"You aren't really going to issue that assault suit, are you?" I smiled nervously as I approached William.
"Give me one good reason not too." He paused his actions and grinned.
"Well, I was drunk," my smile turned sheepish now.
"Very invalid excuse."
I sighed, "I know and I'm— oh my purse," I deviated and quickly moved to the end of the marble top island. Thankfully, all the items within were intact. Or, at least seemed to be. Checking my phone, there were a few messages, most from this morning.
From: Heather
Hey! You weren't at the table when Darrell and I returned, we left already, see you Monday maybe!
From: Bella
Where did you disappear to last night chica? I was looking for you but Ramos said you probably left with his friend ;)
From: Jo
Girl I'm exhausted. I left with your friend last night and it was fun ;) I didn't see you tho, guessing you had some fun too yh? ;) ;)
I responded to them all then dropped my phone on the island top and turned to the handsome shirtless man making breakfast.
"Do you need any help?" I walked around the island and stood next to him.
He momentarily stared at me then continued mixing the eggs, "not exactly but you can get the plates."
"Alrighty." I said then went about finding and arranging plates on the island top and after, returned to his side. I glanced at him as he fried the eggs then also glanced at myself. I was still wearing his shirt over my skirt but due to the size of the shirt, the skirt was mostly covered. We certainly looked quite the pair. It felt familiar.
It was easy to forget he wasn't just my ex but my boss as well. It was getting easier to forget a lot of things. We'd been dancing in between the lines of professional and unprofessional at most for weeks now. I guessed one more morning of completely tilting the scale wouldn't hurt. One more morning of pretending there weren't unsaid things. He finished with the eggs, served the entire breakfast and in the quiet of his apartment, we ate.
Sadly, my drinking abilities were nearly as good as my hangover recuperating abilities. So, once we were done eating and clearing the dishes, most of the memories from the night before had returned.
They were awful.
Awful, was an understatement.
"Thank you," I dropped the dish towel and turned to William starting very awkwardly.
"For?" He asked ambiguously and I knew he was going to make me spell it out. I nearly groaned.
"For helping me, bringing me here and uh, showing so much self constraint against my uh—attempts." I coughed.
"It wasn't so hard." He shrugged indifferently and I gaped at him then scoffed.
"Well, I was just very drunk by the way, it was more of the situation than you, it would have been the same outcome had it been anybody else." I said obstinately.
"Of course," his tone was very disbelieving.
"I mean it," I scowled.
"Mmhm."
"Whatever," I mumbled unhappily and moved to sidestep him but he shifted, and I was suddenly stuck between the island and him. A little course of excitement shamelessly ran up my spine as I stared up at him.
"A 'thank you' won't be enough."
"No?"
He leaned in, leaving even less space between us, then shook his head.
"Then what will?"
An almost wicked glint lit his dark eyes before he spoke again, "revenge. Only revenge can satisfy and make up for the damages."
Ignoring the traitorous excitement than ran down my spine again, I laughed, "damages? You're ridi–" I started but gasped as his hands moved to my butt and— grabbed!
"What is it they say again? An eye for an eye or a butt for a butt?" He mused and I shoved him away then held unto my butt protectively. He was laughing now, his eyes crinkling by the sides.
"You are like five years old."
He grinned wolfishly, "I also remember you groping me somewhere else," his eyes went down to my chest suggestively.
"Oh no, you don't," my eyes widened and I tried running to the other side of the kitchen but he was faster. "William!" I squealed as he lifted me from behind and soon the world was spinning. Half a minute must have passed before he finally obeyed my pleas to be put down.
"You–" I started but stopped to catch my breath and regain my senses, "you are so petty!" I jabbed his chest.
"You know you completely deserved it," he grinned then caught my hand in his and pulled me closer. An okay-you-may-be-right smile would have formed on my lips too if our eyes didn't meet letting the impropriety of the whole moment abruptly hit us. He released my hand and his grin slowly disappeared while I shuffled on my feet and moved away from him.
"I'm going to work in my study." He broke the loud silence first.
"You're not going to be the chivalrous gentleman and drop me off?" I asked stopping his stride and possibly, the awkwardness.
"Where's the pride you usually carry when I'm almost begging you to let me drop you off?" He folded his arms.
"Begging? More like forcing but what can I say, I'm a bit of a cheap skate these days and pride does come before a fall."
"Come look for me when you're ready." He smiled and left the kitchen.
A myriad of thoughts wanted to cloud my head but I shook them all away. Shortly after, I was back in his room, in his closet searching for my discarded top from last night.
"How the hell did it get up there?" I muttered while reaching for my top that was dangling from a top shelve. Something fell as I got hold of the top, hitting my head squarely.
"Ow," I glared at the material offensively; it was a file. I picked it up but about to return it, paused. The letters written on the front caught my eye. FMG. They seemed a little familiar but unable to place them anywhere, I shrugged it off and returned the file. I kept my top in an empty shopping bag I found laying around then tucked William's white shirt into my skirt and went out to find my boots.
