A Daddy for Alexi by Joe Satoria

9. ALEXI

MONDAY

I only spent the Friday night at his place. He was in touch with my body. I didn’t want to leave, but I also didn’t want to outstay my welcome. Plus, he mentioned how much work he had to do.

We only had sex the once. It was what I needed, taking my mind off everything, and replaced with the pleasure his body gave.

We texted over the weekend, until last night, when he stopped, and then he didn’t text me in the morning.

On Sunday morning, he sent one before I woke.

—Morning, baby.

It filled with me a warmth I thought I’d only got from his cock inside me. My hole clenched with the memory.

I didn’t get that this morning. And it settled in me for a whole host of reasons why that could be. He didn’t want to continue this any further, and he wanted to go back to work after using me for sex.

I starred at the phone open on my desk. The text from last night when he sent a goodnight message, followed by several heart emojis. He’d asked me to send him a picture of my face. He wanted something nice to see before going to sleep.

There was no focus on my part. I recalled the night, and how he’d asked me to come over again, but I knew he was busy, and I didn’t want to get in the way of what he was doing. Plus, I needed to recharge.

Scrolling through the texts from yesterday evening, I was re-reading what had happened, and if it was my fault for him not texting me this morning, or once I arrived at work. I refused to leave my desk in case I saw him. He hadn’t walked by either. Maybe he was trying to be professional.

Last night. 8:31 P.M. he texted, ‘You can spend the night, I have to get up early, but it would be nice to cuddle you again.’

My response to him, ‘You’re too busy for me to distract you.’ Because I knew that’s exactly what I would be, I would be a distraction, and I didn’t know whether that would be a good thing or a bad thing.

He was ignoring me, and I couldn’t blame him.

The sound in my ear from the headset dinged. A call. Panic in the back of my throat. My jaw clenched. Looking at the screen. The cursor hovering over the disconnect.

“Hello?” a voice spoke in my ear.

Click. It was gone.

I couldn’t do this. Not today. It was still technically the morning, and I couldn’t escape for lunch.

“Alexi,” Kate’s cheerful voice. Not what I wanted to hear right now, not while the text messages were open and a heat was in my face, tearing up, I could feel them collect in the corners of my eyes.

Raising my head, she was beside my cubicle. “Ye—yes?”

“Did you just disconnect a call after three seconds?” she asked.

“I—um—I—” I pulled the headset from my head, the warmth building behind my eyes. “I need to quit.”

“Aw, Alexi. Is everything ok?” her voice, softer, I knew she was trying to be nice, but the way she looked with sympathy eyes. I didn’t like it.

I grabbed my phone, moving back with the wheels of the office chair. “I can’t,” I let out, “I have to—I have to go.”

She was ready to put her arm around me, and I couldn’t handle that idea. “Alexi, take the rest of the day off.”

It had been on my mind since my second week. I thought, if I could do it for maybe half a year, I’d be able to make some savings and find something else.

I shook my head; I couldn’t be forced to come back. I couldn’t be forced into any of this. I wasn’t overreacting; I was just realising this wasn’t a good fit, and Warren ignoring me was the push I needed to leave.

Grabbing my things, I could see in the corner of my eye as Kate and the others watched. I hated what I was wearing; I hated the itchy shirt, and I hated sweating through the knit sweaters.

Standing at the locker, I froze. I didn’t like to make grand gestures, like quitting. When I quit working at the coffee shop in the small town, I felt so bad for telling them I was quitting. They were nice about it, and I worked two weeks’ notice so they could find someone else.

I didn’t look back at them. I walked straight to the doors. In the hallway, I looked down the length of the frosted glass walls. Part of me wanted to bump into Warren, and part of me wanted to jump into the elevator and be done.

Ding.

The elevator door opened.

It was a sign. The elevator was empty. It was definitely a sign.

With my bag clung to my chest, I reached inside to grab my phone case. I needed to see the teddy bear case over my phone again. I felt like I had to change so much of myself to fit in here. And maybe that’s why Warren didn’t text me this morning; he didn’t like who I was here either.

As the elevator doors closed, I began tugging at the knit sweater. I wanted to strip to something I could leave the building in. I wore a light grey vest top beneath the sweater and shirt, and neither would be easily stuffed inside the small bag.

Ding.

Juggling my phone, sweater, and shirt. The elevator doors opened to the glossy floor of the office building entrance. There was a receptionist at a desk, and straight ahead were the tall glass entrance walls and door.

At the desk, I saw him standing, chuckling with three other people. Warren was clearly too preoccupied, just as I suspected.

“Alexi,” he said, noticing me.

I needed to scan my card to say I was leaving the building. He’d scanned himself in. He looked at me, tugging his suit jacket.

There was nowhere to turn or hide.

“You go ahead,” he said as the three people around him walked toward me into the open elevator. He approached slowly, his brows together. “Is everything ok?”

“I quit,” I said.

Standing right in front of me, I watched him, trying to open his arms to me. I dodged, stepping away.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“You—you used me, and ignored me, and—and—”

“Alexi, I’m right here,” he said, his arms open wide. The smell of his cologne hitting me with the memory of climbing on his body over the couch.

“No,” I said, making a beeline to the reception desk. “I’m—no.” I didn’t need to explain myself.

The reception desk was manned by an older woman flicking through a glossy magazine. She wasn’t even looking at us. But I was sure she was listening.

“What happened?” he asked.

“You—you—” I choked back on a breath. “You didn’t text me.”

He smiled, the corner of his lips dipping into his dimple. I didn’t know why he was smiling. “Baby,” he said softly, glancing at the woman at the desk. “Let’s talk over there.” He nodded to the small seating area. “I can explain.” His hand on my shoulder. “Why were you getting undressed?”

The heat was fading with the cool on my body. “It’s always the same,” I said, perching on the edge of the seat, ready to make a run for it with a moment’s notice. That’s what I’d done before, running from a problem, running from a feeling. I wasn’t even an athlete, but I could run well.

Warren’s hand on my back was warm. It was nice. I didn’t want it to be nice, that was in direct conflict with what I was feeling. “Last night, my charger broke, my phone died while I was asleep,” he said, “it’s charging now, on my desk.”

In the corner of my eye, I looked at him. I felt stupid. “I—I wouldn’t be surprised if you ignored me.”

He pressed a finger to my lip. “I would never,” he said, “you’re too special, and I would never let you think that. I was going to come surprise you at your desk this morning.”

“I was late,” I said. I was late because of panicking, because I was nervous about getting to work and seeing him.

“Yeah, I figured.” He let out a warming chuckle, his hand at my shoulder. I was suddenly conscious about the fact I’d taken my sweater and shirt off in the elevator. “I asked you to stay over last night.”

“You’re busy.”

“I’m not busy enough to ignore what’s going on between us,” he said. “I like you, Alexi. You’re the only thing I see, and it makes me smile.”

“Well I quit,” I said.

“You can’t,” he said, “well, you can, I’m not going to tell you what to do. I will help you make the best decision, so I will talk with the supervisor and tell them—I’ll tell them whatever, I—well, I might have an idea.”

“An idea?”

He pressed his forehead to mine, stroking a hand down my neck. “Yeah, but first, let me take you to somewhere. It was going to be a surprise, but you look like you could use it now.”

Clinging to the sweater and shirt between my phone and small bag, I looked at him and pulled my head away, glancing back at the reception desk. “Ok.”

“You might want to put that back on, it’s a little cold outside.”