Only A Memory Page 24

  “No, I changed my mind. I’ll just take my car in case I decide to head home earlier.” That puts a smile on my face and wipes Dana’s off.

  “F or fucks sake, do I really need to do everything myself?” The report on the stock shows significant discrepancies. Two days ago, we did a stock inventory, but it seems it was all for nothing. Apparently, some of the employees can’t even count to ten and that’s why nothing matches with the actual numbers. Phoenix is away on a much-deserved vacation, which leaves me no other choice but to do the inventory again. Fucking perfect. I was really looking forward to spending the afternoon with Ava, Everly, and a bunch of board games. Ava has been missing me lately since I’ve worked a lot, and I really don’t want to break the promise I gave her. It will break her heart, but I have no other choice.

  I can hear the disappointment in Everly’s voice when I let her know I won’t be coming home anytime soon. She understands and promises she’ll distract Ava for me.

  In situations like this, I really hate my job. I hate letting people down, especially Ava. She should come first no matter what, but I really need to do this first. And to think that I didn’t even plan on coming to Mi Vida today … Dana found some minor mistakes in the books, so I agreed to go through the documents with her to see what went wrong and try to fix things. It should take us an hour tops. But by some coincidence, I found all sorts of irregularities in inventory spreadsheets.

  “It doesn’t look that bad,” Dana tries to console me, pushing her hair to the side. “I can stay and help if you want. It’ll be much faster that way.”

  “You sure?” Even though I don’t like the way she acts around me, she’s really good with numbers. With her help, maybe I can manage to get home before dinner.

  “Of course,” Dana responds sweetly. She walks to me, plops her ass on my desk before she slides her fingers up my arm.

  “Dana,” I warn her, tugging my arm from her grasp.

  “What?” she plays innocent.

  “Just keep your hands to yourself.”

  “Why?” Running her hand down my chest, she bites her lower lip seductively. “You used to love my hands all over your body.”

  Pushing her hands away, I leave a tired sigh. “Look, I used to be single, now I’m not. You’re being disrespectful to Everly by touching me at all.”

  Dana rolls her eyes at me. “Everly this, Everly that. She’s all you talk about. It was just an innocent touch for crying out loud.”

  That pisses me off. “It wasn’t an innocent touch, and you know it. If you want to help me with inventory, I’ll be grateful, but there will be no touching or secret agendas. Have I made myself clear?” Hopefully that will put a stop to her flirting.

  “Fine. I’ll try.” Jumping from the table, she takes a look at the papers while I ask Tina to bring us two large coffees.

  After two hours of hard work, we take a break, quite tired already. “Halfway through. It’s going pretty fast,” I say, pleased with the pace as I sit at my desk again. Dana returns my smile, and with a purposeful stride she walks up behind me.

  “What are you doing?” I freeze as she starts massaging my shoulders.

  She leans down to my ear, her boobs pressing into my back. “Relax. You seem tense so I’m just giving you a friendly massage. Don’t be so uptight.”

  A friendly massage my ass. Turning in my chair, her arms drop down. “That’s not true, and we both know it. Keep your hands off me.” For fucks sake.

  “Connor—”

  “Just stop!” I demand, sick and tired of her. “You know I’m with Everly. You need to respect that and stop making a fool of yourself.” It’s as if I’m talking to a wall.

  “Everly doesn’t deserve you.” Now she looks angry, but it doesn’t affect me at all. “She doesn’t treat you right,” she hisses. “Just look at you. You’re tired all the time, you barely keep your eyes open. I’d take better care of you if I was your girlfriend.” Now she almost jumps in my lap, catching me by surprise.

  “That’s enough.” I’m not about to tell her why I’m actually tired and lacking sleep. Everly keeps me up the majority of the night as we explore each other’s bodies and make love, which is the best damn relaxation my body can get. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I’ve had many one-night stands in the past, but they were meaningless sex. There’s so much more with Everly – incredible chemistry, mental connection, and mutual trust. Sex with emotions is the best kind of sex there is. When we’re lying in bed, spent, sweaty, and panting after great sex, grinning at each other like idiots – that’s the life I want to live.

