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“No, I think I’ll be fine. I just need more rest.” Callan leans against his desk, his thigh brushing against my arm as he leans down and presses a sweet kiss into my hair.
“Gerald should be here soon.” He presses another kiss to my head before pushing himself off his desk. But he redirects his path from his desk to his door when a knock raps against it.
“Come in,” he hollers as he makes his way over. I know that as his assistant, I should probably make myself presentable, but I don’t have the damn strength, so I bury my head further into my arms against his desk.
I hear the door creak open as an unfamiliar voice greets Callan.
“Hey, Dad. What are you doing here?” Callan asks and my whole body freezes.
His dad?
As in former owner of this dealership?
Play dead.
Please don’t notice me.
“You haven’t answered our calls since the family meeting and your mother was getting worried, so I decided to come check on you. Wanted to see the dealership too, see how things have been since I’ve left,” his dad explains. Maybe it’s because I’m super out-of-it, but I feel like there’s something familiar about his voice.
I slowly lift my head from the desk and look over my shoulder. Callan is blocking his dad’s view into the office; I can’t see him, and he can’t see me.
“Well, that’s nice of you dad but I’m fine. Business is fine. Why don’t you head back home? I promise I’ll call when I’m ready,” he speaks confidently to his father. It makes me hot when he talks like that, all bossy and powerful.
Suddenly, and shamefully, I feel a sneeze rising in my throat. It tickles the back of my nose and I try to pinch my nostrils to suppress the urge, but I can’t stop it. It comes out full force. And I feel my face burn bright red when Callan’s dad realizes that I’m in here.
“Do you have company?” his dad asks.
“Yes dad, but now’s not a good time.”
“There’s always a suitable time for business. Introduce me. Don’t be rude.” I hear his dad’s words and can pinpoint exactly what Callan meant when he’d said that his dad always has to make it about himself. Not to mention, he speaks like he’s the most important person in the room.
As Callan attempts to reject his father access to the office, I get up from my chair and smooth myself over in an attempt to look somewhat decent. But my skirt is wrinkled, and my hair is now a tangled mess of waves.
I turn to the door just as Callan’s dad pushes his way in. I look at Callan and his nod gives me a knowing apology.
“Dad, this is Sterling. My assistant. Sterling, this is my father, Richard.”
“So,thisis Sterling. Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” his father says as I bring my eyes up from the floor to his neatly pressed slacks, his single-buttoned blazer, his crisp tie, and his barely-shaven face. But…his face. I’ve seen that face before. I’ve seen…
“Sterling?” Callan’s voice is weak in the background as I stare at the man in front of me. If I wasn’t sick before, I am now. I know this man.
“Someone I love could be ruined if you speak about this accident.”
“Take the money and never speak of this again, or else.”
“You hit a deer and that’s all anyone needs to know.”
The words from that night filter into my head, like a memory I’ve lived over and over again, but tried to forget. I was groggy and on pain meds and I couldn’t remember what the stranger had said to me, the one that gave me that envelope…until now. Until he’s standing in front of me, locked onto me with his beady little eyes.
My body goes numb. All my organs suddenly act like they don’t know how to work, and it feels like I can’t breathe.
It’s him.
The man looks at me and his face is sharp. I’ll never forget his face.
The hospital.
“Is there something else I can help you with, dad?” Callan’s mouth moves but the words are silent. I don’t think he notices my reaction.
