Page 18 of Redemption
“Coffee would help. Let’s go,” I insisted.
“Why is someone laying on their horn outside?” She covered her head with my pillow and curled up under the blankets.
I let out a long breath. “I don’t know, but you missed a call.”
She sat up abruptly, eyes wide with surprise, and yanked the blankets off, revealing my body and her phone. Naturally, she couldn't resist stealing a glance at me—how could she? She looked at her phone and rolled her eyes, groaning. “Great. The horn is my ride. I’ve gotta go.” She moved around the room gathering her things, still wearing my white t-shirt, but the sweatpants she fell asleep in must have been tangled somewhere in the sheets. My big shirt covered her modestly until she crouched down by her clothes in the pile she left them in. My heart raced at the sight. It took everything I had not to drag her back onto the floor with me.
“Damn it, they’re still wet,” she said, throwing them back to the ground.
“Sophia,” I called to her.
She turned to face me and said, “I can’t go out like this.”
I returned her desperate gaze with a smile. “You do kind of look like a mess, but I like it. You might need some pants, though.”
She rolled her eyes while stomping back toward me, then dug the sweatpants out of the tangled blankets. “Who’s picking you up? Your boyfriend?”
She looked at me in shocked disbelief. “No, my other boss, Henry. You know, the guy who dropped me off?”
The horn blared again. “Holy fuck, stop honking,” she yelled. Jesus, she has some pipes.
The hangover must have been clouding her mind, I couldn’t figure out what the big deal was, he dropped her off in the rain last night, why would he be surprised that her clothes were wet? He wouldn’t even notice. The real issue was she was covered in the sticky remains of dried whiskey.
“Just call him back and say a friend already picked you up,” I calmly offered. “Say you will be home later. Why is he so involved anyway?”
She ignored my question but took my advice and tapped at her phone. The moment she held her phone to her ear, he answered. “Hey Henry, no, Emma picked me up earlier.” I could hear the guy through her phone; he sounded like a jealous boyfriend to me. “Yes, I’m at Emma's house. I’ll be back later. Okay. See you then.” She sighed and slumped into my office chair.
“See? It worked out perfectly.” I climbed off the ground and walked over toward her. “Now, call your friend Emma and have her bring you some of her clothes so we can go get some coffee.”
“Yeah, not happening. I’d rather wear these wet ones.” She shook her head, as if she couldn't believe she was in this situation. “If Emma found out I was stuck here in your clothes, she would never leave it alone.”
The throbbing in my head demanded relief, and this back-and-forth was getting me no closer to it. “I'll just grab some coffee for us from the break room,” I said, stepping over the contents of my desk sprawled out across the floor.
“Ew, no,” she said as I reached the doorway.
I turned back toward her, “What's wrong with the break room coffee?” I didn't take her for a high-maintenance girl, but then again, what did I really know about her?
She looked at me sheepishly. “A few months ago, I found a ton of mold in the water reservoir when I was cleaning it.”
I stared at her, my eyes narrowing as she pressed her lips together and offered a weak smile.
“That would have been good to know, assistant.”
“Sorry,” she offered with as innocent a smile as she could force.
Light filled the room as the sun rose higher. She stepped over the broken lamp and scattered papers to the window and soaked in the warm rays with closed eyes. Damn she was beautiful. “Will you please go get coffee from Cabana cup for us? I really don’t want to think about how to get out of this situation until after I feel a little better.” My body ached from sleeping on the ground for half the night; hers probably did too. I stretched my muscles and tried to work through my own hangover.
My phone vibrated. It was my new friend Victor, wishing me a good morning. “Money sent. Now fuck off.” I was glad Sophia wasn't looking; I couldn't hide this smile if I tried. I walked toward the woman bathing in sunlight and kissed the side of her neck from behind. She tilted her head, giving me more access to her soft skin with a tempting moan.
“I’ll go get us some coffee,” I said before slapping her ass. She bit her lip and gave me the look I was after, despite her hangover.
The hot, humid air was oppressive as I left the building. Cabana Cup was just down the street, but I wasn't about to walk there. Isquinted and walked briskly toward my car, then froze, a tingling wave of hairs standing up on the back of my neck as I caught a glimpse of a threat in the corner of my eye. A man with a wild look in his eye charged toward me from behind the building. I relaxed, the instinctual reaction fading. Normally, something like this meant I was about to give someone something to regret, but this funny-looking guy was shorter than Sophia with a frame to match.
“Hey. Hey,” he said with his chest puffed out. “Is Sophia in there?” His shrill, whiny voice was begging me to punch him in the mouth.
“Who the fuck are you?” I asked lazily, towering over him.
“I’m Henry, Sophia’s… friend,” he said through gritted teeth.