  Placing my hands on her hips, I try pushing her off my lap, but she doesn’t budge.

  “Come on,” she whines and digs her nails to my back. “You never gave me a chance to prove myself to you. It was just a hookup for you, but to me, it was so much more. I love you. Let me prove it to you. Just forget about her.” Jesus, this woman can’t take no for an answer.

  “Get your ass off of me.” Right when I try pushing her off of me again, harder this time, the door to my office opens. A smiling Everly walks through the door, but the smile fades the second her eyes land on us. It really looks bad, Dana in my lap, my hands on her hips, her hands on my face and her lips inches away from mine. Everly turns white as a sheet, frozen, pain shooting through her eyes.

  “Everly,” I breathe. It hurts so fucking bad to see her horrified face. “Fuck off,” I yell at Dana, trying to peel her off me but she isn’t letting go.

  “I … I …,” Everly stutters, visibly hurt, barely able to hold herself upright. “I brought you lunch, I wa-wanted to surprise y-you.”

  “Babe, it’s not what it looks like.” Finally, I manage to get rid of Dana, determined to get to Every and explain everything.

  “It never is.” With one last look filled with pain and sadness, she turns on her heels and runs out the door. Of course, I run after her, but the club is pretty full considering the holiday season, so I lose her. A faint whiff of her perfume is the only indication she was even here. Angrily, I punch the wall, feeling the skin on my knuckles break at impact. I don’t care about that or the fact that people are watching me.

  “Fucking hell.”

  Running to my office to grab my keys. Dana appears from behind me, offering me an insincere apology. “Connor, I’m so sorry.”

  I spin around and give her a nasty glare. “You’re sorry? You’re sorry?” I spit at her. “How many times have I asked you to stop, huh? Why did you do it? You’re so selfish, thinking only about your ass and nothing else. I should fire you.”

  “Don’t say that. I love you,” she protests in defense.

  “No. You only love yourself,” I lash out. Rage flows through me like lava. “You have no respect for anyone but you. Why can’t you fucking see I’m not interested in you? How many times do I have to tell you? I don’t fucking know if I can still work with you.” Pissed off, I clench my fist, to stop myself from hitting her.

  “You don’t mean that. After all I’ve done for you?” She reaches her hand to me, but I push it away. I sure as hell don’t need her to touch me.

  “What you’ve done for me? Are you fucking kidding me right now? All you’ve done is ruin the best thing that happened to me!” I can’t believe the words coming out of her mouth. I should’ve listened to Phoenix when he said she’s trouble.

  “She’s not the best thing that happened to you!” she screams. “I have a proof. She’s a nasty liar, leading you on. And you’re so fucking in love with her you don’t even notice what a bitch she is.”

  “Shut the fuck up!” She’d say anything to save her ass at this point. “I don’t believe a single word coming from your mouth. Go home, I can’t even look at you right now.” She’s not worth my time, I can’t deal with her anymore. I need to go and save my relationship. Dialing Everly’s number, it goes straight to her voicemail.

  “Fuck.” Another punch to the wall.

  “You’re gonna hurt yourself.” Dana stops a
t the office door.

  “Why are you still here?” I exclaim, my blood starting to boil.

  “I …”

  “I don’t want you here. Didn’t I make myself clear enough?”

  “But, Connor—”

  “Out!” I yell, making her jump. “Before I fire your ass.”

  “You’ll regret this,” she hisses.

  “I don’t care,” I yell and with one swift move, I swipe all the things off my desk.

  “Fine!” Turning on her heels she storms out. Finally.

  Striding down the hall with keys in my hand, nodding to Tina who’s picking up an order, I rush outside. Daylight hits me as I open the front door and walk out. Because of me Everly is hurt, and I need to fix it. Once in my car, I try calling her again. Please, pick up the phone. Again, it goes straight to voicemail, so I leave her a message.

