Wrecking the Homewrecker (BOOK 2) EDITING

11

Adora

My alarm woke me up, which made me let out a groan and roll over on my side.

"What the hell is that," Derek asked, rubbing his eyes.

"My alarm."

I sat up and grabbed my phone, turning my alarm off.

"Why so early?" He asked, his arms falling against his sides.

I looked over my shoulder at him. "I told you that I have that interview today with Santiago's friend."

"Oh," he said, "yeah."

I stood up and stretched, walking into the bathroom. I froze in the doorway as soon as I noticed that I hadn't given Derek a good morning kiss or hug, as I always did.

I looked around as I pursed my lips together, continuing into the bathroom. I looked down at my phone, which read seven thirty.

I brushed my fingers through my hair, deciding against hopping in the shower due to time, and since I'd taken one last night before bed.

I applied minimal makeup, as per usual, and threw my hair up into a ponytail. I walked into my closet and bit down on my bottom lip as I looked through my clothes.

I decided on a black pencil skirt with a white bodysuit beneath it, throwing a jacket over it.

I grabbed some heels and stepped into them, examining myself in my full-body mirror. I pulled out some strands from my ponytail to frame my face a little bit more, smiling at myself in the mirror.

I was beyond excited about this interview.

"I'm off, see you later!"

Derek stopped me as I ran into him, eyebrows furrowed down at me.

"I love you," he said.

"Yeah, love you too," I said, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek before brushing past him.

I ran downstairs and into the kitchen, grabbing my purse. I grabbed my keys and walked out, running to my car to avoid the rain.

The drive to the place was quick, so I had a few minutes to spare. I whipped into a parking space at the coffee shop, walking inside.

I looked around and widened my eyes at the sight of Santiago King, holding my hand up to cover my face.

As if that worked.

"Excuse me," I muttered, squeezing in between people to shield me.

I grabbed one guy's shoulders, situating him beside me perfectly. "Stand right there for me?"

He just smiled down at me, folding his arms over his chest.

"Thanks."

I pursed my lips together and shifted from foot to foot. The tall, bulky guy beside me nudged my arm with a smirk. "Hey, what's your schedule looking like for this week?"

I looked up at him and pursed my lips together, shooting him a small smile afterwards. I held up my left hand and his lips parted, eyebrows going into a furrow. "Oh, my bad."

"It's your turn," I said, making him clear his throat and step in front of me.

His order was short thankfully, so I was quickly guarded again by the people waiting on their coffee.

"Hey, can I get a tall caramel macchiato?"

The barista smiled up at me. "Three dollars on the dot. If you'll go stand over there, they should have it out to you in a minute or so."

I handed her a five dollar bill. "Keep the change."

I smiled and stepped to the side, biting down on my bottom lip.

My eyes kept darting over to Santiago, who seemed too interested in his newspaper to notice anything else.

I quickly darted my hand up to my face as soon as his eyes strayed away from his newspaper, biting down on my bottom lip.

Please don't notice me.

"Mr. King?"

I felt the heat rise to my cheeks, and I bit down on the inside of my bottom lip. I let down the effort of hiding from him and dropped my hand.

He stood up, earning the eyes of everyone in the coffee shop. Everyone quickly resumed their conversations when he looked at them, a small smile forming on his face.

Santiago King had no doubt in his mind that he was the man.

And in fact, he was.

His tall, intimidating form moved closer and closer to me, making me flex my jaw muscle and try to make myself as unnoticeable as possible.

He stood next to me, his arm touching my own. "Thank you," he said, smiling as he grabbed his coffee from the lady behind the counter.

I was surprised when he walked away without a word. My eyebrows furrowed and my eyes followed him.

"Adora?"

I snapped out of my thoughts, grabbing my drink that was slid across to me. I looked down at my phone and realized I was on crunch time now.

I walked over to the tiny table where the creamer, sugar, and straws sat, which was also where Santiago was.

"Your attempt to hide from me backfired on you, huh?"

I looked over at him, looking down at his lips that were pulled into a small grin.

"Can't answer me?" He asked, looking over at me finally.

I pursed my lips together. "I wasn't trying to hide from you."

"You were just trying to be unrecognizable, right," he said, nodding. He pulled his straw up to his lips, sliding it in between his lips to lick off the excess coffee on it.

I couldn't help my eyes from darting down to his lips, and I rolled my eyes.

