no control

• twenty nine •

gladys

I slurped on my near-empty iced coffee and earned a look from Aaron.

Flashing him an apologetic smile, I opened the passenger door of Elijah's SUV and jumped inside. Aaron closed it after me and walked around to the driver's door.

My body and brain were truly exhausted. Shopping was not for the weak.

I fastened the seatbelt over my lap and rested my head against the headrest with a sigh. Aaron slid in beside me without a word. He cranked the ignition and music played softly from the radio.

I'd noticed today, during our last few hours together, that Aaron didn't like me.

It was nothing he said or anything. I was sure Elijah would have his head removed if he was rude to me. But his face made this shape whenever he looked at or talked to me like my mere presence just annoyed the ever-loving shit out of him.

I didn't want to be annoying and I didn't want to waste his time. In general, I was used to being as invisible as possible to avoid attention of any kind. So it bothered me that I bothered him.

Truthfully, the shopping experience with me probably ruined him. I was an indecisive, insecure nightmare on heels.

The thought of meeting important people to Elijah had me doubting everything. I wanted to look older and confident and fierce because that's what Elijah's woman needed to be.

Seeing how I was none of those things in actuality, I had to get one hell of a dress to look the part.

Regardless, Aaron and I didn't have to like each other. I just felt very strongly that since Elijah trusted this man enough to carry out his private deeds, I wanted to trust him too.

Maybe he was just annoyed he had to babysit me. I wonder what he did with all his time before I entered the picture.

My face snapped towards him and Aaron glanced down at me through his side eye.

"What?" he said.

"I was just wondering . . . What's your official title? Like, you know. Personal assistant? Secretary?"

"I'm not a secretary." He rolled his eyes. "I'm like . . . the Vice President."

"Ah, okay. And in this case . . . Elijah would be the President?"

He glared at me particularly hard through his side eye.

I tapped on my chin and continued staring out the window. "So what are you the VP of, exactly? Is there like a secret accountant club I don't know about?"

His eyes were rolling when I glanced over.

"What? I'm serious," I said, holding a hand to my chest in mock offense.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

I ducked my head at the hostility in his tone. Obviously, I didn't know and that's why I was asking. Asshole.

Assuming I probably shouldn't provoke him anymore today, I just sighed and looked out the window.

"I'm sorry you had to endure today with me," I said.

"It's fine. You got what you needed."

An unbearably long stretch of silence ensued that made my nerves rattle.

At least in the mall, I could pretend to be occupied by literally anything else.

Grimacing, I chewed on the inside of my cheek. "So . . . Elijah mentioned you have kids?" I asked.