Monday morning rolled around, and Serena and I had to go to work. J tried to talk me into not going but I stood my ground, so at nine o’clock the three of us arrived at work. I had tried to convince him we would be alright without our own personal bodyguard but he refused to listen.
Gina, our boss, greeted us with a smirk, “I heard you had a bodyguard but they never told me he was this hot.” Gina was Blake’s sister; he must have told her about J. She was a kick ass boss and I loved her hard. Unfortunately, she had no filter and said whatever came to her in the moment.
“Yeah, sorry but he will be hanging out here today,” I apologised.
“No need to say sorry, darl. Frankly, you’ve made my day. I do love me some eye candy,” she said with a wink.
Thank goodness J was standing outside and wasn’t privy to this conversation.
We got to work, restocking the shelves and cleaning while J stayed outside for most of the morning. He seemed pretty busy on his phone and I was grateful that I didn’t have to deal with him in the shop.
Being around him was hard; old feelings kept resurfacing and I alternated between hurt, anger and lust. Every now and then I caught glimpses of the J I had loved and those times were the hardest; they hit me fair in the chest. I wondered if he had a girlfriend currently. We hadn’t really even had a friendly conversation about our lives since he had been here so I had no clue what he had been up to over the last couple of years. Jealousy wrapped itself around my heart when I thought of him being with someone else. I really didn’t want to know. Fuck. Who was I kidding? I had a desperate need to know these details of his life.
I mentally slapped myself; time to get my shit together.
“So, darl, have you decided if you are going to head up to Brisbane?” Gina approached me.
I sighed. I hated this question. “I think I am going to have to, even though I don’t want to. I really want to make sure my friend’s daughter, Crystal, is okay. But I don’t want to leave you stuck for staff.”
She waved her hand, “Don’t worry about me or the shop. We will sort something out. I just want to make sure you are safe. And I want you to go tomorrow.”
My eyes widened. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, absolutely. You stay away as long as you need, and your job will be here when you come back,” she promised me.
I gave her a huge hug. “Has anyone ever told you that you are the best boss?”
“Oh, they don’t need to. I already know I am,” she replied, her eyes dancing with naughtiness. “Now, you go and have your lunch break and then Serena can have hers.”
I grabbed my purse and headed outside to go and buy lunch. J was on the phone, but saw me come outside and signalled for me to wait.
“I’m going to buy lunch, J. And I only get an hour so I don’t have time to wait for you,” I said, tersely. He kept talking and scowled at me. I turned and started to walk away from him, towards the cafe where I always bought lunch.
I could hear him muttering something into the phone and then he must have ended his call because he went silent. Then, he barked, “Madison!”
The last thing I wanted to do was stop for him, but there was something in his tone; a ‘don’t fuck with me’ command. So I stopped, and turned around to look at him. Oh, my. He was shitty.
He stalked to where I was and got in my face. “Why the fuck do you have to be so difficult about this?” He was fuming.
Well, I could see him, and raise him in his anger. “Maybe it has something to do with the way Scott has gone about this. And the fact that he sent you!”
He flinched. It was only for a second, and most people wouldn’t have even noticed it. But I knew J, and I saw it. It surprised the fuck out of me. “Well then, it looks like we’ve got some shit to sort out, babe, because I’m not going anywhere.”
“I don’t want to sort shit out with you. That ship sailed two fucking years ago, J,” I spat.
He gripped my arm, pulling me closer, “No, it fucking didn’t,” he growled, eyes blazing, “And you can’t deny there’s still something here. I feel it and I know you feel it too.”
I laughed. No, actually, I cackled. “You wanna fuck, J? I can feel that, and, yeah, if you wanna go there, I’m all for it. But don’t mistake my desire for your cock for anything else.”
He let me go, and looked at me disgustedly. “When the fuck did you get so bitchy?”
I settled icy eyes on his. “The day you ripped my fucking heart out, asshole.” We glared at each other for a few moments and then I said, “Now, can we go and get lunch?”
“Lead the way, sweetheart,” he grit out, and I didn’t miss the way he said ‘sweetheart’, like I was the furthest thing from his sweetheart.
My heart cracked a little more, even though I didn’t think it was possible. And fuck him for that.
Chapter 8