He slid behind me and threw his straw in the trash can, his hand resting on my waist. "Trust me, you being unrecognizable is simply impossible, solely because no one has a body like yours."

And I watched as he grabbed his coffee and walked away from me.

~*~

Adora

The man in front of me cleared his throat, his eyebrows going into a deep furrow as he folded his hands together in front of his abdomen.

I snapped out of my thoughts, darting my eyes up to him.

He shot me a charming smile. "Something's up. And considering how I'm your new boss, you can tell me anything. I think I'm supposed to be there for you, or something?"

I smiled, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "Oh, nothing's wrong. It's just been a weird day, that's all."

He sighed, standing up. He straightened his coat out, walking over to his bookshelf. "Whether I've known you for six years or six minutes, I know when something's wrong. I have that gift. Maybe it's a blessing, maybe it's a curse."

I furrowed my brows together, clearing my throat. "If you don't mind me asking, what all did Santiago say about me?"

He looked at me from over his shoulder. "Just know whatever he said had me sold, considering I wasn't even hiring."

I put my tongue in my cheek. "He told me you were hiring."

He smiled and sat back down in his chair, bracing his elbows on his desk. "Of course he did. You weren't going to come into a place that wasn't hiring, were you?"

I just grinned.

"Santiago's a smart man, you know?"

"Oh, I don't doubt it for a second," I said, shaking my head.

"He knows how to persuade people."

I couldn't help the tight smile that appeared on my face. "I know that better than anyone, I'm afraid."

"He spoke up to you," he said, standing up yet again, "he doesn't do that to many people."

I watched him circle my chair, grabbing the bottle of liquor on the tray beside me.

"Would you like some?"

I shook my head. "Pass."

He poured himself a glass, leaning against his desk.

"You must have a way with Santiago King that no other person has," he said, "I wish you could've seen how he sold his soul to get you this position."

"Really, I told him not to. I wanted to be the one to get the job for myself, not him."

He smiled down at me, taking a sip of his liquor. "You do understand that he wouldn't have done that for anyone else, don't you?"

I just looked up at him, pursing my lips together.

He shrugged with a smile. "Maybe it's just me."

I avoided eye contact with him.

"Aside from the Santiago topic," he said, "I look forward to you working for me."

I smiled and nodded. "Same here."

"I hope my topics don't make you uncomfortable. I write a little bit of everything," he said, his hands fisted under his chin, "fiction, non-fiction, horror, erotica, I have it all."

I just nodded with a smile. "Trust me, I've seen it all."

He just grinned. I rested my elbows on his desk as well, fisting my hands under my chin.

His eyes darted down to my left hand, his eyebrows shooting up. "Oh. Well now I know why Santiago sold his soul to get you the job."

My eyebrows went into a furrow and I pulled my hands away from my chin, looking down at my left hand.

I looked at my ring and my lips parted as I looked back up at him. "Oh, this isn't from Santiago."

He sat back in his chair, a confused smile on his face. "Would've had me fooled."

I couldn't help the uncomfortable smile that made its way on my face, and I just flexed my jaw muscle.

"Let's start working, yeah?"

He nodded, sliding his glasses on his face.

I just bit down on my bottom lip, hoping to rid my head of the thoughts of Santiago King.

~*~

Adora

I awkwardly took a sip of my wine, placing my glass down as quietly as I could.

Derek and I were having the most awkward dinner we'd ever had.

Between this morning and the argument we'd recently had that we still weren't completely over, we were just out of it.

He finally cleared his throat, placing his fork down on his plate. "So how was your day?"

I nodded, tucking a chunk of hair behind my ear. "Good. How was yours?"

He nodded, bringing his glass up to his lips. "Lonely."

I just smiled, looking down. "Now you know how I feel."

I couldn't avoid his piercing gaze, his eyebrows settled in a furrow.

"Sorry," he said, almost timidly.

I looked up at him and shook my head. "I know you have to."

"Yeah, but you don't," he said, flexing his jaw muscle.

I blinked a few times, trying to look away from him but I couldn't.

"I don't want you to feel like I can't provide for you. That's why I stay gone. So you don't have to."

"I don't want to rely on you," I said, biting down on my bottom lip.

"You don't want to rely on me to do what?" He asked, folding his arms over his chest.

