Denying Mr. Parks (The Parks #1) (29 page)

Sure.

I dipped the biscuit into my tea and threw it into my mouth whilst digging into the packet for another. The second email I opened made my stomach burn and tighten, and the ache that began to throb between my thighs was hard to ignore.

From: Wade Parks, CEO, Parks Industries

To: Evelyn Banks

Message: Extremely hard! I am in a meeting emailing you, because I cannot stop thinking about your lips wrapped around my cock. Jesus, you suck me so good. I need more of that delicious mouth of yours.

He wanted more of my mouth? That was incredibly hot. I was aroused just at the thought of it. The taste of his come. The taste of his cock. Fuck, it was delectable. The pounding instantly began between my thighs, making me cross my legs. But he couldn’t have more. I only did that because I owed him, and I thought it was the best way to show I appreciated what he did for me. If he had taken me home in that state, Steph would have never forgiven me. He let me stay in his swanky apartment, he prepared the most brilliant breakfast for me, and he bought me a beautiful dress when he didn’t have to do all that. It was exceedingly generous.

Shit. What had I done? Sucked his cock to show him how pleased I was? What the fuck was I thinking? I was so stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I emailed him back, saying it was a one-off and hoped he would leave it at that, but somehow I didn’t think that was possible. I also didn’t think it was possible for him to leave me alone.

I tried to calm myself down and dunked another biscuit into my tea whilst opening another email. As I read it, my heart thudded but for a different reason.

From: Anonymous sender

To: Evelyn Banks

Message: I’m watching you!

I turned my head because I actually felt someone
was
watching me, and sure enough, Carla was in her office glaring at me. I spun around quickly, forgetting I had tea on my desk and spilt it all over the work I just printed.

“Fuck,” I yelled, trying to salvage the documents.

Pat’s gaze drifted from her desktop to me as her nostrils flared in disgust. “I hope those aren’t my documents.”

I gave up trying to save them and crumbled them up aggressively before throwing them into the waste bin. “Yes, actually, they were,” I snapped back and marched into Carla’s office. Pat could fuck off.

“You’re watching me now?”

Her red, trout-pouted lips opened as she leaned forwards against her desk, acting all Miss Innocent. “Me?” She placed her hand on her chest as if offended. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

I laughed once. “You’re fucking deluded. If you want Parks, go ahead, have him. Oh, but wait,” I said with mock sympathy, purposely to piss her off. “He doesn’t want you, does he?”

Her top lip lifted over her teeth. “And you think he wants you?” She looked me up and down as if I were a rodent from the backstreets.

“I don’t care what you think, Carla. Just know you better stop with the threats or—”

“Or what?” Grinning again, she stood and began to walk around me like she was circling her prey. “I am counting down the days until I get to fire your arse. And it will come. For some reason, Mr. Parks wants to save your skanky little backside, but just wait until he travels back to America, then you’re out.”

I wanted to quit my job right there and then.
I quit
was right on the tip of my tongue, but I needed that job and my presence was an obvious threat to Carla, so that made my stay even more bearable.

“I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long,” she continued. “You’re nothing but a foulmouthed slut who fucked her way into this firm. And now you think you can win Mr. Parks from me?”

I immediately saw red, and that was it. Before I could stop myself, I pulled back my fist and punched my boss in the face. She screamed, lost balance, and fell to the floor with a thud.

“Evelyn, no!” I turned to see Parks barging his way in, throwing the papers he had in his hand aside as he grabbed my arm to stop me from doing any more damage. I didn’t feel sorry for her one bit! She provoked me. She deserved it. I tried to free myself from Parks’s grip to get at her again, but he took my head into his hands and spoke calmly over Carla’s wailing in the background. “That’s enough, Evelyn,” he warned.

I breathed out aggressively whilst looking into his eyes, calming down little by little. When he was sure I wouldn’t move, he nodded and slowly took his hands from my face, then walked over to Carla and helped her to her feet. I gulped when I saw her eye was red and swollen.

She, of course, milked it to the max. “You see what she did?” she yelled to Parks. “She’s out. You’re going to pay for this, Evey.”

I was fired. Fuck. But in that moment, I was still angry, my adrenaline still pumping. “Fuck your job.”

Her mouth dropped opened in shock as she held the side of her face, and the way Parks was tending to her, for some reason, hit a goddamn nerve.

“Sit down. I’ll get you some water.”

Carla thanked Parks, then smirked at me as he turned his back. I gritted my teeth and went for her again. “You conniving bitch.”

