Chereads / Cruel Heart / Chapter 9 - PART 9

Chapter 9 - PART 9

"Tell me it's true!" Kallie squealed.

Mia jolted back against the fridge. Damn. She'd been avoiding Kallie all day only to be cornered in the office break room.

Mia's cheeks burned. "Um, what?" she asked. Even though she was fairly confident she knew exactly what Kallie was talking about.

Harlan plus Mia equaled a date. Waves of anxiety washed over her stomach, churning her insides like butter.

Kallie rolled her eyes with a 'get real' glare swimming in her stare. "You know," she affirmed.

She tossed back her rope of hair over her shoulder. Her braid was so tight Mia could see the women's scalp.

Mia slid out of Kallie's path. She took a step back out of the break room, nursing her coffee that had to be lukewarm by now.

Kallie's gossip already almost cost Mia's chance with Harlan. She didn't want to fall into another web of her rumors and blatant lies. Especially with the date right around the corner.

She'd be out of the building and on a date with Harlan in less than 20 minutes!

"Really, Kallie," Mia began. "Let's just drop it." Oof. Mia frowned. Did that sound bitchy? She didn't mean to sound bitchy. In fact, she quite liked Kallie-- most of the time, at least.

But she couldn't handle anymore Harlan gossip unless it was coming from Harlan himself.

Kallie giggled. "Drop it? But you're going out with Harlan Veers!" she shrieked.

Mia's hand flew up to cover Kallie's mouth. "Christ! Do you want the entire office to know?" Mia shushed. Although, if Kallie knew, then it was safe to say not only the entire office knew, but so did the entire building.

Damn.

So much for keeping it on the down low.

"It's just..." Mia trailed off as she took a quick scan around the break room. Double checking no one had walked in. Her shoulders sagged. There was no use in denying it now. "It's just a date, okay?" she admitted softly. "It's really not that big of a deal."

Kallie's jaw dropped. Like in a cartoon when their eyes double in size and their mouth hangs open like a door with rusty hinges."Not a big deal?" she echoed incredulously. "It's Harlan Veers!"

Mia shushed her. Again. "I know who it is, Kallie. And can you stop calling him by his full name? Weirds me out," she added.

Kallie's smile grew tenfold. "You gotta tell me how the sex is. With that body?" Kallie's eyes rolled back with a shoulder shimmy. "Oh, he must fuck like a God!" she exclaimed.

Mia's eyes bulged. "Kallie!" She wasn't a prude. But talking about having sex with her boss in the middle of the office wasn't exactly employee of the month material.

"It's a first date. Just dinner," she assured. She was already nervous. She didn't need any lingering images of sex with Harlan rattling in the back of her head.

Kallie winked. "Oh I'm sure."

"Bye, Kallie." Mia bid her a farewell before starting for the door.

"Wait!" Mia jumped as Kallie ran forward, blocking the break room's entrance.

Mia sighed. Her coffee would be cold by now. "What?"

Kallie lowered her voice. Which was pointless considering she'd just screamed about Harlan fucking like a God. "What about Lake?" Kallie asked.

Mia blinked. She hadn't expected to hear Lake's name ever again. She shook her head, trying to understand. "What about him?" For all she cared, he was dead. He had stolen enough years of her life already. Four to be exact. She refused to let him take anymore. Gigi included.

"It hasn't even been a week since you two broke up," she reminded.

Huh. A week?

Mia frowned.

It felt like a year.

"So?" Mia asked. What did it matter? Lake was a cheater and as far as Mia was concerned, they'd been broken up the second he decided to sleep with her sister.

Kallie shrugged. "I don't know, just feels rushed."

Mia laughed. Where she was standing, it was the complete opposite. "I'll see you on Monday," Mia promised while finally slipping out of the break room.

That was the last time she'd make coffee in the office.

Twenty minutes later, Mia was zipping up her winter coat as the elevator doors pinged open to the front lobby.

"Were you waiting long? I got, ah, pulled into something," Mia said. More like; Kallie's mouth is too big for her head and I couldn't make her stop talking.

