Flesh: Part Fifteen (The Flesh Series Book 15) (4 page)

His eyes widen in
panic. “Should we take her to the hospital?”

“
No.
It's not that bad. Everything is mostly superficial. But there's
just...a lot,” my voice trails off as I wonder what kind of
monster could do that to another human being.

“
Why
didn't she try to get away?” I can hear the anger in his tone.

I roll my eyes.
“Because she didn't want to look like a pussy.”

“
Oh,
that's bullshit!”

“
Shhh!”
I press my index finger to my lips as I hear Janice's bedroom door
open.

We stay quiet until
we hear her pad into the bathroom and close the door. Then we wait
even longer until the sound of the showerhead tells us that she can't
hear us anymore.

Derrick sits with
his back pressed against the sofa, shaking his head. I can't even
begin to wonder what he's thinking, but I can tell he's upset. For
all of the rude playful banter that he and Janice share back and
forth, they do care about each other.

“
I
wish there was something we could do,” I say, completely at a
loss.

“
Do
you think I should leave?” He glances down at me sincerely.

I scrunch up my
face, wanting him to stay but knowing that Janice probably won't talk
as long as he's here. “It might be for the best.”

He nods. “Yeah,
I thought so. Just...let me know what happened tomorrow, alright?”

“
If
she wants me to tell you, I will.” I stand to take the Blu-ray
Disc out of the player. “Can you drop these off at Redbox on
your way home?”

“
Sure.”
He takes the movies from me, and I walk him to the door.

The hug we share is
awkward. Too tight. I can't help but wonder if it's because he's
worried about Janice or if he's still thinking about what he said to
me earlier about his romantic interest being genuine. It's not
something I should be thinking about right now. All that matters is
Janice.

“
Call
me if you two need anything, alright?” he says as he breaks
free from the hug.

“
I
will.” I open the door for him, then watch as he walks out of
it and leaves me alone with my thoughts.

***

It feels like
forever before Janice emerges from the shower. I sit on the sofa in
the living room, waiting for her, staring blankly at the television,
even though it's not turned on. My mind is cycling through ways of
comforting her. Perhaps I should bake a cake. She sometimes bakes me
a cake when I'm upset. I'm not even sure if she's hungry though, and
I am supposed to start my diet tomorrow. Baking a cake now probably
isn't the best idea.

My ears perk up when
I hear the bathroom door open. I immediately look down the hall,
waiting for Janice to come out and join me. Instead, she makes a
beeline for her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

My shoulders slump
as I realize that the waiting game isn't over. I sit on the sofa for
another hour before realizing that she has no intention of coming out
and talking to me. Poor thing. She must be really traumatized. It's a
good thing I didn't bake that cake.

Surrendering to the
realization that she's not going to talk tonight, I decide to go to
bed. The night is eerily solemn. I can hear Janice crying in her
room, and it completely breaks my heart. More than anything, I wish
there was something that I could do for her. She won't let me help
her though. Maybe this is one of those things that only time can
heal. She'll talk to me when she's ready. I have to believe that.
After all, we're best friends.

***

The night is
restless. It's almost one o'clock in the morning before Janice stops
crying. Even after that, sleep comes in waves. I have nightmares
about some faceless man beating her. Then he turns to me and I get
the same treatment. I feel physical pain in my dreams, which makes
things worse. The guy keeps cutting me, and I can't get away from
him. All I can do is cry and scream and beg. It's to no avail though.
Then when I finally do see his face, I realize that he's a monster
and not a man. Some demon. That makes the dream all the more
terrifying.

I wake up in a cold
sweat and quickly eat breakfast and start getting ready for work to
distract my mind. When I look at my cell phone, Lucian still hasn't
responded to my text message. I sigh. One step forward, two steps
back. Just as I told Derrick.

I don't want to
worry about that now though. I'm still too busy thinking about
Janice. Hopefully, she'll talk to me tonight. Hell, I'll just be
happy if she doesn't avoid me.

I head in to work
with my mind focused on everything but work. I honestly don't expect
Lucian to have responded to any of my emails, so I'm not even going
to bother caring about it. Not today. Perhaps tomorrow. He'll come
around eventually, as he does with all things.

I walk into the
office, and as soon as Derrick sees me, he stands to come meet me at
my desk. “Did she talk to you?”

“
No.”
I shake my head. “After you left, I waited up for her. As soon
as she came out of the bathroom, she went back into her bedroom and
never came out. I ended up going to bed late and not getting much
sleep.”

“
I
can tell.” He bends slightly. “You've got bags under your
eyes.”

“
I
ran out of good concealer and had to switch over to my cheapie
backup.” I frown though it quickly goes away when I think about
the time that Lucian used concealer on his lip to cover up where I
bit him. Maybe I should have called him this morning and had him run
some over. It's a silly thought, but it lifts some of the grimness
from my day, so I'm appreciative of it.

Tyra walks out of
her office, staring at us with a hard expression. “Good, you're
both here. Can I see you in my office?”

Derrick and I look
at each other, and my nerves go on high alert.

“
Sure,”
we both say at the same time before following her into her office.

