Page 46 of Love Not Qualified

Thank you for your gifts, Mr. Graves. Although one pair would’ve been more than enough.

As soon as I exited the conversation with him, I moved back to the Unlock app, thrilled to tell Chad about it. Yet I second guessed my decision.

What if he was going to get it all wrong? What if he was going to think there was something between me and my boss? He couldn’t understand how important the project was to him and that maybe he felt like he needed to repay me somehow.

He didn’t need to know.

As if he knew I was thinking about him, Chad answered my text.

Chad Bitt

They played hard to get at first, but we are fine now. Fights happen often when you have a big family.

I smiled. I didn’t know what it was like to have a big family, but I knew how it was to have a brother. He was innocent and caught in the middle of a war between my father and my mom, with no other wish besides that we’d be all together one day. For a long time, I believed wholeheartedly I was going to be able to get him back or even see him again just for a few minutes, but when the phone call came… not taking him had become my life’s biggest regret.

Out of a family of four, I was alone even if my mother wasn’t in a coffin or a prison.

Me

I’m glad to hear everything is okay now *red heart emoji*

My teeth grazed the inside of my cheek and because I didn’t want my mind to wander to those awful memories or feel the guilt sweeping in my bones, I dialed Merielle, knowing she was going to be able to get me out of this mood.

The phone rang and a small smile reached my lips as I walked around the bags, stealing a glance inside where the most luxurious pair of heels were hiding.

“Miss me already?” she joked, and if possible, the smile stretched even wider.

“No, I could never miss your annoying voice.” I laughed, then took away the phone from my ear and clicked on the camera button. “Let me see you for a second.”

She appeared on my screen with her blonde ravished hair and with the background of the depository room at the coffee shop she worked at. “What is it? I have to start in five minutes.”

I flipped the camera, biting my lip as I waited for her reaction. She came closer to the screen, now only her round eyes visible as she squinted them to see the image.

“What the hell, Hae? Did you rob a store?” she shouted into the speaker, and I flipped the camera back to me, smiling.

“No…” I grinned, moving around in my office. “Mr. Graves gifted me heels as a thank-you for the partnership thing.”

She exaggerated, dropping her mouth open and her eyes rounding. “Are you fucking for real? Couldn’t he stop at a pair? That seems like dozens of shoes.”

I nodded, holding eye contact as she recovered from her shocked expression. She backed away a bit, enough to let me see the hand that landed on her hips and the purse of her lips.

“Fuck him,” she spat out, and a frown covered my forehead.

“What?” I almost choked out on my saliva, not understanding where this hatred for him was coming from. Buying me shoes after my heel broke was a sweet gesture and if she couldn’t see that… well, my best friend was stupider than I thought.

“Fuck. Him.” She lifted her brows, then she walked back and placed her hands on a wall as she leaned down, moving her ass in an obscene move. “Bang him. Ride his stick. Call it what youwant, but if I were you, I’d walk into his office right now and show him what a proper thank you looks like.” She winked at me and threw her head back, faking a moan. “Ah, boss, that’s it?—”

The door behind her opened and she rushed to the phone, curses slipping past her lips. “Fuck, shit. Sorry.” The call ended and I couldn’t help the laugh flowing out of me.

She was nuts.

And thanks to her, when I sat on my chair and got to inspect each one of the pairs, I imagined how it would’ve been if I followed Merielle’s advice. These white heels would’ve looked stunning wrapped around him as he gripped my hair and put me on his desk.

I shook my head.

No. This was wrong.

I was in a situationship with Chad.

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