I COULDN'T sleep last night. Not after Mary found out about Lucas and me before we even became exclusive.
She made sure to give me a piece of her mind upstairs in her room, which only ended in me reminding her that she was practically doing the same with Phineas. Of course that made her mad, and for the rest of the night, I got the silent treatment.
All because of a guy I met a few weeks ago.
Sure he kissed me like my lips were dripping with honey, but that's all it was - a kiss to seal this casual agreement to help each other out. It's not worth risking my regular life and relationships for, and yet, I can't bring myself to agree with Mary and discard Lucas. It's been a long time since I've had a man kiss me hard enough to leave my legs weak.
Had it not been for the intrusion that happened amidst the heat of our shared moment, I'm pretty sure I'd be lying on his bare ripped chest by now, smiling in bliss from a satisfying night.
There you go again you pervert!
Mary mumbles something in her sleep beside me, turning herself around and hitting me in the head with her hand. I wince at the pain and wake up, pushing her away from me so that I can leave her bed.
Last night had been fun.
I was able to momentarily forget about my insufferable mother, although I had to endure sitting next to Lucas throughout the night because Mary wouldn't sit with me; and Phineas was having a kick out of watching me and Lucas being weird around each other.
He's lucky Mary dotes on him, otherwise, I'm pretty sure he'd have made such a cute punching bag for my then-bloodthirsty hands.
After giving myself a good stretch and momentarily battling a cramp in my left leg, I finally leave Mary's bed and go downstairs to drink some water. The good thing about not being an alcoholic is waking up without a hangover; especially since I get to watch the drinkers battle the sickening feeling with their homemade hangover soup.
The ugly faces they make when I open the curtains to let light in are the cherry on top of my guilty pleasures.
I'm taking my final step down the stairs when I hear someone loudly yawning on the sofa. It doesn't take long for me to realize who that ripped figure and white-tanned skin belong to.
Lucas.
Standing to flex his muscles, Lucas doesn't seem to notice I'm staring at him, but then he suddenly turns and we make eye contact. He looks groggy, a hangover kind of groggy with jet-black ruffled hair that looks like fine silk draping over his head. One eye is closed, whilst the other doesn't break contact with me.
"Morning Iris," he growls softly in a deep drowsy voice that short-circuits my body, and I'm suddenly reminded of last night.
His big hands held my face tenderly, before slowly trudging down my body to my waist. I had been expectant then, waiting for him to carry me away. I wanted more. But the others just had to return before...
"Morning, sir," I reply, awkwardly making my way to the kitchen.
I need to chill.
Lucas follows me into the kitchen, slowly ruffling his hair. "After our agreement and what happened last night, I thought I would upgrade from being called sir to Lucas."
I roll my eyes whilst taking a glass and walking to the sink. Good-looking guys are almost always the worst kind of assholes out there. I've witnessed a lot of girls fall prey to them, and I was almost one of them after a momentary decision to let my heart lead the choices I make (because of Mary's pep talk on opening my heart to my then "partner").
That was until the idiot decided that our relationship wasn't to his liking before hooking up with another girl the next day.
Jerk.
At least I hadn't given him my trust yet, or else, I'd have listened to Taylor Swift songs during my final year at college all night for the first time in my life.
" You'll upgrade when I agree, for now, you're still sir," I quip, closing my eyes and taking a large gulp of my cold water. "Hmm, this is good."
"I know right," Lucas replies, making me snap my eyes open.
He is standing next to me, shirtless as he downs his liquid. I should be unfazed by his appearance, but my body remembers last night; and watching him standing there with his Adams apple bobbing up and down with each gulp he takes, I can't help but heat up.
I need to escape from here.
I down my water quickly before setting the glass in the sink and trying to escape. Unfortunately for me, these kitchen cabinets are made into a 'U' shaped design, with the sink being on the far edge of the cabinet and the room - and I'm sandwiched between that small space and Lucas' body.
I could try and squeeze past him, but that would mean rubbing my butt with his, and right now, I don't think I need any more stimulation.
Lucas finally sets his glass down, and I wait for him to move, but he doesn't. Instead, he turns in one swift motion, making his chest gleam in the bits of the sun rays peaking in through the curtains as he faces me. Then he closes the bits of millimeters between us till I'm entirely pinned to the wall, feeling his breath on my forehead.
Anticipating his morning breath to hit my nose, I scrunch it, but surprisingly his breath is minty.
