Page 27 of Damaged

I want to thank him for letting me stay over and not flipping out over the fact that I ended up in his freaking bed.

I’m not about to bake him cookies. But… maybe I should? If nothing else than to just see the look of confusion on his face as I come knocking on his door to hand them over.

The bathroom door isn’t quite shut all the way, and just hearing him splash in the shower is making my heart hammer. He’s in there, naked and steamy. I get up and leave, listening to the water trickle. For some reason, something left in the air from our conversations, I don’t think he’d protest if I joined him.

But that’s all the more reasons to get out of here as quickly as possible.

James

Ow. The cold water pelts my chest and back. It lands on my throbbing cock like an airdrop of water on a forest fire—in that it does little to put out my lust.

I wish I had known when she first got into my bed so I could’ve done something with it. Spooned her.

No. Stop.I’m not going to bemoan that I didn’t make a move. It would be below me. She’s a dozen years my junior. Myemployee.

What do I want the papers saying about me? I remember how they tore into Alex when he first started dating Hailee. She was an employee of his, too.

The modern world does not look well on bosses who shit where they eat. And for good reason. Hell, in college I used to never sleep with girls I had a class with. That’s how far my rule for separation between business and sex went.

But I’m stuck picturing her messy hair when she woke up this morning. The wrinkles of sheets tattooed on her shoulder. The little burn of embarrassment on her cheeks. I could study her like one could a piece of art in the gallery. Hell, for much,muchlonger.

Maybe art began as a fill-in for men who didn’t have beautiful women in their lives. Who in their right mind would spend a minute admiring a painting if they had a woman like Sophia in their bed?

I start to grow hot under the cold water, but it’s not from wanting.

I’m wondering if she’s seeing another man right now. I doubt it. I don’t think she’d be so quick to come up to my apartment last night. But still… The question eats at me morethan I thought it would. Picturing another man laying hands on her makes my muscles flex in anger.

I turn off the shower, not feeling any better than before. The first thing I do when I’m dry is walk towards the guest room Sophia stayed in. The bed is made perfectly, as if she was never even here.

I lean against the doorframe and stare for a minute. I think I know what I have to do to keep good on my promise to Alex. There’s only one thing I can do.

I need to fire her.

Now would be a good time to do it. I’d give her a year’s worth of income. There’d be no guilt there. I could even set her up with another job in the industry. I can work with Jessica, annoying as she is.

I text Richard to schedule a meeting to terminate Sophia at three p.m. tomorrow. It turns out I won’t be seeing her after all.

This is more like it. More like me. Brutal. Business oriented. The best way to avoid temptation is to not be fucking tempted.

I have no intention of ruining Sophia’s life or having to worry about her catching feelings. There’s enough tension between us as is. Therefore, I should fire her. Doing so would be practical, pragmatic. Correct.

I go to the offices of Aquarius on Park Ave. We occupy a Gilded Age mansion that was first converted into an event venue but is now made up of a couple dozen offices.

Our company doesn’t require many employees. My extremely low overhead is one of the reasons I’ve been able to accumulate such a fortune at such an age.

My office is in what was once the master bedroom. It’s half the size of a basketball court. There’s a fireplace, big desk, and two couches facing each other like it’s the Oval Office. Thiscompany is not the jeans and T-shirt tech outfit you’ll find on the West Coast.

Our clients want us in suits.

Besides, I’m no whiz kid. That was Raheem Faris, my roommate back in college. He created security software that I didn’t have a dream of creating myself. I am no math genius—I’m a businessman. So, the two of us made the perfect pair.

I sold the software, grew our client list, and managed the books while he made the tech. We made a meager living with small to mid-sized businesses as our customers.

It all changed when we managed to snag a contract from the Department of Defense for four hundred million a year. Raheem retired years ago at twenty-nine. He’s currently biking around the world after completing the seven summits. Good for him. I prefer the summits of real life.

Growing the business, and the lion’s share of its stock, has been left to me.

Lately, however, the same old sales calls and board meetings have grown old. It’s time to diversify. Branch into more interesting industries now that I have the money to do it.

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