Bedroom Bully by Harper West

20

Rebecca

After Michael droppedme off outside my apartment complex without bothering to walk me upstairs, I knew I had blown it. I wiped at my tears and waited until his car was out of sight before I flagged down a cab. I didn’t want to go upstairs and wallow in my own self-pity. I wanted to be useful somewhere instead of being a burden to my couch. So, I made my way into work.

While hoping and praying that JoJo wasn’t pulling a late shift.

“Evening, Miss Loren,” Jackson said.

I waved. “Hey there, Jay.”

“Late night?”

I sighed. “Bad date. Just looking to get my mind off things.”

He hissed air through his teeth. “Those are rough. You need a shoulder?”

I giggled softly. “No, but thank you. Right now, all I need is work.”

“Let me know if I should send for food or anything.”

I patted his arm as I walked by. “You’re too kind. Thank you, Jay.”

“Anytime, Miss Loren.”

The second I sat down in my office, I relaxed. It felt like I was finally home, but I didn’t have the emotional wherewithal to figure out if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe I was becoming the same kind of workaholic JoJo had turned into. Maybe I was setting some sort of unhealthy trend in my life where work felt like home more than my own place did. But, with the endless amount of work I had on my plate constantly, the very least I could do was keep myself distracted until I wanted to go to bed.

So, I logged in, clocked in, and got to work.

“Knock knock?”

I paused at Kelly’s voice. “Come in?”

She cracked my door open. “I thought you left for your date.”

I snickered. “And now I’m back.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

I sighed. “Actually, yeah. Can you come sit for a bit?”

She eased her way into my office and closed my door before coming to sit in the chair in front of my desk. She looked tired herself and I wanted to ask if she was alright, but she seemed so prepared to listen to my story that I didn’t want to take that away from her if that was what she needed to cope with whatever was keeping her up late on a weekend night.

So, I drew in a deep breath.

“We went bowling, right?”

She nodded. “Right.”

“And we were having a good time until I suggested having a quickie in the bathroom, right?”

Her eyes bulged. “You what?”

I groaned as I slid down in my seat. “I know, I know. It was an idiotic thing to suggest. But things were going so well, and he looked so nice in his white t-shirt and it just—I blurted it out.”

“I take it he didn’t like the idea.”

“I’m pretty sure he used the word ‘disgusting’ at one point.”

“What? What an ass!”

I rolled my eyes. “I mean, he made a good point. Who wants to have sex when someone’s taking a dump right next to them?”

She folded her arms over her chest. “What I want to know is who’s taking a dump in a bowling alley bathroom.”

I barked with laughter. “Many people aren’t scared of pooping in public.”

“Well, it sounds like it was for the best. I mean, if he isn’t going to indulge your kinky side in the slightest, then--.”

“That’s the thing, though. We sort of addressed it after I got back into town. We were texting back and forth late into Monday night, and I told him that I had a kinky side. I told him that I was a freak, or at least I was discovering that side of me. But his reaction was just on another level. It made me feel… gross. Like I had something to be ashamed of.”

“Then, you don’t need him. You deserve better than that. You know that, right?”

I puffed my cheeks out with a sigh. “I don’t even know if I deserve that anymore.”

Kelly went to say something back, but my door swung open, revealing Jackson on the other side. And the question he asked me caught me off-guard.

“Has your sister gotten into contact with you yet?” he asked.

I blinked. “Maggie?”

He nodded. “She’s been blowing up the front desk phone all day. She just called back, actually. I told her that you were up here in your office and gave her your--.”

My phone started ringing and Jackson nodded toward it. “That’s probably her.”

I looked at Kelly. “You mind if I take this?”

She stood. “I’ll go get us some sodas from the vending machine. We need something to drink after that conversation.”

I snickered. “Preach.”

I quickly picked up my desk phone. “Maggie?”

She paused. “How did you know it was me?”

“Jackson, the guard at the front desk, said you’ve been calling to try and get me all day. Are you okay?”

“All day?”

I furrowed my brow. “Yeah. He said you’d been calling all day.”

Jackson mouthed to me from the door. “Everything okay?”

I shrugged at him as Maggie spoke. “No, this is the first time I’ve called.”

