Chapter 9

Author's Note: I've always been in love with the idea of me having an apartment in Brooklyn, or in New York. I haven't been in the US, really, but I wish to live there someday. That's why some of my stories' settings are set in Brooklyn. All my life, I've only stayed in the Philippines and I've only traveled once. Anyways, enjoy this chapter of Brooklyn Nights! Our little Pierce is getting confused already.

The picture below is Pierson Matthews | Cory Bower by Photography Anthony Amadeo

IG: cory_bower

Instagram: JMSenar

Twitter: JMSenar

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Chapter 9

Wyatt has his eyes on me, still glaring, and every second I get uncomfortable. His stare is so intense that it makes me cower and fear for my life. The whole time I'm fumbling with my fingers, playing with the hem of my shirt, and I can't keep my feet still. My legs keep pulling close together, as if I'm holding myself from peeing. I hang my head low, not wanting to look him in the eyes.

"You are pissing me off," he says through gritted teeth and from the tone of his voice, I can hear how angry he is. I flinch, gulping inaudibly. I hope he doesn't hear the way my heart beats. I want to run away from this company, from him, because I'm really scared of my life right now. "I'm your boss and you ran away like that, leaving me?"

"I'm really–"

"I'm not done yet," he cuts me off and I let out a breath I realize I've been holding. He takes a step forward closer to me and my instinct tells me to take a step back, so I do. But the more I step back, the more he walks closer to me until my back hits against the polished mahogany table – his desk. I put my hands on the table and hiss from the coldness. He takes another step forward until we're close face to face. Teeth still gritted, eyes still narrowed, he looks at me in the eye and says, "Don't you ever do that again to me or I swear, Pierson, I'll put you in disciplinary action."

Running my tongue over my lower lip as I feel them drying, his eyes flick over it, and I catch my breath. I nod my head rather furiously, letting him know that it really won't happen again.

Wyatt moves closer to me, his body a few centimeters away from mine. I look down to his feet and suddenly find it interesting. I flush when he takes another step and my breath hitches. This Godzilla in front has the nerve! I silently pray to the angels above that he's just playing tricks on me, or pulling pranks, whatever. I just don't want him this close to me. He very well knows that I'm gay – and I'm sure he knows that he's really attractive, so why is he doing this? Sometimes a rush of courage hits me, and I like that. I like that it happens at random moments, but not today. Because if that courage hits my system today, I may be able to look up and God knows if I'm ready for a punch to be delivered in my face because I may kiss him.

He's nearing me when a loud crashing sound hits the room and I yelp. I don't know what I'm thinking as my hand immediately reaches for something – anything to hold on to. For some reason, my hand catches his navy blue tie and I accidentally pull it. I twist my ankle and we both fall on the ground. My back hits the ground, and Wyatt falls on me.

And the worse thing happens: his lips land on mine.

My eyes widen, reflecting his. I can't believe Wyatt is on top of me, and his lips are on mine. This is definitely the biggest holy shit moment of my life. I wait for him to get off me, but he doesn't. Instead his eyes begin to shut and he begins moving his lips with mine. Meanwhile, mine remain frozen. The Godzilla is fucking kissing me and I don't know what to do! My head is processing a million thoughts, I know, and I don't want to think what's going on here because really, it doesn't make sense to me. Wyatt is straight, and he will never be into guys yet some homo deity decided to fuck up his mind and now he's kissing me. Me. Me of all people!

My boss, who is my enemy back in high school, positions himself so he doesn't squash me, lifts his head up for a bit, only to get a better position and then he plants his lips on mine again. His lips are so soft, so gentle, and... and... I can't think of anything else. There's something magical the way his lips dance against mine. I can the butterflies fluttering in my stomach and my heart pounds hard against my rib cage. His lips are so fucking awesome – his lips make me dizzy and at the same time it leaves me wanting more. So that's the time I begin to kiss him back, my hands reaching his hair while my arms curl around his neck, pulling him closer.

He bites my lower lip, earning a moan from me and when I part my lips, he takes the opportunity to slip his tongue in. I feel momentarily shocked. Not ever once I experienced this before, so having another tongue inside my mouth feels weird to me. He still tastes like the fries he stole from me and ate – a bit salty and sweet at the same time.

I could kiss him all day and never get tired of it.

