I stop glancing over my shoulder and perking my ears for any disturbing sounds when I sit in a comfortable, safe and leathery surrounding of my Alfa Romeo.

Not gonna lie, despite Annabelle's kindness and her easy-going spirit, this morning has been hell.

I've only had Devon for one week. One single week. Yet, now that I'm free of his needy ass, it's hard to switch back to normal life. It feels too easy to live without the angry evil baby picking the most absurd timing to throw a tantrum.

Maybe May gave birth in secret and put him up for  adoption.

One thing has been taken care of. I'm sure Devon is not endangered in any way. With Annabelle keeping an eye on him, he's probably safer than he's ever been with me.

I still have a long in front of me, but now that Devon won't be performing in Justine's arms in companies canteen, I'll have a bigger chance to finish a project or two.

Now, that I think about it, I could take this day super easily, without any rush and without feeling bad or nervous about anything.

When I decide to do exactly that, I start the day with a calm and casual drive. With the time that I have, I could take a long way around. Maybe I'll see a good butt on the way.

The key is in the slot and when I turn it around, the machine roars so majestically, I get a boner.

Huh... If I'll see a hot chick on the way, I might keep this fella in my pants like this. What can I say? One girl will be very lucky.

I drive past parks I never paid attention to, but now that things have changed I watch closely. I might find a nice spot to take Devon for a stroll, a place that is not drowning in smelly fumes.

I spot some good benches with tables close to the fountains and surrounded by trees. Huh, looks like a place where I lost my virginity.

The traffic light has turned green a while ago and it's the sound of the car's horn behind me that ushers me to move forward. Even though his honk is justified, I want to flip him a finger. Nobody honks at Nathan Price!

I move forward with my Alfa Romeo and with every traffic light, I let myself to observe Boston. A big city has always been my goal. My big dream has been to live in New York, but a job opportunity here convinced me otherwise. I think I'm happier with my life in Boston than with the life I could have had in New York.

I go by one of the local coffee shops that beat Starbucks in every sense, taste, quality, service, everything. By glancing at the clock, I see I have more than enough to get myself a cup of their coffee, so I park the car, climb out and enter the coffee shop.

My God, they're hiring young students!

When I get to the counter, I press my lower abdomen completely at it. I don't want anyone noticing anything. Apparently, Carly hasn't done such a good job!

A black haired girl with strands of streaky green looks at me and smiles. This is obviously her first job. "Hello, sir! How can I help you?"

"Hi," I give her my mega-watt smile and I bet her knees shiver "Would you be kind enough to get me a really really hot dark roast? And make it extra roasted."

She breathes out a 'yes' and off she goes. When she walks around the place to fetch the mugs, to turn the levers for liquid or whatever that is, I observe her.

It's probably one of her first days, she still reads the notes what each lever does and follows instructions how to make each type of coffee. Adorable. I could teach her a few things...

"Here, sir." She serves me my coffee and I love it how she already put it in a to-go cup.

She peeks up at me like she's afraid to do so "Will that be all?"

God, what all I could do with her and that petite little body of hers.

"Yes, all," I say, though I'm tempted to ask when is her next break, I restrain myself. The girl is so young she might not be completely legal for me.

Well, fuck.

I gratefully take the cup of coffee and pay for with a 10$ bill. The girl is about to return me the money, but when I smile and wink at her, she blushes slightly and tucks the rest of it in her pocket.

I'm in a good mood. I might as well leave a tip, especially to a cute girl like her.

With a hot cup of my favourite coffee in my hand, I head out, ready to start the day. I don't care I've already had more than enough coffee. Coffee is good and I'll keep drinking it.

In my car, I put coffee to-go in a safe place where I know it won't spill and I drive to my work destination. I park in the parking lot with my name on it. It's so great being the head engineer!

It's been a long time since I walked in my job like a winner, like a fucking stallion that I am, so this is how I break the unfortunate so-called tradition of me looking like a poor excuse for a man. I'm back again!

