Mending Heart |18+|

Chapter 7

Breaking Free

"She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom." – The Scarlet Letter

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I impatiently tapped my freshly manicured nails against the copy machine as it continued to whirr and whoosh – spitting out page after page of the report I was printing. When it finally stopped making noise, I thought it was done but one glance at the monitor made me roll my eyes.

Error: Load Paper Tray

Honestly, does no one replace the paper after they use it? This is like the fourth time this has happened to me in the past month.

Bending over to rummage through the cabinet where all the letter paper was stored, I was about to stand up when someone cleared their throat behind me.

I screamed, whipping my head around and nearly falling flat on my ass. Placing a hand on my already beating heart, I took in the tall figure leaning against the door frame.

"Whatcha doing there, McKenzie?" Ethan asked, trying to stifle a laugh.

"Oh you know," I brushed myself off as I straightened out. "Just living my best life – loading the paper tray."

"There goes that sarcasm again." He shook his head, smirking.

"Did you actually need something?" I cocked an eyebrow at him as I turned around to load the printer's paper tray. "Or were you just purposely trying to give me a heart attack."

I heard him chuckle behind me. "I came to see if you wanted to come to a client site with me tomorrow. I need an MD on the project because Bethany called in sick for the rest of the week."

Hmm, I thought to myself. Be stuck inside all day going through paperwork, or venture out with Satan's spawn?

Decisions, decisions.

"Sure." I shrugged as the printer continued to spit out the remainder of my report.

"Wear something comfortable then." He eyes slowly ranked over my figure, before coming back up to my face.

"What do you mean by comfortable?" I challenged. I was wearing a sleeveless color block sheath dress with black stilettos today, something I would typically wear on any given day, or when going to meet with a client.

"What you'd wear to the gym."

"That would imply that I workout..."

Ethan sighed as he rolled his eyes. "You're being difficult, McKenzie."

"Always." I reciprocated his smirk as I grabbed the large stack of paper I had been waiting for and walked away from him – making sure to brush his shoulder intentionally.

"I'll pick you up at 7 AM." He called out from behind me. I was about to protest the ungodly hour, but knowing him it would be of no use.

This is going to be interesting, I thought to myself.

As I continued towards my office, I could feel Ethan's continued burning gaze. It took every ounce of willpower for me not to turn around.

Following my embarrassingly drunken night with Ethan a few weeks ago, he stayed over for breakfast and helped jog my memory about the night before. To say I wanted to crawl under a rock and never come out would have been an understatement!

However, he surprisingly never brought it up again and it's as if the whole thing never happened. Following that night, I also haven't had a single drop of alcohol. You know you've hit rock bottom when your boss has to hold your hair while you puke and make a total ass of yourself.