"I brushed my teeth a while ago, Iris," he says, his hand landing just above my head. I catch a whiff of a fresh ocean scent coming from him as he stands closer to me, making me realize that he also took a shower.
His body fills the entire space surrounding us and once again, I'm reminded of how small I am compared to him.
"What are you doing you asshole?" I hiss at him, barely able to push him away.
Not that I'm trying to anyway.
Lucas shrugs, "Confirming if you're going to be my fake girlfriend."
" You can do that without pinning me to the wall."
" Yes, but I have a feeling you won't easily agree if I let you go."
Ugh. I remember him being so gentle last night. Was that all an act?
" And what makes you think I'll agree now? I asked you what you have to offer and you..." A hand lands on my cheek and I falter. Lucas' eyes are on me, soft yet domineering.
" Did you like last night's kiss?" Comes the silvery deep voice, sending shivers down my spine.
So much that I could die.
"So what if I did? You're not answering my question," I avert his question. I'm not about to let him know he had me on my knees last night.
"But I am answering it."
Huh?
"How are you answering my question by asking me if I liked your kiss?"
" Because if you did, then that's my answer. You get to use me however you like in this deal, just the same way as how I get to use you to get rid of Lynn. It's a win-win situation if you ask me."
Now that he put it that way, I can't seem to think of any other excuse here. I get to have a rich guy doing my bidding in exchange for helping him chase away a blindly obsessed girl.
How much more convenient could life be at this point?
"Then I'm in," I say with a devilish smile, "but don't eat back your words later when I start using you how I want."
" As long as it's not something illegal, I'm yours to command."
Hmmmm. Command. I like that.
I smirk at him, grabbing a fistful of his chest and faking a push, " Then you have yourself a deal, Lucas."
Lucas mimics my smirk, pulling away from me and standing by the sink to let me pass. " Thanks for agreeing to help," he says.
" Oh please, don't act like I'm doing this for free," I reply walking away.
" Then when will we make a plan on how we're going to handle this?"
I pause, turning to face him with an arched brow. " You want to plan how we're going to fake date?"
" Yes?"
" Oh my gosh. What kind of person has a plan for something like this?"
Lucas shrugs, "Well it's not like we're a regular couple. This is more like a strangers with benefits thing..."
" I'd prefer you say contract," I cut him.
" Contract," he corrects himself, clearing his throat, " so we will need guidelines if we're going to make this realistic."
I consider his words for a moment. He is right. There might be situations where we have to prove our relationship to others in the future. What do we do then?
"Then we'll have the meeting in the boardroom during lunch."
Lucas claps his hands gleefully," Yes, that's it! We'll do it in my boardroom."
"Your office has no boardroom," I reply sarcastically, making him smile smugly.
"Oh, you'll be surprised. I'll send you the details on our message board at work. Lunch will be brought to my office, so you don't have to worry about that."
"Okay," I reply. "Now if you'll excuse me. I have some bathing to do."
Lucas nods at me, not even bothering to hide how he checks me out when I turn on my heel to head back home and prepare myself. Knowing I can use him how I want makes me happy for some reason.
Especially the fact that I'm wearing the pants of this dating deal.
★★★★★
The thing about leaving unfinished conversations and storming away to somewhere peaceful is that the bitter situation will await your return at any given moment. And I hate how that had to be the case on such a nice morning when I opened the door to my room.
Mom is sleeping on my bed - in my PJs, with the rest of my clothing lying all around the room.
I try my best to lightly tap her legs, as my chest heaves up and down uncontrollably from the frequent breaths I'm taking to calm myself down.
Breathe in and out slowly. That's what my therapist told me when I was still in high school after my mom had taken almost all of my property from my room. Among the property was a laptop that contained the novel I had been working on for almost an entire year by then.
I still have the draft pieces in my diary from then, but I don't think I can rewrite the entire thing exactly how it was back then.
"Mmmm," Mom groans and I pull my blanket away from her.
" Mother! Get up, you've got some explaining to do."
" Why are you making so much noise in the morning," she says in an annoyingly groggy voice, a stark contrast from Lucas's heavenly one that had blessed my ears a while ago.
Why didn't I just leave with my office clothes last night? I just had a perfect morning scene a while ago, but now that mood has been ruined.
"Why are you dressed in my pajamas, Mom?" I ask turning her around.
