CHAPTER ELEVEN #3
Out of the elevator, my feet refused to go any further than the few steps they’d taken towards his car bay. ‘You really think my nipples are an uneven colour?’
The look he summoned to my face was purely Corey to the point I didn’t even recognise my own face. ‘No. I just knew it would piss you off.’
I released a sigh as slow as I could, keeping my mouth closed, and letting relief slide out my nostrils.
Corey stopped walking. ‘This has to stop.’
‘I know, but we don’t even know where to look for the umbrella, if that’s even the answer. I have no idea how we’re meant to switch back.’ I threw my hands in the air.
‘Well, that, but I meant this bickering. It’s gotta end.’
He looked like a lost puppy with my brown eyes, but something about his face resembled the old him; the face I now wore. It nuzzled emotions inside of me I could no longer ignore. Every man was flawed in my eyes thanks to my father’s actions, and this ongoing hatred was poisoning my core.
But Corey wasn’t my father.
I sighed and stepped closer to him, breathing in the peppermint and lemon that joined forces to refresh my mind from the anger I’d directed at him earlier.
‘I’m envious,’ I admitted, ‘of your job, your money, your lifestyle. It’s infuriating watching everything come so easy to you.’
Perhaps even envious of the way his daddy issues worked to his advantage financially.
Corey laughed. ‘Easy? Nora, I promise you, it doesn’t come easy to me.’
‘Sure seems that way,’ I mumbled.
Corey lowered his gaze. ‘I don’t want to get into it, but just trust me on this one.’
Trust didn’t come easily to me, but I trusted the sensation of twinkling stars in my chest urging me to let my guard down enough to end this feud once and for all. ‘Truce?’ I held my hand out.
He gripped it and those twinkling stars shot through my body, telling me I was on the right path.
‘Truce.’ His eyes crinkled when he smiled, giving them the same look as his regular eyes.
The peaceful moment died when Corey threw the keys to me, but they hit my stomach and clattered to the floor.
‘Pick up the keys, we gotta go,’ he said.
‘I’m not driving your car. I can’t afford to repair a crash. I mean, God, I can’t even afford air freshener to scent the air if I fart.’
‘Firstly, gross. Secondly, you’re gonna have to drive. Everyone will be suspicious if they don’t see my car again. Especially my father when he leaves for meetings. He knows I love that car.’
My eyes rolled at the mention of his father, but I grabbed the keys from the ground and lowered myself into the driver’s seat. If that’s what having a father was all about, I didn’t see the fuss. ‘Why do you care what your father thinks?’
Corey buckled himself in. ‘It’s complicated. There’s more riding on my job than my opinion of him.’
‘Like…?’ I urged.
‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ He clenched his jaw.
‘Come on, we agreed on a truce. Let me help you.’
‘No one can help me,’ he mumbled. ‘All you need to do is complete the work and try not to cause a scene.’
I cowered as I recalled his father’s furious face during the meeting on Tuesday.
‘We should get going,’ Corey suggested.
As much as I wanted to push Corey until he broke and told me what was going on, I clamped my mouth to respect his sliver of privacy that remained.
On the third try, my trembling hand fit and twisted the key.
I rounded the underground carpark until we made it to the street, then puttered along, pissing off everyone trying to go the speed limit as they overtook me.
‘Come on, Nora. Give it a little more gas.’
My foot pressed the pedal until we were moving in time with everyone else.
‘There ya go,’ he praised.
A flutter of pride whirled through me at his approval, and I cursed myself for these feelings Hayley had warned me about.
‘Passion is passion, Nora, and one day your passionate hate will turn to passionate love,’ she’d said.
I’d gagged at her words, but this new need to please and understand Corey’s life left me wondering if she might be on to something.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been passionate about something or someone outside of my career.
Though, not Corey. I wasn’t passionate about him.
I was passionate about the idea of anyone being pleased with me for more than my work ethic.
I pulled into the curb outside Dreyton and unbuckled.
‘Woah, woah. You’re not getting out here. You gotta go be the finance manager at Zealy Insurance.’
Shit. The dread of continuing this ruse without Corey by my side as a support person wedged in my stomach like a brick. I swallowed and clicked my seatbelt back in as he climbed out.
‘Don’t forget, you need to kiss Freddie’s ass and pretend you enjoy it,’ I said.
He gave me a thumbs up as Brett from payroll walked by. I couldn’t ignore the opportunity literally passing me by, so I cleared my throat and poked my head out the window.
‘Catch ya later, you hot piece of ass,’ I yelled at Corey.
Brett grinned at his widened eyes while I screeched back into traffic cackling like a big-dicked witch.