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“Um, I’m sorry… what did you just say? Did you say a proposal? Did Mr. Dark Possessive Handsome propose to you, Emily?” Kim raises both of his brows and stares at me until I make some sort of effort to speak.
“No, not the kind of proposal you’re thinking about. Lom told me that he’s moving back to Grozny, and he wants me to go with him.”
There’s a thick silence quickly growing between the two of us.
“Sweetheart, why in God’s name are you even debating that? He asked you to move across the world with him! If that isn’t a major romantic gesture, then I don’t know what the hell is. Fuck, I have a hard enough time getting men to give me their number… and you have some handsome man wanting you to move across the world with him. Are you even hearing yourself right now?”
The more Kim speaks, the more I realize how big this is, not just for me but for Lom too. Everything I know about his past points to him being the biggest playboy around, and he asked me to move with him. Maybe all I needed was for Kim to knock some sense into me. I’ve even had the worst time deciding on whether or not I was going to actually go to Grozny, but the positives heavily outweigh the negatives in this situation.
Out of nowhere, Michael motions for me to come into his office, and as much as I want to tell him to go fuck himself, this could actually be work-related. “I’m being summoned,” I tell Kim and roll my eyes as I walk away from my work bestie.
I push on Michael’s door, and I’m not even in his office for more than two seconds before he barks out a demand. “You need to work overtime tonight.”
“I don’t, actually. I have plans, and there is a previous obligation that I can’t back out of.”
Michael stops staring at his computer and looks right at me. “If you value your job here, you’re going to make sure you can attend tonight… and if you can’t, then I don’t know what to tell you. Actually, I do. You’ll have to make it up in other ways.”Michael grazes his eyes over my body, up and down slowly until his eyes are right on my knockers. God, this dude is despicable.
“I don’t know if you’re aware, but I’m not a prostitute you hired off the streets. I won’t be doing anything you insinuate I should be doing, now or later. I’m done with this place.” I march out of his office and head straight for my desk. I pick up my purse and grab some of my personal belongings, stuffing them in my oversized tote as best as I can.
“You’re fired, Emily! Do you hear me?!” Michael screams at the top of his lungs while standing in the doorway of his office.
“Fired? I quit, Michael. There’s a difference between the two. I, for one, am not going to stay employed at a place where the head honcho constantly feels the need to comment or stare at my ass and boobs. I’m also not going to deal with your bullshit insinuations because I can’t fucking stand it anymore. This is a workplace, not an escort marketplace!”
I throw the stapler I bought and the pens I brought into my purse and make eye contact with Kim. He has “you go, girl” written all over his expression. In fact, I think he might be a bit proud of how I’m handling myself right now.
Michael doesn’t know what to say to that, so he keeps his mouth in a small “o”, and then before he can say another smart-ass thing to me, I’m walking down the hallway toward the elevators. I’m done with this company, and now there’s nothing holding me back from moving with Lom to Grozny.
***
I think about heading home, but I don’t want to head home just yet. I need to get some shit off my chest, and I really need to vent. As I unlock my car and slide behind the wheel, I decide to go to Lom’s hotel suite.
Within fifteen minutes, I’m in their parking garage and calling Ludvik. He tells me he’ll be down in a few moments toget me, and I wait for him by the elevator. Sure enough, the door opens, and it’s him, so I walk inside.
He looks me up and down, and it’s the type of look over when you know you’re failing horribly at hiding your feelings. “Rough day?”
I glance to the left and stare straight into his eyes. “You have no idea.” I shake my head because I can’t believe any of this shit happened in the first place. I mean, I’ve always known Michael was a pervert, right? At least, I knew it after the first time… but I had some high hopes that he would’ve stopped then. Only he didn’t. All he did was make comments under his breath while he walked by me or pull me into his office and suggest things like he did today.
I don’t see Ludvik smile very often, but the way he’s smirking right now has me chuckling on the inside. “I take it you’re going to head upstairs and share every glorious detail with the boss.”
“You’d be exactly right,” I confirm and watch the numbers rise as we continue going up the floors. The soft elevator music in the background does little to make me feel any better. I know hotels choose it because it’s supposed to be comforting, but how am I supposed to feel comforted right now? It’s such shit. Instead of being comforted, I feel like I want to wring Michael’s neck until it pops off his body. What makes me the angriest is the fact we all know he’s going to do this to some other poor woman and another after that.
The elevator stops, and Ludvik swipes his keycard. The doors open, and we both walk inside the suite. It’s as beautiful as ever, and the sunset shines through the floor-to-ceiling windows. It’s moments like these where I really see Atlanta’s beauty for what it is.
“Emily, I wasn’t expecting you.” Lom jumps up from the couch and puts his phone down.
“Have I come at a bad time?” I didn’t tell Lom I was coming, but there have been many times when I haven’t told him I was going to be here. It’s never been a problem, either.
He shakes his head. “Of course not. It’s a pleasant surprise, but you seem a bit frazzled.”
Fuck, Ludvik basically said I was wearing my frustration all over my face. “I had a bad day at work, like an incredibly horrible one.”
Lom takes a few steps toward me until he’s within arm’s reach and grabs onto my hand. “What happened?”
“This story calls for a drink first,” I say with a smile, and he heads over to the bar. In the meantime, I take a seat on the couch and watch as he finishes making my whiskey sour, then he pours himself a vodka over ice. When he’s done, he comes over and hands me my drink, then sits down beside me.
I don’t utter a single word until I have at least one sip in my stomach. “Remember I told you how my boss was being an utter dog a few weeks back? I thought he was going to learn the first time, but he didn’t. He made that remark to me about how I wasn’t working as many hours as I had while I was an intern. I told him that as an intern, I was trying to prove I could be a good asset to the company, so I worked longer hours, but once I was given my position, I worked the traditional forty-hour work week just like everyone else. He insinuated that there were other things I could do to clock in some more hours.”
As he clenches his jaw, I can tell Lom remembers exactly what Michael was insinuating. “These are moments when I truly hate men like that. They give men like me a bad name. It’s despicable, disgusting behavior. But why do I have a feeling like there’s more?” he finally asks, his tone dark and dangerous.
