Stranded for Christmas with my Boss (Forbidden Billionaire Boss Daddies)

11. Alyssa

Chapter eleven

Alyssa

I t takes me thirty whole minutes to finally cool down after leaving Jensen’s office.

Thirty minutes.

My legs felt like Jell-O for ten minutes! But that’s just the kind of effect that he has on me. No other person can make me feel hot to the touch for half an hour after making me fall apart with one hand.

It felt impossible, yet the boundaries Jensen blurred seemed to draw me in like a moth to a flame. Every line he crossed left me teetering on the edge, torn between the intoxicating pull of his touch and the gnawing guilt that twisted in my gut. I would be upset with him if I weren’t doing the same thing, and I’m not usually the type to get myself into risky situations like these.

I take the elevator from the lobby back up to the top floor after running an errand down the street, my nose stinging from the cold looming outside. Today isn’t even over yet, and it has already felt so long and busy. I’m ready to curl up on the couch with my new sugar cookie-scented candle burning and a Christmas movie on the television.

A tired sigh drifts from me before the elevator doors slide open, allowing me to step out and walk down the hallway that leads toward Jensen’s office. Warmth ignites low in my stomach, threatening to seep lower as I get closer and closer to where he is. Part of me wants to go back inside and continue what we started.

Why does he have to be so tantalizing?

Why can’t I just be impartial to him like I was with the other guy? The same guy that Jensen seemed so jealous of for some reason. If I’m honest with myself, it was kind of hot seeing him so worked up about that, but it was also confusing.

Why did he care so much about me “flirting” with another guy? Like I told him, he isn’t my boyfriend. He’s just my boss.

Then, I let him kiss me and once again rock my world. I just can’t stay consistent around him.

I only make it halfway down the hallway when my phone starts buzzing in my hand, making me pause. I check the screen and frown, seeing my mom’s name pop up. She knows that I’m at work, so there is no way that she’s calling me about something that isn’t important.

Anxiety stabs into my chest as I hit the answer button and press the phone against my ear. “Mom?”

“I’m sorry to be bothering you while you’re at work, honey, but your dad and I were just in a car accident.”

My eyes grow wide and my heart clenches painfully, as if the very breath has been knocked out of me. “Wait, what? Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay,” I whisper, the fear rising in my throat. “What happened?”

My mom lets out a shaky breath, the sound of police sirens shrieking in the background. “This guy ran a red light and pulled out in front of us. We didn’t have time to stop.”

My heart thunders against my ribs, a relentless beat that echoes the panic surging through me. Every step toward the elevator feels like wading through quicksand, my mind spiraling with worst-case scenarios. “I’m coming to you. Text me where you’re at.”

“Oh, no, honey. You’re at work. There’s nothing you can do here.”

“I’m coming. Please, text me where I can find you,” I say. “I love you.”

Jensen steps out of his office and looks in my direction, his eyes catching mine.

I need to go. My parents need me.

As Jensen starts to head in my direction, I whirl around and rush to the elevator, hitting the down button until the doors finally slide open. I step inside and take a weak breath, hoping with everything that I have that my parents will be okay.

My legs nearly feel numb as I hurry out to my car, the world around me slightly blurry as I move as fast as I can. I don’t even realize that I’m tearing up until I get behind the wheel, making me hastily wipe my eyes.

How can I check and make sure my parents are okay if I get in a wreck on the way there?

They’re counting on me. They need me! And I need them.

I don’t know what I would do without them. Who would I decorate for Christmas with? Who would I run to when the world feels like it’s falling apart or when I want to laugh and make memories to put in scrapbooks?

“Come on. Come on,” I breathe out shakily as I wrap my trembling fingers around the steering wheel, holding on as tightly as I can to stabilize myself.

If my adrenaline wasn’t racing so fast, I would’ve been frozen in place.

But I hit the gas and go, feeling the heavy pulse of my beating heart the entire time I’m on the road and teetering between a sense of determined control and a flurry of panic.