The moment I realize that I, Pierson Matthews, am kissing my boss, Ajax Chase Wyatt. He was the one who bullied me in high school, and he was the reason why I wanted to be successful in life because he made me feel like a worthless piece of shit. But then fate had other plans – she decided to bring us together and he managed to be really, figuratively, on top of the world. But despite what he had done to me, there's definitely an attraction going on. I have never denied that. Even Melody used to tease me about it. Wyatt is not only athletic, but he's smart and gentle whenever necessary, just not for me. I've seen that side of him several times in high school, but when it came to me, he was rude and very competitive. Maybe because he felt threatened; or maybe it was because his ego was hurting. It couldn't be the fact that I'm gay, right? Because that was just plain bullshit.

Like I said, I never denied that I was attracted to him. He was my schoolmate, and I shared a few classes with him. I've always gazed at him from afar and I used to tell myself how can someone be angelic to look at be rude and act like a devil?

But now that he's back, I don't know what to feel anymore. At the back of my house, a voice is telling me that he's just doing this to ruin my life. He said that to me in high school. He promised it. But my head tells me the other thing – that perhaps he feels an attraction towards me, or that he's confused about his sexuality and he wants to try it for himself. I've never felt so conflicted in my life, and in my life choices.

Why? Why did I have to accept this secretary position? Why did I ever leave my parents just to get a job? Why did I have to get out of my comfort zone and let things change easily? There are so many questions running through my head, and I can't stop them. In any minute, I'm going to explode – both my heart and my head.

Once I get a grip of myself, even though I don't want this to stop because I'd kill just for this to last longer, I push him away. He seems shocked at the action. Without saying anything and looking at his face, I run away from him, out of the room. My mind is going haywire. I have received confused stares from the other employees and at this point, I don't give a fuck. All I want right now is to clear my head, recollect my feelings, and stay away from him as much as possible and as far as possible. He can't just do that to me. I would understand if we just kissed by accident – and yes, we kissed just by accident, but then he started moving his lips against mine and worse, I wanted – want – it.

My phone rings several times, vibrating in my pocket and I refuse to pick the call up as I know it's Wyatt. I don't want to deal with him right now. My head is still a mess, and my emotion is everywhere. If I go back there, I would end up kissing him again. When my phone rings again, I pick it up from pocket and turn my phone off, barely giving a glance at Wyatt's flashing name on the screen. As I get out of the building, having taken the elevator, I just cross the street and begin walking as far as I can get from the building. I can't believe that kiss just happened. That kiss was initiated by Wyatt and damn, I still his lips lingering on mine. It leaves a burning sensation that I want to experience again.

This is so damn confusing. This is even more confusing than the time I was figuring my sexuality out. And the more I think about it, the more my head hurts. When I'm far enough from the office, I take a stroll around the streets, letting the stress drift away from me. He may be doing this to ruin me. But what if he has conflicted feelings? What if he really wanted to kiss you? I groan out loud, ready to shout, when a few heads turn to look at me, their look judging me.

I don't know how long I've been strolling, but my heart is calm now and my head is at ease. I've decided that maybe, Wyatt is just pulling a prank on me because that's what he always does. He always likes to bully me. He wants to ruin me. He wants to see me suffering and by doing this, he uses his overly cute and handsome self to torture me.

"What a fucked up situation I'm in," I mumble and let out an exasperated sigh, suddenly tired of everything. My legs are aching since I've been walking for a few hours now. The sky is now a hue of orange spreading messily across the horizon, and the clouds are a shade of dark swirling above. "Why did he have to kiss me? Why did I have to kiss him back? I'm so stupid. So, so stupid."

I decide to head back to the office. I hope Wyatt isn't there anymore. He stays up late all the time and he's always early at work – maybe that's the reason why he has become a CEO and a successful business man, but I'll take my chances. I decide to hail a cab to take me there since I walked off too far.

When I get there, I decide to pay my friends a visit. Like Kevin said, they barely see me and I barely hangout with them during work hours. I want to tell Melody, but I fear what she would conclude. Melody can be a smartass sometimes, and if she tells me something while serious, it's either she's right or she's right. That has been proven and tested.

The first one to see is my best friend Melody. She squeals out loud and some of the employees turn their heads to glare at her, but Melody doesn't give a fuck. She wraps her arms around me, hugging me tight as if we haven't seen other for the longest time. She leads me to our old workstations where a typing aggressively Matt greets me.

"So what's the tea?" she shakes her body and Matt frowns, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close. Melody makes a face at her boyfriend who sticks his tongue out. "Tell me, is Wyatt making your life harder? Or are you screaming daddy at the top of your lungs?"

I blush at her comment, glaring at her and lowering my head. Leave it to Melody to make my problem more embarrassing.

"He likes Wyatt?" Matt scowls, confusion drawn on his face as he looks between me and Melody. "But I thought he was your bully slash enemy back in high school? What changed?"

