In Love After Office Hours (Wrong For You series Boxsets #7)

Fifteen

T HE FIRST TIME MR. Collins had informed Pippi of her transfer and its corresponding pay increase, the news had considerably fired her up, and she had told herself she would do her boss proud and make sure Mr. Evans would say she was worth every dollar added to her wages.

And in normal circumstances, everything would be as she planned. But ever since she had gotten involved with Acheron Simonides, so much in her life had changed that she couldn't even recognize her own face in the mirror.

The old Pippi had been thoroughly self-sufficient, the kind who defined romance in terms of love affairs with food, books, and other inanimate objects. The new Pippi she had somehow turned her into, however, was revoltingly weak, with her growing dependence on Acheron's presence.

She had never imagined there'd be a day she would find herself checking her phone every minute, waiting with bated breath for a man to remember she was alive.

How pathetic can you get, Pippilotta Jones?

It was seriously mortifying, but even so she found herself caving in and sending the first text.

Pippi: May we please talk?

But her phone remained still and silent, and come lunchtime, Pippi managed to convince herself this was because her message had been too vague. It might even have indicated unwillingness on her part to acknowledge there wasn't anything wrong with her refusal to explain about her transfer to Gareth Evans' office.

And while she was still determined not to tell him the truth, perhaps things could still be salvaged if she said something else?

Pippi: If you had truly read HR's file on me, then you would know that I am not the type of person to like two men at the same time. Nothing could be further from the truth.

After hitting Enter, Pippi stared at her iPhone, willing it to vibrate with a reply. But it didn't, and her heart sank. With only five minutes left of her break, she'd have no choice but to wait until five o' clock—-

Her iPhone buzzed against her palm just as she was about to drop it back in her bag, and her heart nervously skipped a beat as she answered Acheron's call. "H-Hello?"

Acheron's jaw hardened at hearing the tremor in Pippi's voice. He didn't like knowing that he was the cause for her to sound this uncertain. It wasn't like her, wasn't like the delightfully proud Pippi he knew.

But even so, a part of him refused to bend and just let things go.

When the silence became too much to bear, Pippi asked unevenly, "Do you really think it's possible for me to cheat on you?"

"Right now, the only thing I know—-" Acheron's voice was flat. "——is when someone's hiding something from me." He didn't expect her to deny this, but her expected silence gave him no pleasure at all. "At least tell me this, dammit. Whatever it is, at least tell me that Evans doesn't know either—-"

"I..."

It was too fucking easy to read between the lines, and Acheron struggled with a mixture of disbelief and anger. "The bastard knows then?"

Pippi couldn't help flinching at Acheron's tone. "I know it looks bad," she appealed, "but it's truly not what you think—-"

"How the hell would I know when you won't say a goddamn thing?"

"I like you." It took all of Pippi's courage to say the words. "You, Acheron. Not him. You. "

But Acheron's silence told her the words weren't enough, and when he finally spoke, she realized why this was.

"I think it's better if we give each other some space for now." He knew how much it had cost her to say the words, but he also knew that with his temper starting to strain perilously past its leash, there was every chance for him to say things that were unnecessarily hurtful.

He just needed some damn space , Acheron thought grimly, to work the jealous kinks out of his system.

And for all intents and purposes, it was a good plan, if only it weren't too easy to misconstrue. The words itself, made worse by the coldness of Acheron's tone, had Pippi in shock. To her ears, it had sounded very much like he was asking for them to break up, and this devastated her. She had never imagined he could be so selfish and immature - so blasted unreasonably uncompromising that Pippi had an urge to throw up, realizing just what kind of man she had so willingly given liberties to her body.

"You know what?" Pippi found herself gripping her phone so tightly it was a wonder the device still hadn't shattered. "You can have all the space you need," she heard herself say, "and you don't even have to get back to me after."

Stunned at the way Pippi had suddenly hung up, it took Acheron several moments to realize how gravely she had misunderstood his words.

FUCK.

His anger evaporated in an instant, and all thoughts of making Pippi admit the truth were forgotten. At that moment, even having Pippi say 'drop dead' to his face would've been enough. All he wanted was the assurance that his foolish blunder hadn't cost him the most important girl in his life.

Desperation nipped at his heels as he redialed Pippi's number, but when his call went straight to voice mail, Acheron knew she had already blocked him from contacting her. He had the ruinous urge to throw something against the wall, followed by an equally ill-advised urge to march straight into Evans' office and leave her no choice but to face him.

But if he did that, Pippi would only have more reason to despise him - and transfer her affections to someone else.

Pippi might insist on seeing Evans as harmless, but Acheron had seen the way the other man had looked at Pippi, following her like some stalker as she headed straight into the lion's den.

While Evans' track record with women might be a lot less tarnished than Acheron's, it didn't mean the man was a saint, and Acheron was damn certain the asshole wouldn't hesitate to pounce on Pippi the first chance he got.

"Goddammit."

The thought of any other man making a move on his woman had Acheron surging to his feet in a fit of impotent fury, and when his fist connected with the wall in one powerful blow, the frighteningly forceful sound echoed past the four corners of his office and had everyone outside jumping in their seats.

In all the years Acheron had taken up the company's reins as its CEO, this was the very first time for his employees to witness the more violent side of his nature, and they found themselves looking at each other with trepidation and not a small amount of fear.

While Acheron had never kept his checkered past a secret, his polished and impressively urbane demeanor had made it easy for everyone to forget the darker truths of his life.

This time, however, was different.

When the CEO came striding out of his office, the deadly look on his handsome face had everyone cowering, and it was only when he disappeared into his private elevator that the employees sighed in relief.

Wickham didn't bother hiding his surprise when Acheron came up to his penthouse apartment well before work hours were over.

The last time this happened , Wickham thought, the boss had ended up hospitalized. Then again, that was also because he had come straight from a remote region in Africa, and as far as he knew, the farthest Acheron had been to in the past few days was the picturesque beachside town of Isla de Flores.

Following Acheron inside, Wickham saw his employer yank his tie off in a rare gesture of edgy impatience, and his concern deepened into worry. "Anything I can help you with, sir?"

"Just keep everyone out of my way." He still had four hours to kill before Pippi was set to clock out, and until then, burning calories at the fucking treadmill was the only likely thing to keep him from going insane.