Page 84 of Frayed Bonds

“Then what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

I have nothing to say to ease his mind because right now even though I've escaped the suffocating weight of the bathroom his scent lingers on every inch of my skin and I want to go back in time and smack myself for reaching for his shower gel instead of mine.

“Valerie,” he says. His tone is cold enough to freeze my actions, its chill runs through my bones and I can feel the goosebumps rise on every inch of my skin.

I stop and face him and he looks almost…angry?

“Tell me who hurt you, or so help me god, I’ll..”

“You'll what?” I interrupt. “Go back in time and kill them? Prevent it all from happening? Well, you fucking can’t, Ambrose. It was Mattheo, that’s how it happened, but it’s over, so try to forget about it because I know I fucking am.”

I grab my things and rush into the stupid walk-in closet slamming the door behind me.

My head is swirling with thought and regret starts creeping in. Ambrose cares about me. Really cares about me and I don’t have a clue how I let it get this serious again, how I let myself get so carried away with it.

Chapter thirty-four

Valerie

Tension is something I'm not a stranger to. Growing up, I’d notice the tension between my mamá and papá whenever they argued, or whenever Natalia had seen her father and would come home and pretend she didn't want to cry. I noticed it whenever Mattheo would come home drunk and angry, and I definitely notice it right now in the car with Ambrose.

The only difference is it doesn't feel like all those times, when the people felt angry, like they were holding it together, trying to control the rage they felt inside. No, this tension feels sad. It feels helpless like neither of us knows what to say or do.

“Did I do something to piss you off this morning?” he asks as we pull up to the parking garage where the security offers Ambrose a polite nod and lets him in. He doesn’t turn to face me but the question sets me off. It triggers all my unnamed emotions and they all rush to the surface like a rapid in a river.

“Besides prying into something that doesn't concern you.” I want to grab the words out of the air and put them back into my mouth and swallow them. “Ambs..” I start but the way he looks at me shuts me up. His eyes are wide and his usual green eyes are more of a faded sage colour, then I notice the bags under his eyes and I wonder why he looks so tired.

Has he not been sleeping? When did he stop resting properly? I usually pass out as soon as we get into bed so I've never noticed his absence or restlessness.

Another thing I didn't notice.

“Of course, I’m fucking stupid for being concerned about the girl that spends every night in my bed. Obviously none of my business. You won’t have to worry about me ‘prying’ again.” He tosses me the key, gets out of the car and slams the door shut so hard I jump in my seat.

All the mornings we've gotten here together, he usually lets me go first and I’ve joked it’s purely to check out my ass. He’d wildly deny it and say it makes sense for him to be late and not me since he’s the boss.

I've caught him checking out my ass, though. I also didn’t miss how his slacks were slightly tighter when he walked past my desk a few minutes later or the way he locked his office for at least fifteen minutes after he got in.

But today there’s none of that. There’s just me, alone in his Audi, feeling stupid and a hundred unsaid words hanging around me.

I get out and try to shake the morning off. Trying to not bring my problems to work, which is exceptionally difficult when my problems are at my work and are also my boss.

I get up to our floor and it’s in utter chaos. Everyone seems to be frantically running around or trying to busy themselves.

A girl dashes past. “Hey, what’s going on?”

She barely stops, instead continues walking backwards, “Mr. Vitale came in and started yelling about wanting the new set of figures for the financial year in five minutes so everyone is rushing to get it done,” she says before turning and rushing off.

Black thick-framed glasses rest on the top of my desk and I look a bit further and notice their owner standing a few feet to the right fixing his hair.

“The long lost Vitale brother finally returns home,” I say as I come up behind him and place my bags down on the desk.

A smile spreads broadly on his face, it’s genuine and it sends reassurance through me.

“Hey, Val, oh my god I've missed you so much,” he turns and pulls me into his chest and kisses the top of my head.

“I missed you too,” I whisper into his chest as I savour the moment. Right now nothing matters, I don't care about what everyone around us is probably thinking, I don't care about the drama with Ambrose. I just care about getting to hug one of my best friends again.

He pulls back and looks at me. “You smell different,” he furrows his brows and tries to sniff me. I jump back and head around my desk, the sweet moment quickly ruined.

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