Taint Me More ☑️

Chapter Nineteen

"That man is fucking crazy" I growled as I swung the door to our apartment open. Gabby was right on my tail as she asked who I was referring to. "Ronald Carter" I replied and lit a stick of cigarette.

"Who? Your boss?" She asked and I nodded. "What did he do to you?" She gave me a questioning glare, her voice became deeper than usual.

I took a long drag from the cigarette and let it out. "He tried to kiss me, right there on the deck of his yacht" I shuddered as I said the words.

"What the heck? That's completely unacceptable, please tell me you pushed him into the waters" she frowned.

"I wish I did but my flight response hormone over powered my fight response so I was too focused on getting away from him. I panicked the moment he grabbed me" I said as I held in the smoke and exhaled.

She clicked her tongue, "maybe you shouldn't let yourself be alone with that man ever, he's probably always horny, I mean what do you expect from a divorcee who is around that age? He probably hits on all his female employees."

As she mentioned that, the thought of Victoria found it's way into my mind and I didn't understand why but my mind was going in different directions at the moment, so I shoved it aside as I tried to calm my nerves.

She sighed and placed her hand on her waist, eying me, "girl, you'll completely roast your lungs with all this smoking, geez" she hissed and stretched her hand out to me—palm up and I stared at her.

After a few beats, I sighed in defeat and handed her the unfinished cigarette stick.

"If you want calm nerves, I'll put on some tea. Smoking kills" she huffed and walked to the kitchen after putting out the cigarette on the coffee table and I rolled my eyes at her.

Gabby never liked my habit of smoking, which was why I never smoked in the house. That night, she did put on some tea—her mother's 'special' chamomile tea as she usually called it— it did work though, in calming me. We didn't talk about the events of the night again as we watched a movie together till midnight.

By morning, I was feeling a lot better and I'd stopped letting the issue bother me. Although, I wasn't sure I'd be forgetting the event soon. It was going to be hard to think of or look at Mr Carter the same way again. Working for him would make things even harder.

It was the weekend and besides the leftover work from the week I had to complete, I needed to rest and refuel. I did this by doing a little clean-up with Gabby and Heather and then having home cooked brunch together. I was glad to see Heather bonding with us again, after the events of the week; her visit to the station to identify the culprits behind Jason's murder. She had been pretty shaken up that day and hadn't been very active all through the rest of the week. But I was able to drag her out of her room to lighten up her mood.

The fall weather was giving way completely to winter and everyday, the air became cooler than the last.

There was a knock on the door around late afternoon and I stood up from the couch to get it. It was Brian.

"Did you miss me?" He asked with his arms spread apart and he grabbed me in a tight hug.

I returned his hug with a giggle and invited him in. "You know I did" I said.

"You liar!" He came in and took a seat on the couch, he grabbed my laptop and closed it, "well, what are you doing still dressed in lounge wear?" He gestured at my shorts and tank top. "Go get dressed, you're taking me out for a drink or two drinks if I feel like it, remember we had a deal."

Even if I wanted to, I couldn't resist his attempt at inviting me out for the evening.

"Gabby can come too" he said grinning from ear to ear as he glanced behind us at the kitchen.