Belonging to the Boss by Jenna Rose
Derick
For the firsttime in my life since I can remember, I feel lost. I don’t know what to do. I have a problem I don’t know how to solve or even how to approach it.
Gracie is gone, and to be honest, she has every reason to be.
Every reason to do what she did.
This is on me. I fucked up. I let my own stupidity and past actions get in the way of the best thing to ever happen to me. And now she’s gone, and I don’t know what to do.
My love for Gracie isn’t just going to go away because she’s gone. It hasn’t even been a day, and I’m suffering the greatest torture I could ever imagine. Simply being apart from her is like living in darkness. If I could give up every penny of my fortune right now to get her back, I would. If I could give it to her, I would. But I don’t know how to reach her, and I know she doesn’t care about money in that way.
All she cares about is the fact that she feels betrayed. And she has every right to.
“Christ, why did I ever get involved with that girl?” I say to myself. Kass, of course, not Gracie. The greatest mistake of my life, without question.
I go to the kitchen and see the remains of a shattered bowl. Gracie’s no doubt. I can just see her here, facing Kass as she revealed our past to her…
God, the heartbreak she must have felt.
How Kass managed to get up here, I don’t know, but I’ve already spoken to the doorman and building security to make sure nothing like that ever happens again. I take a few minutes to clean up the pieces then go down to the room where Gracie was staying when she first moved in as my assistant.
It still smells like her…
I can see by the state of things that she packed in a hurry. It’s almost too much for me to think about—too much to picture. I knew when I came home from the office, the second I saw her, that something was wrong. I just never could have anticipated it would be something this awful.
I lean against the doorframe and close my eyes. Already my head is aching, and the two Advil I took a half hour ago have done nothing to ease the pain. Is there any chance that she’ll second-guess her decision and come back to me? Of course not, but somehow thinking about that possibility hurts less than picturing the suffering she went through because of the things Kass told her. The things she showed her.
I slam my fist against the wall, hoping the physical pain will relieve some of the mental pain plaguing me, but unlike a Hollywood movie, the effects are minimal, if any. I just can’t take this anymore. I have to do something.
The buzzer sounds, and my heart leaps.
Has she come back to me?
I race to the door and switch on the monitor showing the view at the bottom of the elevator. Instantly, my jaw clenches down when I see Kass standing there, the doorman beside her, looking up at me through the camera lens as if to say, “What should I do here?”
I press the intercom button. “Go ahead. Let her up.”
He does. I step back as the elevator begins to rise and begin pacing.
What the hell is she doing here?
She can’t possibly think after what she’s done that I’ll take her back, can she? I may be a wounded man, but I’m not so down that I’ll just go crawling back to her. There’s only one girl who I’ll ever give my heart to again, and that’s Gracie, even if she doesn’t want me anymore.
I hear the sound of the elevator slow and stop.
My heart is racing. I have so much pain and rage pent up inside of me that I want to explode, but right now I have to control myself. This is a time to think and listen, not go off like a maniac. And in order to do that, I first have to understand why Kass did what she did and what it is she wants.
And like that, an idea comes into my mind. It’s a long shot, but it just might work. And if it means getting the love of my life back, well, I’m willing to try just about anything.
