[TRIGGER WARNINGS – Please be advised there might be emotional triggers within this chapter. Please read with caution.]

CHAPTER 36

Eric

"Morning." I greeted and entered through the glass doors to the office room. I had meetings most of the morning and stepped into the office late.

"Good Morning," Harper greeted somberly. Her mouth set in a miserable frown.

I observed her for a moment. She wasn't her cheery self, like she usually was. I wasn't used to it and felt extremely odd and out of place.

"Is my brunch ready?" I asked.

She nodded without eye contact. Her eyes glued to the computer screen. Her face unsmiling. It was probably the first time she wasn't wearing one. I wasn't used to her like this. 

"So is your black coffee and the contract from Regent Corp like you needed me to FETCH last night." She emphasized on the 'fetch' pretty hard.

My left eye twitched. "Good." I strode past her desk and entered through my office doors.

I walked to my seat and sat down. The fresh croissant filled up my nostrils, the steaming black coffee beside it.

Immediately I took a bite of the warm pastry. The buttery flakes melted in my mouth. It tasted fucking excellent!

My doors flung open and in stepped Harper, looking forlorn. Her face glum and bitter. Her sparkle and cheer vanished before me, and my brows creased in confusion.

She plopped the reports on my desk with a thud and turned towards the doors without eye contact yet again.

"Harper!?" I called.

She stopped and turned around slackly. "Anything else you need master Eric?" She sassed evenly, her face expressionless.

Master? My brow raised, liking the sound of that.

I gave her a pointed stare. "What's with you today?"

She shrugged and sighed holding onto the door for support. Her eyes glazed over, like she was about to cry or something.

I flinched at the sight. "Did something happen?" I asked desperately, urgency laced into my voice unwillingly. "Did Jake do something to you?"

Her glassy eyes snapped to me as she folded her arms tight against her breasts. "Jake and I broke up." She bit her bottom lip. "Well, he broke up with me."

I blinked, taken aback. I did not expect to hear that news.

I wasn't sad, only that she was disappointed. Harper looked like she wanted to fucking cry! I wasn't used to consoling woman and was bad at it. Hopeless even. But I felt the urge to hug her.

I slowly moved towards Harper, her right hand covered her face. I stood in front of her and cleared my throat. She looked up at me, her eyes brimming with tears threatening to leak out.

"It's okay Harper, don't worry about it." I said awkwardly and extended my arm around her delicate shoulders. I felt her pulling stiff next to me. But I pulled her in, wrapping both arms around her, gently rubbing her back. Her body melted into my chest. And I could feel her chest heaving, up and down. Her chocolate loosed brown hair smelling like vanilla again. The exposed skin of her arms soft and supple. Suddenly I pulled stiff, and it wasn't just my body stiffening.

We stood in silence, while I'd embraced her, not knowing if this was professional or not. Hell, I was never professional when it came to my previous assistants, but this was different, wasn't it? I held on tight to her, surprising my damn self. The unfamiliar and odd feeling growing familiar each time.

"I'm sorry." I assured softly. "He didn't deserve you, the dumbass. It's probably for the best. You'll get over it. His not your perfect man."

She pulled away; her warmth ripped away from me. Her sad eyes narrowed, suddenly alight with fury.

"I'm sorry? Get over it? He didn't deserve me?" She scowled, recapping my phrases.

I nodded unsure. "You were pretending with him anyway and weren't being your true self." She continued to glare, not saying a word.

"Didn't you say he hated Harry Potter some time ago?" I asked.

She grimaced. "That's beside the point!"

"So, what's the point Harper?" I asked tilting the side of my head.

"Are you freaking kidding me. The point is I don't deserve him! Jake has been nothing but sweet and I screwed things up." She ranted, her arms flaring up in the sky. "Because of you!"

How the hell did I get involved in her breakup?

I raised a brow and folded my arms, not liking one bit her switched up angry tone with me. Fuck, talk about from hot to cold. "What the fuck did I do?" I asked innocently.

"What you did? What you did! Let me tell you. All your excessive calls and ridiculous workload got in the way of my relationship with Jake. Yesterday was his birthday and he was upset with me, and who calls interrupting my argument with him... YOU!" She fumed. But didn't stop there.

She pointed and waved her index finger. "I'm not your Doberman to take orders. Sit! Go! Fetch! I need this Harper! Collect that Harper!"

My nostrils flared up with anger.

I narrowed my eyes and glowered at her. "I don't treat you like a dog." I said in a low growl. "I treat you like my assistant, who I expect to do the work I ask of them."

Her eyes sank low under my gaze, she swallowed hard. But I was not going to feel guilty about this shit! I shook it off.

"If you're unhappy or feel you being treated unfairly. I will be glad to accept your resignation, or you could leave and find another job!" I seethed.