The doors slide apart and I walk in like I'm in a light show and in the middle of the spotlight.

Marie, one of the secretaries that I know personally - very personally, gives me a bright smile and I can't help but stop to say hi "Hello, Marie. How's life treating you?"

She looks at me surprised and doesn't even try to hide the lust with which she eyes my body "Obviously not as good as you! What happened?"

"Nothing, I'm just naturally amazing." I grin and Marie laughs in a response.

"You haven't stopped by in ages. I think you didn't even notice me, you were always in such a rush." She says and makes a kind of weeping sound like I hurt her feelings.

The truth is, I really didn't notice her, but I go with something else, something that is more pleasant to hear and is still more than truthful "I had a lot on my mind lately."

Marie nods slowly. She doesn't believe me, so she tries to dig a little deeper "And what did I hear about you having a kid?"

I am doomed.

"Uh-heh, yeah." I say quite reserved and very quietly, but Marie is the type of a girl you want over and over again, so honesty is the thing "I adopted him a week ago."

Her eyes widen wider than the time when she saw me naked.

"Yeah, I know... But-" I try to explain, but in vain when she interrupts me.

"We didn't go out in a while. You are... free this weekend, right?" She blurts out, with eyes so seductive I'd jump over the counter and do the deeds with her right away.

My first instinct is to cough and gain a moment or two to contemplate what she just suggested "Sure?"

Marie bites her lower lip, which brings me back to a memory of a quicky. I was never covered in love bites more in my entire life than after that encounter. "It's a date, then."

She goes back to typing something on her computer and a minute later she looks at me and gives me a wink.

Okaaaaay...

I give her another smile that is not as seductive as it shows my confusion. Is that the effect that baby has on women? If I knew that, I'd adopt four of those!

"You fucking prick!"

I turn on my heel to meet the vicious person who's screaming at me. I am not moved not even by an inch by the words for I know exactly who it is before I even see the person. "If it isn't my secretary I'd sell to slavery for free."

I'm not sure if she starts screaming because of me or... well, me. Either she's pissed because of what I just said or there's more to it. Maybe it's both. "How dare you!"

"How dare I what?" I respond with the same amount of hiss as she has to me.

"You are sick in the head!" She screams out more insults, staring directly into my eyes that into slowly closing out of boredom.

I roll my eyes and take my employee card to check myself in "Do you realise you keep repeating yourself?"

She slaps the card from my hands and squeezes my wrist. Both make me squeal "Hey!"

"I did you a favour, Price!"

"I'm doing one to you right now! Come on, just do one more thing so I can fire your sorry ass for real this time!" I yell back at her and Marie behind me is awfully confused, engrossed and concerned about the scenery.

Justine laughs "You are never going to fire me!"

"Pick up my card," I demand from her. She slapped it from me, she's gonna pick it up.

"No!"

"Pick it up."

"No!"

And yes, I continually ignore her remark about not firing her. "If you won't pick it up, I'll just stay right here. And when Jed and Lenart will ask why was I late, I'll tell them my own secretary harrassed me!"

"I guess you're stuck with me then!" She barks back and steps on my card with her high heel.

I laugh desperately and sadly "I'm stuck with you anyway! Here or in my office, it doesn't really make a difference!"

"Stop it!" Both Justine and I freeze in our places when Marie slaps the marble counter with one of her notebooks. The sound echoes throughout the whole entering hall and every person in it momentarily stops to look at us.

Thankfully, before Justine says the next thing, everyone gets back to their business and their day "He fucked my best friend!"

Oh, this now...

Marie is not moved by it. I'm lucky she's like me and seeks no commitment. If that was different, things could've gone really bad right now!

"He's a guy and he's pretty honest about his intentions." She shrugs and glares back at Justine.

"Thank you!" I say to her and look back at the big child in a skirt before me. "Shut up, now!"

Of course, why did I expect for her to shut up? I could've learnt something in all the time I had to put up with her.

With her hands on her hips, she looks like an angry scout girl because I wouldn't buy her cookies, then she looks at Marie "And who are you anyway? This is between Price and me!"

