The Boy Who Has No Faith (Soulless 5)

When it was lunchtime, I walked out, seeing the three men standing by a piece of machinery suspended from the ceiling with a crane so they could work on it from underneath. All wore protective goggles, their hands covered in dirt like mechanics. “I’m going to grab lunch for everyone. Any requests?”

The guys yielded to Derek—since he was the boss.

Derek ignored me and kept working.

“Derek?” I asked, keeping my tone light.

“I don’t care.” His eyes stayed focused on his work.

“Alright. Well, I got you sandwiches all last week, so any request—”

“I said I don’t care.” He stopped working and faced me, furious. “Can’t you see I’m doing something much more important than deciding what to shove down my throat later? I told you not to bother me with a bunch of questions. Look, your job is to do this shit. So, fucking do it.” He turned back to his work like nothing happened.

He’d been snappy with me before, but never like this. I kept a neutral expression and refused to react, even though his outburst hurt my feelings because it was a bit humiliating…and unnecessary. I treated him so well, and I didn’t deserve to be treated that way…unless he disagreed.

Jerome and Pierre both stared at him like they thought he was a total dick for speaking to me that way.

I needed to keep this job to help my family, because my parents needed a lot of help, but I also didn’t want to have a job where I was treated in such an inhumane way. He’d settled for less with Fleur, but I wasn’t the kind of woman who settled for less than what I deserved. I left the facility and went to get lunch.

While I waited for the food at the restaurant, I called Cleo.

“Hey, how’s it going?”

Her voice was so bubbly, but it wasn’t enough to affect me. “Could be better…”

“Oh girl, what happened?”

“I tried to ask Derek what he wanted for lunch, and he basically screamed at me. It was pretty humiliating.”

She was quiet, like she didn’t know what to say.

“I have a strong backbone and I can tolerate a lot, but…I don’t think I can work for someone who crosses the line like that. I deserve to be treated with respect, and I always give him respect.”

“Emerson, it was just a bad day. I’m sure he’s got something on his mind—not that it justifies it at all.”

“I guess I’m taking it so personally because we had a nice night together last night.”

“Yeah?” she asked.

“We were working on his book, and he just turns into this wonderful, heartfelt, amazing man…and I really enjoy his company. But unless he’s writing and activating that part of his brain, he’s kinda unbearable.”

“Maybe we need to find a way to activate that right side more often.”

“Maybe,” I said with a sigh. “This woman he’s been seeing came to his apartment, screamed at him, called me a bitch, slapped him… She treated him so terribly. It reminded me of the way he treated me today.”

She was quiet.

“I told him he deserved better. I’m sure that’s why he’s—”

“Emerson.” Her voice was totally different now, a tone I’d never heard her speak in. “I think it’s best if you don’t tell me about his personal life. He’s no longer my client, and it’s none of my business. You signed that NDA.”

“Oh…I’m sorry. I just thought—”

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “But moving forward, that’s what we need to do. Besides…it really breaks my heart to hear this, and I just can’t tolerate it. I feel deep affection for him.” There was a strong sense of melancholy to her tone, her bubbly attitude destroyed.

He’d earned her affection in some way, the way he did with me, so there was so much good to him. I just wished he didn’t let the bad take over. “Anyway, I think I’m going to resign at the end of the day.”

“I want to tell you not to, but I only want you to work for him if you want to be there. If that’s how you feel…I understand. Besides, I wasn’t there to witness this event, and maybe it’s much worse than the way you described.”

It was pretty bad. “I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you, Cleo. You make a hundred and ten percent look like zero percent. You’re so hardworking, and I swear, you know everything. Even if I don’t do this sort of job ever again, I still learned a lot of lessons from you that can help me in the future.”

“Well, thank you. I really wanted this to work out, and I’m sorry it didn’t. You take care, Emerson.”

When I returned with lunch, I set everything on the table so they could help themselves whenever they were ready. I didn’t wait around for a thank-you and headed back into the office. I’d brought my laptop with me, so I sat at his desk and typed up my resignation to give to him at the end of the day. I printed it out and left it on his desk on top of his bag.