You are the Boss, Daddy

Four

04: Dusty pink for a dusty face

The sound of her phone blaring and vibrating on the nightstand near her jolted Marlene awake. Her eyes popped open just for her to shut them back up when the light coming through the window blinded her.

She looked around and realises she was not in her apartment. There was a lingering scent of men's cologne and when she sniffed the pillow near her, it was properly expressed there. It smelled so good, but what was she doing here?

The phone continued blasting her loud ring tone and she quickly wiped the drool on the side of her face and picked it up.

Shit! It was her mother. She never got back to her last night. She was always such a disorientated little thing when she woke up, but her mother's name on the caller id was her quickest reminder of what happened last night, and so was the soreness between her legs.

"Oh no!" she gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shirt before slowly sliding the ringer to answer.

"Mummy?" she answered slowly, regret from last night's event setting in. What was she thinking?

"Where did you sleep? We have been waiting here at your apartment all night." Sophia demanded with a worried tone. Marlene could not belive that she had forgotten to respond to her mother and at least lie to her.

"Oh, I got a flat tyre yesterday and...." At least that part was true. Now for the lie. It was hard because her mother was close to all her friends and had probably called them already.

"Lara. I went to Lara's house with her. One of my colleagues. It was her boyfriend's brithday and we just ended up having too much fun."

Phew! She was done, and it sounded convincing enough.

"Aren't you going to ask how I got inside?" Sophia questioned and Marlene could only think about her throbbing head and throbbing insides.

"Like you do whenever I'm not around. You asked Reed to give you a key." she was not surprised at all. Reed was her best friend and they had keys to each other's houses for emergencies. While Reed was more frequent in her apartment that Marlene visited her, she still tried to make her feel cared for enough when she came around.

Her eyes darted to the clock in front of her and she instantly gasped.

7:35

What the f**k?

She checked the time on her phone and sure enough, the clock was not lying to her. She had to be at work by 8am or else her boss would kill her.

"Mum.. Mum, I need to go. I'm going to be late for work. She didn't even say goodbye before just hanging up on her.

She was naked, confused still and could not even remember the direction of the bathroom. How could she have been so irresponsible on a Wednesday? She knew she would have to wake up early for work and she still left, still went to a stranger's house.

She had no idea where she was or how far it was from the law firm.

She wrapped herself up with the white sheet that she had slept in and began running down the hallway till she made it to the main foyer, then she ran straight to the kitchen.

There he was, topless and in black sweats. He looked so hot that she almost forgave him right then.

"You are searing steak, and you didn't even think to wake me up? Do you know how late for work I am going to be?" She yelled. She was always so strict when it came to work, and lost her temper easily.

He did not look affected by her words at all, instead he slipped his steak over and flipped the next one before just responding "good morning to you too!" enthusiastically.

She was appalled.

"Steak quiz. Do you know what the perfect internal temperature should be if you want it to be perfectly medium rare?" he asked as he stabbed his steak to measure the temperature.

"Wow!" She just shook her head before walking away. Before she could even get far she tripped and fell, her hands breaking her fall.

She was so embarrassed, but before she could help herself up, he was by her side, lifting her up.

He threw her over his shoulder and walked towards the bedroom again.

"I need to shower! Take me to the bathroom!" She slapped his back when he wouldn't let her down and soon, he placed in the connected bathroom of the room they had slept in.

"There is a bathroom in here?" She asked sheepishly and he just held the sides of her face and squeezed her cheeks together, making her lips pout, then he kissed her.

Immediately, her stomach did a back flip.

"You are so gorgeous when you are grumpy with that morning face." he smirked, admiring her puffy eyes, eye crusts and drool marks. He could have bursted with excitement right there. She looked so beautiful in the morning, and a part of him almost wanted to tie her up and make sure she does not leave his house.

Morning face? She was suddenly self conscious. She grabbed his wrists and freed her face before looking down.

"Where are my clothes, Michael?" She asked desperately before whining. She was definitely going to be late. For the first time in her life, she was going to be late for something.

"It was daddy last night. I prefer that." he whispered and she just screamed.

"my clothes!" She began looking around the room.

"you don't remember? There are no clothes anymore. What remains of them is in the garage." He said ever so nonchalantly and she gasped, before heading for the door.

"Trash is collected every day at 6am in this neighbourhood." He stops her and she just laughs, in complete disbelief.

"now, unless you want to be an hour late, listen to what I have to say. There is a packet of toothbrushes in the bathroom, choose one, get showered and find something to wear from my closet and I will take you shopping on the way to work so you can buy your outfit of the day." He made sense but she still felt like protesting.

" My-" she started but he placed his index finger on her lips.

" There is no time to head to your apartment. You have five minutes. My f*****g steaks have definitely turned into leather now." He complained before leaving the room.