She wriggles angrily in my bed like a child throwing a tantrum, pulling my blanket greedily and covering herself up. "Am I not allowed to?"
"Yes! They're mine for a reason." I whisper shout. "Put them back in my wardrobe and go back to your room."
"But they're so comfyyyy."
Ugh. I should have locked my room before leaving last night. I always forget to do that when she's around.
" Take them and leave."
" Really?" Mom says happily, too happily for someone who was acting drowsy a while ago.
"Yes. Please get out of my room after taking them."
My tone makes her stop the act and she stealthily leaves my bed. "Why are you angry at me?" She asks and I pause.
What's up with this woman and not reading someone else's mood?
"Please. Get. Out."
The next moment, my door is banged loudly behind her and I sigh in frustration, plopping angrily on my bed.
Of all the problems in life, I had to be given a freeloader for a mom, a coward for a dad - whose face I no longer remember, and both of them just had to leave such insufferable memories in my head.
Who in their right mind leaves their young adolescent child alone to have fun?
PSYCHOS!
That's what psychos do.
★★★★★
The office is buzzing with life when I arrive a few hours later. Everyone is trying to finish their work in time for the printing house to get the revised pieces. The sound of keyboards clicking fills the entire room, and for a moment there, I find myself grateful for not being able to sleep last night.
I edited my piece during the evening.
"Keith, your second page is full of punctuation errors, edit those and you'll be good to go, "Dion calls out, accepting papers from Blessing. He is sitting in the far corner that's right next to the dispenser, a corner that lets him have a view of us all.
" Morning guys," I greet, walking to my desk. Echoes of greeting fill the office, but everyone is paying attention to their laptops.
"Iris, did you finish the piece I gave you yesterday?" Keith calls out, frantically searching for errors in his piece.
"Yes. I already sent them to Lucas," I reply, setting my laptop bag on the table and sitting. Keith sits next to me, so it's easy to talk to him without needing to shout over the sound of keyboards. He is taller than me, but not as tall as Lucas. That man could be two meters for all I know.
Keith's eyes widen in surprise. "You did. Wow. You're good. And since when do you call your boss Lucas?"
" Since he complimented me for sending my work on time before anyone else," I reply, smugly resting my arms over my body.
And since kissing him last night.
A whistle comes from somewhere within the office as if the person read my thoughts and was surprised, but it's only Dion responding to me bragging.
" We won't feel bad for procrastinating," Dion calls out, making the others laugh in unison.
"But you should."
The room goes quiet when Lucas chips in the conversation, and the air immediately turns stuffy. I've heard rumors about Lucas being a tough boss, but I'd never experienced it myself. After all, he was away for the first two weeks I was here.
Now that I'm considering it, I should have noticed it last time when the others left our table in the cafeteria after he appeared from nowhere.
"You were supposed to be done by the time I returned from my campaign, especially you Dion. I left you in charge for a reason."
"Sorry sir," Dion responds instantly. " We will be done by the afternoon."
Everyone seems to have stopped typing, but no one is looking at Lucas directly. They're indeed afraid of him. But all things considered, he is right. They did slack off.
I remember Dion taking the team out for dinner almost every day for the past two weeks, and even though he did encourage them to finish their work, he wasn't as strict as Lucas. Now they get to reap the consequences of having fun, and I feel bad for them, especially my little friend sitting next to me.
Seeing Keith sulk beside me makes my heart ache a little. After winning me over with his charismatic self right on the first day we met, we immediately hit it off and have been on each other's tails all the time. I think it's safe to call him my friend by now, and I can't watch my friend get ridiculed when I have a solution to this.
"He was just joking," I chip in. " They'll be done by the afternoon."
Lucas opens his mouth to say something, but immediately closes it when we make eye contact.
Sighing, he slowly nods at me. "They better be, or you'll be taking responsibility."
It might be my imagination, but I think I see a smirk form on his lips as he walks off. I rub the thought off and turn to face the others, only to see them looking surprised for no reason.
"Did you just talk back to him?" Blessing asks like it's some taboo.
"Should I not?" I ask quizzically.
"N-no, thank you for saving us," she quips, turning back to her laptop.
"You've got balls," Clara calls out from her table and we all laugh.
A notification pops up on my message board right as I'm coughing from laughing a lot as jokes fly around, and I check it, to see a message from Lucas.
LUCAS: Come to my office now.
Well, shit. That's what I get for trying to play the heroine.
★★★★★