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Chapter 2
Harlow
“Whatthefuckis going on here?” Dex asked in a warning tone.
The man laughed and stood back with his hands up defensively.
“Nothing, bro. Just having some fun. Weren’t we, Harlow?”
The sound of my name jolted me into action. I moved past him, exiting the elevator as I shot daggers at him. The soft carpet below masked the sound of my footsteps and as I reached my apartment door at the end of the hallway, a hand smacked it. I gasped, turning around to face an angry Dex.
“Please don’t bring your shit around here.”
My eyes burned with unwanted tears but I forced them back as I glared at Dex. “I didn’t ask for any of this. I didn’t ask for everyone to hate me. I didn’t ask to have drunken assholes stalk me and try to assault me. And I certainly didn’t ask for you to hate me.”
I couldn’t help admiring that Dex’s green eyes had little flickers of blue and grey in the iris. He had me wedged between his torso and the door but I didn’t feel the fear I felt in the elevator. You see, despite his obvious hate for me now, it wasn’t like this before.
Dex and I met nearly a year ago at a local bar. I was there celebrating my new job at the accounting firm and he was there with friends for a birthday. We played pool and I soon discovered that his roommate had just moved out and he was having trouble replacing him. It was a match made in heaven, because I was looking to move out of my parents’ house to be closer to work. Dex’s apartment was only a few blocks from the office and it was fully furnished, so I didn’t need much to get settled. After I kicked his ass at pool, we shook hands and arranged to meet his landlord the next day to put me formally on the lease.
Pro – Being on the lease stopped Dex from kicking me out 6 months ago.
Con – Being on the lease stopped me from leaving without financial and legal consequence.
I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose. I hated this. Everyday was a struggle, but it was the loss of my friends that always hit me the hardest.
“Dex... I wish you would just listen to me.”
Right on cue, Dex shut down. His face hardened and he stepped back as if I had electrocuted him.
“Don’t let it happen again,” he muttered, turning around and stomping off down the corridor with his bag in tow.
I watched the back of him until he vanished out of sight, and I flicked away a loose tear that had fallen down my cheek. I was reaching breaking point. Actually, I was pretty sure I had hit breaking point 6 months ago and I was just now living on borrowed time. There didn’t seem to be any way up from here. Just a dark pit of despair that swallowed me whole.
6 months earlier
“Mom!” I shouted, the door slamming shut behind me as I walked into the house. “Your favorite child is here!”
“In here,” came the muffled response from the study.
I could hear banging like she was frantically closing the desk drawers. By the time I reached the brown study door and pushed it open, she was sitting calmly at her desk with her hands folded on top. I could just make out a silver key under her fingertips. She noticed my stare and collected the key in her hand, pushing it into her jacket pocket.
“I’m glad you were able to come to dinner. Some of your father’s old associates wanted to come by to tell us how the business was going.”
I threw myself down on the leather couch against the wall, my mother avoiding direct eye contact as she made herself busy on the computer.
“So, we still own the business right? The attorneys didn’t tell me much after dad died. Just that the board would continue to run things on our behalf.”
My mom, Clara, nodded before finally looking at me directly. “It’s complicated, darl. The CEO gets appointed by the board. Your dad owned the majority of the shares, so legally I now own those shares so I can have input and decisions about it. But it’s not really my area of expertise. So the board is dealing with it for now.”
“For now,” I agreed, echoing her words, “and then what? What will happen to the shares? Are you going to keep them? You have to, right? If you sold them, then the company wouldn’t be ours anymore.”
Mom’s eyes darted nervously to the computer screen before she smiled at me. But I could see the forcefulness behind it.
“Darl, don’t worry about such complicated things. You have your job to focus on. Didn’t you say you and your colleagues were vying for some promotion?”
I nodded, not calling out her deflection. “Yeah... One or two of us associates will get promoted some time in the next year based on performance. Bryson and I are hoping it’s us.”
Mom chuckled, her eyes lighting up as she looked at me with a knowing glance. “That Bryson sure is something...”
Blushing, I looked away as I smiled. “Yeah, he sure is.”
“Maybe you could ask him to the city dinner next week. I’d love to meet him.”