I clenched my jaw holding back and stomped briskly past her out of the office. Irritated as fuck my brunch was interrupted. But I had to breath. The office was closing in on me as Harper accused me of destroying her relationship.

Fuck!

I drilled past the workers seated at their desks, some heads turned in my direction, my face set in a scowl, a hundred percent pissed off. I drilled into Jesse's office and spotted him seated behind his desk chatting to a co-worker. I blitzed past his doors, my presence breaking his conversation with the man, who immediately left the scene.

"Whoa who pissed you off this early bro?" Jesse chuckled.

I breathed out a heavy breath and looked around, his office was well-lit from the windows and similar to mine, just smaller. "Do I look like a man that gets involved in other couples love life?"

Jesse shook his head. "No, you don't even get involved in your own."

"Exactly!" I huffed. I sank in a chair opposite his desk.

"Does this have to do with Violet?" He asked curiously.

"Well, apparently she's single now, so you got your opportunity brother to ask her out." I confessed abruptly.

He raised a brow. "Cool. Thanks for letting me know. I might just take you up on that offer." He replied casually. Fucking pissing me off further. I shifted in my seat.

"Why you're getting involved with her boyfriends?" He questioned. "She seems like a good girl. That will make good decisions when it comes to men. So hopefully I'll be on top of that list." He lightly chuckled.

I glazed at him evenly. Irritated for even coming here and confessing Harper's relationship status with him.

I was about to answer him but my phone vibrated in my trousers' pocket. It vibrated for the last fifteen minutes. I got it out and checked in a huff. Five missed calls were seen from Rebecca in the last thirty minutes. What the fuck. I gave a heavy sigh. Glad I ignored her calls this morning. But there was one missed call from my mother. My brows creased, an unpleasant shiver ran through my spine.

Jesse's phone rang. He picked it up.

"Hey mom." He answered.

But began to stutter. His face clouding up.

"Mom! What? I can't hear what you're saying, you're talking too fast-"

Jesse's face froze for a moment, his face contorted into a grimace, and his breathing came in shallows. His dark eyes snapped to me, as his mouth dropped open. What the fuck was being said on the other line? I looked at my brother concerned.

"Yeah, Eric's here with me." Jesse said breathlessly on the phone, his eyes not tearing from mine. "We on our way."

"What's going on?" I asked.

Jesse's uneasy eyes stared at me. "We gotta get to the hospital. There's been a terrible accident. It's dad."

                                                                                                  ***

Thirty minutes later and Jesse and I blasted through the hospital wings in search of our mother. I didn't know what to think. The sudden call shook me unexpectedly and I didn't know what to fucking think. My mind focused on finding out what the fuck happened.

An accident.

A fucking accident.

It was horrible. A terrible one.

My father.

Was said to me all in the same damn sentence.

The words resounding in my head, making me lose slight focus. My mother sounded panicked, her voice flushed with tears and stutters.

I ran to the reception desk, Jesse close behind. His eyes wide with worry.

The nurse looked up to me from my sudden abrupt appearance. "Can I help sir?"

"Mr. Bolton? Do you know where he is, there was an accident?" I asked thickly trying to remain calm.

The nurse nodded, "Go to emergency. They usually deal with trauma and accidents. Go down the hall and turn left." She instructed.

I said my thanks and Jesse and I bolted down the hallway.

We reached the emergency section, disorder and chaos ran about in my mind as my eyes darted across the spacious area. Nurses in blue uniforms assisted patients, emergency personnel carried the injured on stretches and doctors in white coats trailing in between. I scanned the area, looking left and right, my eyes drifted over a quieter section, lined with steel chairs. My eyes instantly spotted my mother in the far corner.

I nudged my brothers arm and advanced to the direction of my mother. Close enough, I moved slowly towards her, everything including time seemed to be at a pace. I could hear myself breathing. My mother seated on the steel chair, looking fragile and broken. She wrapped her arms across her body, hugging herself. Heaving. Crying uncontrollably as she rocked back and forth on her seat.

I gulped thickly, sweat beaded beneath my collar. I stopped midway and looked up at the ceiling, looking beyond to the sky. I breathed in and out, my hands slightly trembled, knowing this didn't look good.

I felt Jesse move passed beside me. Jogging towards our mother. Her puffy red eyes looked at him and she stood up, pulling him into a hard embrace. He questioned her and she just shook her head, as words chocked from her throat. She looked to me approaching and reached her arm out.

She hugged me tight. Like her life depended on it. I held her fragile body in my arms, trying to give her strength. That's when she told her sons... Jesse and I.

The news that I never wanted to hear. I shut my eyes and everyone in it. As her words fought to sink into me.

My father.

My dad.

He didn't make it.