Page 29 of If You Could Only Believe
There was a heartbeat of silence and then…“That’s fucking bullshit!”Michael raged, and what ensued next, is something I’ll never forget.
Michael stood up, grabbed the chair he was sitting in and threw it across the room in a magnificent display of male strength, passion and unadulteratedrage.
I mean, real, real rage.
I heard gasps, and I could only watch in stunned silence, as all three Buchanan males rushed over to Michael, surrounding him.
I wasnotgoing to stick around to see how this thing would end, because I was pretty sure it was going to end with me getting fired, and I didn’t need to have a genius IQ to know that much. I stood up and ran out the door. The door shut behind me and I looked up to see Michael’s assistant, Florence, standing at her desk, staring in my direction, her face saying it all. She heard the commotion. And if she didn’t, she sure as hell could hear Michael’s screaming my name from inside his office.
I ignored Florence, and I ran.
I even skipped the elevator. I found the stairway entrance and flew my fat ass down four flights of steps. When I hit my floor, I headed straight to Katrina’s office, and without giving her a chance to even question me, I told her I was going home sick. She gave me a shocked nod of her head-because I’ve never called in or gone home sick in all the years I’ve worked for BI-and I raced to my workstation, turned off my computer (without saving a damn thing) and ran out of the building.
My heart was racing, but by the time I made it to my car, my hands were shaking, and I was a mess. It took me a few seconds to unlock the driver’s side door, work the handle, get in and start the ignition.
I was fucking terrified.
Driving out of the parking structure, I managed to make my way onto the street-driving the correct direction-and it wasn’t until I was a couple of streetlights away, that I could finally focus.
I had no idea what I was feeling because I’d never been in a situation like this before, but I knew I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the attention, and I didn’t like…well, my heart was actually, physicallyhurtingand I didn’t understand how it could do that.
I spent the entire drive to my apartment wondering how I was going to be able to show my face at BI tomorrow. Or even if I wanted to.
But I was a smart girl. I could figure it out.
Couldn’t I?
Chapter 16
Michael~
I wasn’t drunk, but I was pretty close.
I didn’t know what else to do. I kind of felt like Mason when I found him draining a bottle of liquor the morning after he had that big blowup with Shane.
It had taken all three of my brothers to hold me back from going after Sophia after I lost it in my office earlier. Justice’s ‘holy shit’ hadn’t penetrated my fog of rage, nor had Denise’s ‘holy fuck’. It was Shane’s quiet sobs that had snapped me out of my red haze. And as I looked over at her, sleeping peacefully on my couch, I hated how I upset her and made her feel like she needed to come home with me to babysit me.
Getting drunk seemed like the thing to do.
Closing my eyes and dropping my head back over the couch, I sighed. The last time I lost it like that, I was going after my father for talking ill about Shane. But, even then, I can’t recall feeling as much rage as I did when Sophia said she would only embarrass me if we dated.
I wanted to pummel anyone who has ever made Sophia feel like she was less than spectacular.
I couldn’t understand how she didn’t see it. I’ve been to her place, so I knew she owned a mirror. So, I just didn’t get it.
When I looked at Sophia, all I saw was a beautiful face that didn’t need makeup. I saw a body lush, ripe that was made to be worshipped-by me, and only me, that is. And being around her was like rain after a decade long drought; refreshing and much needed in my life.
Sophia was a one in a million. There were thousands of beautiful blondes, stunning brunettes and gorgeous redheads. There were thousands of those perfect humans who were curved to perfection and had not even an eyelash out of place.
But there was onlyoneSophia, with her genius IQ, her unfiltered mouth, her shy quirks and a body made just for me.
I had been a 23-year-old virgin before I met her. I’ve had countless girls and women throw themselves at me over the years, and not any of them ever make me feel a fraction of what Sophia does when I justlookat her.
And now she’s seen me at my worst, and she ran.
Hell, that’s not even my worst. My worst was bought off many times by my father and there were the times he didn’t even know about.
Mason, Aiden and Gabriel knew I was our father’s favorite punching bag, but they didn’t know the extent of his abuse and I never told them. I knew that if I did, Mason would have killed him without hesitation, and Aiden and Gabriel would have helped him bury the body, no questions asked. I couldn’t and would never put them in that position. So, I downplayed a lot of what my father did.