Marie smiles and shakes her head instead. I know that feeling. It's the one you get when you talk to Justine. "I'm the one who sent you up to the CEOs when they were thinking about employing you. Listen, this is the lobby, there are plenty of other places where you can continue your discussion with him."

"What?" I snarl at Marie when I realise she's not going to stay here to cover me.

Both women are startled when I freak out and Justine again grabs me for my hand to pull me after her. I bet she tried to look real tough, but... I'm a guy and she's not exactly a female bodybuilder.

She keeps trying to move me if not anything just for an inch. I can't imagine how sad this must look. ''Please, stop, you're embarrassing yourself.''

Justine finally stops and looks up to me. The look she gives me... Fuck, it takes me right back to Daniel's seventh birthday and the tantrum May threw because of one stupid toy. Well, we all know how that ended.

Maybe Justine reminds me a little bit of May, but the truth is if I have to deal with one of them, I'd always tell May to fuck the hell off. Even I'd choose Justine over May, that doesn't mean I like her. The big difference is my sister quickly got scared. Even now, I can shut her up in the matter of seconds, but sometimes I just feel bored and try to trigger her. Justine, on the other hand, is a whole new story. I can't scare her with anything.

You've guessed right. She's still pulling on my sleeve, dragging my shirt down with such force, two buttons fly off of the fabric. When that happens, I take my arm back and groan ''Fine, fine, fine! Just move it.'' I look back at Marie and give her a wink ''Later?''

Her enthusiastic nod makes the struggles with Justine bearable. The moment we're in the elevator, she strikes with all her force ''You fucked my best friend!''

''This will be hard to believe, but I'm aware of it.'' I try to make this ride up to our department as easy as possible, which means maybe I'll get out of here without a PTSD.

''How could you do it?!'' She keeps asking me, keeping her arms crossed so the sleeve of her jacket climbs up her arm a little. She obviously needs to update her wardrobe.

I don't answer her, because I think that's beside the point. I'm a guy and Carly's a woman. Grown people have sex. I'm not surprised Justine is shocked by the news, I can't imagine any guy with his sanity still present who'd climb between her legs.

Me keeping quiet taunts her. She erupts, screams and hits a button that stops us on our way up. The elevator shakes so drastically, I think this is the day I'll die, but when it stops shaking, I realise that's exactly the deal after I see Justine's look in her eyes.

''Answer me!''

''Are you sick in the fucking head?!'' I yell back at her, nearing having a heart attack. This is it. This is fucking it! I'll go to Jed or Lenart or to whoever the fuck will speak for them and demand a permission to fire this sack of bullshit I got for a secretary.

Justine takes a couple of strict steps towards me, expects me to be terrified of her and when she's only inches away from me, she peers up with ultimate hate clouding her eyes ''You ignorant asshole! You know, it's none of my business if the only thing you're interested in is keeping your dick wet, but you took it too far when you did that to my best friend after I asked her to help your sorry and desperate ass!''

When she shuts up, we glare at each other about half a minute. It's kind of creepy to see her face doesn' even flinch after she keeps it cringed for such a long time.

After she doesn't say anything fort he next ten seconds, I lift my brows and ask her ''Are you done? I kind of need to work for living.''

''How could you be so inconsiderate? Do you think when a woman walks by, she does that strictly because you're standing there? The world doesn't revolve around you, Price!''

It's the spiteness in her voice when she says my name, that makes me lose my nerves. It's so easy to scream at me and to call me an asshole or a jerk, but Carly is an angel? Give me a break! ''News flash, Justine, two people usually have sex. Even if I did try to pursue her and she'd tell me to back the hell off, I wouldn't force myself on her. So, you see, I'm not the ignorant one here and it's not completely my fault Carly got my dick up her hole!''

''Yeah, you are ignorant! You're inconsiderate on so many levels you aren't even aware of your incosiderance!'' She says and steps in front of a panel with buttons, so I can't reach it.

