Because You're Mine (A Tom Hiddleston Fanfic) #Wattys2016 #pfcc2k16

Chapter Twenty-Six: Falling Out And Coming Undone

...If you're gonna let me see the sun you set.

*****

"A friend?" Tom says with a broody scowl across his face. Caleb has left the office half a second ago, after he handed me yet another file for me to read. As I examine the folder and realize that it is considerably thicker than the previous ones, I try my best to ignore the sour taste I have coming from the back of my throat. "That was... harsh"

If he thinks that was harsh then he truly has no idea what is going on inside this spiraling head of mine. I keep my eyes on the binder as I open it up to see what environmental disaster I have to wade through this time, but I am fully aware of his every move, as he paces back and forward at the other side of the table.

"What?" I ask, pretending that I didn't hear what he just said to me.

"You introduced me as your friend" he replies with a low voice, filled with reproach, and remarking the last word with a derogatory tone. He is not mad about it but he's definitely dejected. For a second, I feel a small twinge of guilt in my gut but I quickly dismiss it when the moment he lied to me replays in my mind.

I look at him with my eyebrows arched in an expression of bewilderment, "He is my boss, Tom" I explain myself as if I were speaking to a mentally challenged person. He steps closer to my desk and takes a seat across me. I lean back on my chair and I rest my arms at my sides, breathing out a heavy sigh, "Excuse me if I don't want him to know the details of my personal life"

Truth be told, I would have probably introduced him as my friend even if I wasn't angry at him. Not only because Caleb is the person that I work for, but also because of the fact that Harry is a really good friend of him and I wouldn't want to put him, or me for that matter, in an uncomfortable position.

"Fair enough!" His hands rise at each side of his head before they land with a thump on the table. The noise startles me more than it should and I know that it's because I am dangerously on edge right now, "Let's go get lunch. You have been here for hours and you need to eat"

"I already told you I can't" I decline his offer once more, pointing at the pile of papers and files I have stacked in front of me.

Even if I wanted to have lunch with him, I know I would say no as well. I truly have tons of pages to read thoroughly by Friday if I want Caleb's associates to be prepared for their conference at the UN in New York. They will be flying across the pond in a week and they need to have all the numbers and precedents fully studied and understood by then.

And that is where I come in; I basically do all the reading, studying and understanding for them and then I have to decide what information they may or may not do without. I usually tag along on this sort of travels but this time, with everything going on with Rose; Caleb was kind enough to let me stay here.

Rose. With everything going on between meeting Tom's family and all the subsequent events, I now come to the realization that I haven't check on her for the last forty-eight hours. My stomach twits itself into a knot and the guilt resumes its growth, this time without giving.

"Okay. I'll leave you to it" He sounds truly vanquished this time but I don't have it in me to feel sorry for him. I watch him stand up and walk over to me but I keep my gaze away from his, "Call me when you're done?" he asks after he kisses the top of my head. I nod idly and after a pause, where I think he's going to say something else, he just walks away and then he is finally gone.

As soon as I hear the door closing, my hands begin a frantic search for my phone which I last saw somewhere deep under the papers on my desk. When I find it, I quickly scroll down the recent calls, looking for Joseph's name.