A BURNING DISLIKE

PIPER’S POV

Great first day of work. I got to learn, I met new people, and best of all I got to watch the charming, arrogant, bastard embarrass himself as he pulled his coffee-soaked blazer away from his body and scrambled up from his seat. 

One could say it was a fascinating and thrilling first day of work. 

Though it wasn't my intention to give him first-degree burns, I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy the sight of a squirming Rowan. Call me whatever, but I didn't care much for what happened to him.

The meeting was cut short, leaving me to drive Rowan to the nearest pharmacy to get his burn checked. 

I watched silently as the pharmacist put on ointment and dressed the reddened area on his chest. He was practically boiling with anger while they attended to him. His piercing eyes drilled into the side of my skull while I busied myself with the iPad he'd given me for work.

Thankfully coffee hadn't gotten all over it, as for his laptop, I could say otherwise. 

While he sits there grumbling and cursing my existence under his breath, I busy myself with canceling every other meeting he had scheduled for the day. 

The pharmacist had advised he'd take it easy for the rest of the day and get checked by a hospital later on seeing as the hot coffee burn had covered a large area on his chest. 

After they'd settled it all, I escorted Rowan to the car and we began our short journey home.

As the car rolled down the road, I couldn't help but let my thoughts wander. Though I'd seen my mom and sisters just yesterday, I wondered what had been going on at home. 

My father had managed to get the family business back on its feet in under two weeks with the help of the Archer's and though I should be happy for them, I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I was given up in exchange for the business to thrive once again. 

I hated my father for that. What even was the point of asking my opinion if he'd already made up his mind for me? 

I felt my stomach churn in disgust at the memory of that fateful night. When he looked at me like he cared. All he cared about was his business and Lucia. 

Thinking about it now, I don't remember seeing Lucia at my wedding, not that I wanted her there. In some way, she's the reason I'm forced to get married to a man I don't want to.  

"Piper," A deep rumbling voice snaps me out of my thoughts. Rowan's face is stone cold and void of any emotion as he turns to me. "What was the meaning of that stunt you pulled today?"

"It was an accident." I shrug off his question dismissively. Truly it had been an accident, just one I didn't feel remorseful about. 

"You've lost your mind if you expect me to believe that." I sputter at his blunt statement. "I'm sorry," /I'm not/, "But I didn't mean to spill coffee all over you. My hand had simply slipped."

"Of all the times you could've slipped up, it was at a meeting like that," Rowan scoffs, his jaw tightening with every word out of his mouth. "You're useless!"

How dare he, I didn't ask to work for him, I didn't even ask to be here and yet he's talking to me like I'm some worthless piece of trash. 

I should've fucking poured that coffee on his face, at least that'd make the insults worth it to some extent.

"See here!" I jab a finger into his chest and watch as his face scrunches up in irritation, though I'm sure my expression wasn't too different. "I didn't ask to work for you, or get married to you. Hell! Maybe if you hadn't barged into my house then, we wouldn't be here right now."

He rolls his eyes at me. "Yes, blame your slippery finger on me. Blame your misconduct on me. Listen here, Piper. If you don't get your shit together then it's over for your dear old daddy. Do you understand me?" He states in an angry hushed whisper, every word spat out in more venom than the last. 

"I fucking hate you."

"Good, the feeling is mutual."

Rowan crosses his arms and turns away from me and I do the same. 

Before him, before all this, life was fine. 

When it was just I, mom, dad, and the girls. When the business was thriving and we lived happily. Before dad got greedy, before mom grew frail and weak, before the girls learnt that ignorance was bliss. 

When I could see my family without a heavy weight sitting in my chest asking me what the hell we are doing. 

The memory of him bringing Lucia home still sat fresh as ever in my mind. 

It was two years ago, I'd just gotten home from a lesson to hear my mother in a heated argument with my father. She'd been in tears, pounding against Dad's chest with all her might. A woman stood beside him, stoic with her chest held high. 

I didn't need to look all that hard to know she was pregnant. The baby bump had just begun to form, but on her petite body, it was clear as day. 

My father had banged up another woman and dared to bring her home. Normally, something like that would be enough to tear a family apart, but for reasons unknown to me, she'd stayed.

One of the worst decisions she'd ever made. But one thing was for sure, if she'd left, we'd have nothing.

I pulled out of my thoughts once again by the feeling of my phone vibrating in my pocket. I fish it out and my heart immediately sinks at the name on the caller ID.