Heartbreak Me (Heartbreak Duet 1)

I feel Atlas push into my back, and Chloe straightens as her eyes land on him.

“I don’t think we have had the pleasure…”

Atlas holds out his hand, and she looks at it, then to me for clarification.

“Atlas is my plus one,” I tell her.

Chloe’s white face tells me she’s either shocked or pissed. I’m unsure which emotion is written all over her face right now.

“I know of him,” she replies.

“As I know of you,” he says back to Chloe, and the way he says it makes my skin crawl.

“Okay, well, I have to go and check on everyone. Is there anything you need?”

Chloe looks to me and shakes her head.

I smile and walk away.

I don’t know what’s going on there, and I don’t want to know either.

I lose Atlas for most of the night, seeing him socializing every now and then. For some reason, he always seems so disinterested in what other people have to say, almost as if he’s above them, which he very well could be. Tina sits with him for a good portion of time, but then he disappears. For all I know, he could be fucking that Miranda chick, and I would have no idea whatsoever.

“You ready to go?” Tina asks when I step up to her. She’s drunk way too much alcohol, I can tell by the stagger she has going on.

“I have to finish up a few things.” I look over my shoulder and Atlas is there.

“I’ll walk you out. My driver can take you home,” Atlas tells Tina, offering her his arm. She takes it with a smile and looks back at me. “Marry him.”

My eyes find his, but he avoids eye contact as he walks her out.

“Why would you bring him?” Chloe snaps near my ear.

I didn’t even know she was there.

Turning around, her hands are on her hips, and she’s mighty angry if her clenched fists are anything to go by.

“You’re fired! Fired, Thea.” She turns and storms off.

Marissa walks up behind me and says, “Did she…” Trailing off, she looks at Chloe with her mouth hanging open.

The party is ending, and everyone’s leaving so it’s time for me to have some fun.

“She did,” I confirm, reaching behind me. “Two shots.” I point to the tequila, and the bartender is quick to hand them over. I take one, and before I can reach for the other, Marissa drinks it.

“Fuck!” she swears. “Another. Make it a double,” she calls out.

Might as well, since I won’t be getting paid and now do not care how much of Chloe’s money I spend.

Fuck her!

Fuck her right up the ass.

She just fucking fired me.

What the ever-loving fuck!

“Do you plan on drinking everything in the bar?” Atlas asks.

Marissa coughs next to me. “She just got fired, and she does more for that hag than anyone else.” I close my eyes at Marissa’s words and take a deep breath. The last person I want to know I was fired is him, especially since I’m pretty sure he’s the damn reason I got fired in the first place.

He turns to me. “She fired you?”

Looking back to where the shots sit, I take two and down them one after the other, staying right where I am, but don’t answer him.

“Yep, she sure did. What a bitch, right?” Marissa coughs. “Okay, well, I may as well quit too,” Marissa says.

“No. You will do no such thing. You’re the only one who even knows half of what I did at that place.”

“Why do you even care? Chloe doesn’t seem to care, and you’ve done so much for that company. No, you fucking run that company.”

“Why did she fire you?” Atlas asks.

I turn away from Marissa and look up at him. “Because the company I keep doesn’t meet her standards,” I reply. My eyes are cold as I feel my heart rate increase, the spite falling from my lips easily.

Marissa’s eyes go wide at my words.

“You should go. Thanks again for everything you did tonight.” I lean in and kiss Marissa’s cheek.

She offers a shy smile to Atlas, who looks back at me before Marissa walks away, leaving us standing there.

“Our ride is here.”

“I will find my own ride,” I tell him.

He leans forward and stares straight in my eyes. “I will take you home.”

Fine! I nod, there is no more fight left in me right now.

He guides me out until we reach the waiting car. When we get in, he doesn’t touch me, and I am thankful for small mercies. “I will give you a job,” he says. “If that’s what you want?”

“No,” I reply, not even looking in his direction.

My legs cross over one another as I stare out into nothing. The sky is dark, darker than it should be. It’s as if a storm is brewing. When we arrive at my house, I get out before he can help me and don’t look back as I make my way up the stairs and step inside. But as I go to shut the door, he’s behind me, his hands on my waist, and I have to remember to breathe.