Thank you for your positive responses! I've had a lovely first email so here's the second chapter, quicker than I had anticipated sending it to you! This one is EPOV and I hope you enjoy! Remember to review, it makes me feel happy! This is a little bit of backstory on Edward and Bella so far.
Enjoy!
EPOV
The interior of my home was still tough to look at since she left. Since I kicked her out into the street I should correct before you start pitying me. I managed to burn every trace of her that lingered when she tore my life apart. Her unbearable intoxicating toiletries that cluttered my bathroom and her ridiculously expensive yet surprisingly minimal clothing that would pummel its way through the doors of my wardrobe before it even opened. Even the memory of simple things from my past causes a shudder to reverberate through my bones and I gripped the marble counter of the island in my kitchen. I looked down into the coffee in front of me and a sigh left my body before I could stop it. The echo that sounded sent an upsetting chill through my spine and I stood straight automatically, pushing away the self-pity that attempted to creep into my consciousness. I didn't have time for self-pity.
My suit was dry cleaned and pressed by my assistant and my hand flew to the breast pocket to fish out the folded up paper I knew would be there. Tossing it into the trash I wondered how long it would take Tanya to actually figure out I know she puts her personal cell number into the pocket once the suit has been cleaned. She is part of the reason I struggle to make it to work every day. I know how important the business is and I worked very hard to get this job. I'm reminded every day what sacrifices I made when I look around my empty luxurious home.
I can't handle thinking about my past every morning and I finish getting ready for work in a haze, dragging myself to my car I'm driving to work before I even realise I have put my keys in the ignition. As soon as I left my car my name was shouted from every possible direction. That was the other thing that deterred me from my job. The amount of women that hoarded around me on a regular basis with no regard for personal space or sense of awareness frustrated me. Unfortunately everybody had discovered what happened to me and thousands of 'sympathy' cards appeared in my office mail box. Naturally if you were to hear that your boss and CEO of your entire floor had walked in on his fiancée with another man in his own bed, you would imagine that two things would run through your head. One, sympathy naturally because, well, she destroyed my life and two, if you were a young female you would back the fuck off. I didn't want to see another woman after it happened and still hold contempt for the majority of people in this building.
I walked straight past all of the girls that called after me and gripping my Italian custom briefcase, I stormed towards the lobby doors and walked straight into the elevator. Before I could close the doors without anybody getting in with me, it was still too early for the rest of my staff to be travelling up to the 8th floor. A streak of caramel blonde hair dove into the elevator just as the doors sealed shut. Ugh.
"Thanks for holding the door Eddie" Tanya panted whilst brushing down her hair and straightening her shirt. I briefly caught a glimpse of her chosen outfit of the day. Reminding her that she has to set an example for the other females on our floor apparently isn't always motivation enough for her. All the while secret hoping she does cover up so I won't have to see her tits every day. The sight of her made me feel physically nauseous. Today she was wearing an impossibly tight and short blood red pencil skirt with a zip running from the very bottom where it met her thigh and the top where it attempted to hold her waist together with some self-respect. Her blouse was black and sheer, her fake tits tumbling out of the top of it. How she began to assume that was an appropriate and 'sexy' way to dress was beyond me. I had perfection when it was mine. But what did I know? Sexy is a trap. I know that all too well.
She reminded me that she had stocked up the stationary cabinet and I should take a look to see how great she made the place look. It's a stationary cupboard she's not Da Vinci. I rolled my eyes and kept my head up facing the doors. As soon as the elevator hit floor 8 I stormed out and headed directly to my office. Ignoring her calls after me and I shut the door with force. I could faintly hear her muttered voice and turned on the monitor on my desk. I never shut down the computer in here mainly because I hated waited in silence and I couldn't allow myself to show my anger at work. Not anymore.