"But Pierce had always been a bit infatuated with him," my best friend winks at me and then laughs. If looks could kill, I swear she'd be ashes by now. "Even though Wyatt was a complete asshole to him, he had always admired him. Oh what? Are you going to deny it? I know all your secrets, bitch!"

Rolling my eyes at her, resisting the urge to push her and slap her as that will be frowned upon by my workmates, I let out a sigh and pull out a chair. Melody seems to realize that there's something up, so she purses her lips and remains silent. She puts a hand on my shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. I know Melody. Once she realizes that I have a problem, she'd talk to me in private and I'd tell her because we're best friends. But I don't think I'm not ready to tell her anything yet. All I want is her comfort right now, even though she doesn't know the issue.

That's when Kevin walks in with a bagel in his hand, taking a huge bite. It's not allowed to bring any food in the work area, but that doesn't really stop us from doing so. Plus, the guards that are roaming around the area are friends with us (or rather, Melody befriended them) and since then, when they see us eating on our stations, they would just tell us to keep it low and we'd agree.

"Is that your shirt, Pierce?" Melody asks as she inspects Kevin's polo shirt. "I can tell because I've been paying attention to his clothes and style, so I'm sure that's his. Also, it fits you tight."

"Yes, it's his. We hung out yesterday and I slept over at his place." Kevin responds and Melody gives me a knowing look. I just return the look and roll my eyes. There's nothing going on between me and Kevin, so Melody can ease her ass and not make a fuss about it. "But hey! You're here. Nate just approved my half-day leave today, so I'll be going out."

"I'm coming with you," I tell him and Kevin nods his head.

"Don't you have work?" Matt asks and they all turn to look at me. I shake my head and Melody grins. "So I'm taking Wyatt is leaving you alone? Is he a terror?"

"No, not really, but he's demanding." I answer him honestly. Melody rolls her eyes; she knows that Wyatt is really demanding. Even when we were teenagers, Wyatt acted like he was the boss around and like he ran the place. And now, he's doing it literally. He runs the business and he's the boss. "And annoying," I add in, chuckling.

Then suddenly I remember the kiss we shared, a kiss he initiated; a kiss that I want to happen again. His lips... I imagine it again on my lips... moving against mine slowly... No, I need to focus. I force myself to break out of that reverie and tell myself that it's not going to happen again; that I shouldn't let it happen again. Wyatt is just toying you and your emotions. He doesn't like you. He's straight. And he was your enemy – he still is.

"When is he not annoying?" Kevin retorts as he rolls his eyes but there's a smile playing on his lips. "I wanted to beat him up in high school, but hey, he's got strength."

"And you had your ass kicked by him," I let the memory inside my head play and chuckle at the image. Kevin playfully glares at me, throwing a light punch on my chest and I feign hurt. "We both can't deny that he's perfect. But he's an asshole."

"Yeah," he agrees.

We both wave good-bye to our friends and head out side by side. Silence falls between us, but there's no awkwardness lingering in the air. In fact, this is one of the moments where I'd just like to hear the honking sounds of the car, the shouting of the people roaming around the city, and the faint chirps of the birds flying across the buildings.

My head plays the image of Wyatt kissing me purposely while I was lying down on my back on the ground – him on top of me. There's something about the kiss that I can't pinpoint. It almost seemed that he liked kissing me, or he wanted to kiss me. If he was just a good guy who treated me good in high school, and if he wasn't my boss, I wouldn't have freaked out. But this is Wyatt, and I know the things he had done in high school. He used to bully me and made a promise that he'd make my life a living hell and I know deep down, he's fulfilling that promise to me. But what if he's not? What if he's really interested, really wanted to kiss me? See. I'm confused. It's not something that I should over think, but I tend to over think things. So this will be hard for me.

Suddenly I'm thinking of what Wyatt really felt when the kiss happened. Did he like it? Did he want to do it again? Is he alright? What was going on with his mind when he kissed me? What is going on with his mind right now? Is he regretting it?

The scariest part for me is that I don't know what road to take. It seems like every road laid out in front of me will leave me scarred for life. And the fact that my heart isn't calming down makes it even more unnerving for me to deal with this. I shouldn't be dealing with this at all. I was supposed to just have a crush on Wyatt. But this... this feeling... this is more than a crush feeling. It's certainly not love, I'm sure of that. It's terrifying.

Maybe if I just ignore Wyatt and act like nothing happened, he would not bug me about it. I can't just give up my job, or I would have to search immediately. I can take a look on the internet, but there's no guarantee that I'll get accepted immediately.

With that in mind, I'll just stick with the boss-employee relationship rule:

Do my job properly, and get paid properly.