was talking as if she was the one who did something wrong.

"I wasn't going through your pockets. It fell out but that's not what this is about Colin." Her stare was unbearable.

"It's not mine-"

"Bullshit." The words came out harsh off her tongue but she could not help it. She remembered seeing him at that club a couple of weeks ago and everything seemed to make sense then, she knew it was definitely his.

"It's only a gram or two Katie what's the big deal?"

"Do you hear yourself right now?"

"Give it back."

"Take it." She threw the bag at him.

"It's not any of your business what I do, I don't know what your problem is-"

"You know exactly what my problem is." Her direct eye contact made him almost squirm, there was no getting away from this easy. "After everything I told you about my mom. After all your crap about trying things out. You knew how I felt about things like this and still you wanted us to be together. How long were you going to hide this from me if we did try?"

"It's not a big deal Katie-"

"It's cocaine Colin." She sounded just as exasperated as he did then. A silence broke out between them, vexation seeped through onto her features but he seemed to be as annoyed as she was. "You obviously don't get it. Just get out Colin. Go."

"Fine then." He said in a huff before grabbing his jacket and marching out of her apartment.

How dare he? She thought. How dare he make her out to be an over reactor, she had a right to be angry at him. Katie had told him about her mother's addiction and how it ruined any chance of a relationship with the only parent she knew. How could he continue to go ahead and voice his feelings for her when a relationship with him would never work out whether he was her boss or not.

She couldn't help but feel somewhat betrayed, Colin could have saved her from her ideas about the pair being together if he had just been straight with her or at least pretended he wasn't interested because she definitely would not want a relationship with him if she had known that all along.

Tears pricked her eyes but she promised herself she would not cry. It was not worth it and she needed to come out thinking positive about the situation- at least she had found out now rather than later when she was more emotionally attached to him. They had not took anything further than the kiss they shared at the train station that night and things could go back to being at least some type of normal.

The situation was confusing for her after her anger had fizzled out. She could not even try to describe what she was feeling. Just then, a confused looking Emily stepped into the apartment.

"Was that Colin I just passed downstairs?" her eyebrows were raised and she looked at Katie for an answer before reading the features of her face like a book. Her expression turned to one of concern then. "Are you okay? You look upset. What happened?"

"Nothing, I'm fine." She lied before gulping back some of her coffee.

"Was Colin here?" she eyed the sheets on the sofa. Emily changed the subject because she could tell her friend did not want to talk about it but she would get the truth out of her some time.

"Yeah, I didn't know what else to do with him. He was drunk and needed a place to stay."

"Hasn't he got his own home to go to?"

"Well yeah, but he was so drunk he couldn't even tell me where he lived last night on the phone."

"You look tired."

"And you look tireder." Katie gave her a small smile then that made Emily chuckle.

"I sure am exhausted. That night shift took a lot out of me. Anyways, have a good day at work."

"Thanks Em." Katie wished she would, but knew a good day was definitely not ahead of her.

She put on a brave face and headed to work, but was unsure whether to be surprised or not by the fact that Colin was not there. She guessed he would turn up later in the day although she was dreading it the entire day. The thought of seeing him made her feel nervous, what way would she act towards him?

Carrie turned up just after lunch time to check up on things. She took off her coat and sat down with a sigh.

"No sign of Colin?"

"Nope." Katie pretended as if she did not know why and Carrie was too busy to even detect any untruthfulness in Katie's response.

The entire day Katie found it difficult to concentrate, her mind kept wandering back onto the topic of Colin. The events of earlier were burned into her brain, the image of the small Ziploc bag wouldn't fade. She could feel her stomach drop again just as it did only a few hours ago, she could sense the disappointment fizzling in and out, reminding her of all the things she had wanted to tell him about her mother's addiction that she was glad then she had not shared.

She sat there that day in her office with Colin on her mind and nothing much else, like many other days recently but it was different this time around. Katie felt some sort of unjustified sadness that he was not everything she expected him to be. The ghost of his words lingered yet she knew whatever daydreams she had over the past while would never come true, not now.

Yes, Colin was on her mind again, but this time for all the wrong reasons.

*******

Hi everyone, just wanted to say a quick thanks again for taking an interest in the book and reading! Let me know if you have any thoughts on how the story is going so far. Updates are every Wednesday also :)

Autumn xo