Tongue Tied

Chapter 12

Carlie sat at the foot of my bed clinging to my every word while I ranted. I'd called and startled her out of sleep when I got back to the apartment around two in the morning. She'd come over, a pint of my favorite ice cream in hand, and sleepily listened to me go on and on about how mad I was, while inhaling the entire carton and half of another. I told her everything about Alec and Sean and how I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Hilliard fired me as soon as I walked in the office. No doubt he'd heard by now that Harper Media was handling the campaign. He had to be livid, probably blaming me.

To a certain extent, it probably was my fault. Sure, Alec had unintentionally stolen my chances with Rutherford Laurence, but it was my responsibility to knock Sean Ashworth's socks off in a pitch, and I hadn't made a good enough presentation. I was equally as mad at myself as I was at Alec.

"Why didn't he tell his boss he wouldn't do it?" Carlie frowned, digging a spoon into her vanilla ice cream. "Or he could've told you beforehand what was going on. That's why he ignored you for a week? What a bastard!"

Carlie had a point. There were numerous ways Alec could've handled the situation differently. I didn't know why I was surprised though. Before our truce, anything went. Alec didn't care how much he screwed me over or how many clients and potential clients he stole from me. He absolutely could not give less of a fuck. But I thought all that had changed. I thought we weren't going to do that to each other anymore. I hadn't attempted to steal any of Harper Media's clientele since our agreement. Had I been the only one who meant what they said when we'd agreed not to hurt each other business-wise anymore? I was beginning to think so. Maybe Alec's half of the deal had never been sincere. Maybe he'd just been waiting for the right client to fuck me over. Maybe he'd only agreed so he could better convince me to let him get in my pants. That had been a persuading point.

The more I thought about it, the worse I felt. I felt so sluggish I didn't want to get out of bed. I wanted to avoid the world and sleep the day away - mostly because I figured Mr. Hilliard couldn't fire me if he couldn't find me. I couldn't do that though. I had to throw myself together as best I could and go to work.

"I don't understand his reasoning any better than you, Carlie," I groaned into my pillow. "I guess it's one of those things where he can use the excuse that he wasn't thinking or something like that. I wouldn't be so pissed at him if he'd just told me what was going on when he left for LA."

That was true. I wouldn't be as angry if I'd known what to expect. Maybe he had been so eaten up with guilt over it that he felt like he couldn't talk to me. I couldn't come up with another reason why he'd ignore me the way he had.

"Want me to go beat him up for you?" Carlie giggled, holding up her spoon. Ice cream dripped off of it, landing on her arm. "I hear spoons don't feel very good if you get hit in the face with one."

She was trying to cheer me up and I appreciated that. I knew it was a joke but I also knew that if I'd given her the go-ahead, she wouldn't hesitate to track Alec down and beat him with an ice-cream-dirtied spoon. The mental image of her doing so was enough to make me laugh pretty hard.

I shook my head, laughing. "Please don't go trying to murder anyone."

"I can see it now!" She held up her hands as if she were presenting something spectacular to an audience. "The headline shall read, Woman Murders Man with Spoon!" And she proceeded to fall on the bed, cackling.

I wanted to laugh more because it would probably brighten my mood, but at the same time, it wasn't helping my throbbing head. I hadn't gotten any sleep and it was close to six: my usual wake-up time.