Marlene rushed through brushing her teeth, showering and running a brush through her hair, which she had made sure to keep dry at all costs while in the shower. After rummaging through his closet for something decent, she settled on a sweatshirt that was large enough to act like a dress and she ran out of the room.

He was waiting for her by the door already, thank goodness.

"go put some pants on" He demanded after getting a good look at her. Her rushing towards him had played so slowly in his mind. Her bare, short legs taking short strides towards him, her hair bouncing with her plump cheeks as well. She was beyond beautiful in his eyes. How much longer would be have to fight the urge to actually lock her up in this house?

"There is no time Michael!" her voice was cracking. It was already 8am,meaning she was officially late.

Her cracking voice made his heart sting. He could never be the reason for her discontent. So, he pushed the door open for her before handing her a lunch box he had already packed.

"Take it, it's breakfast." she grabbed it quickly and ran towards the car he had brought her in.

She was tapping her foot impatiently as he started driving like a maniac. On a regular day, her heart would have been beating out of her chest with how he was driving, but she was only thinking about the kind of excuse she was going to have to give Hannes when she arrived.

It was always like he had something personal against her, he was clocking her every move. When she arrived, when she left, what clients were saying about her, how she dressed. If he was doing it all because he hoped to find a reason to fire her one day, he surely might have one today.

"Hurry and get yourself something nice and expensive. Here!" Once he pulled over in front of a designer store, he showered her his card, insisting she takes it.

Look at him looking all sure of himself because he is handing her a black card! Who said she wouldn't have her own black card one day?

Marlene did not even consider it once. She might have only ever had one relationship in her life, but she knew men. The second he spends money on her is the second he thinks he owns her, isn't it?

"I have my own money!" She dismissed him harshly before unstrapping her seat belt and walking towards the store.

She found a white blouse, dusty pink dress pants with their matching blazer and threw e everything towards the shopping assistant that approached her.

" Sorry, can I pay for these right now? I am really late."

The amount was shocking. That was half her rent, what on earth was she thinking not checking prices?

She swallowed hard. She would have to make up for it somehow by sacrificing one of her unnecessary monthly luxuries, like the month end vacations she liked to take.

She searched herself and realised she only had her phone in hand, not her purse. She did not remember brining it into the car with her either.

"Dammit! I forgot my wallet!" She sighed. The lady near her looked at her with concern. Her doe eyes widened as she assessed her.

"Are you okay? You have a bruise on your face too." She tried reaching for it and Marlene just tilted her head to the side to prevent her hand from touching her. She had already noticed the bruise and she knew when she got it. It was embarrassing enough that she recalled how fun she found it when the side of her face slammed into the cold wall while he was f*****g her. She didn't need to keep remembering it on repeat.

"I will use my phone!" She clicked her side button to turn it on and soon, it was clear that her phone had died. Why was she having such bad luck today?

"I will be back, don't do anything." She hurried out of the store and back into his car.

Before she could humble herself and ask for a loan, he handed her the card.

"Thank you." was all she could mumble before returning to the store and taking the items with her.

"Why didn't you change?" He asked as he began driving towards her workplace. Marlene was so relieved when she started recognising the streets and knew she was close to arriving.

"just park in the underground parking when you get there. There is a bathroom that nobody uses. I'll get changed in there." she was anxious because time was moving faster than she anticipated it would, but when he finally pulled over where she had asked him to, she was relieved. The employee parking was near the entrance of the building so she knew she would not be seen when she left his car.

"Umm... thank you. Here you go." She grabbed the breakfast he packed her and passed him his card.

"Keep it." He surprised her.

"You will return it to me when when you come to get your purse."

She instantly narrowed her eyes.

"You knew that I had forgotten my purse and did not say anything?"

The answer was yes, he would have taken her phone and kept it had she remembered the purse, as long as it meant she would have a reason to come back to his house.

He couldn't scare her like that though, so he only smirked at her and shook his head.

"It is obvious, since you needed my card."

She felt embarrassed again for jumping to conclusions.

"Anyway, it was just a loan. I will pay you back." She quickly said before opening her door. He reached over and shut it before walking out of the car and opening her door for her.

"What do you take me for, woman?" he asked with a smirk and she just sighed.

"In case you lost the other card. Here. Contact me there to discuss meeting up tonight. To pick up your purse." She wanted to say so much. Why wouldn't he bring it to her? Why couldn't they meet halfway?

But who was she kidding? She just wanted to see him again too. Being late for work was not enough for her to take anything that happened last night back. She was already excited just thinking about seeing him again..

But, she did not want to let it show.

"See you at 8pm. Nothing late than that." She grabbed the business card from his hand and instantly rushed towards the bathroom.