She covered her face with her hands, but Parks was too quick for me. He grabbed hold of my waist and pulled me out of the room, then marched me down the corridor by my arm. He almost threw me into a vacant room and locked the door behind him. He ran his hands through his hair and gripped it.

“Do you want to tell me what the fuck you think you are doing?”

“This has nothing to do with you.” My chest heaved as I tried to get the air back in my lungs.

“I think it does when the argument was about me.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. She called me a slut. And not to mention what she said about me in your office. She wasn’t getting away with that.”

He laughed like I was unbelievable. “She can sue you, Evelyn. She can call the cops, get you done for assault.”

“She’s lucky assault was all it was.”

He stepped towards me and firmly took my head into his hands so I would look at him. “Evelyn, this is serious. She’s a woman who knows what she’s doing. You work at my law firm, for fuck’s sake. Do you realise how it will look if she takes this further?”

I knocked his hands away in a rage. “So that’s what this is about. Your precious company name?”

He groaned loudly, turning away from me like I wasn’t getting it. “I didn’t say that.”

“That’s what it sounds like.”

“Just sort your shit out, Evelyn,” he yelled, turning back to me. “You’re a mess.” I knew by the look that spread across his face that he immediately regretted his words. “Shit. I didn’t mean that.”

I was a little hurt because it was so out of place coming from him, but that hurt was banished by a shield of defence that protected me. “You know what, fuck her, fuck my job, fuck your company, and fuck you.” I brushed past him and almost ran to the lift. Parks made no attempt to follow.

When I got to the ground floor and outside the building, I leaned against the brick wall and inhaled the air my lungs desperately needed.

Looking up at the blue sky, I closed my eyes and sagged.

Fuck.

Chapter Twenty

I
went to a nearby bar and ordered a triple vodka shot. I downed it in one and ordered another, ignoring the sane part of my brain urging me to do the right thing and go home.

Maybe I
was
insane. I mean, I thought I was getting my life back together. I’d started the AA meetings, I had a new home with Steph, and I was getting along in my job just fine. What the hell disrupted it all?
Parks
. That’s what it was. Why the fuck couldn’t he leave me alone and stay away from me and my life? Why did he have to make me question myself around him? Make me feel things I didn’t want to feel?

I downed another vodka, then felt a tap on the back of my shoulder. I groaned, almost irritated because I thought it was going to be Parks, but when I glanced over my shoulder, I saw it wasn’t.

“Lowry?” My previous boss had caught me by complete surprise and didn’t seem happy to see me. In his early thirties and with his ginger hair styled perfectly, he was handsome in his own way. He also wore expensive watches and nice suits—though not as nice as Parks’s. That day, however, he looked almost unrecognizable. His hair had grown long and unkempt, he had a ginger beard coming along, and his clothes weren’t ironed. He was also completely drunk and sporting a cut lip and a black eye that looked a few days old. I grimaced a little as I realised where his wounds had come from.

“Evey,” he jeered, prodding my shoulder again.

“How are you?” I didn’t really care how he was, but I felt inclined to ask nonetheless.

“How am
I
?” he sneered, glancing down at the mess he’d become. “Look at me. Look at what you’ve”—he prodded me again—”done to me.”

“What?” I was dumbfounded.

He laughed, stumbling back a little. “You’ve ruined my life, you spiteful bitch. Parks,” he spat out his name, “has ruined my life, and all because he couldn’t stand that I had fucked his new girlfriend before him.”

I rose from the barstool, holding my hands up. “Now wait a minute. I am not his girlfriend, so whatever he’s done has nothing to do with me.”

His face screwed up. “You’re a liar,” he yelled, making a few heads turn. “He made sure I wouldn’t work in another law firm again. Ever. You know how that feels? I have a family to feed, Evey. I have a wife and kids to take care of. Now I have nothing. And that’s all down to you.” He gave my shoulder a harsher prod that jerked it back, so I took hold of his finger and bent it back, making him yelp.

“Then maybe you should’ve thought about your wife before you fucked me with that pencil dick of yours,” I snarled, but he grabbed on to my wrist.

“You bitch.”

“Hey,” the barman called over, but Lowry didn’t seem to care.

“You will pay for this, Evey. I will ruin both your lives, you wait and see. The media will have a field day with my story.” He let go of my wrist and stumbled into a nearby table, knocking over a group of men’s drinks. I stared after him, completely bemused.

“You all right?” the barman asked as I got my bag together.

