Page 3 of Sever
Chapter Two
Megan
Bzzz. Bzzz. Bzzz.
My alarm sounds and I groan, not wanting to wake up but rolling over and swiping the screen to make the deafening sound stop anyway.
A bang sounds on my door, making me jump. “Get up before you’re late!” Chrissy yells from the other side.
“Coming, Mom!”
It would be too much to ask for privacy so when I’m standing underneath the shower and the door opens, all I can do is shake my head. “Can’t a girl get a minute alone? You’re worse than living with my parents, you know?”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t love living with me.”
“I do, but I’d also love to be able to shower without an audience.” I turn the shower knobs and reach out to grab my towel, but it’s gone. “Give it to me!”
She laughs. I peek around the curtain and even through the steam I see her dangling the towel from her finger, a wicked look in her eyes that says she’s in the mood to tease. It’s times like these where I wonder how she ever made it to best friend status because, in all honesty, she can be as annoying as hell. “First, apologize for letting the red death corrupt your soul and make you bitchy this morning.”
“I’m not on it yet, and if you weren’t so intrusive I wouldn’t be so bitchy.”
“Maybe you need some intrusion to make you less bitchy.”
I release a sound that almost resembles a growl. “I will cut you.”
Her eyes widen. “Whatever man you end up with is gonna need balls of steel.” She tosses me the towel and by the time I’ve wrapped it around me, she’s out of the bathroom.
Chrissy and I were roommates freshman year of college and have been best friends ever since. She’s the first person after Ryder that I ever thought I could trust.
When she met me I was a mess. I’d lost myself. Chrissy helped me put the pieces back together with her particular mix of caring and sarcasm. She helped me dig myself out of the hole I was in and I swore to myself there and then that I would never let someone have enough of me to destroy me.
I get dressed and then head into the kitchen to fill my travel mug with coffee. Chrissy is sitting at the counter finishing off her breakfast. “You gonna be home for dinner?”
“Unless I get stuck.” Chrissy is a social worker, which still blows my mind sometimes. She is always so blunt, imagining her working with kids almost makes me laugh.
“Want me to bring home Thai?” I grab my purse and head toward the door.
“Miss Hendrix, are you trying to seduce me? You know that’s my favorite.” She wiggles her eyebrows.
I laugh, wondering how she manages to have this much energy in the morning because Lord knows I don’t. “Jesus, do you ever stop?”
“Yep, the entire time I’m at work. Although, I’m making dirty jokes in my head so I don’t know how true that is.”
The journey to the office isn’t a long one, but morning traffic makes it a bitch of a commute. I play the game where you try and switch lanes but every time I do, mine of course comes to a direct halt.
I went to school for accounting, wanting to have a stable job that would help me support myself. Ever since I was younger, that has always been a goal of mine, independence. Once I decided to leave my house and live at college, my parents basically disowned me. They never thought I’d go, so the fact that now they had to take care of the kids probably scared them. I miss my brothers and sister, but they refused to let me see them after I left.
Leaving them was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, but I had to do something for me. I spent my entire senior year waiting for Ryder to come back. He promised he would and I had no reason to doubt him. I even held out hope when he didn’t show up after I graduated. By the time August rolled around without any sign of him, it was clear I’d been a fool. First chance I got, I split. I couldn’t wait to get as far away from that place as possible.
I pull up to Duncan & Shie Accounting Offices and grab the first spot I see. I’ve only got an entry level position, but I’ve been trying to be really efficient and proactive so when a spot opens up with a higher title, I might get it. I stash my purse in the bottom drawer before powering up my computer.
“Megan.”
I look up to see Connor. He just started here a few months ago and he seems really nice. He’s asked me out to lunch a few times but I just can’t bring myself to say yes.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“Good. I wanted to come and let you know they just called a meeting.” He walks toward the boardroom, not waiting for a response. I stand up quickly, following him into the large office at the end of the corridor.