I bury my face in my hands and mutter ''Fucking shit, you're such a child.'' Running my hands through my hair, I try to tell her nicely ''Just get this elevator going, okay?''

''No, we aren't finished yet!''

''Justine, I'm serious. You and I both need to work and because of your stubborness we are stuck here, risking our jobs.'' Well, I'm the one risking it. She has nothing to risk anymore, I'm done.

With her butt and her lower back she leans against the wall and nearly presses some of the buttons. Hah, if only that happened - I'd be saved! ''I'm serious too! We'll clear this out right here and right now!''

''You're not being serious, you're being stupid! If you want to talk about your Carly being hungry whore, we can do that in tthe office!'' I can barely hold myself from punching the wall. I don't remember being this irritated with her before and I'm nearing the danger zone. It's a zone where I never want to find myself in again.

''Did you just call my friend a whore?!''

I check the time. What I thought was going to be a peaceful morning has turned into a hellish nightmare. I wish I could go back to Annabelle, who only gives me side glances, unlike Justine who turns into a fucking demon.

I'm fifteen minutes late because of her and I have no idea what she wants me to say. At this point, I'm ready to tell her anything at all, I just want to get out of here. I'm never late to work. I got promoted a few weeks ago and by my fault I haven't done anything drastic as I should've now that I have many resources and more freedom to create as the head engineer. Now, on top of that, I'm also late.

Jed and Lenart have been giving me a questionable glances for a while and seeing how hard Austin's been working, I wouldn't be surprised if my promotion would only turn out to be just a vacation, just a taste to see how great it is to be your own boss.

''Justine-'' I try to say and form a sentence, but I have no idea what to tell her that I haven't said already.

''No, Price! You brought this upon yourself!'' She screams and stomps with her stilletos against the elevator's floor so hard, I think she'll rip one of its cables and we'll take a flight.

I swallow hard and my heart rate increases when I check the time on my watch again and see I should've been registered at my office fort he past twenty minutes. I feel my lower jaw tremble a little and that is the time when I truly start to panic. ''J-Justine-'' I start choking like a hopeless and hurt animal, ''p-press uh-aghm the b-button.''

I look at her and see her standing like the empress of freaking Russia and when I notice she's about to say, or yell something at me, I completely lose my shit and empty my lungs by screaming all of the air out ''So, help me-'' G-O-D ''-God, Karlsen, if you won't step away from the-'' P-A-N-E-L ''-panel, I'll move you away-'' B-Y ''-by force and throw you down the pit below us!''

Justine glares at me with constant hatred. She doesn't take any of my threats seriously and obviously she doesn't notice how much I'm struggling. I fucking sound like an eleven year old...

''I won't move, until-''

''Do it, now!'' I scar my vocal cords as I scream and everything before me colours red from all the anger and frustration. I can see dancing spots and fire erupting from the sides of my vision. I can see the heat and struggle I feel on the inside and most importantly, I can see myself falling in the pool of wrath.

The little bitch jumps as she doesn't expect me to lose it like that and without saying a single thing, she steps away from the panel. I stumble towards it, lean with my whole body on the palm to press the button that opens the door and when I see a row of box offices ahead of me, I run forward, until I come to the toilet.

I'm sweating excessively, I can barely think and the first, thing I do, I sit on one of the toilets and lean with my hands on my thighs. I try to relax, I try to even my breathing and I try to tell myself it's all okay and that I'm not fired. At least, not yet.

My breathing eventually slows down and my hands stop shaking from everything that just happened.

Okay, okay, it's okay.

I lift my head from my hands and leave the cabin I occupied just a few minutes ago. Right when I leave, I am welcomed by a row of sinks and a large mirror to accompany them all.

I look at my reflection when I'm startled by another man that comes from one of the other cabins.

He's more than happy to see me, which is not something I can say for myself ''Hey, Price, right?''

I simply nod, I don't want to speak to him about anything. I want him gone, I want to be left alone and not chat with this loser that sits in his box office and scratches his balls all day!

