Page 38 of Scary Suitor

“Oh! Alina!” a nameless coworker calls out from shock, quickly throwing her arms around my neck.

While I try to remember her name, she babbles about my sudden departure. I just smile and shorten the conversation with curt but polite replies. The conversation dies for other reasons, namely her eyes dancing up Cassio’s suited body like a pole.

“Congratulations,” the woman says, slapping my back in emphasis. “He’s a catch.”

He’s a carnivorous snare, and I’m the unlucky snack.

After she leaves, I meet with several other team members. Cassio slides his arm around my waist as others congratulate me on my engagement, which stupefies me. I glance at his persuasive smile, captivating the swooning ladies and fooling the blushing gentlemen. I decide not to make a scene.

Especially as a buff janitor pardons for his interruption, wheeling the large trash bin between us and the harping coworkers.

I’m not a genius, but I feel proud to label the janitor as one of Cassio’s men. Wilma from Human Resources discriminates against tattoos during the hiring process. It’s an open secret, and this man has a massive compass tattoo on his neck.

I tentatively wave my coworkers away as they head out for lunch. My tongue thickens, prickling pain nips on the shells of my ears while my legs drag through the entrance. I look around shyly, noting many have gone to lunch.

Finny clears her throat from the refreshment counter, her face scrunching inward at the disapproval of my actions.

Well, the things Cassio did on my behalf without consulting me.

He nuzzles his face into my hair and whispers, “Do you want to talk to her?”

His fingers unleash encumbered power in one firm rub on my hipbone. The faint warning consumes my skin under his grip, blooming discolored petals onto my waist and hips for his possessiveness.

I gingerly place mine on top of his hand, biting back a grimace at the tender gesture, and smile. Finny has seen intimate gestures from Cassio; sometimes, I would play along to not have her question the uneasy aura, but it’s different this time.

Her brows deepen the red-lipped frown, eyes flickering cautiously between my stiff action and Cassio’s naturalness.

“Two minutes,” Cassio agrees, releasing his dominating grip.

I immediately fly into Finny’s arms. Her questions go unanswered as I breathe in her mademoiselle toilet parfum.

I’m supposed to say it with a French accent, but I can’t pronounce half the words on the perfume bottle.

An involuntary laugh at the memory muffles in her shirt.

Finny was so offended when I said the name wrong. I compared it to the air freshener at the courthouse’s bathroom, where she paid her “purchasing an illegal intellectual property” ticket from a 1994 bootleg movie that she unknowingly bought.

She swears on her life all sidewalk hustlers are out to get her now.

“Quit giggling,” Finny snaps, but there’s no bite.

I laugh harder, relishing the influx of funny moments we had at an appalling time.

“You quit before telling me,” Finny chides, pinching my nose. “I’m your best friend, your sister, and I’m going to be your maid of honor. And this is what you do to me? You just snag a rich boy and say ‘bon voyage, broke assholes’ before quitting your job to be a sugar baby?”

“You’re projecting,” I grumble, lips curling into a slight pout.

“I want to be a baby, sprinkling sugar on my daddy, so he drops his credit card between my ass-cheeks, which I catch from my glute workout.”

She has a knack for being dramatic, but I love her theatrics dearly. I think I’m going to sleep on it, tackle the impending turn of my life with a fresh mind, then accept what comes next.

Finny is my energy station, and without her, I’ll run on fumes.

Despite the atrocious crime Cassio committed, no matter how disgusted I am with him, and never mind the disrespectful way he went about invading my life, I’m attracted to his manic tendencies, his menacing fondness, and his pledged devotion.

Cold green eyes brand impatience on my back.

I lick my lips and intertwine our hands together. The concern amplifies as it extends to the bobbing neck when she swallows.

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