My Sweet Punishment by Amelia Brooks (best book club books of all time .TXT) 📕

         “Ms. Brown” The driver already opened the passenger door and waited for me to take a seat.

         “Yes… I’m sorry,” I mumbled and quickly got in.

        Please, let it just seemed to me, and that was not her at all, but just a similar girl. Please! I clasped my hands together in a pleading gesture and closed my eyes shut. But after when I looked out the window again, my vain hope was shattered.

        It was Olivia and she was still looking in my direction with an expression of shock on her face. At first, I wanted to run to her and frantically explain everything, but then I suddenly realized that I didn’t know what to tell her. I don’t want to lie anymore. And the truth that I will tell her – she will definitely not like it.

        My hands were shaking as I pulled out my phone and dialed my friend’s number. We drove slowly away from the house, making our way through a huge number of cars, but I still noticed that when the girl looked at her lit-up phone screen, she grimaced. And in a second, I heard a busy tone. She rejected the call. Ignored me…

        What I was most afraid of happened. There’s no point in calling anymore – she just won’t pick up the phone. So I quickly typed a short message.

        Me: “Olivia, please… We need to talk.”

       But the answer didn’t come in a minute… or even in an hour, when I was already sitting at home and just staring at something in front of me, not even bothering to take off the evening dress. I didn't want anything. I got such a nasty feeling in my wounded heart.

      I remembered the words of that idiot Mike and grinned: “I didn’t know you were such a slut. And you pretended to be such a good girl…” I threw myself on the bed and burst into tears. Because… that’s how Olivia saw me right now. That’s how I felt right now…

       The next morning, I woke up with a severe headache and swollen red eyes. I was crying all night. I forced myself to get out of bed and, taking off the dress I’d fallen asleep in, went to the shower.

       The cold water made me feel better. But only physically. Because my soul was still torn to shreds, and it kept bleeding painfully from the inside.

        I got to work, but half an hour later because… I just overslept. But I didn’t care. This is my last day working for this company.

        When I got out of the elevator, I went straight to Collins’s office. Amanda was already in the waiting room, fixing her provocative makeup in the mirror.

        “Oh, you look terrible,” that bitch chuckled. “Looks like you’re working the night shift, don’t you? And how many men screwed you that night?”

         I wanted to ignore these nasty insults again and walk past her, but then suddenly stopped. I’m tired of them all constantly wiping their feet on me!

        “Are you interested for yourself?” I raised my eyebrows in bewilderment.

        But she just snorted, apparently not expecting me to answer her finally.

        “You know, Amanda,” I went to the girl and looked at her with pitiful eyes, “I even feel sorry for you. You try your best to get him to notice you. And he just takes as an assistant some small-town girl who fell out of nowhere right on his head. Think about it, maybe it’s you who does something wrong…”

        “I don’t need your stupid advice,” the woman interrupted me, pursing her lips in displeasure. Deep inside, she knew I was right but still didn’t want to believe it.  

         Well, it’s her life. I also decided not to please her with the news that soon I’ll vanish into thin air, and she’ll never see me again. She didn’t deserve to hear it from me. But somehow, I don’t think that even after I leave, Amanda will take the place of his assistant.

         I walked confidently to the office of my recent nightmare and knocked loudly. The man was there when I entered, but he was clearly busy.

        Walking around the room and actively talking to someone on the phone. Collins motioned me to sit down on a chair near his desk and wait while he continued the conversation. He spoke some foreign language. Sounds like Spanish. And he spoke quite fluently.

       After a few minutes, he disconnected the call and sat back in his chair. The man put his hands on the table, clasped them in a lock, and looked at me directly. And a bunch of goosebumps went through my body again.

       Yesterday, when I got home, I realized another simple thing that scared me so much all the time – I also got feelings for him. I… like him. I’ve been pushing that thought away for so long.

        I like the man who has saved me already several times from terrible situations when he shouldn’t have. I like the man who, just looking at me only once, makes my heart jump out of my chest. I like the man whose touch I dream about at night.

       I like the man my best friend is in love with, and I’ve probably already lost her… The man I sold myself to and who despises me now…

     This morning, I decided that I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t bear it anymore. Always running away from Collins and lying to Olivia. It hurts. I want to go back to my old quiet life. And there was only one way out.