I put her on speakerphone and dropped it back into the receiver. “Tell me what you just said again.”

Maggie cleared her throat. “This is the first time I’m calling. I mean, I’ve called and hung up a few times because I’m an idiot. But I haven’t left any messages.”

Jackson furrowed his brow. “You sure about that, Miss Loren?”

“Positive,” Maggie said.

I scratched my head. “Must’ve been a mix-up then. Are you okay, though?”

“Can you take me off speakerphone, please? This is kind of private?”

Jackson waved at me. “Have a nice evening, you two.”

I nodded. “You too, Jay.”

“Thanks again for giving me her number,” Mags said.

“Anytime,” Jay said as he backed out of my office.

I took her off speakerphone and picked the phone back up. “Sorry about that. Sometimes the front desk can get things confused.”

“You’re good. I just… wanted to talk, I guess.”

I leaned back in my chair. “You can call anytime. I’m surprised you didn’t try my cell, though.”

“I did. That’s what I called a few times. Not your place of work.”

I dug my phone out of my purse and saw I had four missed calls. “Damn it, I’m so sorry. I was on a date and--.”

“Ooooo! A date. Did you finally go out with--?”

I interrupted her before she spoke it into existence. “No, it wasn’t with him. It was with a doctor named Michael.”

“A doctor!” she squealed. “Even better. What’s he like? Is he hot? And rich?”

I snickered. “Well, right now he’s nonexistent. I sort of… jumped the gun on a few things.”

“You wanted sex and he didn’t.”

“I wanted kinky sex, and he didn’t.”

“Psh, good riddance, then. No use having sex if it’s boring sex.”

I barked with laughter. “Put that on my tombstone when I die.”

She giggled. “Done. It’ll piss Mom and Dad off, and that’s what’s most important.”

It felt good laughing with my sister. It felt like old times, honestly. Like we were little girls again and telling each other secrets that we thought would end the world if we uttered them out loud for the masses to hear.

“Either way, I’m glad you called. Save this number in your phone in case you need it, okay?” I asked.

“Already done, actually.”

Kelly inched my door open, and I silently beckoned her inside. She closed my door and set a Mountain Dew on my desk, then blew me kisses before leaving again.

But I knew there was something on my sister’s mind.

“Are things okay back home?” I asked.

Mags sighed. “Actually, that’s kind of what I wanted to talk with you about.”

I braced myself for bad news. “Whatever it is, we’ll work through it.”

“Oh, no no. It’s nothing terrible like that. I just--.”

I waited with bated breath. “It’s okay, Mags. It’s just me.”

She cleared her throat. “Did you mean what you said? I mean, about me coming out there and getting a job and us living together?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, of course. Why?”

“I don’t know. I’ve just been thinking about it.”

“That’s good. Thinking is good.”

“Do you think I’m crazy?”

I shook my head. “I think that we’ve both led lives that people see, then lives that people don’t.”

“Right, right.”

“You know you can tell me anything, Mags. I’ll never judge you, or chastise you, or see you as lesser for--.”

She spoke quickly. “I know Dad told you about my juvie record.”

I licked my lips. “It probably wasn’t his place, but he did.”

“You’re right, it wasn’t his place. But it’s not like I opened my mouth to say anything, either.”

“Mags, if you don’t want to talk about this, we don’t have to.”

“You need to know, though.”

I nodded. “All right, then. Whenever you’re ready.”

She drew in a deep breath. “When JoJo and I were together, I did a lot of things just because he wanted me to. He teased me a lot. When you asked about whether or not he was cruel with me, it brought back a lot of memories I didn’t want to remember.”

I slowly stood to my feet. “If he gave you that scar on your back--.”

“No, no. It’s nothing like that. The scar is unrelated, kind of. But my juvie record is from a fight we got into.”

“A… fight? Like, a fist fight?”

“No, like a verbal fight. His parents were always so uppity and pretentious, you know? I snuck out one night and went over to his place and he wanted me to do some things I wasn’t comfortable with. It started a fight. Things were said. I may or may not have slapped him across the face at least once. His parents woke up to the commotion and called the police because they thought they were being robbed or something, and by the time the police got there JoJo had a massive bruise from where my ring had caught him when I backhanded him.”

