Page 27 of Sinister Devotion

"Yes, but what was I supposed to do?" I ask him.

"Call security," he says, running his hands over his face. "I don't want him in this building let alone in my office this early in the morning and without an ounce of alcohol in my system to stomach it. What the fuck, Claire? Why aren't you doing your fucking job? My instructions are clear enough, aren't they? Or did I fuck the common sense out of you last night?"

"Wow, woah, okay. I apologize, but I'm not going to put myself between Charleston Blackwell and any door. I will lose that fight no matter what I try to do."

"You don't have to lose it when you push that big ass red button on the phone, at your desk, that says security on it. You tell him to wait and I'll be right with him. You get Edward up here, and YOU DON'T LET THAT FUCKING PERVERT IN MY OFFICE!"

Julian's now turning shades of red and I'm practically shaking in the corner. I didn't realize I'd been backing myself into the wall, and now I feel like an idiot. His prey, with my hands quivering. The sound of the manila envelope and documents shaking in my hands fill the silence.

Julian storms towards me and snatches the pages out of my hand. Once again, I feel the sting of tears threatening to fall and I fight them with everything I have. I will not cry in front of this man. I'm grateful for the menial task Fiona just gave me because I won't have to suffer through the rest of this god-awful fucking day with Julian in this mood.

He signs the pages and pushes them inside the envelope. I hesitantly step toward his desk and grab them before retreating in silence. At my desk I can feel myself hyperventilating, desperate to regulate my breathing until anger consumes my anxiety and fear.

I jot down three names on a sheet of paper and push myself to walk back into Julian's office. He's sitting in his chair, facing the window with a view one should marvel at, but all I want is to fling something through it. I want to break something the way I feel he's broken something inside of me.

"This is my guest list. Bonnie's not working my birthday, she's coming as my friend. Her sister will be there too, and Devon's coming as my date. I’ll be out for a while making these deliveries, Mr. Blackwell." I turn to leave when I hear him sigh. I think he's about to apologize, but nope, he's as dismissive as ever.

"Devon's not coming to your birthday. He's not invited and I don't want him around you anymore. You can invite anyone else. You don't even need my approval, but don't push me on this, or I'll have him fired," Julian says.

"You promised me I could invite people to my party I can actually talk with, and that's what I'm doing. Or did fucking me senseless suddenly make you lord over my social associations? If it did then I'm happy it won't be happening again. Get over yourself, Julian. You just toss me aside and expect me to function like any of this shit is normal. That's my guest list. Will you for once, just give me something I ask for without fighting me over it? At least this won't cost you anything."

He grunts but doesn't respond. I take that as my cue to leave. With a deep breath, I straighten my back and walk out of the office to deliver this stupid envelope with whatever stupid contract is inside. The office the documents have to go to is in a government building Bonnie is happy to take me to. If it was up to her, we'd spend all day outside of the office and now I understand why.

It feels different when Julian treats me like everyone else. I never got the brunt of his temper before. He usually saves that for his other employees. I guess that's all I am to him now. An employee. It fucking hurts.

Fuck him.

No wait, that's what got me into this mess in the first place.

I try to focus on my job, plastering a smile across my face as I step inside an office after Bonnie rides in the elevator with me. She waits outside the door, but there's a waiting area and a clerk who's supposed to be behind the desk. No one is here.

The sound of someone speaking, yelling, and then storming out of a back office has me take a few steps away from the receiving desk. A man approaches me with a frown that shifts into a grin. There's an aura of charisma around him I can't quite put my finger on.

"Um, good morning, I'm Claire Anderson with Nuvola Scura Industries. I have to drop these contracts off with the Buildings and Permits department? Something about low-income housing conversions for a recent real estate development?"

He grins and lets his fingers touch mine as I hand him the envelope. "Good morning, Claire Anderson of Nuvola Scura. That's very interesting. I'm actually here about the same thing, filing contracts about real estate, not Nuvola."

"Really?" I ask him. "You don't look like an intern or executive assistant. Is this your office?"

"You can say that. People do listen to me around here. I am definitely the man to get things done. Now, you said this is for who, exactly? I want to be sure these papers get to the right department."

I shake my head slowly from side to side, giggling softly. Looking into this man's eyes is like looking at a toothpaste commercial. There's a twinkle in his dark blue eyes, and an air of subtle dominance with his dark brown hair slicked back, and not a strand out of place. Streaks of grey pepper his temples, and a matching goatee make him devilishly handsome to look at.

"I was just told to deliver them. I shouldn't have assumed anything. I can call my office and ask–" I stop myself, my stomach falling and hesitant to pull out my phone. After this morning's display of whatever the fuck that was, I don't want to talk to Julian or Fiona. That's the side effects of dealing with Charleston Blackwell. He's like an oil spill. No matter how long after he leaves, there's always a trail of turmoil and destruction left to clean up after him.

"You know what?" I tell him, after some thought, "How about you hand those back to me and when I get a hold of my boss, so I can make sure they get to the right department?"

"If you don't mind, I want take a look at the names on the documents. If they've done this before, I can have their information pulled up and we can get everything sorted without you looking like you've made an oversight. How does that sound?" he asks smoothly.

"It sounds fine. Great, actually. Thank you. My mind is all over the place this morning and don’t have the stomach to call them back. I've screwed up enough, you know? Thanks again, you're really saving my hide here."

"No problem at all." He opens the envelope to peek at the documents and makes a sound. "That's odd. You said you're from Nuvola, right?"

"Yeah."

He nods. "Okay, these are not from your corporation."

"I watched Julian Blackwell, the CEO, just sign them. Whatever documents are in there, they belong to his company, or maybe it's his personal filings? You know what, on second thought, let me have them. I'll come back when I'm sure about the person they're supposed to go to. They wouldn't want me to hand deliver them if the documents weren't important."

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