“
Close
the door.” She gestures back to us, and Derrick obeys, closing
the door before coming to stand beside me.

Tyra rounds her
desk, sitting down in her office chair and lacing her fingers next to
her keyboard. Her eyes are fixed on some unknown spot. I can feel
tension radiating off of her.

“
What's
this about?” Derrick asks hesitantly. It's obvious by his tone
that he's picking up the same vibes that I am from her.

She gazes up at us
with a defeated expression. “I got off the phone with Doctor
Reddick a little while ago.”

My heart sinks, and
I glance over at Derrick. We're both fearing the worst, but I refuse
to believe what common sense is telling me.

“
And?”
The muscles in Derrick's jaw tighten.

“
He
canceled his contract.” Tyra sweeps her hand across her desk
though I don't see what she's trying to clear off.

“
Damn
it!” Derrick stomps his foot and turns. I can see his chest
heave with anger, and it makes me want to cower.

“
Exactly.
Damn it,” Tyra parrots slowly. “I think you both know
what that means.”

“
Yeah.”
Derrick shakes his head, the movement so stiff that it looks like his
neck could snap.

“
No
bonus?” I ask naively.

“
No
bonus,” she replies. “You're both dismissed, and you can
both leave at noon today. I don't foresee you having any work.”

Derrick takes off
for the door, too upset to stand there any longer. The sound of the
door slamming behind him makes me jump.

“
Do
you have any idea what went wrong?” I can feel Tyra peering up
at me.

“
No,
ma'am.” I thread my fingers together.

“
Well,
at least we're getting partial payment for the work that you guys
did. It's not a complete loss,” she sighs, leaning back in her
chair.

“
That's
good to hear, ma'am.” I briefly chew my bottom lip, wondering
what could have made Lucian cancel his contract. He knows how
important this is to me.

“
You're
dismissed.” She waves at the door, turning her attention to her
computer.

I scurry out of her
office, knowing that Derrick will be waiting for me. I wish I had
more time to mentally prepare for it, but we don't always get what we
wish for.

By some miracle,
Derrick has already returned to his desk. He's sitting with his head
in his hands, probably stewing. When he looks up at me, I quickly
turn away and make my way to my own desk, booting up my computer to
check my email.

Inside, I feel a
jumble of emotions. This is not a good time for Lucian to pull this
shit. I'm angry and hurt, but I'm also having a hard time focusing on
that because I'm worried about both Janice and Derrick. Derrick will
blame this on me, at least for a while. I know him well enough. He'll
say that this is my fault for getting involved with a client. And he
would be right. It is my fault. If Lucian and I had never become
intimate, his contract probably would have been finished a long time
ago. There wouldn't have been any drama attached to it.

I pull out my cell
phone and type a quick message to Lucian. “What gives?”

Then with nothing
better to do, I stare at my phone and wait. I'm not just waiting for
him to respond though. I'm waiting for Derrick to approach me and let
me have it. This is going to be a day from hell, for sure. And to
make things worse, I still have to deal with Janice when I get home.

“
Fuck,”
I whisper, setting my elbow on my desk and resting my forehead on my
hand. Perhaps if I look as stressed out as Derrick does, he'll take
it easy on me.

My nerves are on
edge, and despite the fact that I'd like to make a full eight hours
worth of pay, I'm glad that Tyra is sending Derrick and I home early.
Sitting at work when I feel like a train wreck isn't any fun,
especially when there's nothing to distract my mind.

After about an hour
of no response from Lucian, I head to the bathroom to call him.
Naturally, he doesn't answer. We're definitely back at this again.
Liar. He said he wouldn't avoid me anymore. I wish he'd respond in
some way. I don't even know what this all means, and it's driving me
insane.

Knowing that I'll
have to deal with Derrick eventually, I decide to take my misery in
one quick dose and head over to his desk once I'm out of the
bathroom. He gazes up at me with a look of contempt, as if I'm the
one who told Lucian to cancel his contract.

“
What
do you want?” he half-barks, half-groans.

“
I
figured you'd want to talk about this.” I shift my eyes to our
other co-workers, making sure that no one is listening in.

“
What's
there to talk about? Your douche boyfriend did something douchey.
Neither of us should be surprised. He was probably just trying to
fill his Make Amy Cry Quota for the week. Did it work?” He
gazes up at me, but my eyes aren't watering.

“
Listen.”
I kneel down next to his desk. “I don't know what's going on
either. He's not answering my phone calls or texts.”

“
I'm
shocked!” The sarcasm in his expression is beyond apparent.
He's starting to piss me off, but I know that I have to keep control
of myself or else it will cause even more problems.

“
Maybe
he had an emergency.” Even I can't make myself believe that
one.

“
Whatever,
Amy. What's done is done. I hope you've learned your lesson from
this.”

“
My
lesson?” I knit my brow.

“
Not
to sleep with clients.” He bobs his head as if the answer was
obvious.

“
Oh,
yeah, of course.” I roll my eyes. “Because I have such a
bad habit of banging every client we come into contact with.”

“
Listen.”
He holds his hand out to shut me up. “I don't want to argue
with you anymore. Just give me space, okay. I'm understandably pissed
off right now.”