  “I’m sorry, just let me explain what really happened. Where are you? Call me, please,” I plead. Sighing, I end the message and bury my face in my hands. I need to find her. Tires squeak as I drive off, making it home in record time. Not even bothering to kill the engine, I rush to the house. Carlos and Dolores are in the living room, making small talk, as I storm inside.

  “Connor?” Dolores questions with furrowed brows. “Aren’t you at work?”

  “Is she here?” I look around the room, ignoring her question.

  “Who? Everly? No. She went to Mi Vida to see you.”

  “Fuck,” I swear, rubbing my tense jaw, pacing the room.

  “Did something happen?” This time Carlos speaks.

  “Everything’s fine,” I lie. “If she gets back, please give me a call right away, okay?”

  “Okay. But you don’t look fine to me. Has something happened? Did you get into a fight with her or something?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it now. I’ll see you later.”

  First, I drive to the beach, then I check the park, and the town center, I even search the zoo – no trace of her. I’ve tried calling her a thousand times but she must have turned her damn phone off. My last hope is Gavin. I really don’t want to call him, but maybe she ran to him. Just the thought of it makes me sick. We haven’t seen each other since that day in the park. There’s still tension between us. I hate that he wants Everly. But I know he’s nothing like Dana. He’s come to terms with the fact that Everly is mine, like I had to come to terms with the fact Everly considers him a friend and enjoys hanging out with him. Unfortunately, he hasn’t heard from her, either. I don’t know who else to call, I don’t know any of her friends besides Amber. I’d call her, but I don’t have her number. I don’t know where to look for her. I fell in love with a woman I don’t even know. She’s a complete mystery to me.

  Everly

  I’ve spent the last hour wandering around, not really looking where I was going. The sky split open a few minutes ago. Now I’m soaking wet, tired, and freezing. I should’ve known Dana was going to ruin everything. She’s a parasite, one latches on to you and doesn’t stop exploiting you until it gets what it wants. And she wanted Connor. It looks like she finally got him. They looked cozy, like what was happening was so natural. Bile rises up my throat, my eyes well.

  But there’s also the fact I’m keeping secrets from him. God knows I tried telling him a couple of times, but I froze every time. It seems I won’t have to bother now. Maybe it’s for the best.

  It hurts. I can’t say it doesn’t. My feelings for him are strong, and I don’t know how I can ever look him in the eyes again. How can I stay in the house I’ve started calling home? What to tell Dolores and Carlos? Oh, God. I can’t work for them anymore. Not after everything that happened. It would be too painful to see Connor’s face every day. My first instinct is to flee, to run away and leave no trace behind. But I can’t – all my things are still at the house. I can’t leave Faith’s teddy bear, or Bradley’s shirt behind. That’s all I have left of them. I need to get them before I go. I can’t go without saying goodbye to Dolores and Carlos. And Ava. That sweet little girl. Taking a deep breath, I try to collect myself. The sooner I get this over with, the better. I need to heal my wounds and try to get over him somewhere far away. Yeah, right, like I’m ever going to get over him. Why do I even bother deceiving myself? I’m never going to get over him. He became my world.

  Realizing, I need to get back to Mi Vida to get my car. When I saw Dana in Connor’s lap, I wasn’t thinking, I just ran down the street and left my car behind.

  My feet heavy, I walk back to the parking lot. I fish inside my pocket to get my keys but they’re not there. When I drove here with lunch for Connor … Crap. I had them in my hand when I went into his office. I must have dropped them in shock. Just great. Can this day get any worse? My vision is blurry. I don’t know if it’s from the rain or the tears that are running down my face.

  Going to the back entrance, I don’t want anyone to see me.

  Taking a deep breath, I walk inside Mi Vida. Praying his office is unlocked and that they aren’t inside anymore, doing … God, I don’t even want to think about it. Carefully, I try the handle and it gives, so I slowly slide the door open. Happy the office is empty, I look around to examine the floor but I don’t see the keys. And they aren’t on the desk, nor the sofa, or in the desk drawers either. They couldn’t just vanish into thin air.

  “Looking for these?”

  Spinning around, I see Dana standing in the office doors. My keys are dangling from her fingers.

