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-- CHAPTER 2: Architectural Connections --
***
*MONDAY*
"Good morning, boss."
I looked up from my computer. "Good morning, Melody," I answered easily. My eyes flitted to the clock. She was right on time for a Monday morning.
"Coffee? Your usual?"
"Thanks, that would be great." I relaxed into my chair as the pretty blonde nodded and headed out. Maybe everything would be alright, despite the animosity she'd been showing last Friday. Maybe we would be back to normal.
A few minutes later, I heard the hollow knocking on glass as Melody returned with my coffee. I watched her legs in the tight skirt as she circled around the desk, setting the mug down next to the keyboard and then leaning back against the desk. "So? Did you sleep with her?"
"Huh?" My hand stopped halfway to the coffee mug and I turned in surprise. I hadn't been expecting that question.
"Did you?"
My eyes answered before I could verbalize anything. Taylor Brynn had sex with me... ME. Taylor-fucking-Brynn, international supermodel, billionaire socialite, and all around gorgeous sexpot, had fucked me, and even brought her beautiful assistant into our bed. I could already feel my chest swelling with obscene pride. Even if it never happened again, I would always have that memory. I started drawling, "Well..."
Before I could finish my sentence, Melody's hand whipped out lightning quick and then I felt my head rotate to the side with the impact.
I winced in pain but managed not to yell, instead holding my own hand to my quickly reddening cheek as I faced her with a look of disbelief. "What the hell was THAT for?"
"Can you honestly tell me you DON'T think you deserved that?"
"What?"
She slapped me again, this time on my other, unprotected, cheek.
This time I squalled, "Oww!!!"
Melody just got up in a huff, muttering, "MotherFUCKer..." And with that, she left my office and plunked herself heavily into her own chair.
So much for back to normal.
***
At five o'clock, the hollow rapping on the glass stirred me from my stupor. Gradually, my head pulled out of the virtual design world and I managed to focus across my desk to the door.
Melody was still standing outside, but with her head through the open doorway. "Come on, we're going to O'Brien's."
"But I-" I gestured to my computer.
"*NOW*," Melody growled, and then pulled her head back and closed the door. Through the clear glass, I could see her turn away and start packing up her purse.
Melody was not my girlfriend. She was my subordinate. She worked for me. She had no right to be giving me orders and then walk away expecting my compliance. I WAS THE FUCKING BOSS HERE.
And yet I rose from my seat, grabbed my jacket, and went out the door to join her. As I came through the door, she turned to walk in front of me and led the way to the elevators, never looking back. She always did have me wrapped around her little finger.
We were silent through the whole ride down and the short walk to the pub, and a sense of foreboding started to creep down my spine. Melody's demeanor was all ice queen, standing aloof from me, not looking in my direction and generally radiating get-the-fuck-away-from-me signals. If we didn't resolve this... whatever... and soon... it was going to make our worklife unbearable.
Melody's attitude completely changed the moment we got to the pub. We caught sight of our friends, who had already snagged a booth, and with a bubbly smile Melody scampered over. "Hey guys!"
"Gawd, I hate Mondays..." Frank, the draftsman, sighed immediately as he nursed his beer and sank lower into his seat.
"You say that every week," Erica, the admin, scoffed.
"Enjoy these Mondays while you can, Frank," Melody warned. "Once this Kwong project gets rolling you're going to have more work than you know what to do with."
"Aww, Mel. You know JUST how to cheer a guy up," George complained before chugging the rest of his beer and then burping loudly. "Now I'm going to need another one of these."
Our other two coworkers just grinned and we all settled down. It took me a minute, but once I got comfortable everything started to flow and I settled in for a relaxing afternoon. I was especially relieved when midway through our evening, Melody slipped her hand onto my thigh beneath the table. Again, I started to believe that despite our awkwardness, Melody and I would be alright in the long run.
When it was time to leave, I briefly toyed with the idea of going back upstairs to work. But just when I was about to make that announcement and leave the group, Melody slipped her hand into mine and leaned over to say, "We're going back to your place." It was not a request.