''Man, you sure came far. When they first employed you we all thought you were a bit young. But hey, your designs were great and look at you now!'' He pats my shoulder and laughs like he's a proud father that doesn't give a crap about his kid.

Go away. ''Mhm...''

He chuckles some more, whatever his name is, then finally leaves me alone ''I suppose now that you got promoted, you think you're too good for us, huh? Yo, just a joke, okay? We should grab a cup of coffee sometime, but see you around till then, yeah?''

I thought he was never gonna shut up, but now that he's gone, I visibly relax some more. I don't want any other surprises, so I push the door of each cabin to see if I'm really alone. Now, I only need to hope no one else will walk in and take me by another chatty surprise.

I'll fucking throw them out if I have to.

I'm standing in front of a mirror when I start to speak, focusing on my reflection as if it's a completely different person ''I'm...'' I lean my head down and tell myself it's okay to pause, that it's necessary to pause, then I continue ''Nathan. I'm the engineer at Wells & Hether and m-'' Take a breath, take a breath. ''m-mostly I work on designs for solar energy efficiency. I live in Bo-Bost-''

I hit with my hand against the edge of the sink and turn away from the mirrors and back towards the toilet. I don't see what's in front of me, but because it's not important. I'm focusing on my thoughts and even if I spell Boston in my mind, it doesn't fucking help me!

Relax. Take a deep breath. Take a few deep breaths. Relax. Okay, it's okay.

I try pronouncing other words without directly looking at myself ''Brown. Leaves. Chess. Perth. Roof. Doves. Golf. Verse.''

When I think I'm ready or when in my opinion I've had enough of these one-syllable words, I look back at the mirror and try to say what I wanted to before ''I live in Bost-on and own an aaaap-apartment. I'm a cool guy and girls like me a lot. Recently, I a-dop-ted a kid.''

Hopefully, I won't have to speak too much today and for Justine's own sake, I pray she won't meet me today again, 'cause I'll fucking murder her and proudly announce it was me who did it.

I leave the toilet, always thinking about Marie's invitation. At least I have something to look forward too, but is it worth it putting up with Justine?

This time I take the stairs. No way I'm setting a foot in that elevator again and for all I know, I wouldn't be surprised if Justine were still there waiting for me to come back and to trap me once again.

At least one thing goes smoothly and restores my hope and faith in today's day. I'm only three floors away from the one where I work and I reach it in the matter of a minute.

When I appear in that hallway, I see Justine standing in front of my office, waiting for me. To my surprise, she doesn't look like the executioner, but someone who just wants to talk.

Oh, she'll get a talk!

I storm past all the people in our department. Some say hello or good morning, some keep quiet and I ignore every single one of them. My business right now is with the secretary and nobody else. Even if someone comes to fire me, they'll have to wait until I'm done crucifying her!

Maybe she does look like a humble little being, but she doesn't move out of my way, she won't let me enter the office ''Where were you?''

I stop and without giving her a single glance, I whisper to keep myself away from screaming ''Move out of my way, Justine, or I'll run you over.''

She puts me in a shock, when she actually does as she's told. Maybe she fell and hit her head really hard.

With nothing else in my way, I finally enter my office and once in my chair I hope no one noticed the absence that lasted for whole half an hour. I am tempted to call Annabelle and ask how Devon is doing, I want to hear that maybe asking her to come over is at least one good thing I did, but then I remember what kind of a prick Devon can be, so I let my phone rest. If she'll tell me the news of the kid protesting against every single little thing, I wouldn't feel better, not at all.

I start the computer when there's a knock on the door. I look up to see who the hell wants my attention right now and I see Justine. Does she think everything is forgiven, 'cause she knocked?!

I don't gesture her to enter, but she does it anyway. So much for knocking and all that!

She walks in slowly, eyeing me carefully ''Can we talk, now? You said we can talk here.''

''You didn't really listen to me, now, did you?'' I bark back, in my opinion, a bit too nice. But hey, it can be a nice overture to me ripping her in half.

