"Fuck! I hate this shit. So damn much."
Everything had been running smoothly all week, at work and at home. All my field sessions had been successfully rescheduled to the morning hours, enabling me to always get home on time and spend more time with my daughter. Only one thing was flawing the perfection. My precise circadian sleep rhythm.
My biological clock sent impulses to my brain at exactly 6am everyday, impulses that made me wake up and start my day. It had been accurate, so I'd never slept a minute after 6am for years. That also meant I never woke up a minute before 6am. It used to be an advantage but considering the fact that I'd decided to always cook breakfast for Mikayla, it was making me get to work late. I bought a little alarm clock from the store on my way back from work on Wednesday and set it to ring at 5am. Oh, it did ring the next day, I just didn't wake up to it. That was Thursday morning.
"Mi amiga, it's Friday. You should have gotten the hang of this thing by now. It's been a whole motherfucking week." Nelly responded to my incessant grumbling and complaints.
"Obviously, I haven't."
The scrambled eggs I was making in the pan looked like they could use a couple seconds in the low heat. "I really don't understand what the fuss is all about, Dee."
I huffed in mild frustration and turned off the electric cooker. "The fuss is that I'm not getting to work early enough, and that's just wrong. A stitch in time saves nine."
She yawned. "Why the fuck are you trying to save nine? I don't care about that bitch and you shouldn't either."
"Do you think this is a joke?"
Her eyes crinkled at the edges with unreserved amusement, contrasting the harsh glare on my face. She definitely thought it was a joke. "You look so fucking ugly when you're feisty, it's hilarious." Instinctively I looked away and she burst into an obnoxious laugh.
With a scowl on my face, I muttered. "Idiot."
While she tried to calm herself down, I set out the ingredients I'd use to make breakfast wraps for both of them. "So in conclusion, you can't double task. That's quite sad." I looked up from the cheddar cheese I was grating to give her a puzzled look. "I mean you're either a super mom or a super worker. You can't be both. I'd say you should be a super mom cos the meals you've been making for us have been banging. Goddamn!" I scoffed and ignored the glutton. "I ain't joking, chica. That chocolate cake you left for me was like a little piece of heaven. It was so good, it even tasted better than cum."
The knife I was using to chop onions slipped off my fingers and clattered noisily against the kitchen island. "Why would you compare my food to body fluids? You mustn't make everything sexual. It makes me feel weird." She snickered and I picked the knife to continue from where I stopped. "Besides, I don't think cum is sweet so your analogy is faulty."
"It's obviously not but it's not like it's sour either. It just tastes weird. Not weird awkward, just weird like uhm, different. But then the experience is so good, the brain starts to perceive it as sweet tasting." I gave her the stink eye and she rolled her own eyes. "You're acting like Diego wasn't eating you out everytime."
I narrowed my eyes and stopped folding the tortilla. "Eleanor Ruiz, that's a hard no. That's the fucking limit. Apologize. Right now."
Eleanor was reserved for when I was extra mad and she knew that. So she let out a deep breath before nodding in acceptance. With her hands clasped together at her chin and her head raised upwards slightly, she started her apology. "Dear Diego, it's been a fat minute. What's up with you? As you probably noticed, Dee has been so uptight and probably has a rod up her big ass. Anyways, I apologise for saying you were ravaging her genitals. Forgive me." Her hands dropped to her sides and her eyes met mine. "Happy now?"
My lips twitched and I paused for a moment to compose myself. "To an extent."
"You need to stop making me do that." She complained as I spooned scrambled eggs, chopped vegetables and cheese into the tortilla.
"Do what exactly?"
Her huff of annoyance brought a small smile to my face. "Apologizing to Diego. It's already hard for me to do that to people I can see, talk more of the ones I can't." She cleared her throat. "It makes me feel like a fucking psycho."
"You are. You just haven't realized it yet." The microwave beeped and I took out the breakfast wraps from it. Finally, it was time to leave. I wiggled my feet into my heels and sped walked to the door, Nelly behind me.
"Where are you going?"
