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Chapter Seven
I said quickly to Hilde, “Have you met or heard of Rob’s brother, Joey?”
She looked flustered. She said, “No, I didn’t even know he had a brother! You and Mr. Michaels have never mentioned him.”
I told her, “That’s because he’s a horrid miscreant who has dedicated his life to being a pain in Rob’s side. He’s also a notorious womanizer and a rude, disgusting man. He’s also walking up to us and if you want to leave now, please feel free.”
She didn’t have time to process my comments before Joey was already in front of us. He walked up and kissed me on both cheeks, lingering too long. His scent, usually so intoxicating to me, disgusted me when it meant I could no longer smell the pleasant lilac scent of Hilde’s tentatively applied perfume.
He stepped back and said, “So, want to really turn this into the funnest place on earth, Anya?”
The crook of his eyebrows was painful to look at. He stayed too close, not stepping back from his position when he kissed my cheeks.
He acted like he didn’t even see Hilde. I glared and gestured toward her.
I said, “This is Hilde Klunt, the finest assistant at ExploreR.”
Instead of taking the cue from my voice that he should behave respectfully, he didn’t even look at her. He said, “Nice to meet you, Miss Kunt. Don’t you have somewhere else you could go assist?”
Hilde visibly winced. I moved away from him and toward her, instinctively responding to the pain she was showing, but I had to stall my movements.
I refused to be more inappropriate and make her more uncomfortable.
Instead of physically comforting her, I turned to him and said, “Her name is Miss Klunt. You missed the ‘l’.”
He smirked at me, “Not sure what gave the impression I give one shit about how to pronounce your assistant’s name, Anya. Let’s go.”
He grabbed my arm and tried to pull me toward wherever he had apparently marked for another one of our encounters. But not this time.
I whipped my arm out of his grasp so hard my nail scratched his arm. He gripped his arm and shouted at me, “What the hell?”
I said calmly, “I’m not sure where you think you’re taking me, but Miss Klunt and I were just about to ride this spinner ride, which she highly recommended. I think I would be remiss not to take her up on her recommendation, as she is usually concerned more with the feelings of others than herself, and would not recommend it unless she thought I would genuinely enjoy it.”
His confusion was primal. I was his bitch, his animal, and I’d snapped at him. I thought for a moment he was going to smack me across the face, and I wondered how I would take it.
He simply bowed mockingly and sneered, “By all means.” He gestured toward the ride. “I’ll wait for you at the exit.”
I walked by him, whispering in his ear, “No, you won’t. You insulted a good woman, and I can’t forgive that. Whatever messy, fucked up thing this is, it’s done. Never again, Joey.”
Then I left with Hilde, feeling more genuine power than I had felt in a long time, and more genuine joy. Especially when I looked at her confused but pleased smile and helped her buckle in to the ride.