I clicked on the camera icon on my taskbar and studied the screen as the CCTV flew up into view. My eyes quickly found Tanya. She was pacing around outside my door, her hands pushing up her breasts like they needed to be any higher. She was checking herself out. I laughed to myself in disgust and tore my eyes away from the screen. Reaching for my briefcase I laid it onto the desk before me and flicked the clasps. Hearing the satisfying click of the case unlocking, I smiled for the first time of the day to myself. This briefcase was the last gift given to me by my mother. She bought it for me when I moved away to Chicago. A going away present with the added homey feel. She had the case upholstered in the identical leather as my bed in her home. I treasured this case and it was the only thing that had the ability to bring me joy in late times. Running my hands over the outer case I had an overwhelming sense of urgency to finally have a hot drink inside me. Not trusting Tanya to make the journey to Starbucks for me, I didn't particularly fancy Rohypnol flavoured Cappuccino. I stepped away from my desk and left the office, ensuring it was locked behind me.
I made my way through the office floor making sure to avoid Tanya, however difficult the prospect might be, I always managed. It wouldn't surprise me if she were in the very stationary cupboard spoiling yet another intern she insists on hiring. Ugh Interns.
The only thing I hated more than women were interns. And female interns should just pack up and leave before they even attempt to appease me. I had no patience for teaching people menial work. They have to file and process orders and answer the occasional phone call given their workload of the day. Interns had been nothing but trouble. Especially Isabella Swan. The very name sends a horrifying chill through my bones. I'll never forget her first day.
I was unbelievably stressed after having arguments all night at home and I really couldn't be bothered to deal with new interns. The last few had tried to steal from the stationary cupboard, after catching them red handed they threatened to sue. Interns were nothing but trouble.
This girl had come to my office to introduce herself. She looked professional in a relatively smart suit. She was pretty but not in your face like most of the other females here. She wore little make up and everything was covered appropriately. She handed me her resume in an attempt to impress me and blinded by my lack of sleep I sent her away telling her I had better things to do that talk to an uneducated intern. I saw tears rise to her eyes and a sense of dread filled my still heart. Before I could say anything to apologise she staggered from my office. Hours later with a grim feeling in my stomach and a nagging sensation in my brain splitting my focus between business at home and this poor girl's feelings, I dragged myself away from my desk and wandered to the other side of the 8th floor where I knew she would be. I don't know what drew me to her but I couldn't stop my feet and before I knew it I was there, looking in the doorway at her. She sat at a cubicle laughing, holding an iphone to her ear and laughing warmly to the person at the other end. It was the lunch hour and the office was empty apart from her. She sat on her own, phone to her ear and her hands still typing away at the computer before her.
Why would she be working through her lunch hour? Why didn't she go out with the other females in the office? There was only one way to find out.
My hand turned the door handle and her voice flooded through the small gap in the door.
"I don't know Alice, I spoke to him once" was she talking about me?!
"Of course he's attractive… Alice don't even joke about that I would never do such a thing…" what was her friend telling her to do?!
"I am not cornering him Alice, he already told me to go away once... yeah… I walked up to him to introduce myself and bam, I'm told I'm uneducated and to basically just fuck off!" yeah, she did take it to heart, why did I have to be such a dick?!
"Well okay we'll see what happens won't we… yeah everyone in this office is sooo friendly we gossip about everything… oh yeah we talk about how we can lure him away..." She giggled into her phone.
It hit me like a ton of bricks. What a waste of time coming down here it was evident she was just like every other girl in this fucking building. She was just a trouble maker that didn't know when to stop. I let go of the door handle in haste and jumped as it clicked shut, my eyes still on the girl before me. Her eyes flew to meet mine at the sound and she dropped the iphone from her hand. It landed on the desk and her face turned infinitely pale as she looked on into my scowling glare. I turned and paced angrily up the hallway back to my office, dismissing Tanya for the rest of the day as I passed her desk. I really couldn't cope with her bullshit either.
A few days later the 'incident' happened. I don't know how else to talk about what I saw and how I felt, I call it an incident to save time and hurt and just shove it away in the cupboard with everything else that is clawing for release.
