Lauren

Her strong hands grabbed my waist and hoisted me up on the counter. She continued attacking my neck, hitting all of my soft spots.

"God, Talia," I moaned, tugging at the back of her hair, knowing it would make her pay more attention to the front of my body.

"Louder, baby," She whispered to me. She could sweet talk me to anything.

My heart started to beat faster as she stopped to take her clothing off.

I stopped her midway, "Let me help,"

As soon as I said that, I started to unbutton her shirt. I wanted her so badly, but I wanted this time to be different.

I jumped down off the counter and started to kiss down her body. She whimpered softly, wrapping her arms around my neck.

"I want to hear you tonight, baby," I whispered to her before kissing her lips softly.

"It's just you and me, nothing else. I love you,"

....

I woke up covered in sweat, panting loudly. I had no idea what the hell I was dreaming about, but I obviously liked it.

I yawned and reached over to the nightstand to grab my phone. No missed calls but three missed texts from Dinah and Ally.

Dinah: Girl, when can we come down and see your house? The girls and I miss you already :(

Dinah: I wish you didn't get married! You could've maybe waited for someone hotter and nicer than that asshole!

I chuckled at her texts. David didn't let the girls come over because he thought they were a bad influence on me. He also wasn't here this week and I was mad at him, so they can come over whenever they want to.

Me: Come over today. I have extra rooms here! And he's not here right now so oh well.

Me: and you know I love him Dinah, I'm not with him for looks.

I knew David wasn't the best looking guy, but I did love him. I wasn't really in love with him, but I'd been with him so long it would feel weird if he wasn't there.

Ally: You forgot your bong in my car, dipshit.

Me: fuccccck sorry. just give it to me when you get here.

No smoking until they got here. I didn't smoke in the house anyway, because David didn't like the smell so it didn't matter much. It just sucked that I couldn't have it.

I got up out if bed and quickly found something to wear that was considered business casual. It wasn't the most appealing dress, but I wasn't there to impress anyone. Not really, anyway.

I smiled thinking of Talia greeting me when I got there. She was really sweet and pretty, although I just met her and came in unexpectedly. She seemed to know what she was doing, and I liked that.

After getting fully dressed, I decided that I wanted to wear make-up today. Nothing heavy, just some light mascara and eyeshadow, maybe some lipgloss.

I didn't normally wear make-up either. Only on the rarity that David wanted to go on a date with me, but if not, I didn't touch it. He never wanted to go anywhere with me.

I frowned thinking about the thought. I married him when I was twenty, barely old enough to know what I was doing. I loved him, yes, but if I had the choice now, we wouldn't be married at all. The only reason we're still married is because of the house.

He knew that I didn't really feel the same about him anymore. We both knew it, it just never got brought up in conversation.

After I was done, I felt ready enough to leave. As I walked out of the room and into the living room, there was still no sign of the cat. I sighed and shook my head. She was probably around here somewhere hiding.

....

Talia

The office was quiet this morning. Everyone seemed to have themselves under control and I didn't have to remind anyone to do their jobs, so I was having a pretty good day so far.

I was still caught up in this month's issue, sorting through potential articles to put in and sending the ones I didn't like back. It was easy, just a lot of reading.

On a normal day when I wasn't taking over for Mr. Peters, I would be walking around the building and making sure everything was looking okay. It was stressing me out slightly that I couldn't be down there to physically overlook everything, but what else could I do other than sit here and wait for something to happen?

"Good morning, Talia. I don't know what kind of coffee you like, so I just got you a caramel latte," Lauren said as she walked in the room with two coffee's in hand.

She set one down on my desk and sat across from me.

"How's the issue coming along?"

I smiled at her, noticing her eyes light up in the sun. I almost forgot to answer her, focussing too much on her appearance.

"Oh, it's actually looking pretty good. So far, I have an interview lined up for Beyonce and the Obama's, I'm hoping I can convince Normani to answer some questions, but I haven't been able to get a hold of her management,"

I sipped on the coffee she bought me. It was nice of her to think of me, I wouldn't have gotten it if she didn't buy it.

"I can get Normani to take the interview," She told me confidently.

Seeing the puzzled look on my face, she continued, "She's one of my best friends, she'll actually be staying at my house this week. She loves Hotwire, she probably just hasn't getting notified about your calls,"

Lauren shifted around in her seat, waiting for an answer. Something that has been taking me weeks to do just got done within seconds.