By the time I make the drive there, my parents’ old Honda Odyssey is on the back of a rollback tow truck. The front end has significant damage, and the front windshield looks like a spiderweb with cracks stretching from corner to corner.

A few onlookers stand on either side of the street, murmuring to each other or just being nosy. It’s a small town, after all. This is probably the most riveting thing that has happened today.

I leave my car parked on the side of the two-lane street and hurry over to my parents, who are talking to a police officer off to the side in the grass. Luckily, it isn’t too busy of a street and only has neighborhoods on either side.

“Are you guys okay?” I call out as I rush to my parents, hugging both of them and checking them over for injuries.

From what I can see, my dad has a shallow cut on his arm that is barely bleeding, and my mom has her hand pressed against her shoulder where the seatbelt probably caught her. Nothing serious on the outside, but what about on the inside where the eye can’t see?

“We’re okay,” my dad assures me as he gives my arm a gentle squeeze before grimacing.

I fix him with a stern look. “Don’t lie to me. You didn’t get out of the hospital that long ago.”

My dad chuckles as he looks over at the police officer. “This is our daughter. She’s a worrier.”

“A realist,” I say before crossing my arms, feeling my mom place her hand on my back to try and get me to calm down. Adrenaline pumps through my blood, making me restless. “Where is the guy who pulled out in front of them?”

He can’t get away with being so reckless! But I’m sure it’ll just be a whole insurance deal with not much else that we can do.

“He was transported to the hospital to be checked on, ma’am,” the police officer tells me as he rests his hand on his belt. “I was just getting your parents’ statement.”

“There’s not much to it. He ran the light and cut in front of us. We didn’t have time to stop,” my mom explains with a sigh. She wrings her hands as her eyes shift to their damaged car. “And that was it. I’m just glad no one was really hurt.”

“Are you sure you guys don’t have any neck or head pain?” I ask them, unable to help myself.

They’re my parents! If I lost them because we didn’t take precautions, I would be devastated.

This entire situation already makes me sick to my stomach with worry because the problems that this wreck caused won’t end today. A domino effect of consequences is about to happen, and we’re already dealing with enough as it is.

My mom pulls me into a much-needed hug. “It’s okay, honey. We’re all right. Thank you for coming all the way out here.”

I gently hug her back, still afraid that she’s in pain and not telling me. “I hate that this happened. Is your car totaled?”

“The tow truck man didn’t say it was, but we’re definitely looking at extensive repairs if it’s not,” my dad says as his shoulders slump. “We’ve had that car for years. I can’t imagine just letting it go.”

And it’ll cost so much money to get something new. We can’t afford this right now! We’re only starting to get a handle on all the medical bills we were drowning in. This will set us back so much, and how long can we realistically tread water?

“Is there anything else you need from us?” my mom asks the police officer.

The police officer shakes his head. “That’s all. I suspect you guys have a ride home now?”

“I’ll take them home.” I nod to the police officer before he walks away, leaving my parents and me alone to stare at the street where there is still debris that needs to be cleared away.

Broken metal. Shattered glass. Dollars and dollars’ worth of damage.

My mom sinks into my dad’s arms, letting him hold her close as their car is taken away by the tow truck. Their day started out so normal, and if they had been a little faster or the other car was a little slower, they could’ve been the ones T-boned.

They could’ve been flipped and rolled across both lanes, and I don’t see my two older parents surviving a crash like that. They narrowly evaded death today, and instead of driving them home, I could’ve been driving to the hospital to identify their bodies.

My stomach lurches at the thought, bile rising up my throat as I put my hands behind my head in an attempt to breathe better. Our financial woes are worrisome, but I’m just glad they’re alive.

“Are you guys ready to go home?” I say once I catch my breath.

My parents nod and walk over to me, flanking me on both sides. Having them right beside me makes the tension gripping my bones lighten up a little, but the crushing grasp of anxiety doesn’t fully go away.

In one way or another, we’re going to suffer due to this incident. If the future wasn’t hazy and uncertain before, it certainly is now.