I had thrown her into the street the evening before and threw her shit along after her. I was no fool and there was no way I would let a woman like that try and squeeze her way back into my life. She was nothing and she needed to be gone. I went to work the next day regardless of the burning agony in my heart and the whiskey that had gone straight to my head all night long. I booked a cab because I'd already had my life ruined, I didn't need to destroy my car. I held on tightly to the door as it carelessly flew over speed bumps and halted with a loud screech outside the building. I threw money at the front seat before staggering out of the cab and walked up towards the lobby. My head was heavy and my heart pounding, whiskey burning its way into my blood. I pushed my way up to the elevator hearing people ask me if I was 'okay' and had I 'seen Vicky' since last night. I barked for everybody to leave me alone in there. How could people have already been told?! I shouted violently as soon as the door closed and fisted my hair as I felt my lungs contract. When it reached the 6th floor I saw red as it stopped and the doors opened.
On the other side, there she stood. Isabella Swan.
I hated the sight of her and I wanted to throw her out into the street, telling her she could shove her job up her ass. I didn't need a stupid gossiping intern around me right now. Oblivious of my anger she stepped confidently in. All of the intoxicated blood rushed to my head and I could feel myself angling towards her.
She sensed my presence becoming closer, "Good morning Mr Cullen" she politely attributed to the silence.
Before I could stop myself my lips spat out words like they were diseased.
"Good morning? GOOD MORNING!? Why don't you just fuck off back to the other whores of the 8th floor and leave me alone!" I barked at her, the volume of my voice almost shaking the elevator.
"Mr Cullen, I don't know what to say…" she stumbled over her words her eyes wider than I'd ever seen and her chest rising and falling, drawing my eyes to it. She had a lower necked blouse on today and another flood of aggression poured from my mouth like uncontrollable word vomit.
"Then say nothing! I know what girls like you want! You're all after money; you're just a lying cheating excuse of a woman!" She gasped and began to open her mouth but she wasn't quick enough. "I see what you're doing, coming to my office and trying to work your way into my life! I see right through you lady! What is this?!" I stepped towards her and shoved a pointed finger into her rising chest. It landed with a thump just above the top of her cleavage. Her eyes darkened and she swiped my hand away muttering a 'how dare you' but it was futile, I was finishing my speech. "You think just because I've been single for 5 fucking minutes that if you flash your tits at me I'll fuck you! Is that what you want?! A quick fuck for a pay rise!? " She gasped in horror once more and panic flew into her eyes. I knew I should have stopped before I said anything close to what was leaving my mouth and luckily before I could start again the unmistakable 'ding' of the elevator told us we had reached the 8th floor. Before the doors fully opened she had fled, she ran, turning left down the corridor and towards the offices.
It was only after she left that I felt the sadness of the previous day's events build back up in my heart. All the while Isabella was by my side, it was only passion that I felt. It confused me and I stayed in the elevator until my body returned to my control. Guilt began to rise up but I pushed it back down. She had no right to make me feel like that. She had no hold over me. No woman did.
Throughout the day I drank, I didn't consider touching my paperwork and files while I had so much alcohol in my system. I hesitantly looked over to the CCTV on my monitor and my jaw clenched at what I saw. Almost every woman in the office was hovering over one particular cubicle. I typed into the search bar to change the camera I was viewing and a growl left my mouth when I gained access to see who they were hovering around. Isabella Swan, who was now hunched over her desk, talking into her clenched hands
Of course she would tell the rest of the office. She would tell everyone what I had done to her and no doubt she would attempt to sue like the last stupid interns.
I waited in my office mulling over my anger until the early hours of the evening. All of the staff left, Isabella leaving last out of the people in her office, dragging her feet behind her, a haunted look on her face. To my utter amazement her eyes flew up to the very camera that was feeding live into my monitor. She looked down briefly before pulling her hands up and buttoning the very top button of her blouse. Completely hiding all of her chest and even the start of her neck from view, she sighed and continued her way out of the building.
Could she sense I was watching her?
The next few days followed slowly and I never heard any reports back of sexual harassment. Nothing about anybody suing and I never saw Isabella in person. I watched her on the CCTV and to my shock, every day her chest was covered and black opaque tights covered her legs. She was dressing drastically over her age and it was all because of me.
I couldn't begin to decipher the feelings I felt for her, for anyone anymore. So I resorted to the only available option left for me, utterly closing myself off.