"Thank you, actually. That puts me a week ahead of schedule now, wow. Now I should have everything finalized next week,"

She grinned. Her smile could take my breath away. I see why David loves her.

....

Lauren

Talia and I continued talking about little things for about an hour as I watched her work. I didn't want to interrupt her quite yet, so I just focused on keeping her company.

Whenever I first watched David as he worked, I never seen him to as much as Talia. In the span of an hour, she'd written and replied to three emails, approved ten pictures and read over four articles, occasionally reading them out loud to me.

I knew I wasn't causing her any trouble or bothering her by being there because she was smiling like a dork the whole time. She seemed to enjoy my presence a little more today than she did yesterday.

I kind of liked watching her, too. Not just work, but in general. The way she waved her hands around when she started talking about something specfic or how her pupils got bigger when she looked at me made me wonder why she was single.

Fuck, if I was single, I'd probably be perusing her right now. I felt bad for thinking it, but I mentally cursed David for having anything to do with me at that very moment.

"Lauren? I was asking you if you wanted to look over those files yet," She said with her head titled, catching my attention.

I blushed, "Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about something,"

"It's okay, it happens sometimes. Let me print the locked ones and then we'll take a look at them,"

I scrunched my nose. There should be no reason any files are locked. No one else should see them but David and Talia, but no specific files concerning money should have more protection than the others.

"All done," She said as she walked around the desk with a pile of papers and folders in her hand, "What do you want to look at?"

....

Talia

"What are the locked files and why are they locked?" She asked me, catching me off guard slighly.

I took a minute to think of the answer. I, myself didn't really know why they needed to be locked. I always thought Mr. Peters was just careful or something.

"Well, I don't really handle these files. These are the only ones Mr. Peters asks me not to look into. I only have the key for emergencies, but you're the owner and I legally have to show you anything if you ask to see it," I cleared my throat,"But from what he's told me, it's mainly just stuff in the Peters Withdrawing account,"

Lauren slowly grabbed a few papers from on top of the pile, flipping them over and scanning the pages, "So how come I don't get access to the drawing account too since I'm the owner?"

"Mr. Peters never gave you your company card?"

"No, he didn't," She muttered as her face slowly got more red.

It became obvious to me that Mr. Peters was up to something. Why else wouldn't he have given Lauren her card?

"I want to see the transactions," Lauren told me, "Please,"

It took me a few minutes, but I was finally able to get to the withdrawing account. I opened up the folder and took out all the transactions throughout the last month.

"What's Peters number two mean?" She asked me as we flipped through the pages of withdraws.

I frowned, "Well, that's the second card. Looks like your card is being used,"

I pointed to a column of numbers on the page, "This is one week's worth of money being taken out. Next to it, you can see exactly what it's being spent on. Mr. Peters likes knowing where exactly money is being given and taken to,"

Her eyes scanned the paper, looking up every so often to see if I could explain anything.

Peters#1 [$460,422] . . . 2020 Lamborghini Aventador S

Peters#1 [$5,232] . . . New Delta Auto Insurance

Peters#2 [$204] . . . HAIR CARE

Peters#2 [$10,210] . . . Gucci, New York City

Peters#1 [$4,891] . . . Victoria's Secret, New York City

Peters#2 [$1,854] . . . AMERICAN AIRLINES/FIRST CLASS/ LA TO ISL. BAHAMAS/ QUANTITY (2)

"What the fuck? Is this a week or a month?" Lauren asked me, her mouth agape.

"It's one week. I never look at this, it's a surprise to me, too,"

Lauren kept looking down at the paper, her hands growing white from gripping the chair's armrests too hard.

"We don't even own a Lamborghini. Maybe someone stole the cards?" She asked me, slightly whispering the last part.

I closed the folder, not wanting to upset her anymore.

"It's unlikey, Lauren. The cards are highly secured. They're biometric," I told her carefully.

"What does that mean?"

"It means that they require fingerprint. Whoever has the second card had to have their prints taken before the card was even made. Mr. Peters gave it to someone else,"

Lauren seemed to understand what I was saying, but she stayed quiet for a few moments. She played with the ends of the black hair, most likely thinking about whatever we just uncovered.

"Lauren? Are you okay?" I questioned, seriously worried about her.

"We need to get in his office,"

....

Hey guys. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I kinda like the pacing of it so far. Tell me what you guys think!