Suit & Tie

Chapter 33 - Cheap shoes & bowling balls

After promising to pick me up at six to go bowling (and leaving me aching for more kisses), Shawn led me out of his office. Everyone waiting immediately stood upon his arrival, cashing me to stare back at them with absolutely no idea what to do while he took care of the situation, which to him was apparently scowling at everyone and kissing me roughly goodbye.

Work passed by slowly, with the only entertainment coming in the form of an impromptu singing outburst by Sophia, and Russo surprising us with sushi for lunch. When we were done with work, we hurried home and collapsed onto the sofa in bored, huddled messes as I gave Tyler the details of my little bet. 

"Damn, Norah, you should probably lose on purpose," Tyler chimed, poking me in the sides with a smile. "I mean, fucking look at him."

"Yeah, yeah, he's a god damn fallen angel or something. But I don't wanna, like, give him the pleasure of winning, you know?" 

"I mean, I guess."  I raised an eyebrow at my friend, who was now pouting on the couch with his glass of wine.

"You still think I should lose?"

"Norah, you haven't been laid since Ian, in like eighth grade." 

"I was a senior in college!" I protested, leaning forward to flick his ear. "Like, last year."

"Yeah, and that's a long ass time."

With another poke to my stomach he was flitting off the couch, muttering something about Russo and FIFA, and I was left to get ready by myself while they sipped on beers. Shawn arrived exactly thirty minutes early and whisked me out of the apartment before I could even kiss either Tyler or Russo, who were screaming at each other about the game on our shitty TV, goodbye. 

"Got somewhere else to be?" I huffed as he led me down the stairs.

"No, Norah," He scowled. "Why would you say that?"

"I don't know, maybe because you practically dragged me out of my apartment?"

  He rolled his eyes as he held open the door to the black Range Rover, which Andrew was surprisingly not driving. I watched in awe at his beauty as he stalked in front of the car and over to the drivers seat, then slid in easily and started up the engine.  We peeled out of the parking lot faster than necessary, and by the tight grip he had on the steering wheel, something was wrong. He kept his jaw clenched the entire time as he drove, his sharp jawline so painfully obvious and begging for me to trail kisses down that it was almost obscene.  Instead of doing that, I turned towards the window and let out a sigh.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing," He snapped.

"Well, you look pissed." 

He didn't answer until he had to slam on the brakes for a red light because of his high speed, at which point he rested one hand on my knee and gave it a tight squeeze. I reluctantly raised my head from the window and glared back at him. 

"Fine," He started. "Is it really necessary that you kiss Tyler and Russo goodbye every time you go somewhere?"

"Are you kidding me?" I giggled. By the way his nostrils flared at my amusement, I quickly tried to drop the smile on my face.

"Shawn, they're gay. Like, absolutely flaming."

"You do not need to kiss everyone you see, Norah." 

"Well, you don't need to fuck all of your employees, so I guess we're even." 

Shawn made a low, guttural sound and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. The rest of the car ride was silent except for the stupid classical music he listened to and the harsh breaths that puffed out of his mouth.  Then, sometime in between when he parked the car and made his way over to my side, his anger faded away as if it had never been there. His boyish smile tugged over his face and he grabbed my hand before leading me into the run-down bowling alley, a place where you would never expect to find a multi-millionaire CEO.