Page 54 of Anonymous Acts


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It was only once I reached the point where I could no longer ignore the hunger clawing at my belly that I broke away, cursing myself – and Kim – for the fact that my usual desk stash of protein bars was depleted.

I picked up my disregarded cell phone, clearing the usual pile of text notifications from my friends off the screen. According to the bright white numbers, it was nearing midnight.

I needed to at leasttryto get some sleep.

My insomnia had already been getting worse, but the events of the last week had taken me to a whole new level of sleep deprivation. I sighed as I closed the screen of my laptop, thinking about the wine and narcotic cocktail I’d used the night before just to piece together a measly three hours of restless sleep. That had only exacerbated my already fucked up mood to the point that I’d woken up already sick of the current day.

But there had to be some light at the end of a tunnelsomewherefor me.

I hoped.

I pulled myself out of my daydream to realize that without the glow of my screen, the office was darker than I expected. My mind quickly deduced that I was missing the ambient light from the sconces in the reception area – a switch Kim must have flipped on her way out.

Since my cell phone was still in my hand, I turned on my flashlight feature, using it to gather my things, and put the files I’d pulled from the safe in my office back in their secure place. Incorporation documents, investment records, patent files, and documentation on all ofVivid Vixens original formulas – what I’d been looking at today, for comparison purposes – were all kept here. Many things were kept in digital storage, but there were certain things that I – correctly, it seemed – considered too risky to keep in such a way.

Files on a server could be hacked. But the chances that anyone would get into my safe, with its dual lock system – dial and digital – were very,verylow.

It just felt… safer.

Once I had that done, I hooked my purse onto my shoulder and made my way out of the office, realizing for the first time how… eerie it felt without lights. Unlike my house, where I’d memorized my way through it in the dark, every shadow or shapeless mass seemed like something – or someone – lurking in obscurity, waiting to pounce.

The lowthumpI heard just as I stepped into the reception area didn’t help.

I couldn’t tell if it had come from in front or behind, but as just as quickly as my brain registered fear, I told myself to calm down. It wasn’t as if the building was empty – my product scientists stayed late often, and the warehouse had late hours too. That was why we kept overnight security – more people to add to the list of reasons to be hearing things.

Shaking my head, I laughed at my own ridiculousness.

Now, I was just being paranoid – probably side effects of a murdered husband and a severe lack of sleep. With everything I’d done today, there wasn’t much else I could do besides the thing I hated most – waiting. So instead of rushing to the office in the morning, maybe I’d gift myself that spa day Chloe had mentioned… not even two weeks ago.

Wow.

So much had happened in such a short time that the conversation in Chloe’s kitchen felt like something from months past. Then, hearing that my computer was being hacked had felt like my world was crashing down. I had no idea thatmuchworse problems were headed my way.

And I had no idea that the man who’d warned me about the hacking would no longer be my friend – a blow I hadn’t even had the capacity to process quite yet. For now, all I knew was that I missed him.

Did I understand his anger?

Of course.

He was a Black man, unfairly accused of murder and hauled in for questioning in a climate where a seemingly simple interaction, even for the innocent, could end with the police taking your life. I couldn’t even imagine how stressful it was, especially when I considered that Wick had never even seen my face, let alone Kellen’s before all this happened. Him getting pulled into that was fucked up, honestly. And if I were Wick, I wouldn’t want to see me either.

But… that feeling wouldn’t last forever, would it?

Couldit?

Eventually, once this all passed, he would come around. He would see that as unfair as that whole situation was for him, the experience was doubled, maybe even tenfold for me. I wouldn’t reach out to him, because I’d never begged my damnhusband,so I certainly wasn’t about to beg another man for anything, and because he’d asked me not to, so I planned to respect that.

Wickwould do the reaching.

And I would get my damned friend back.

Eventually.

And maybe then, I’d get some damned sleep.

I smiled to myself again – this time over the sluttiness of thinking about another man giving me a sleep-inducing orgasm when my husband hadn’t even been in the ground a whole week. I was so busy with my internal giggling that I barely caught it when I heard that samethumpagain – only this time, much closer, and now that I was really listening, followed by a sound that made my heart slam against the front of my chest.

Breathing.

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