“Jesus, Mags. I never knew.”

“He tried to defend me, Becks. He literally stood in front of me and defended me to his parents. But his parents had me hauled off in handcuffs when they realized I had bruised their precious baby boy. That’s why I have a juvie record. They charged me with assault, and I got let off with a warning and probation charges. Mom and Dad spent a small fortune to get me a lawyer to dig me out of the trouble his parents sunk me into, and I’m not sure they’ll ever financially recover. Because of me.”

I shook my head. “Not because of you, but because of JoJo and his family.”

“It wasn’t his fault.”

I scoffed. “You’re not the only one that’s hit JoJo across the face. Trust me, if you swung at him, you had reason to.”

She paused. “You hit him? When?”

I sighed. “At the family reunion. He showed up out of the blue and Mom wanted me to get him to go away, so when he didn’t leave after I asked him, I slapped him across the face. That got him to leave really quickly.”

“Holy shit. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I figured it would set you off, or something.”

She groaned. “I hate that Mom and Dad paint me as some sensitive little china doll. It fucking sucks.”

I hated lying to her, but I wasn’t sure what else to say. I didn’t want her to be alone in all of this, but I also didn’t want to admit what really happened between JoJo and I at the family reunion. So, I kept it to myself.

“Where is she!?”

I heard JoJo’s voice echo harshly down the hallway and I froze.

“I know she’s here. She clocked in. Where is Rebecca?!”

“Uh, Mags?” I asked.

“Yeah?”

“I’ve got an emergency that I need to tend to. It’s nothing bad, just work shit. Is it okay if I call you tomorrow?”

She snickered. “Of course. Go be Wonder Woman. But don’t forget to call.”

“I could never forget you. I’ll call on my lunch break.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

And after saying our quick goodbyes, I dropped the phone back into the receiver on the desk the second JoJo burst into my office.

“We need to talk,” he said hotly.

I furrowed my brow. “About what? What’s going on?”

He raced toward my computer and shoved me out of the way. He pushed me so hard I almost fell on my ass and for the smallest of seconds I thought about throwing him out the window and watching him fall to his death. He logged me out and quickly logged himself into the system. He pulled up a little chat window within our company’s emailing system and I didn’t recognize the outside email.

“Whose email is that?” I asked.

He pointed to the screen. “Why don’t you read the messages and tell me what the fuck you think.”

I eyed him carefully before I slipped in front of him, and when I bent over to read the messages, my eyes bulged.

Unknown: I know what you’re doing to my sister. I know the hell you’re putting her through. Stop this shit now, or I’ll unleash everything you did when we were teenagers. We’ll see how you like being bullied.

Unknown: Leave her alone. I swear it, JoJo, I’ll take you down. You won’t fuck around with my family.

Unknown: I saw you at the reunion. Don’t think you’re some sort of chameleon. You make yourself so damn flashy that everyone knows when you’re coming or going.

Unknown: I won’t ever forget the night you tried to force yourself on me. Will you?

“What the fuck?” I asked.

He pointed to the screen. “I don’t know why you gave out my personal information to your fucking sister, but as far as I’m concerned--.”

I held up my hand. “Now wait a fucking second. Your email is public record on the company’s website.”

“She’d have to have an account in order to message me here!”

I shook my head. “No, she wouldn’t. She’d only have to have your email and a messaging service that can convert between public and private software. And I’m telling you, my sister doesn’t know shit-all about technology. This isn’t her.”

“Then how does this person know about the family reunion, huh? How do they know such personal details about my childhood if it isn’t her!”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Maybe you run your mouth off to the wrong people. Ever think of that?”

He growled as he closed the distance between us. “Keep your sister on a leash.”

I held my head high and gave his growl right back. “Stay out of our family’s lives and I won’t have to.”

And as he backed toward my office door with steam practically spewing from his ears, I couldn’t deny that most of the evidence pointed toward her. I mean, the person behind the messages even used JoJo’s nickname. They knew sensitive information that hadn’t ever been offered up for public consumption.

But, even if this were my sister, why the hell would she do something like that?

Why would she even care?