My Arrogant Boss by Kylie King
Chapter Twenty-Eight
FINN
It was a slow night at Brotherhood. Then again, it was a Tuesday, and not many men bothered coming on weekdays due to their busy schedules.
I couldn’t stand being at work a second longer. The second day without Rachel was even harder than the first. Her desk was still there, along with her cups and notebooks and one of the pink mugs she always drank coffee in.
All that day, I kept hoping she’d show up, maybe to clear her desk or give me an official notice in person, but she didn’t. And she wouldn’t. She’d let me throw it all and burn it before coming back to Brewer to face me.
“So, you actually slept with her?” Jake asked, leaning back and looking at me. “I fucking knew it, man! I knew you were attracted to her! I knew your whole I don’t sleep with my employee’s motto was complete bullshit!”
I waved the finger he was pointing at me away. “Yeah, yeah.”
“You’ve fucked up. You know that?” Jake asked, then chugged down an ample amount of beer. “She hates your ass. But hey, who’s to say you can’t meet up for a final hate-fuck?”
“No, Jake. It’s not like that, okay?” I rubbed my forehead. “I told you about the night we spent together, but there was more to it. I told her some serious shit.”
“Serious shit like what?”
“I told her I loved her.”
Jake froze a moment, and I didn’t have to look at him to know he was staring a hole into the side of my head. “Well, shit, man. Do you?”
“Yeah—I mean, I think so. I don’t know. She does shit to me, man. She drives me crazy, and I think about her nonstop. When we’re together, everything is so effortless.”
“Holy shit. Sounds like you really do love her.”
“I’ve been thinking about going to her apartment to get her to talk to me. She won’t answer my calls or texts. I don’t know what else to do.”
“Well, the woman who you claim isn’t your girlfriend, yet everyone else thinks she is, did show up the night after you two fucked each other’s brains out, so I’m pretty sure that warrants blocked phone calls.”
I scowled at him. “You are literally not fucking helping.”
Jake tossed his hands up and laughed. “Okay, okay. I know this is serious. I’ll stop fucking around.”
“Please,” I grumbled before sipping my beer. It had to be beer tonight—something light and easy. Anything too heavy was going to make me lose my mind.
“Do you want my honest opinion?” Jake asked after a while.
“Yes.”
“You can’t show up at her place. If she gave your secretary a two-weeks’ notice and hasn’t shown up to work, she’s done, man. If she still wanted a chance at it, she’d have made an appearance by now.”
“But Rachel is stubborn,” I countered.
“Doesn’t matter. If she really, really wanted to make it work with you, she would’ve shown her face by now. It’s just how women operate. They need that sort of closure.”
I lowered my head, staring at the label on my beer bottle. “I have never told a woman I love her. Only my mother. Nobody else. If I shouldn’t show up at her place, what the fuck should I do then?”
Jake shrugged. “That’s the hard part, brother,” he said, clapping my shoulder. “You could go see her, but she can also ignore you. Or…you can allow some time to pass and for her emotions to settle before making a move. Maybe even clean up your shit with Ariel and Rich Daddy so you can prove to her that you did it all to be with her.” Jake downed the rest of his drink. “Just my opinion.”
“Damn, Jake. When did you become a love doctor?”
He tossed his head back and laughed. “Trust me, I’m no love doctor. Don’t have time for that shit.”
“But weren’t you just telling me about some new intern you were thinking about sleeping with?” I mused.
“Okay…that’s a different story. I will sleep with her. It’s just…well, our circumstances are a little weird. And she’s kind of stubborn. But I can tell she sees me, ya know? I look at her, and she looks at me, and we see each other. Sometimes I catch myself staring at her without her realizing it.”
“Sounds creepy, Jake.”
He shrugged. “She smiles back.”
“Yeah, probably because you’re her boss, and she doesn’t want to offend you.”
Jake mulled that over. “Hmm…well, when you put it that way…”
I huffed a laugh as he went on about how nerdy the intern was, but also how he couldn’t stop hearing her out on many of her ideas. He definitely wanted her, but the more he described her as being stubborn and not caving to him, the more she reminded me of Rachel.
Jake was right.
I had to clean up my shit first if I wanted Rachel back.