Page 4 of Unforeseen Love

If he is trying to get a rise out of me, it’s working.

“Listen.” I turn to face him and lean back against the kitchen counter. “You might be my new boss, and I may not have any say as to the shared living arrangements, but let’s get one thing straight… Move your lid and suitcase out of the only entrance and exit to the flat, and if you want wine, there’s an off-licence less than a mile away,” I say, waving my hand out to the side. “And as far as food goes, you’ll be buying your own.”

He just lets out a gruff laugh. “You always did have a stick up your arse,” he says quietly, but loud enough for me to hear.

I huff, push off the counter, and step around him—my sanctuary is quickly becoming a living hell.

“Oh, fuck off,” I say over my shoulder.

If he can insult me, I’ll be sure to treat him with the same contempt.

“That’s no way to speak to your new boss, is it?”

Before I do something stupid like waste this delicious wine by throwing it in his face, I keep walking and slam my bedroom door behind me. I lean back, my head bumping the wood with a soft thud.

“Please, for the love of God, let this be a dream––a terrible dream.”

I tip back the contents in my glass and shudder as it hits the back of my throat.

He raps his knuckles on my door. “Come on, if we’re going to live together, we should at least learn to get along.”

Reluctantly, I swing my door open and storm past him, going back to grab my bottle of wine. Something tells me I’m going to need it.

He’s still standing outside my bedroom, and I shoo him away, but he just laughs.

“I think you’re overreacting.” He looks down at his––no doubt––perfectly manicured fingernails.

“Overreacting?” I point to myself with the hand holding the bottle of wine and then hug it to my chest. “You have got to be shitting me. How would you feel if the guy who made a point of being an absolute knob to you not only became your boss but also your housemate in less than ten hours?”

I let out an exasperated sigh. Why am I even bothering? He knows just how much his presence gets under my skin. No doubt he’ll use it to his advantage.

“I think you might be slightly exaggerating.” His stupid mouth tips up at the corner and I can feel my blood pressure rise along with it.If he smirks at me one more time, I swear to God…

“Hardly. You and your cronies were arseholes to me, and you know it.”

He shrugs like it’s no big deal. “Oh, come on, what’s a little banter between friends?”

I swing out my hand, holding the wine. “Friends, we are not.” And with that, I retreat into my room and slam the dooragain.

“Oh, Morticia, you wound me.”

There is no way I am going to keep letting him bait me. I scope my room until I find my noise-cancelling headphones and then pull up my favourite playlist on my phone before pulling them over my ears. Hopefully, this will block him out, at least for a while.

As much as I’m tempted to drink the entire bottle of wine, I’ll only have one more glass. I have a spinning class in the morning, and I’ll be damned if I allow him to ruin tomorrow before it’s already begun.

Taking a deep breath, I open my text thread with my best-friend Quinn and decide to send her a message. She’s the only person who could possibly understand what I’m going through.

Me: You are not going to believe this!

Before she can even type a reply, I’m already sending another message.

Me: Theodore fucking Wainwright is my new boss. And not only is he my new boss, that arrogant arsehole is also my housemate!!

Her typing suddenly ceases, and my phone starts ringing.

I look over to my bedroom door as I answer. Grabbing my glass of wine, I get up and go into my ensuite and close the door.

“Hello.”

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