EZRA
When Lucas invited me for this get together, I was ready to turn him down because I was currently in some deep shit that needed my full attention but decided I won't die if I attend one in a long while, so I did.
Of course, I also knew I was going to run into Harlem Tamrin. But the moment I saw her, my body; with a mind of its own, was drawn to her like a moth to a flame. I knew I liked her, a lot. But after not seeing her for a whole month, it was different and shocking, like I was punched in the gut. Her ethereal beauty holding me captive by the fucking throat. And before you know it, I was doing stupid things like, following her around and the stupidest of all, waiting for her at the front of the toilet.
I'm not drunk, no. I'm in my right sense of mind but I might as well be drunk the moment I see her.
She spots me and sighs. She stops walking and looks behind her as if to turn back. I smirk. Don't fight it honey. She shakes her head and turns forward and keeps walking towards me, rolling her eyes when we make eye contact. Good girl.
"This is a whole new level of stalking, Roth. Even for you." She walks past me into the toilet. And… you guessed right, I followed her in. Christ, I don't even act this way when I'm drunk. But I'm way past logical reasoning at this point.
She hears me come in and close the door. She spins and looks at me with wide eyes and an open mouth. "What are you doing?" I shrug and walk past her to the mirror.
"Accompanying you. What does it look like I'm doing?" I say adjusting my hair. She scoffs.
"The hell you are. This is the ladies' room, you're not allowed in here. What if someone walks in?" she says looking at the door a bit panicked.
"Then, I'll greet them and continue my business. Or would you rather I curtesy?" she blinks shocked at me, then she laughs.
"Did I say something funny?" I raise a brow in question.
"You don't have to. Your actions are stupid enough to make anybody laugh." She says folding her arms. I grin at her from the mirror, then I turn and stand right in front of her.
"What's going on between you and Lucas? He seems a little too friendly with you? Or is that how employer-employee relationships are these days?" I take a piece of her hair between my fingers and rub. So, soft.
She slaps my hand away. I smirk "It's none of your business. Besides, you're also my boss. Or did you forget? Would anybody call following me into the ladies' room, employer- employee relationship? I don't think so. Maybe you should remove the log in your eye before worrying about the toothpick in someone else's"
I smile at her staring at the glistening skin below her neck, wondering what it would feel like beneath my lips and hands. "My eyes are up here, asshole."
I look at her. "You're not worried that a guy you know nothing about, just followed you into the toilet? You're not worried about our close proximity, or the way I've been tailing you all night. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you… enjoy this, especially as much as I do" I take a step closer to her. I see her throat work up and down and she moves back a little. I walk closer and closer to her till she's backed against the wall and I can smell her glorious scent.
"So maybe I am an asshole, not gonna deny it. But you, you could push me away, tell me No, call the bloody cops on me, but you don't. I think you're the hypocrite." I whisper in her ear and move back. She looks at me like I just slapped her across the face and her eyes turn to steel.
Yes, that's it. Insult me, Make me second guess this. Whatever THIS is between us, it's burning me alive and I can't breathe. I wrecked the only marriage I had hopes for and I'm convinced I deserve it. I deserve to be alone, for the sins of my family and myself. My life is shit and I want her to tell me that. I stare at her.
She looks at me, she takes a deep breath and walks up to me. "Maybe I'm the hypocrite. No, I AM a hypocrite. But you could have hurt me all this time, made me resent you for existing but you didn't. So, we're not so different, are we?" she walks out, leaving me standing there dumbfounded.
I hold my mouth and laugh. She's something, that one. Harlem Goddamn Tamrin.
----
I stand in front of the Ty's hotel room waiting for him to open up. I look at my wristwatch, 11:28 pm.
When I left the bathroom, Harlem was nowhere in sight. Guess she turned in early. I left immediately I realized she had gone and drove here. To the hotel, courtesy of Briggs.
I light a blunt and inhale. Something loosened in me this night. I don't know what it is, but I feel it so strongly. Harlem Tamrin, my drug. And like every drug, I know she'll ruin me. But I keep craving the hit.
Ty opens the door wearing a bathrobe and on a call. He smiles at me and lets me in. I sit on the nearest chair and take another drag of my blunt, feeling myself float away with the smoke.
Ty raises his eyebrows at me in question as he speaks to whoever is on the other end. I close my eyes and relax for the first time in a month.
I didn't get married to Kandra but the price I had to pay was excruciating. I remember the look on Kandra's face when I walked into her apartment and told her the marriage wasn't happening. She thought I was joking, but I really wasn't. To override the deal between our parents, I had to first donate a huge amount of money to Mr. Solover and offer some of my rights as CEO to him, the useless ones of course, but it was almost as if he was becoming CEO with me. My father couldn't believe his ears when he heard it, and my mother… well she was the one who planted the idea, so she just gave me a pained thumbs up and watched the consequences of my actions bite me in the ass.
But all in all, Mr. Solover took things a little too far, wanting to use the opportunity and anger to steal my place as CEO. So, I did some digging. I stopped him with a picture of him and his lover hiding away in a hotel far away from town. I had to do some dirty work. Because I couldn't stand by and watch him easily take what I had prepared my life for. He'd have to pry them from my cold hands. And obviously, he didn't want the scandal to be all over the news so he agreed to part peacefully with the compensation and nothing more. I took the opportunity to put an end to the stupid law of binding marriage; which was hassle because some of the Bord of Directors didn't want it, but after doing some more digging, they voted on it and it's in the trash bin as we speak. I reman CEO alone and always.
It was one heck of a month but I finished it. Kandra can go marry whoever the fuck she wants but it won't be me.
"Hey man. Yo, you look like shit" Thanks Tyrone.
"I feel like shit." I say still closing my eyes and take another drag.
"You're smoking up my hotel room but I'm going to let you because I know you're having it rough right now" I smile and take another drag.
"Ther's this woman… she's from Poland and she talks to me like she has no regard for me or my feelings, the sun has nothing on her when it comes to beauty and she's super talented. I'm afraid I'm going to mess everything up and I don't know what to do. All I can say is that I can't leave her alone, no matter how much I try."
I glance at Ty and see his jaw dropped. "I was not expecting that. Wait. Is that why you didn't want to get married to Kandra anymore?"
I look away "I don't know. It just didn't feel right." I mutter. Ty comes to sit in front of me.
"This is crazy. When can I meet her? Because you've never spoken this way about any woman whatsoever. She HAS to be intriguing." I roll my eyes.
"She hates me, Ty. If I came with you, she'd probably call the cops and report us for sexual harassment." I say and smiling because I know she can do it.
"Oh, wow. You're finally in love with someone and she hates you? You're having it rough. We should go to the Bahamas for the weekend to chill. You need it" I stare at him annoyedly and stand.
"Whatever. I just wanted to let you know. I don't think it's going to lead anywhere though but I… don't know." I say taking the last drag and putting it out.
"Man, no one knows what happens in the future. You just got to hope for the best." I look at Tyrone as he speaks like some version of Mahatma Ghandi but with earrings and curly hair.
I shake my head at him and smile staring out the window. We talk a bit more about other things, and he convinces me to go on that vacation but as usual, my mind is still on a certain gold eyed beauty.