  “Dana.” Her name tastes bitter on my tongue. As I reach my arm to grab the keys, she hides them behind her back. “Please, give me the damn keys so I can leave.” I’m tired, I don’t want to deal with her on top of everything else.

  “I really don’t get what Connor sees in you,” she puffs. “You wrapped him around your little finger, he doesn’t even realize the woman he trusts is lying to his face.” She snorts.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “No?” Her brow lifts. “Well, let me refresh your memory then.” She takes her phone from her purse, a few seconds pass before my voice fills the office. It’s a recording of my conversation with Amber. My eyes widen in surprise.

  “How am I supposed to tell him it’s my fault they’re dead? Tell me! I’ll have that fire on my conscience for the rest of my life.” Dana throws my words at me as soon as the recording ends, her face twisted in a grimace, her eyes shining with a glint of madness as she puts the phone back in her purse. “So? Did I refresh your memory?”

  “You eavesdropped on my conversation?” I snap at her. “That was private.” Anger is pounding in me like a drumbeat. How could she do something like this? “You really are nasty.”

  “I did what I had to do. And when Connor hears it, you’ll be history.”

  “History? I’m already history. You won, can’t you see? I hope you’re happy,” I let out a harsh breath, throwing my arms helplessly in the air.

  “I’m not happy,” she screams, making me jump, and sways a little on her feet. “He told me to fuck off. Can you imagine?” A bitter laugh fills the room. “The idiot is so in love with you he doesn’t even notice me. I lost him to a lousy caregiver. He’s all I’ve ever wanted. It’s your fault he hates me now. I tried everything, and I almost had him but then you had to show up. You’re not worthy of him.”

  What? Lines form between my eyebrows.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” she slurs as if she’s drunk, her voice laced with irritation. “Yes, he ran after you like a lovesick puppy. You’re all he sees. But guess what? He’s never going to get you back.”

  I can’t listen to her ramblings anymore. “Just give me back my keys, and I’ll go. You’ll never see me again.” Taking a step forward to get my keys, she pushes me so hard I trip and lose my footing, banging my head on the edge of the desk in the process. By the time I hit the floor, my head is pulsing with pain.

  “You’re not going anywhere.”

  Slowly, I lift my hand and press it on t
he throbbing bump on my head, feeling blood on my fingers.

  “Once he sees his beloved Mi Vida disappearing in flames and hearing you set the place on fire, he’ll realize how wrong he was about you. I’ll make sure I cry real tears when I console him. And that little recording of yours … well, let’s just say it won’t do you any good. I will get my revenge and have Connor in my bed.”

  The world spins around me as I try to push myself up on my elbow. “He’ll never believe you.” My words sound slurred.

  “But he’ll believe your words, darlin’. You dug your own grave. This will be too easy.” She pulls a matchbox out of her purse.

  “No!” I yell wide eyed, my hand in front of me. “Don’t do it! Mi Vida is his life. Please. Punish me, do anything you want with me, just don’t do this.” Dana rubs a match along the side of the matchbox and it flares up. The second I see the flame, my heart starts pounding hard.

  “Too late.” Flicking the match into the curtain beside the window to her right. “Who would have thought this little thing can cause so much destruction? So impressive. I see why you like it. It gives you power.” Helplessly, I lie on the soft floor and watch the highly flammable curtain material being devoured by the quickly spreading flames. My heart is racing, my palms are sweaty, and I start to shake in fear.

  “Please, stop. There are lots of people inside. Do you really want to have all these lives on your conscience?” Trying to lift myself off the floor to get away from her, she grabs a bottle of liquor from a cabinet, drinking it. Then she spills some on the carpet in front of me. With another match lit, she gives me an evil smile before she throws it on the stain. It burst in flames. Next to me, the curtain, enveloped in flames, falls to the floor, leaving nothing but destruction behind it.

  “Stop yapping. Nobody’s going to get hurt. You’ll probably be the only one left in the club. It’ll look like you got trapped inside the burning building after you set up the fire.” Her face is twisted in an evil grin. Another lit match lands on the floor by the desk.