Sleeping With The CEO-Chapter 289: Wine and Whine

Emily loved being a strong, confident woman. Something that she had reaffirmed for herself, by going to Haven Group headquarters. Her head held high. Dressed in a power suit and rocking heels like she was their inventor.

The power had been so addictive that Emily had not wanted it to end. But it had ended, crumbling to dust from the moment that she had laid eyes on Derek, and seen the hurt and confusion on his face. When Emily had imagined what their first encounter would be like. She had thought of Derek, shame-faced.

Unable to lift his head at the sight of her. Or maybe even him being so angry to see her doing well. That he would not even be able to hide his rage. Those were the things that Emily had been ready for. But to have him looking at her in hurt, and confusion like he did not understand what was going on.

Like she was the one who had stabbed him through the heart, and just kept twisting the blade. That had dampened Emily’s spirits. How dare he! How dare he look hurt when she was the one walking around with a bleeding heart.

It should not have bothered her.

She should have seen the ruse for what it was, and not been moved by it. But there was still a part of her, a very big part of her that cared about Derek. And so instead of celebrating her small victory. Emily had wound up crying while seated at the back of a strange car.

Somehow her crying fit had ended up with her, stopping on the way home to buy herself some wine. The original plan had been to just get one bottle.

But she had walked out with three, and not the expensive kind that needed to be savored. But the cheap ones that left you feeling no guilt as you chugged them down, until you could barely see straight.

The wines that did not need to be sipped, and definitely required no etiquette lessons. Anything too fancy would have reminded her of Derek, so Emily had avoided those. Now she was back home kneeling on the carpet. On the table in front of her, there was glass of wine filled all the way to the brim.

Making a game out of how much of it she could drink before she had to take a breath. Emily picked up the glass, and did not put it back down until it was empty. Licking her lips, she decided that drinking like that was not challenging enough for her.

So she grabbed a second glass. Filled it up as well, and then proceeded to take turns drinking from both of them.

When she tried to stand, Emily suddenly found the room spinning, and she sat back down again. She had not even opened the second bottle and already she was tipsy.

Clearly this was because she was not much of a drinker on a regular basis. She had to rectify the situation by drinking until she got more tolerant.

With the alcohol now numbing her pain. Emily allowed herself to think back on her encounter with Derek in detail.

Not just the expression on his face, but everything else about him. Apart from that fake devastated look on his face, he had seemed fine. He had not looked like a man being haunted by anything. In fact he had even had the time to shave the beard that Emily had barely become accustomed to.

Drinking up some more wine. Emily wiped a few tears and then poured herself some more alcohol. You did the right thing, Emily. "You did the right thing," She told herself, gently patting her own thigh.

There was no trusting a man like that. He had not known that Emily was coming. So he’d not had time to prepare like she had. Even so, at the sight of her. He had instantly been able to put on an expression that had made it look as though he were in a world of pain.

He definitely could not be trusted at all. She had made a good decision. By heading for the hills as soon as that cold-blooded mother of his, had shown Emily the truth. But still, just because her mind knew that she had made the right decision for herself in the long run. It did not matter to her heart. As far as her heart was concerned, she was hurting and that was the most important bit.

Emily’s heart, the foolish thing, could not accept things as they were. It wanted Emily to go back to him, for things to be the way they were, for the two of them to be happy again. But Emily could not give her heart what it wanted.

Hand clutching tightly at the fabric of her suit right over the organ. Emily grabbed a half-full glass and downed it.

She could not give her heart what it desired, but she could at least numb the pain with a bit of alcohol.

And if a small bit of alcohol was not going to work, then she was going to drink, and drink, until her heart forgot to hurt, and that was exactly what she did.

One bottle of wine turned into two. The second being opened before she had finished the first. Mostly because she did not want to wait until there was nothing left to drink. The third only rescued because it fell off the table and onto the carpet. Rolling into a shadowed corner, before she could grab it.

But still, given the fact that she had not even finished her first and second bottles of wine, Emily did not count that as a loss. Instead, she focused all of her energy on trying to consume the others as quickly as possible. She managed with the first bottle, and was still making her way through the second one when she heard the door open.

Oh, Emily thought, staring up at the ceiling. Mum is here. A distant part of her noted that once again her mum had arrived home to find her on the carpet, all thanks to Derek Haven. And for some reason that made Emily laugh.

She was still laughing as she struggled to sit up. When she finally managed it, she tilted her head up and gave her mom the biggest smile that she could come up with. "Mommy, you came!"Emily shouted, feeling incredibly cheerful all of a sudden. She hugged her mother’s legs, burying her face in the scrubs. That day her mom had worn the ones with butterflies on them. Emily had always liked those. Opening her eyes, she stared at a blurry butterfly. And then she looked back up at her mom. The older woman looked sad.

Emily did not want that at all. Her mom should be happy...always.

"Don’t cry mom, I’m all right," Emily told her. Suddenly having a light bulb moment. She reached for the glasses on the table. Emily tried to pour for herself and for her mother. But for some reason her aim was off. The table ended up covered in wine. Very little of it making it into the glass.

Glaring at the liquid, Emily turned back to her mom.

"It won’t pour," She mumbled, fighting back tears.

"Oh, Emily," The older woman said, crouching down. Her hands on Emily’s cheeks, the palms soft and gentle. What have you done to yourself?" She asked,Emily’s brow furrowed. What? She had not done anything. She had just been in the apartment, having herself some wine. Oh, she realized. Her mom had seen her suit, and wanted to know why she had gotten all dressed up.

"...Went to see Derek..." Emily mumbled. Her good mood suddenly dissipating and she found herself crying.

In between sobs, she tried her best to tell her mother everything.

But at some point she blinked and realized that she wasn’t even making any sense. She was just saying his name on repeat"Derek, Derek, Derek..." Mortified, but unable to stop crying her heart out. Emily found herself immensely grateful for her mom.

The older woman was kneeling next to her. Not interfering, just letting Emily have a good cry.

Having company, someone to lean on was good, Emily decided. Even if she wasn’t feeling too great at the moment. Unlike Derek, who was alone in that penthouse of his. Emily had someone who cared. Her mom would always be there for her.

Finally getting too tired to keep calling his name. Emily closed her eyes, and just leaned into her mother, soaking up love and comfort.

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m fr𝒆ewebnove(l).com