"To be my income," I said, "God forbid something happened, I wouldn't be able to live without a job of my own. I was brought up being independent. I'm doing this for me, and for no other reason."

"I totally understand that," he said, "but if you ever get tired of it, just know you don't have to stay. I've got you, you know I do."

"I know," I said, smiling as he reached across the table to grab my hand.

"So, tell me about your new boss."

I pulled my hand away from his. "He's really cool. He's super chill, I feel like he's not going to be the hovering kind."

He nodded. "Those are the best."

I let out a puff of air. "I ran into Santiago at the coffee shop this morning. Did you two have a meeting today?"

He shook his head. "No, I actually stayed home all day. I thought I told you."

There'd been serious miscommunication between Derek and I for the past few days, and it was unintentional. I think our minds were somewhere else.

"I cleaned the house," he said, shooting me a weak smile.

I looked around and noticed how clean everything looked.

"Oh my gosh," I said, "I'm so sorry I didn't notice earlier, babe."

He shook his head. "It's okay. Do you like your dinner?"

"Yeah, I love it," I said, smiling up at him.

I felt so bad. I hadn't even noticed that he'd cleaned the house.

"The house looks great," I said, breaking the silence between us.

"Thanks," he said, "I put our little robot vacuum cleaner to work. I think I put it together wrong because it didn't do anything."

I giggled. "We'll figure it out."

"Do you work tomorrow?" He asked.

"Yeah," I said, "I work the rest of the week."

He nodded, looking down. "I was kind of hoping we could go out on a date."

I bit down on my bottom lip. "I mean, I can ask for a day off-"

"I don't want you to," he said, shaking his head with a weak smile. He stood up and emptied his plate in the trash can, putting it in the sink before walking past me.

"I'm going to take a shower," he said, rubbing his hands through his hair.

I bit down on my bottom lip and watched as he walked towards the stairs.

"Derek?"

He stopped and turned around, his jaw muscle flexing.

"Thanks for dinner," I said, pursing my lips together.

He nodded and ran upstairs, making me sigh and stand up. I felt terrible for making him upset. Even if he hadn't said it, I knew I had.

I walked over to the sink after emptying my plate, looking out the window as I drank my wine. My phone began to vibrate so I pulled it off of the charger, pursing my lips together at the sight.

Incoming call: Santiago King

I slid my thumb across the screen cautiously, pulling it up to my ear. "What?"

"Hey, Addy!"

My eyebrows shot up at the sound of Freddy and Josiah's voices.

"Hey guys," I greeted, "what's up?"

"Dad-"

"Is he okay?" I asked quickly, but furrowed my brows together at my question.

"He's fine," they replied, "he just left his phone on the counter. We thought we'd call you!"

"Hi, beautiful!" Josiah yelled, making me giggle and place my wine down on the counter.

"You should probably put your dad's phone down, he might freak out when he sees you on it."

They laughed. "Okay, Addy. Bye!"

"Come see us soon!" Josiah yelled before the line went dead, making my lips pull up into a grin.

I placed my phone back down on the counter, grabbing my wine glass. I walked in the living room and plopped down on the couch, swirling my wine around in the glass.

I heard my phone vibrate so I stood up, sighing as I walked back into the kitchen.

[From: Santiago King]
Sorry the boys called you

[To: Santiago King]
Totally fine, just give them my number next time they want to talk to me.

[From: Santiago King] I feel like they would take advantage of that VERY quickly. Stop by and see them one day

I bit down on my bottom lip. I missed the boys and all the fun we used to have when I was a teenager.

But did I miss Santiago King?

~*~

hi guysss!! This was a SUPER long chapter wtf!! I hope you guys enjoyed it. I enjoyed writing it!

once again, thank you guys so much for making this book #203 in romance 😭 I dig it!

the winners of the one-shot contest will be announced in the next few chapters so keep an eye out for that!

ALSO! I made a Twitter & a Tumblr for my wattpad basically, and for this book especially! if you follow the Twitter you'll get to keep up with polls, I'll post links to updates, etc! (You can also send over banners and covers through that account as well!) I will probably post the one-shot winner on there, too! Pretty much the same thing applies for tumblr. (Except the polls) Twitter- @ subjayy_ tumblr- @ subjayy

please go follow them, guys! I would love for you guys to. I feel like if you do we'll be that much closer :)

okay. I love you guys!!! ❤️❤️