Control

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

James

Just one more year and I will finally escape this f*cking hellhole, I thought as I grudgingly made my way to Blue State Coffee. I moved here from New York City to get my degree in business and will be returning there to help with my father's company once I graduate. My father owns a large investment firm and I have been trained and expected to take over the family business once I am deemed "worthy" as my father so condescendingly puts it.

Honestly, at this point, I feel like I could open my own firm and put my father out of business. It is a tempting thought, but my mother would lose her sh*t. She's the only person on this earth for whom I have an ounce of compassion. She has had to deal with my *sshole of a father and has stuck by him solely to be the buffer between the two of us. My father has cheated on her countless times and used to abuse her daily. That was before he moved out. I guess he eventually got tired of the façade. My mother stuck around because she knew my father would fight for and win custody of me.

My mother is currently battling stage four breast cancer, and I would not want to put any further stress on her than she already has. I promised her I would get my degree and that I would remain close to my father, those are the only reasons I am still here and willing to work with that son of a b*tch. I don't think he has visited her once, since hearing the news. Unfortunately, his uncaring and cold nature has passed on to me.

I have remained distant from everyone, save my own mother. Sure, I have friends and I know how to play nice, but being raised by a sociopath, makes one untrusting and wary of building relationships with anyone else. Instead, I use relationships to my advantage. I form friendships with those who will help advance my career or who can help bring my enemies down. I don't fall in love, but I am a man, so I do my fair share of bedding women. However, even those are calculating. I tend to go for women who have a mutual understanding that things will only go so far until we both stop seeing the benefit of us being together or until one of us (she) develops stronger feelings. Those signs have become easier and easier for me to read, so I nip those bed-partners in the bud as soon as symptoms appear.

Sadly, the pool here in New Haven has declined greatly the longer I have been forced to remain. My appetites have grown in parallel with my boredom and the number of unsullied partners who would work well with my rules, is quite low. I don't know if I will be able to last another year here.

I saw my friend Jack waiting for me outside the coffee house. The guy is hilarious, but incredibly immature. I have to be the most jovial version of myself to remain in his circle of friends. However, his father is one of the most renowned entrepreneurs on the East Coast, so it will do well for me to remain his "friend."

After a quick hello, I turned to lead the way inside the shop, when this imp of a girl smashed into me, spilling her coffee all over my shirt. F*ck. I look down with annoyance and a hint of amusement as I see crimson appear on her cheeks, which are barely visible from beneath her messy black bob and large black-framed glasses. She quickly ran away and returned in a dash with some napkins and began dabbing my shirt mumbling incoherently the entire time. In exasperation, I grabbed her small hands in mine and yelled, "Enough!"

Timidly, she glanced up at me through her long lashes. Angrily, I scrutinized her face, which seemed oddly familiar to me. I could have sworn I had seen those piercing blue eyes before. Frustrated that I couldn't place it and that now I had to go back and change I yelled at her, "Did you think a f*cking napkin would actually help?!"

I turned back to Jack with an annoyed sigh and asked if he'll order for me and I head back home. Feeling incredibly out of control and fed up with my situation, I decided to pinpoint the easiest prey at the moment and let my frustration out on the pixie heading in the opposite direction and yelled, "He b*tch! If I EVER see you again, I promise I will make your day a million times worse than you've just made mine!"