“Reprimand?” It was the first time I’d spoken in the entire ten minutes we’d been sitting here. “I hope by that you mean her and not me.”
“Punishing Holly doesn’t seem right considering you are the one who not once, but twice, has verbally attacked her.”
“Attacked her? Let’s try she is the one following me, harassing me, and continuing to lay claim on a guy she dated over more than a year ago. This is all so juvenile. I’m not attacking her. She is trapped in some fantasy where she honestly believes that my boyfriend wants her and—”
“Chloe…” It was Holly, offering that same sugary tone she used on them. Gripping the chair tight, so tight my knuckles turned white, I knew slapping her would definitely not help my case. “Landon and I had a connection, a true, honest connection. Something like that is hard to come by, but our timing was way off. I never imagined he’d still feel the same way when he showed up in my chair.”
“My chair,” I corrected her.
“Anyway, I think when I told him that I had moved on, it really bothered him.”
This chick was a nut job. A fool with a circus act of her own. But she obviously had the doctors completely convinced of her story.
“You can’t continue to blame me for him being unable to let go.”
I laughed, not a soft giggle, but a full out, shoulders shaking, hunched over at the waist, snorting like a pig cackle. I was sure I looked like the crazy person, but holy shit, I was trapped in a warped fucking Lifetime movie.
“He called you a psychotic nut job.” Not really, but close enough. “Said you kissed like a fish out of water and you slobbered. That to me doesn’t sound like a man that is awestruck over a long-lost love.”
“I can assure you that Landon never once had any complaints.”
“Not to your face, because he is a gentleman.”
“Gentlemen surely don’t like dark alleys late at night.” My throat suddenly felt tight, and I dug my nails into my palm, feeling the bite.
“Enough,” Dr. Andrews interrupted, but it didn’t stop him from smirking. That was the moment I realized how bad this had gotten right under my nose. She weaseled her way into my world. “I think now what you need is some time off, Chloe.” I stood up, a reaction I know now seemed argumentative, but one I couldn’t control. “Maybe two weeks, and then we can reconvene to determine if you still have a place here. One thing we can’t have is an employee harassing another.”
Without a word, without so much as an eye roll, I grabbed my purse and walked toward the door. Before even exiting the room, the three of them began to carry on with one another like they hadn’t just shook the ground under me.
This was my life, my passion. Not only was she screwing with my relationship and my head, but now she was messing with my livelihood.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Landon
I sat on the floor by the door of Chloe’s apartment, the putrid smell of cigarette smoke lingering in the hallways. Littered around the area I could see half-smoked cigarettes, appearing as though someone purposely wanted to fill the space. Every so many feet one was tossed, smashed out, leaving a blackened mark on the tiled floor. They were the same brand Holly smoked, and I was instantly filled with an eerie feeling. Something was off, I knew it.
Of all the times I’d been to Chloe’s, I’d never noticed such a mess or a smell.
A loud slam echoed through the hallways, and when I looked toward the left, it was just in time to see her walking around the corner, her head hung low, her shoulders sagging. Pushing myself off the tiled floor, I hurried to stand. The shuffle gained her attention, and she paused, leaving a good distance between us.
“I went by the office and didn’t see your truck.” Taking a step toward her, I waited and watched for any type of reaction. Only there was nothing more than a voided stare. Like she was so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn’t noticed anything. “Are you off today?”
“I’ve been granted a two-week leave.” Her voice was low, raspy, and withdrawn.
Moving in closer, I lifted my hand and lightly grazed over hers that hung at her side. Testing the waters, feeling out my limits. When she didn’t pull back, I felt a spark of hope. “What do you mean you were given a two-week leave?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Shying away, she moved around my body and began walking toward her door. I noticed the way her hand shook as she lifted her key and began placing it in the lock.
Unable to control the urge to touch her, I moved in behind her and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her body in close to mine. She came with ease; I could literally feel her give way and sag back against me.
“I still don’t understand why you felt you had to lie, but right now I don’t care.”
Lost, not sure of what to say or do, I went with my gut and spun her around to face me.
“Baby, listen to me. I know I should have just been honest and told you but,” I placed my finger beneath her chin to force her to meet my gaze, “I was trying to impress the girl I couldn’t stop thinking about. Somehow in my mind I’d convinced myself that telling you details would send you running. At the time I couldn’t risk that. But it was never more than the one night, that one attempt that had gone bad. It was interrupted, and in her eyes it was so much more.
