Sighing, I leaned back in my chair, watching as Yelvin's name danced across the screen of my phone. What did he want from me? It had been nearly two weeks since he fucked me and then broke up with me and he still insisted on calling every day. Today in particular, he seemed insistent on calling on the hour.

Picking my phone off of my desk, I squeezed it in my hand. Fuck you, Yelvin, I thought, feeling the phone buzz in my palm. He was relentless. Every time I thought I was doing better, every time I wasn't thinking about him, there he was calling to remind me that he still had a foothold. I let out a long breath and put the phone to my ear.

"What, Yelvin?" I asked, keeping my voice hard and clipped.

"Amerie, hey...I-I didn't think you'd answer."

"I wasn't, but you keep calling." There you go, girl. Stay frost. Don't let him in.

"Yeah, sorry. I just...I'm leaving today, back to Boston."

I shrugged, even though he couldn't see me. "Okay." What the hell was I supposed to do with that? Beg him not to go? Wish him the best while he fucked his way through Boston?

"Amerie, I just want us to be okay." He paused and I could feel the ice in my veins melting. He sounded so sad, so sincere. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

I tried to roll my eyes but they filled with tears instead. The 'cool' act was finished; I'd let him get to me. The back of my throat burned and I could feel myself on the verge of crying. Fuck. Why did I let him do this to me? Why did I allow him to make me a pathetic mess?

If they make you cry they don't deserve your tears. I thought about my mother's famous mantra. I blinked and sucked in a breath, refusing to break down.

"Fly safe, Yelvin," I said, hanging up the phone, refusing to give him any more of my time, any more of my self. As sincere as he sounded, as much as he might have meant it; he did hurt me. Frankly, I couldn't wrap my head around how you don't mean to cheat on someone and then fuck them before you tell them.

I climbed to my feet and took a lap around my desk. I would not fall apart at work; I was not that girl. I hated that girl. Get it together, Marie. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. When I opened them the top of a blonde head poked into my cubicle.

"Ann-Marie?"

"Yes, Jessica?" I tried to keep the irritation out of my tone, but I was in a bad mood and the intern had been working in the office for a week. How long did it take to learn how to pronounce my name correctly?

"Anita would like to see you in her office."

"Okay, thank you, Jessica." Jessica stared back at me, her big blue eyes blinking at me in utter cluelessness. "You can...leave now."

"Oh, okay," she said brightly, backing out of my cubicle.

I shook my head, wondering if the company was running some sort of special needs initiative that I simply wasn't aware of. Nobody was as daft as Jessica all on their own.

I grabbed up the files on my desk. I'd been meaning to take my recent ledgers over to Anita anyways, but the day had gotten away from me and Yelvin's persistence had thrown me off of my game.

Anita was technically my boss. She carried the full title of managing accountant on our floor at Epps Personal and Business Accountant Firm, while the rest of us sported 'associate accountant' but it never felt like she held the fate of my career in her hands. She was casual and laidback and most of the time, I thought of her as my work friend instead of my boss.

I traveled across the building through the maze of cubicles towards Anita's office and knocked softly against her door before letting myself inside. "Am I fired?" I joked.

Anita lifted her head, her intense focus on the computer screen in front of her lightening as she turned her eyes on me. "Yeah, definitely. I'm going to keep the shitty intern on the payroll but the one associate that hasn't made a mistake since she's been here, she gets the ax."

I giggled and Anita waved me over to her desk. Moving across the office, I plopped my files down. "Those are the ledgers for the SkullFire account."

"Thanks, I'll take a look at them later. Come here, I wanted to show you something." There was a wide smile on her plum shaded lips and I moved excitedly to peer over her shoulder at her computer screen. "Deacon has me going over a personal account for his friend." Anita clicked across the screen and brought up a roster of purchases.

I side stepped how incredibly inappropriate it was for her to be showing me someone else's purchase history, after all, I was technically an account too, it could easily be chalked up to consulting, not the gossipy mess it actually was.

"Read that." Anita ran her mouse across a line of purchase on the screen.

"A-S-F-U-X," I said slowly, my eyes scanning down the page. "God, what is that? They're spending a hell of a lot of money on it."

Anita giggled. "I can't say for sure but sound it out."

I narrowed my eyes. "Okay," I said slowly. "As fux." I shook my head, still not getting it. I tried again, sounding it out more slowly and feeling like I was playing some weird rendition of Mad Gab. "As fux." I sucked in a breath. "Oh." My eyes went wide. "Ass fu...Oh, my." I laughed.

"How much do you want to bet this guy is paying twenty grand a year to get fucked up the ass?" Anita doubled over, howling with laughter and I joined her.

"There are so many places he could go to get that for free." I swiped at tears forming in my eyes. "Oh, Christ, Anita. I was having a horrible day and you just brightened it right up."

Anita turned in her chair to meet my eyes, still smiling but there was a tinge of concern in her features. "You alright?"

I nodded, my laughter fading. "Yeah, just life stuff, you know." I liked Anita but she was still just a work friend. Only Jordan was privy to my embarrassing dirty laundry.

"Yeah, I definitely know." She turned, clicking the keyboard and putting her computer to sleep. "Let's take a lunch break." She climbed to her feet but then her phone rang. Sighing, she fell back into her chair. "It's Deacon. I'm guessing I can't tell him. He wouldn't find it nearly as hilarious as we did."

I nodded. Deacon, Anita's Husband, was also the boss. The big boss, the big boss that didn't really appreciate Anita's particular flair for the inappropriate. Their marriage baffled me. "Rain check on lunch," I told her, knowing that the phone call was going to take her a while.

She nodded and I backed out of her office, heading for my cubicle. I grabbed my things, just because Anita couldn't take a lunch didn't mean I couldn't. My stomach rumbled at the thought of food. There was no way I was going to wait for Anita to hash it out with her husband.

I straightened my desk, debating if I'd come back to the office after lunch. I was done for the day. My check list was clear for the next two weeks. I'd been putting in a lot of time at work, trying my best not to get home before Jordan. I'd even managed to start doing other people's work, numbers was a healthy alternative to going home to mope.

But today, I was feeling mopey. I felt like I needed it. Like, somehow maybe if I took the afternoon to grieve Yelvin, then tomorrow, I'd be over it. It wasn't realistic. If I went home to mope, I'd stay moping but I couldn't seem to talk myself out of wanting to.

Heading for the elevators, I took one down to the parking lot, finding my KIA neatly tucked into its corner parking space. It wasn't actually my space, nobody at my level had an assigned space, but I'd parked there every day for the last two years, so it felt like mine and God help anyone that challenged the fact. Especially, on a day like today. I was feeling tense and agitated after Yelvin's call. Anita had managed to make me feel better but it was only momentary. Now, I was back in my head, stressing myself out.

Climbingin to the car, I convinced myself not to go home. My rumbling belly aided inthe decision, guiding me towards Nella's Bakery. It was only a short drive andI would be in the public eye. It was the only way to assure that I wouldn'tbreak down. My pride would keep me together in front of people and just maybe thehustle and bustle of everyday life would keep me out of my own head.     

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Damn, this update is a day late but I got caught up yesterday. Anyways, mini chapter update tomorrow :)