“Fine,” I snapped and made my way out into the fresh air. Jesus, three threats in one day. I must have been doing something right.

As soon as I stepped outside, I was in the middle of a four-man fight. Police and their dogs surrounded the fight, trying to break it up as people gathered around to get a glimpse. I moved through the crowd, mumbling under my breath about nuisance football hooligans. There were so many people to get through, I started to get frustrated, so when someone pulled my arm I whirled around, ready to scream at them.

“Whoa.” Alex stepped back, chuckling at my sudden outburst. He was wearing his police uniform. “It’s just me. Sorry I scared you.”

My eyes closed slowly on their own. Could my day get any worse? “Alex, um, hi. Shouldn’t you be over there with the fight?” I tried to get him to leave before he realised I was standing outside the pub.

He looked towards the ruckus as the men were being cuffed and put into the back of the police cars. “Nah, it’s under control. I’m just on foot for another hour, then I get to go home to spend the night with a special lady. It feels like I haven’t spoken to you in ages.” He smiled boyishly and tapped my forearm playfully.

“Sorry, I’ve been busy. See you later.” As I tried to make a dash for it, I thought I’d get away before he realised where we were standing, but he suddenly frowned.

“Evey, why are you here, anyway? It’s chaos. I didn’t think you finished work until five thirty.”

I glanced at my watch and saw it was only four p.m. “Um, I got off early.”

“Have you been drinking?”

I wasn’t drunk. Maybe a little light-headed, but there was no way he could have sensed I’d had a drink. I figured he was just asking because I was near a pub, and yes, that looked suspicious.

“No,” I barked, a little too defensive, which made him back off.

“Okay. So I’ll see you later?”

“Great.” I tried to act enthusiastic, but today had taken every ounce of enthusiasm away from me.

When I got back to my flat, I was half expecting the police to be at my door, but they weren’t. I decided I needed to sleep off those tumblers of vodka before the night, so I crawled onto my bed and shut my eyes.

***

Two hours later, my phone rang, waking me up. I answered it groggily without looking to see who it was.

“Evelyn.” It was Parks, and his voice was cold. “You still have a job. It’s sorted. In the morning, I expect you to be into work on time. That is all.” And he hung up.

What the…? He was probably acting that way because he was still angry at me for what I’d done. Thinking about it, maybe he was right. Maybe it would scandalize the law firm because we workers had to represent Parks’s name and keep it clean. Then again, I’m sure he would have found a way to stop word getting out about the fight I’d caused. I also wanted to know how he got Carla to let me keep my job. I wanted to tell her to stick it, but I needed to swallow that sour grape and get on with it. At least I got a punch in. That had felt pretty good.

I showered and changed into casual clothes but kept my hair down. I had a headache, and my usual ponytail would only enhance it.

I heard Steph coming through the front door speaking to someone, so I walked out of my bedroom to investigate. It was Alex and Mathew.

“We’re double-dating. Let me just grab my lip gloss.” She beamed and ran into her bedroom. I knew she was happy about the situation because she hated having a night out with just her and Mathew. At least the double date was drawing attention away from my absence the previous night and our argument that morning.

“Oh, great.” My lack of interest was obvious.

“I got tickets for the launch of that posh restaurant that’s opened up in the city. I had them off my boss,” Alex confirmed.

That got my attention. “For a restaurant?” I looked down at my floral blouse and pink, ankle-high trousers. “I’m not dressed for a restaurant.”

Mathew groaned, knowing what was coming and made himself comfortable on the couch. Alex took my hands. “You look beautiful in what you’re wearing.”

I pulled my hands from his and frowned. “Yes, for the cinema. I’ll have to get changed.” From the corner of my eye, I saw Mathew opening up a newspaper, so I moved them along. “You two go ahead. We’ll catch you up.”

“We?” Steph asked, confused as I looked over her dress sense. She had none. And she was wearing her infamous black leggings and a long, fluorescent blouse.

“Yes. We. You look like a lollipop.” I turned her by her shoulder and waved the men off. They couldn’t wait to leave.

“We have to dress posh?” she moaned, lying across my bed as I opened up my wardrobe. The clothes that were folded at the bottom fell out onto my feet, forcing Steph to say what she always said. “You have too many clothes, Evey. It’s ridiculous.”

She was right. When I became sober, my addiction turned into shopping. You see, I was an ugly child, and my mother always told me so. I also only ever had hand-me-downs instead of nice things or nice clothes. So buying things that made me feel good was important to me. I never wanted to feel ugly, because if I looked in the mirror and saw those things my mum said I was, recalled those names she would taunt me with, it killed me.

