Collateral Damage |+18|

4. Your disasters are mine.

Your disasters are mine.

Defne.

Defne.

The f*****g bastard.

I hate him.

I swear to God, I hate him with every cell in my being.

"Defne, calm down" Kacey hands me a chamomile tea. "Here, drink this."

"He moved up the date of the first delivery, Kass" Levi says, understanding the magnitude that asshole Matheo Slade announced today when he went to check on me again in the cubicle.

Worst of all, I know the client didn't ask for any advance, this is his doing and his alone.

Because he wants to screw me.

Was the incident on the first day really so serious that he is so hell-bent on firing me?

And even though my reasons for being here are not the most transparent, I have been so careful in the information my father has asked of me, giving only small glimpses of what he really wants, that I question whether I should continue to protect Matheo after the hell he has given me these past few weeks.

"What time do you have to show him the first delivery?"

"First thing tomorrow morning" I answer.

"If you want I'll stay with you late and help you finish" Levi says nonchalantly, biting into a big chunk of his apple.

"I wouldn't ask that of you, Levi."

"I'm offering and I don't mind, I have nothing to do tonight."

"That's great, Levi" Kacey smiles, agreeing for me "I'd stay too, but I highly doubt I'd be of any help to you. I don't know anything about design."

"And I'm the best at it" Levi adds smugly, boasting like the peacock he is. "Come on, we'll do it together. Don't worry about it."

I nod, because it's really the only thing that can save me right now.

[...]

I'm sure it's after ten o'clock and Levi and I are still together, side by side, working hard on this project.

"You're good," Levi admits, tracing with his index finger the design for a billboard I created. "But you're still a novice, Defne. You take too long doing each design. And that's going to be a problem when you inevitably start getting assigned designs for the applications the boss buys. I'm going to teach you some tricks that will save you time."

I pay attention to every tip he gives me and I must admit that he knows what he's doing. And I wouldn't doubt it. Everyone always turns to Levi when they need something, but not just because he's the best, but because he's an easy person. His easy-going, laid-back attitude puts others at ease. And while his ego can sometimes get inflated, he's not a bad person.

"You've turned down every time we've asked you out," he says suddenly, but focused on the screen, "Don't you have a social life, Defne?

"Ja Ja" I laugh sarcastically and look back at my screen. "I just... haven't had time to socialize."

"You're very quiet" I don't answer anything to that, I'm too concentrated looking for the information I need among all the post-its I have, but then he continues: "Do you even have friends?"

"I have a friend."

"And where is he?"

"He's in Kenya" I answer, still concentrating on my work, so I overlook that he's gawking at me until after long seconds I turn to look at him, surprised by the silence. "What?"

"Do you have a friend in Africa?"

"Daniel is a doctor, volunteering in Kenya."

"Is he really?"

I nod, feeling a little nostalgic. Daniel and I practically grew up together even though he's a few years older than me. The last six months of us talking only sporadically due to his job have been somewhat depressing. Plus, the constant terrorist attacks in the country set my nerves on edge. I was so used to his presence, that only in his absence I understood how indispensable he is in my life. I didn't even miss my ex that much when we broke up, although of course, after the s**t he did to me, no one would blame me for getting over that asshole fast.

I shake my head and focus back on my work, trying my best to answer Levi's incessant questions. Unlike me, he never shuts up. How can he work so well when at the same time his mouth is moving at such a fast speed?

"Come on, cheer up," he says when we're done, pushing back his chair and resting his arms on the back as he watches me turn off my equipment. "Come out with us tomorrow. I'm tired of listening to Kass prattle on about you and how you should be with us. Go on, you'll have fun."

I open my mouth to agree, but a noise in the doorway stops my words. I flinch even more when I see Matheo staring at us from the doorway, his gray eyes looking darker than ever tonight. In one hand he holds a gray thermos and in the other he holds his jacket and a black briefcase, leaving his broad chest clad only in a white T-shirt with the first few buttons open. With his messy hair and the wildness of his overgrown beard, I have never seen a more manly man in my life. I look away quickly, resisting the urge to look any further.

However, I catch a glimpse of him shaking his head at us in a gesture that clearly says, what the hell are you guys doing here so late?

"Defne and I are staying to finish her delivery for tomorrow."

"Levi was helping me since the deadline was so suddenly moved up" I add with a bit of edge in my voice, not taking my gaze from his.

The corner of his mouth twitches slightly, but he manages to hold back what I'm sure was a bitter grimace.

"Is that right, Mr. Miller, are you helping Miss Sinclair?" He asks in that hard voice of his, looking directly at Levi.

"Yes, sir."

Matheo turns his face in the opposite direction and mutters something that I'm sure is not meant for our ears, and from the look on his face I know it wasn't something kind.

After several seconds of silence, he says, surprisingly: "Are you on your way out?"

"Yes, sir" it is Levi who answers.

"Go on, I'll come down with you."

In an awkward silence, I finish putting my things away and move towards him, shuddering as I pass him and catch a whiff of his scent.

I want to give myself a shock when I realize that I can even identify his woody fragrance and something much more manly that I can't quite put a name to.

My feelings for him are so visceral that they are going to make me lose what little sanity I have.

