35. Ambrose

Chapter thirty-five

Ambrose

W hat's going on with you and Valerie?

She's not just some girl to fuck with Ambrose, back off.

Back off. He told me to fucking back off. As if she's some piece of property that only he gets to own as if he has the rights to her simply because of their friendship. Completely disregarding how she could feel in this situation.

I didn't feed into Antonio's very valid and rather accurate accusations. Instead, I probably did the most suspicious thing I could've done, which was say nothing. I always argue back. I'm known for not keeping my tongue, it's my best and worst asset, so he knows something must be going on for me to say absolutely nothing.

Cazzo.

As I walk into my office, I try to keep my anger from bubbling over as I remember why I actually called her into my office.

"Close the door behind you please," I ask. My voice is coarse, I'm tired and this morning's arguments have drained me further than the past week filled with sleepless nights have. Between the guilt eating at me, Valerie's random nightmares have been keeping me up. Nightmares she never seems to remember in the morning, or if she does, she never mentions it .

Last night was particularly bad. It's also what prompted me to even ask about the scar this morning. She was practically screaming and crying, so much that even me holding her in my arms wasn't enough to soothe her this time. After briefly waking up, she fell asleep with absolutely no recall of it this morning. Not even a trace of tiredness or residual moodiness as I imagined she would have. If anything, her sour mood only seemed to be directed at me.

Her inability to recall anything makes me think these dreams have been going on for quite a while or at least she must be so used to them that it no longer bothers her or impacts her sleep, but they sure as fuck are impacting mine.

I stand in front of my desk, instead of sitting behind it. I don't want her thinking this is some sort of interrogation; if anything it's supposed to be a pretty joyful discussion, but there's something we have to take care of first.

She sits on the arm of one of my chairs and looks up at me expectantly.

"How'd the meeting go?" she asks.

"That's actually why I called you in here. They signed the contract, so it's official, and to say thank you to you for the part you played, I wanted to know if you would go out to dinner with me."

She stares at me blankly. "I'm glad it went well. You all worked so hard it's well deserved," she smiles, it almost looks genuine but it doesn't meet her eyes and I've come to know that's when she's faking it the most. "Are we going to talk about what happened this morning? I wanted to–"

"Here's your payment for agreeing to be my date, I'll give the rest after dinner." I can feel her apology hanging in the air as I cut her off.

"Ambs, I'm sorry."

I grab her wrist and pull her frame to stand between my legs. I don't think I could be angry at Valerie if I tried, but I was incredibly hurt and I've always had the tendency to show my emotions as anger instead of how I actually feel.

"For what?" I look between her eyes which seem ready to burst into tears again .

"For this morning, everything just got too much for me and I exploded."

"Everything? What do you mean, ‘everything'?" his brows furrow.

"The brush, the shower gel and the skincare things."

"What? Some toiletries made you upset? Did I buy the wrong things, or?"

"No, it's quite the opposite. It's perfect, too perfect. That's how things with Mattheo started and it all just felt a bit overwhelming. Like I was watching history repeat itself."

I stay silent for a bit looking down at where my hands are holding onto her wrists. "I understand that he ruined so much for you, I really do. I just hope from my actions and words you can come to understand that I will never treat you the way he has. I care about you, sweetheart, a lot."

"I know, and that's what scares me."

"Hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but you can't decide who cares about you. I'll be here patiently waiting for you to be ready." I lift her jaw so that our eyes meet again.

"I'm sorry I said that everything was none of your concern, I just haven't had anyone else care that way before."

"It's okay, baby steps. Everything I do for you, sweetheart, is because I care. Remember that."