"I'm ready." I popped my head into William's office minutes later. He stood and we left his apartment and started the drive to my mine.
"What's going on?" I pondered at the swarm of people and cars on my street. It was normally busy but never this busy. William parked the car a block away from my building.
"There are cops everywhere," he noticed. I also noticed the cop cars and an ambulance?
We exited the car and walked forward till we were close to the entrance of my building. Two paramedics were in the process of carrying a stretcher away and I strained my neck a bit to see further. I gasped aloud. There was a body bag was on the stretcher. My blood chilled and I frantically gazed around looking for a familiar face.
"W-what happened?"
"The lady in 101 was killed this morning. Cold blooded murder, it was gruesome." She explained somberly.
"1-101? That's directly below my apartment." I said and turned to William who looked as disturbed as I did.
Someone was murdered? Killed?
"You can return to your apartments now folk, there'll be a few officers guarding the area from now. No one's allowed to go into the deceased's apartment. It's now a crime scene and if anyone trespasses the tape, it'll be considered as tampering of evidence." A cop drawled in front then faced the landlord, Jiggy. People slowly dispersed.
William's hand gently pushed me forward and I found myself moving till I was unlocking the door to my apartment.
"Are you okay?" He asked closing the door.
"I don't know," I dropped the bag and my purse on my dinning table, "someone was just murdered and I don't even know what she looked like and her apartment was directly below mine—what if it's a serial killer?"
"Hey, calm down." He led me to the couch.
"It's scary William,"
"I know it is, trust me I do. Why don't we go back to my apartment?" He suggested and I laughed a little.
"And stay there forever? You know I can't."
"Then take the Illston tech apartment. It's a two bedroom, rent free the first two months for all staff and has great security." He sighed like I was really the most frustrating woman in the world.
"I'll think about it–"
"You will think about it?" He bristled, "this isn't the best time for you to be stubborn."
"I'm not been stubborn, I am contemplating my options okay? Besides wouldn't it be suspicious if I just suddenly move out? It's not like I'm especially fond of this place at the moment either." I said deflatedly.
"It will only be suspicious if you are the murderer which you are not. The cops will probably have questions for their investigations but they can't stop you from moving out." He said and I slowly nodded allowing his words sink in. A tired sigh escaped my lips after. He gently pulled me into a side embrace and I blindly welcomed his arms and scent.
"Where am I working from tomorrow?" I broke away from him.
"Wherever you find me." He shrugged and stood.
"Wherever I find you? That would mean I'd have to check both D&L and Illston Tech." I stood too.
"You better wake up early then." He smiled.
The nerve of this—
"You still haven't changed your locks," he sighed loudly looking at my door, "I don't even want to hear your excuses, just keep the door locked."
"Okay mom." I smiled and he scowled then started heading towards the door but paused.
"My shirt, I want it back."
"Right now?" I arched a brow.
"I can't imagine a better time." He smirked boyishly.
"Shame on you sir, HR will have to hear about this." I tsked crossing my arms.
"There's a number of HR rules we've already broken and considering how I'm still out for my revenge, there'll probably be a lot more." His smirk was roguish now and my insides twisted. My insides shouldn't be twisting, not for him. He walked a few steps back to me then his grin changed to something softer. "Lock your door and if there's anything at all, call me immediately. Goodbye Ophelia." And he was gone.
Later that night as I laid in bed viewing the ceiling, one of the many scary thoughts that plagued me was: What if it was me lying in that body bag instead?
***
The next morning, I took a leap of faith and gamble and firstly went to Illston tech.
"Hey," I slowly acknowledged Lilian who was seated behind the open desk, filing some papers. If she was here, was William at D&L then? I internally groaned.
"Good morning." She responded curtly and continued with her work. We hadn't come face to face since our altercation three weeks ago. William had made, no forced us to apologise to each other then but the words had merely been empty mumbles.
I cleared my throat and faced Lilian again, "Is Mr Illston in?" Relief filled me with her single nod. I knocked once then entered his office beaming proudly.
"You look like you won the lottery." William commented from behind his desk.
"I may as well have."
"How are you?" The slight worry in his gaze made me remember yesterday again. I couldn't rest easy most of the night thinking not only of the murder and possibility of a serial killer but also him and the enigma he was turning out to be.
I nodded. "I'm alive, my doors were firmly locked."
He stood up, adjusted his suit jacket and carried a few items from his desk before walking over to me.
"Are we going to D&L?" I asked hopefully and he smiled.
"No, you are staying here while I will be at D&L with Heather for the rest of the week."
"What about Lilian?" My tone took a dreadful note.
"She'll be here with you of course."
***
I hope you liked this chapter, took me a while to get it right👉🏾👈🏾