''You slept with my best friend!'' She exclaims.

I flinch in the sudden rush of fresh and old anger when I hear those words again ''Yes! I slept with your friend! Yes, I fucked her till she screamed, what the fuck do you want me to say?! Is that it?''

Justine is taken aback, she shows it quite obviously and it's a small victory for me to leave her speechless only if for a few minutes. It would be the victory of the day if she let me work in peace.

''How could you do it? She's my friend!'' She emphasises that again and I'm seriously getting tired of her repeating all that shit.

I don't know what else to do but smile in a really desperate way. It's just sad to see how stupid and stubborn she is. It's even worse than she thinks everyone else is dum band sick in the head. ''Well, good for you, you actually have a friend. Can't imagine that!''

''Price-''

''You locked me in an elevator because your friend wanted a good fuck, Justine! You cause trauma in people just so you can get your fix and feel like you're some kind of a goddess! Well, you're not! You're a secretary! You're supposed to answer the phones, handle e-mails and tell me about any meetings that I maybe forgot about and you do none of that! None! Instead, you walk around the company, screaming at your own boss, calling him names and harassing him!''

''Yes, you're my boss and you fucked my friend! When are you going to realise what I'm trying to say? I reached out to you when I saw how helpless and lost you were! I'm surprised the child services let you have that baby at home! But hey, who cares, right? You just have to fuck around!''

The comment about child services and Devon stung me more than I imagined, but I try not to let it distract me. To keep myself from making any unnecessary pauses during the speech, I clench my jaw for a few seconds and then relax it. I do it a couple of times and what is even better, maybe it looks like I'm holding back my hands from strangling her. ''So, it's my fault Carly had sex? Do you ever stop to think about she fucked your boss? You don't, huh? Well, it's easier to just let it all fall on my shoulders!''

She buries her hands in her dark brown hair and this is the first time I ever saw her get nervous about an argument as well. When she speaks she explodes. ''Price, you two are both to blame, but it's a fact f either one of you said no to the other one, nothing would happen! And as a boss and a responsible adult man who tries not to be a man-child whole twenty-four hours in a day would know when to stop and back the fuck off! Oh, and I forgot, you even fired her!''

''This is something you have to clear out with her and not to me! Learn your place, Justine! And no, I don't back off if I think a girl is hot and is showing her tits to me and pushing them into my face! The next time you'll go to have coffee with her, maybe you should talk to her about that!''

She shakes her head and laughs ''It doesn't matter, right? If it smells like pussy, you gotta fuck it. Be it your secretary's friend or your brother's wife.''

Darkness falls on my eyes when she says the last words. My fists clench without me having any control over them and by looking down, I swallow a giant lump that could as well be the scream or something much worse.

I look at her from under my eyebrows and I don't care if she feels remorse or not. I mutter with my voice so low that it's at the edge of breaking ''Get. The fuck. Out.''

Justine leaves my office backwards with careful steps and big wide eyes. She closes the door in such a gentle manner, you can't even hear anything. She sits behind her computer and glances at me over her shoulder again, before she goes back to typing.

She has gone too far with this. She has crossed the line many many many times, but this is the edge of the map and she took a step too far. To crumble down the walls of my speech, to drive me insane to the point where I could be admitted to the psychiatric hospital and to bring my personal matters into this - about Danny and Patty, she has done everything that needs to be done for me to lose all my morals.

She'll regret it and apparently, I'll never escape the fact I used to sleep with the love of my brother's life.

A/N: So... Nathan kinda lost it... Are you on his or Justine's side on this one?

If you like to read this story and if you think my writing is acceptable, feel free to check out my new story Torn Roses! It's not exactly like Stuck with a Punk, but... I like to believe it's interesting x)

Fun fact: I can be very bored, so I downloaded a game Horse Haven (if you play it too tell me, I need friends lol) and ofc there's a breeding mechanic. The instructions made me laugh so hard! It said: 'But every stallion needs a mate', so I named my first horse Nathan xDD He's very handsome!

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~ Blackie