She gave me a shoulder bump as we walked down the stairs. "I'll just walk you to your car and come right back up." I shrugged in nonchalance. "So have you seen him since then?"
Confusion clouded my mind. "Seen who?"
"Your new boss."
I shook my head in response. I hadn't seen the new CEO since our episode on Monday, it wasn't like I'd been on the lookout for him either. Maybe he wanted to operate like the former CEO did, running the company from a distance. Even though he'd asked me to call him by his first name, it still felt so strange so I called him "The new CEO" in my mind. In my defence, we hadn't crossed paths since that day. "No, I've not seen him since Monday."She gave me a funny look and I raised my brows in suspicion. "What?"
"Nothing, mi amiga. Hasta luego, cara de huevo." Classic Nelly move. Calling me an egghead whenever she said bye.
I rolled my eyes and inserted the car key into the ignition. "Adiós, vampiro." And off I went. A glance at my wristwatch as soon as I parked my car in the parking lot of WeCare Inc made me grimace. 8:19am. Damn, I had to find a solution to my sleep pattern because I really hated tardiness. Grunting in frustration, I entered the building and responded to Becky's greeting with a brisk nod.
The elevator doors opened as I got there and Gina walked out of it. As expected, she gazed at me stupidly like the flimsy gossip she was. Surprisingly, she was a really effective staff, even better than Madison. I let out a sigh of relief when the door closed, creating a barrier between the both of us.
On my desk was the stack of files Amber had told me about beforehand and I counted them. Seven in total. I picked the first one and breezed through it.
"Samantha Logan." I mumbled as I skimmed through her profile. My fingers touched the passport photo on the page and I quirked my brows. Her profile said 35 but she looked like a 50 year old. I clicked my tongue in understanding when I saw the case. Depression.
I had to leave for Bridgette Cruise's villa by 9am so I utilized the time left till then by studying Samantha's file. I always felt uncomfortable whenever I read the details of people's therapy sessions, it felt like I was invading their privacy. Poring over her drug abuse history, I could feel nothing but genuine pity for the mother of three. The therapist that used to handle her case had sessions with her on Mondays and Thursdays by 1pm. Checking my schedule, I penned her down for 1pm by Monday. I had another client by that time on Thursdays, so I'd have to discuss about a second session with her whenever she comes by.
It clocked 9am and I ordered an Uber ride that'd take me to Shirley Hills. It looked good outside so it wouldn't be a bad idea to go outside and wait. In the reception, I gave Becky another nod greeting before stepping in the mild sun. A particular flashback of Bridgette's insane behavior made me physically shiver in trepidation, she was a disaster the first time and she wouldn't be any better at the moment. If it weren't against my principle to transfer clients, I'd have done that in a beat.
A coal black Rolls Royce Phantom eased past me and I had to check myself to make sure there was no drool. I wasn't a big fan of luxury cars, I barely even knew the names of car brands but the Rolls Royce had always been an exception. There was something about that metal box that made me want to rob a bank just to afford it. I was so in love with the company, I didn't even care which make it was. Once it had that double R and the woman sculpture, I was fine.
The driver's door opened and I blinked out of my reverie, it was almost like the car had casted a spell on me. I was about looking away when someone stepped out of the open door. The new CEO. My eyes squinted in part concentration, part awe. Although I met him a week ago in the elevator and even saw him in his office on Monday, it felt like I hadn't ever seen him. Maybe because it was the first time I was actually giving him a good stare. If I had done that previously, I wouldn't had called him good-looking when I tried to describe him to Nelly, I'd had said beautiful.
He might have felt my gaze because he turned to look at me almost immediately and my legs instinctively shuffled backwards. Gosh, I hated being caught off guard. What was I supposed to do at that point? Wave shyly? Smile flirtatiously? Vanish into thin air? I took the easiest course- look away and pray he does same.
He did exactly the opposite. In fact, he didn't just look at me. He started to walk towards me and my weak heart damn near collapsed. Where was my fucking Uber ride?
"Hello, Miss Rodriguez."
I nodded to buy myself some time before responding. My voice was surprisingly clear compared to the turmoil in my insides. "Good morning, sir."