Page 32 of My Forbidden Boss
“So, I think that you were about to tell me what really happened.”
I sighed and feigned a sob, taking one of the throw pillows and burying my head under it.
“Ugh, Brandon. Let it go. Nothing. Happened.”
He perked up. “Oh, please. I know better, sister. You think someone can pull a ‘teacher asked me to stay late after class,’ and I wouldn’t notice? Come on!”
I had already told him the truth. Well, most of it, anyway. I was getting tired of being defensive, but it wasn’t like there were any really raunchy details to divulge.
“Brandon, he’s our boss!”
“So? I won’t tell anybody.”
I snorted. “That isn’t what I meant, and you know it. I meant, he’s my boss, so there’s nothing to tell. Nothing happened. Period. Not, ‘he’s our boss, so I can’t tell you. Otherwise, people will find out.’”
He quieted down and, for a moment, I thought that I had won.
I peeked between the folds of the pillow over my forehead and instantly wished that I hadn’t. Brandon was sitting there, staring straight at me with the most judgmental expression I think I had ever seen.
“I swear!”
He huffed and swiped a hand my way.
“Brandon, I promise! He gave me the trip details and…”
He ripped the pillow away and tossed it across the room, blinding me with the light from the ceiling fan overhead.
“AND?!”
I scrunched my eyes shut from the brightness but kept them squeezed shut as he grabbed both of my shoulders and flailed me about in frustration. “Tell me, woman! I need to know! It’s obvious that he’s into you. You could tell him to sell his company, and he’d just be all like, ‘What company?”
I smirked, listening as Brandon deepened his voice to mimic Hollis.
“See! You’re smiling! There is something that you aren’t telling me! I can make this very, very painful for you, Tisha Marie.”
I opened my eyes in fear and tried to push him off me, but he was too scrawny and resilient.
“There’s nothing to tell! Yes, he asked me to lunch. So what? I said no, okay? He gave me the trip information, and I said no. Then I left. The end!”
Brandon stopped. “What do you mean? Wait! He asked you again?!”
Oh shit.
The smile vanished from my lips as I knew I only had one possible chance of getting out of my slip.
“No… well, yes, okay, but not really. No, it was just referring to the first time. The only time.”
I held my breath, afraid to make eye contact with Brandon in case he could somehow sense that I was lying.
“Look at me. Look at me, Tisha. You are such a filthy little liar! You can’t even look at me!”
“You’re scaring me!”
“Oh, please. If the old lady at the supermarket wasn’t afraid of me when I screamed at her for mixing prints, then I’m just plain not scary. I was practically frothing at the mouth. I told her that she looked like schizophrenic vomit. Not vomit from a schizophrenic person, but literal vomit that has been clinically diagnosed with a mental disorder.”
I sighed, still unsure of how to feel about that. I decided to run with it, hoping that Brandon would let himself be distracted.
“Yeah? Tell me again what she said back to you?”