Page 19 of Loved By the Orc

I threw the cupcake and the rest of my lunch in the trash and headed right for the ladies room. Forget waiting until quitting time, I needed to get away to Hidden Hollow rightnow.And thanks to the time charm, I could have at least four hours there before I had to come back and finish this miserable day.

I stepped into one of the empty stalls—the one on the end—and quickly drew the magic door. I felt a burst of relief when it opened, revealing Main Street with its cozy, quirky shops and friendly Creatures and people.

But once I stepped through, I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. I didn’t have a lesson planned with Madam Healer today and besides, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to learn anything new, so going to see her was out. Well, what else?

I looked around, up and down the street. Lately I’d been stoppingby the local bakery—a place called The Lost Lamb, and getting myself a cupcake or a donut when I came to visit. The woman who owned it was named Celia and she was really nice. Her assistant, Sarah, was sweet too and she was married or “mated” as they called it here, to a half-Orc named Rath. I also liked the owner of the local diner, whose name was Goldie. She was quick with a joke and her coffee was the best I’d ever tasted.

But I had no interest in visiting either the diner or the bakery today. The thought of food only reminded me of how fat I was, even though I had actuallylostsome weight since I’d started dating Tark. (I guess eating vegetarian really is good for you.)

Not having anywhere else to go, I made my way to the big Orc’s house. I wasn’t really in the right frame of mind to see him, either. But I couldn’t bear the thought of going back to the office so soon and I didn’t really have anywhere else to be.

And this is where we came in. Sorry for the long intro, but I had to tell you about Tark. Speaking of my Orc boyfriend, he seemed to know something was wrong with me the minute he opened the front door.

“What’s wrong, baby? What happened to make you so upset?” he asked, frowning at me.

“What makes you think I’m upset?” I said, trying to sound like I was fine—like I didn’t care. I didn’t want to look weak in front of him. I had this idea that if he knew what had happened at work, he might start to agree with my boss’s assessment of me—that I was nothing but a weak-willed, fat, stupid, no good?—

Okay, I had to stop thinking of myself like that. I knew for sure I wasn’t stupid—it was just so hard to remember anything good about myself when all I heard at work was an endless stream of negatives.

Tark followed me into his house, insisting that he wanted to know what was wrong.

“I know when you’re upset,” he told me. “I can see it in your eyes and the way you hold yourself. Please, baby…” He knelt before me, getting down on my level, and took my shoulders in his hands. “Please, justtellme—was it that fucking boss of yours again?”

This time I couldn’t deny it. I think the look of concern on his face was my final undoing. Suddenly, I couldn’t hold the misery and shame inside any longer. Nodding my head, I felt my face crumple as the tears started.

“He…he said some things to me about…about m-my weight. Right in front of my c-coworkers,” I whispered, the words coming out choppy because of my sobs.

Mr. Price had always yelled at me in private before—having him degrade me in front of Katrina and Jeremy felt like too much—more than I could bear.

Tark’s face darkened.

“That fucker! I’ll fucking kill him!”

“No, you c-can’t!” I exclaimed though my sobs. “The police would start asking what…what happened to him. And an unhappy assistant would be a…a p-prime suspect!”

“Goddess damn it!” he growled and ran a hand through his hair. Then he took a deep breath and rose to his feet.

I was afraid at first that he was going to leave the house and go hunting for Mr. Price after all. Instead, he scooped me into his arms and went to sit on the couch.

I pressed my face to his chest as the sobs choked me. All of the pain and hurt and humiliation…I couldn’t hold it inside anymore. It was too much…justtoo much.

Tark didn’t say anything at first. He just rubbed my trembling back and shoulders soothingly with his big, warm hands and let me cry.

“It’s okay, Babygirl,” I heard him murmur at last. “It’s okay—let it out. Just let it all out.”

Somehow his acceptance of my grief and pain made it easier to do exactly that. I hadn’t had anyone hold me while I cried since I was a little girl. I knew I was getting Tark’s T-shirt soaked with tears, but he didn’t seem to care. He just held me tight and let me cry.

At last the sobs tapered off and I began to feel better—though I was sure I looked like a mess. My eye make up was probably all smeared but I did feel more like myself.

“You okay, Babygirl?” Tark rumbled, looking down at me with concern in his golden eyes.

Hesitantly, I nodded.

“I…I think so. Better than I was, anyway.”

“You want to talk about it?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

I shook my head.

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