I glanced down, seeing her baby brown eyes hard-edged... not with desire, but with determination. I nodded in agreement. We did nothing to hide that we were getting a cab together. This group of friends had figured out months ago that we were banging each other.
Still, most of the times Melody and I had shared a cab, she had her hands all over me as if she couldn't wait to strip me naked. This night, she simply gripped my hand as if holding me on a leash lest I try to get away.
She held onto me all the way to my apartment. Once we got inside, I found myself at a slight loss over what to do. We were fuck-buddies. Every time we got into an apartment alone together, we were usually sucking each other's faces, hurriedly getting to the main event so we could be on our way within thirty minutes or so.
But the urgent lust wasn't there this time, and since I wasn't sure what to do, I simply went through my usual routine of depositing my keys and hanging up my jacket.
I turned back to Melody, and then that stinging pain was once again on my face and my whole body had been twisted to the side with the force of impact. "Oww!!!"
I was holding my cheek and if her hand wasn't already rocking me back on my heels, Melody's mood swings would be enough to give me whiplash. "What???" I cried.
"How could you sleep with her?!" Melody was already on the verge of tears. "You said nothing was going to happen."
"I didn't think anything was going to happen!"
"But something DID. You fucked her!"
"I never promised I wouldn't!" I rubbed my sore jaw and righteous annoyance flared inside me. "Am I missing something? Did we agree to be exclusive and I just forgot?"
She didn't answer my question. Instead she just yelled, "Why? Why'd you do it?"
My eyes were wild and my volume went up to match hers. "Because! She wanted to! I wanted to! It just happened!" Melody had laid out the rules a long time ago. I didn't own her and she didn't own me.
She sputtered a little more and paced my room, waving her hands in frustration. But at least she wasn't hitting me anymore. She growled through her teeth and once she finally turned to face me, her eyes were aflame and she exclaimed, "You fucking CHEATED on me!"
"*I* cheated?" I couldn't believe what was happening. Not two weeks ago, the night we'd won the design contract, I'd broached the idea of stepping up our intimacy. I'd been willing to move in the direction of a real relationship with Melody and she'd shot me down cold. But now? Now that *I* might *dare* to sleep with another woman she wanted to play the scorned girlfriend? This was just unfair and I was getting pissed. "What do you call that kid in the mail room? And don't tell me you didn't boink Sanderson after the Christmas party."
She tossed her hands aside. "You keep bringing up the mail room intern! Those were one-time hookups. Those don't count!"
"Then what do you call this? How many times did I hook up with Taylor? One time!!!" I shook my index finger in her face. And then frustrated, I took two steps away. "Don't you get it? You don't OWN me, Mel. We-" I waved my hands back and forth between us. "-don't get to tell each other who we can and cannot fuck."
The pretty blonde's eyes went wide and her jaw clenched as she got right up in my face. "Get this. You fuck Taylor one more time and you're never touching me AGAIN." And with that, she gave me a healthy shove to the chest. "You got that?" she raged.
"Melody..." I sagged. I didn't want to give Melody up but the thought of being with my goddess again was just too enticing. "Be reasonable..."
"You're such a fucking MAN," she spat. "Words or not, titles or not, didn't you think I was special? I thought I meant more to you than just that." She paused and started pacing away fro me. "FUCK, Jeff! We've been fucking for six months! I've swallowed your cum more times than I can remember! Doesn't that count for something? You can't just screw me every other day for six months and think it's not going to MEAN something!"
I sighed. "Isn't this EXACTLY what we didn't want? All the hassles and expectations and obligations of a relationship?"
At her wit's end, Melody moaned and turned away from me, her back bending like a willow in the wind. She clamped her hands onto her head and spun around, finally staggering over to the couch and sitting down heavily. Half of the tension in the room evaporated as she sat down.
I took a deep breath, calming myself as blissful silence reigned for just a brief while. When I felt like I could speak without yelling, I went to her. "Mel... What's going on? I never thought you'd react like this."
She wore a haunted expression I'd only seen once before: the morning after we'd spent the night together. It was a look of desire and fear and utter confusion all at the same time. "I don't know. I wasn't expecting to feel like this. We were good. We were friends. We had our benefits. I guess... I guess I just got used to having you all to myself."
