CHP 9

Carmen’s POV

I got dressed hurriedly and made to leave the apartment when Millie leisurely walked in, looking tired.

“Millie, goodness,” I said in a scolding voice.

“Are you leaving already?” Millie asked me.

“You completely disappeared from the party with that boyfriend of yours,” I stated the obvious. 

“His name is Jason,” Millie reminded me.

I was still upset about how last night turned out, but now wasn’t the time to talk about it, especially when Millie seemed like she had had too much to drink and could barely think straight.

“Whatever, but you didn’t say that you would be sleeping over at his, and if you knew that you could take care of yourself, why then did you drag me there?” I asked, the anger gradually coming out in my voice.

“Jason wanted us to do something spontaneous and I just got carried away,” Millie said.

She plopped herself on the sofa and closed her eyes, but I knew that she wasn’t sleeping just yet.

“And you were too carried away to even call me or send a quick text?” I asked her.

Millie rubbed her forehead with her finger painfully, and my anger shifted to worry.

“Is everything okay?” I asked her.

She didn’t respond, and it made me even more worried. I glanced at my wristwatch and realized that I had a few minutes that I could spare even though I preferred arriving early at work. Plus, today wasn’t the day I should go late because of the confession I had to make.

Goodness, last night was the most chaotic night I had ever had and I didn’t even want to ever relive it.

I sat down close to Millie and felt her body temperature. I was relieved when I found out that it was normal.

“What happened with Jason?” I asked carefully and worriedly at the same time.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Millie responded.

“What exactly happened?” I pressed.

“Do you want me to give you details of how he kissed me and had his tongue in my mouth and how he had his hands on my…” Millie started, and I could not bear it.

“No, for heaven’s sake,” I stopped her with irritation.

She still hadn’t opened her eyes or even removed her finger from her forehead.

“So what do you want me to say to you?” Millie asked impatiently.

“All that happened that doesn’t involve adult content, please,” I stated.

“Nothing happened, Carmen,” Millie insisted. “You should go to work before you go late,” she added.

I was frustrated that Millie didn’t tell me anything, but I also couldn’t sit in this apartment all day trying to get her to say something, so I got up.

“No more clubs or parties, Millie, and I mean it,” I stated authoritatively even though I doubted that it would hold any water. “And I am going to have a word with Jason or whatever his name is…gosh, you look a mess,” I said and walked out of the apartment.

I couldn’t help the feeling that something happened that Millie wasn’t telling me about, but I hoped that when I got back from work today, I would be able to speak to her about it. Thinking about work, I could only imagine how I was going to handle saying what happened at the party I wasn’t even supposed to be attending in the first place.

“Gosh, I really hate parties and clubs,” I said to myself sadly.

I had made mistakes recently, but none came close to the mistake of allow Millie to talk me into going with her. I didn’t even want to think about all that happened last night and how I was able to get away from Rudge and every other person present there.

The moment Rudge made that unsolicited announcement, the crowd had gone wild.

“We want to meet Chase Maddox!”

“Can you get us an autograph from him?!”

“What does he look like working for the Ice King?” 

“Is he as handsome as he looks on screen?”

“Is he single?”

“Is Chase up for some kinky shit?” 

They were too many of them, and it had almost driven me insane. Rudge had almost forced me into staying and answering all the questions even when it was obvious that I was clearly uncomfortable. It had been a deliberate act, more like, since I couldn’t answer his questions about Chase, I might as well answer the questions from everyone else. Somehow, someone had noticed how bad the situation had been for me and had helped me out of that room.

And then I had been on my way back to my apartment, with my heart racing faster than usual. 

“Never again,” I told myself.

My only hope was that whatever must have happened there would stay right there so that I wouldn’t have to manage any damages.

The look the receptionist gave me made me know that something was off even before she spoke. Not that she had been nice with her eyes the very first day, but this morning’s look was way too different.

“Jonathan is waiting for you in his office,” she told me with a tone of grudge.

“Have I done something wrong?” The question came out of my mouth before I realized that I said it out loud.

“Why don’t you go and see for yourself,” she retorted.

I left her rude self and proceeded to Jonathan’s office, but my heart was already beating very fast.

“The receptionist said you wanted to see me,” I said when I got to Jonathan’s office.

He looked at me icily, and I shuddered worriedly. Something was wrong, and I was beginning to think that I already knew what it might be. He didn’t even ask me to sit down.

Slowly, he pushed his tab over to me.

My mouth fell open in shock when I saw that it was the gist from last night’s party, with my face on the front cover.

“You must be happy, Carmen. You are now a superstar,” Jonathan mocked.

“Jonathan, I am so sorry…” I apologized shamefully, but it didn’t seem like it was even enough. “I would have told you about it myself,” I added.

He just stared at me blankly.

“I am truly sorry,” I pleaded some more.

What did I get myself into?

“Is your apology going to bring back the twenty thousand dollars Chase already spent this morning to clear out this mess?” Jonathan asked me.

I was so drenched in regret and embarrassment that I couldn’t give a response.