Inside the elevator, in the midst of these huge men, I feel so uncomfortable and the tension in the small space is so much that I could cut it with my fingers.

"It's too late now, if you want a ride home" Levi says to me in a low voice.

"Yes, it's ok..." my words die when the elevator stops on the first floor and, at the same time, a warm body bumps into me from behind and then cold water washes all over my back.

He didn't.

He. Didn't.

Because if he did, then he's a dead man.

"Miss Sinclair, I'm sorry," Matheo says without a hint of regret in his voice, finishing emptying his thermos on my back. "Come, I must have something for you to change in my office. Mr. Miller, you can go now, I'll take care of her."

When Levi remains inside the elevator, staring with eyes like saucers at what has happened, Matheo repeats in a harsher voice: "You may go, Mr. Miller."

Levi hasn't finished taking a step out of the elevator, when Matheo has already abruptly pressed the button to close the doors in front of him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I shout, confronting him.

"I must remind you, Miss Sinclair" I look at him angrily when, leaving everything on the floor carelessly, he approaches me with a serious expression, "about the rule of no fraternization in my company."

I look at him silently as he raises his arms and his hands travel directly to the buttons of my blouse. A muscle twitches in his jaw, but otherwise his expression is unperturbed.

My chest rises and falls sharply as his polished fingers undo the first button of my blouse, slowly going for the second, then the third....

"Are you f*****g with me?" I groan, ignoring the shiver that invades my body at his intimate actions, how he acts on me without asking permission, as if he has every right to do so.

"No, I just remind her that any relationship between employees is forbidden."

"You're telling me this while you're undressing me?"

"Unlike you, Miss Sinclair, I do clean up the messes I make" his gaze darkens as he pulls my wet blouse out of my skirt and it falls open, revealing my breasts in the white bra I'm wearing. "And that's just what I'm doing, nothing else."

"You poured that water on me on purpose."

He doesn't answer anything, just looks at me with such a concentrated expression, running his thumb across his lower lip, looking so serious.

"Are you cold?"

I growl because he's not taking me seriously.

"Why did you do that!" I lose control, screaming.

He raises an eyebrow at me, then reaches out his hand and with an almost imperceptible caress, moves his thumb across my n****e protruding through the fabric of my bra.

I close my eyes, letting the air out in a squeak, concentrating on staying on my feet as my legs go weak.

"You're cold," he hums, running the pad of his thumb over my n****e one last time, then his touch is gone, so fast I question if I imagined it.

I open my eyes just as he reaches down to drape his jacket over my shoulders, buttoning it until my entire torso is covered, replacing the blouse he ruined himself. The thing is so big it could swallow me whole.

His expression at all times remains impassive, while I am a bundle of nerves, which makes me so furious with him, furious with myself and the situation.

This man is driving me crazy.

"You are such a hypocrite" I say in a very low voice when his silence frustrates me. "You don't have the moral freedom to warn me about Levi, I think you have crossed enough professional line between us to...."

He grabs my chin hard, lifting my face up to him and forcing me to face him until my body collides and bounces a little with his. His arm comes out and wraps around my lower back and his eyes look at me full of anger, pure, hot anger.

"Next time you need help because you miss deadlines, you tell me" he stretches his thumb in his grip over my jaw and presses it to my lips, shutting me up when I try to speak. "Listen to me clearly. If I see you again in the middle of the night at my company alone with Levi, I'm going to lose my s**t, Defne. And it's not going to be a good thing."

I shake my head and push him away, trying to wiggle out of his grip. But his arm stiffens around me, sticking me incredibly tighter to his body, lifting me up on the tips of my toes until our noses brush.

"He was helping me in a situation you put me in yourself" I hiss angrily.

"Next time you come to me and I'll f*****g get you out of that same f*****g situation myself."

"You're..."

"No one else solves the messes you cause, Defne," he warns me. "Your messes are mine, no one else's."

I look at him dumbfounded, because this man in front of me is the most irrational person I've ever met.

I don't understand him.

I deny, at a loss for words, so dumbfounded by this imperturbable maniac in front of me.

Filled with rage, I push him again and this time he lets go.

I push hard on the elevator so that the doors open.

"My driver is waiting for you outside, he's going to take you" he says in such a calm voice that injects more fire in my veins.

As I step out of the elevator, I raise my hand and show him my middle finger, without turning to look at him. I can feel him behind me, following my footsteps. And just as I pass the side of the car with the man waiting for me outside, most likely his driver, I swerve and continue on my way.

"Defne!" I hear him calling me angrily, but I don't stop.

When I get a cab, I jump in, without looking back. This attraction between us is very strong, I admit, but giving in to it would be a colossal mistake. I can't keep playing this game with him, not when there's so much I stand to lose.

As I pull up to the apartment complex where I live, I see his car parked behind the cab, indicating that he has followed me. I almost wait for him to get out to continue our discussion, but his car starts as soon as I get out of the cab and he sees me standing safely on the sidewalk.

And then I understand, he was making sure I got home safely.

Inside my apartment, I fall backwards onto my bed and let out the sob I had been suppressing all the way.

Because I know, Matheo Slade is about to make my life even more complicated.