Harlan sat in the empty lounge of the lobby. His winter coat was as cutour as the rest of his closet. The charcoal knee length coat billowed at the end like a cape, looking like something swept right off the runway.

His hair was pulled back making the shadows cast by his jaw line grow tenfold.

Mia halted in place as her core moaned. God, just looking at him sent her libido spiraling back into that of a lovestruck teen.

He shook his head. "Not long at all," he said. The corners of his mouth twitched up in a grin.

Mia smiled. Oh crap, was she blushing?

Yep. She was totally blushing.

Damnit.

"So...what did you have in mind for tonight?" Mia asked. Before she could finish, Bruce, the front lobby secretary, rushed into the lounge.

Mia stepped back with a jolt. Like she'd been caught at the scene of a crime.

Bruce's cheeks were flushed from his sprint. He gasped for air, slightly hunched as if he'd been punched in the gut.

"You've received a call, Mr. Veers. From a Mags Hastings."

Mia crossed her arms. Her eyes slid to Harlan, the muscles in her jaw tightening. Maybe this date wouldn't be as long as she thought.

"Another ex?" she mumbled.

Harlan's brows furrowed. Distress rippled across his face like a wave, his jaw clenching and eyes narrowing. His lips pressed into a thin line.

If she didn't know any better, she would say he was pissed.

"It's my mother," he said. "One of them, at least," Harlan added before turning back to Bruce.

Mia's lips parted slightly.

Oh.

Wait--one of them? What did that mean? And why would his mother be calling the front desk instead of Harlan himself?

"Did she leave a message?" Harlan asked the question with a heavy disinterest. Almost like he couldn't care less about the answer.

Bruce nodded, his ruddy cheeks jiggling from the movement. "She requested you call her immediately and that it was in regards to Bastian."

Harlan grabbed his laptop bag from the lounge seat and stood. "Thanks, Bruce."

Bruce nodded with a soft, "My pleasure," before taking off.

"So..." Mia shifted on her feet awkwardly. She felt like she'd just intruded on something, but she had no idea what. "Hey, if we need to reschedule that's totally okay," she assured.

God knows she had her fair share of family drama. And that wasn't even including the whole Gigi and Lake fiasco.

Harlan shook his head. "Why would we reschedule?" he asked.

"Um." Mia shrugged nervously. "Like if you need to deal with your family that's totally fine. We can have dinner tomorrow," she offered.

Harlan smiled. "Fray, nothing could make me reschedule with you."

Mia tried to hide her smile. But there was nothing she could do to conceal the ruby blush along her cheeks.

"Bastian is my brother," he explained as they headed for the lobby's exit.

Mia nodded. "Oh, I didn't know you had any siblings?"

Harlan smirked. "Unfortunately so," he drawled. "I have three."

She looked up at him in surprise. She never would have pegged him as having siblings. Harlan Veers put off a very only child vibe. Everything from the way he spoke down to his smirk screamed just that.

"Bastian's the middle child," he continued.

"And the other two?" she asked as they started down the crowded street.

"Paul and Tilly are the youngest. Twins."

Mia held in her shiver. The last thing she needed to do was think about her own twin.

She shook her head. Better to drop the family talk now before he started asking about hers. If Harlan thought his family was dysfunctional he was in for a surprise.

"So where are we off to?" she blurted out in a lame attempt to switch the subject.

"Have you ever been to Twyla's?" he asked as they turned the corner.

The December frost still clung thickly to the pavement despite it being a week into January. Mia eyed her steps carefully as her heels wobbled along the platform of ice.

Harlan snaked his arm around hers, steadying her balance.

She smiled and leaned closer into his heat. "Um, Twyla's?" Mia ran the name over in her head. "No, I don't think so."

Harlan nodded firmly. "Perfect. Twyla's it is then."

Mia frowned. She'd grown up in the city; she practically knew every corner and crevice of New York. But she was sure she'd never heard of Twyla's.

"What is it?" she asked.

Harlan's eyes glinted with anticipation. "You'll see, Fray."