While looking through my clothes, I sensed tension from Steph and knew she was waiting to approach me about my behaviour. Waiting was making me agitated, so I asked her to spit it out.

“I just hate that you don’t call me back, Evey,” she said. “When you’re out without me, all sorts of thoughts run through my mind. Then you tell me you went out with the Starbucks girls? Since when were you all pally?”

I hid my expression by mindlessly folding up a stray jumper. “They asked me to go out with them, and I didn’t want to seem like I didn’t appreciate the offer, so I went. I thought we went over this?”

“Next time could you invite me?”

I could sense how much it meant to her, and even though I wasn’t with any other girls that night, I promised I would ask her next time, even though I knew she only wanted to come to keep an eye on me.

After that, the tension decreased, and I felt at ease. But then she spotted the dress Parks gave me laid out on the bed. “Hey, nice dress. Is it new?”

I paused. “Uh, yeah, it’s from the High Street.”

“Can I wear this one, then?”

Of course I would’ve let her wear it if I hadn’t lied and say it was from the High Street, but I knew Steph would spot the tag, so I quickly swiped it from her hands.

“No. I’ve been in it all day. That’s gross.” I quickly pulled out a pastel green dress for Steph that had a beautiful gemstone necklace attached. “This will look perfect. Here.” I threw it towards her, and she caught it with distaste.

“Really?”

“Yes, really, you live in those leggings. It’ll be nice to see you in a dress for once. Now go.”

She pouted. “There is nothing wrong with leggings.”

“I’m going to cut them up one day,” I warned her.

“You will not,” she threatened and went to her room to hide her stash of leggings.

After much deliberation, I chose a white lace, almost sweetheart-neck top that almost resembled a bodice, and a pastel pink pencil skirt. It looked classy with the white blazer and pastel pink heels I added.

When I was done, I walked into the living room to find Steph waiting and looking bored to death. “You take so long,” she moaned. “You will be okay in the pub, won’t you, Evey?”

“I am perfectly capable of going to a pub and not drinking.” I rolled my eyes dramatically, then inwardly cringed at my denial.

***

The restaurant was a bit dark as the only lighting came from candles, but nevertheless, it was gorgeous inside. Although I got the impression the staff thought we had stolen the tickets from someone wealthy. The way they were looking down on us all was starting to bug me.

We got seated quickly at a dark wood table and had our drink orders taken. We all got chatting then, and I glanced past Steph’s head. When I did, I could have sworn I saw the back of Carla’s head. Yes, there were thousands of women in London with auburn bobs, but when you know someone, you can spot them just by looking at the back of their head. This was one of those moments. She was on her own at the table, but she couldn’t have come alone because there was another glass across from her.

“Jesus, it’s expensive in here,” Matthew muttered, pulling my focus back. The bench jostled, telling me that Steph had kicked him in the leg.

“You’re a tight bastard. Don’t bother you spending hundreds of pounds on season tickets, though, does it?” she snapped.

I held my menu up to hide my smirk. I felt bad when she yelled at him for nothing, but then I also wished he would grow some balls and stick up for himself.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, can I please request your orders?”

In sync, we all looked up at the well-groomed, penguin-suited waiter with a pad of paper in one hand and a white napkin slung over his other arm. The others took their turns ordering whilst I was still looking at the menu. Finally choosing a steak, I handed it over, but my eyes were suddenly drawn to a man across the room. He was walking in from somewhere, putting his phone away in his suit jacket, and pulled out the seat across from Carla. The man was
Parks
!

I frowned, completely perplexed whilst I wondered why on earth he would be having dinner with a woman he disliked. My heart sped up as I realised I almost felt cheated. Jealous even. Suddenly, I was dying for a drink, and it was ridiculous. Emotions I didn’t need were overwhelming me, and the only way I knew how to numb them was to hit the bottle. But obviously, with the company I was with, a drink was not going to happen.

The men at the table ordered beers, and my knee started jumping up and down, something I always did when I was agitated or needing a drink. When temptations hit me, they completely overwhelmed me. To anyone that didn’t understand how that felt, they would seem possible to quickly overcome. I just wished they were.

“I’m just going to the ladies’.” I stood and made sure none of their eyes followed me. I did, however, walk in the direction of the ladies’ toilets but quickly changed course and headed straight towards the bar instead. “A vodka shot, please,” I told the barman. “Actually, make that two.”