Her Substitute Groom

Connor Hughes

“What did you say?” I pulled away from her and asked, arching my eyebrows, but she rolled her eyes and pushed me off.

“I didn’t say anything. I’m going to sleep,” She muttered, heading to the bed, and I smirked. I watched as she lay on the bed and pulled the duvet to cover herself, facing the other side of the bed.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I stared into space. Thinking about Carl made me scoff, the thought of him was driving me nuts that I wanted to strangle him to death instantly. I wanted to make his life miserable like he did mine years ago, I wanted to make him feel the pain I felt. Yes, what I did was extreme, but I would do more if I had to.

Pushing all my thoughts away, I lay on the bed and pulled the duvet to cover myself.

I had no idea how long I’d been asleep, but the sound of my ringing phone pulled me out of my deep slumber, and I reached out lazily for it, answering the call without bothering to check who the caller was.

“Hey, man. Still sleeping?” That was Khan’s voice, my best friend and secretary.

“What’s up?” I groaned tiredly.

“Don’t tell me you are still sleeping, Man? It’s 7am for fuck’s sake, and you need to be at the office by 8am for the meeting,” I snapped my eyes open and quickly jumped off the bed, realizing that I had an appointment at the company this morning.

“Are you my secretary? How could you speak to me with such disrespect?” I rolled my eyes, and I heard him scoff.

“If you have enough time to argue, you should fucking go get ready for work. Don’t keep me waiting for you here. I can’t clean up your mess again this time,” He banged the call on me after he yelled those annoying words, and I shook my head.

“Am I still the boss or what? Can you imagine the way he was talking to me? Does he want to die?” I scoffed and rolled my eyes, tossing my phone on the dressing table, and turning to find Janice sleeping on the bed. She had her hair scattered all over her face, she had dark circles beneath her eyes and I was left wondering if she didn’t get enough sleep last night. Well, that’s her business to deal with, not mine.

Bathing and getting ready for work took me about thirty minutes, and by the time I left my room, it was already 7:45am. I wasn’t planning to have breakfast before I leave for work.

Walking briskly out of my room after I was done getting dressed, I stopped on my track as I was welcomed by Carl.

“We need to talk,” He said to me icily, his eyes boring into mine once he was standing in front of me.

“I have nothing to talk about with you,” And with those words said to him, I wanted to walk past him, but he held my hand and pulled me back, slamming me hard against the wall.

“I said we need to talk, Connor. Do you think you have the right to say that shit to me?” He yelled at me, grabbing the collar of my shirt.

“And do you think you have the right to talk to me? Get your hands off me this minute, Carl. I promise you won’t like to see the ugly side of me,” I said to him sternly, smirking at him.

“What fucking and disgusting side of you can you show me more than the one you’ve shown already?” He scoffed, pulling away from me and tucking his hands inside his pockets.

“I don’t have time for that now, Carl. If you are frustrated and depressed, deal with it alone and stop being a crying baby coming to whine at me all the time. I’m not that of a good brother that will comfort you,” I patted his shoulders, trying to leave, but he pulled me back and punched me so hard in the face that I staggered back and crashed against the wall. He didn’t give me time to recover from the punch before he aimed at me again, but I was fast to dodge it this time, and he ended up hitting the wall hard.

“Not this morning, Carl. I have an appointment,” I shook my head, but he scoffed.

“And you think I will listen to that? You want to fight me? Then quit being a coward and do it. If you are angry at me, let’s fight it out than being a coward and pulling this shitty stunt!” He yelled at me, enraged, and I sighed deeply. I checked my wristwatch, and seven minutes were already spent, which only meant that I was already late.

“You want to fight me, huh?” I twisted my neck and threw my briefcase on the floor. I was being petty right now, but if he wanted to fight me, who the heck was I not to give him what he wanted?

“I’m not going to be merciful, Carl. Don’t beg me to have mercy on you later,” I warned him before I aimed at his eyes, punching him hard on it and he fell instantly on the floor, screaming his lungs out. I intended to burst his eyeballs. Maybe taking one of his eyes will finally relieve my anger, and I hope I succeeded in doing that.

“That’s what you get for getting on my nerves,” I rolled my eyes at him, picking up my briefcase afterward.

“What’s going…” Mom rushed out of her room, but she gasped when she saw the ugly situation. Carl was already on the ground, groaning in pain and covering his eyes that was now bleeding.

“What did you do to your brother?” Mom whimpered as she hurried over to Carl.

“You should take him to the hospital if you don’t want your son to end up losing his sight,” And with that, I strode down the hallway and headed to the parking lot, driving out of the house after.

“Ugh! So annoying,” I rolled my eyes and adjusted my tie as I drove down the driveway minutes later. As the image of Carl popped up in my head, I couldn’t help the satisfying smile that laced up my lips. I wish he doesn’t end up coming back from the hospital perfectly fine.

Arriving at the company minutes later, I parked at the garage and just when I alighted from the car, Khan came running up to me. He was in his late twenties, but we’ve been best friends for so long that I can remember. Khan and I are examples of birds of the same feathers flock together. He was my replica in everything. Crazy, and a chronic playboy.

“I would’ve punched you hard if we weren’t in the company. You should thank your luck for that,” He snapped at me as he snatched my briefcase, and I rolled my eyes.

“Is that how you should say good morning to your boss, Khan? Do you want to get sacked?” I glared hard at him, and he scoffed as he rolled his pair of brown eyes. He was about 5’8, unlike me that was 6’0. He visits the gym often which was where he got his body built. If I was a woman, I wouldn’t mind doing anything to have him on my bed. He was everything sexy. I mean for someone who was blessed with perfect height, long eyelashes like that of a woman, thick eyebrows, a chiseled face, a pointed nose, a mole on his cheek, dark shady brown hair, and glowing skin. Well, just like myself, he was using his cuteness as an advantage to lure women. We always have them throwing themselves at us, and we didn’t have any choice but to give them what they wanted.

“The clients are waiting,” He uttered, walking ahead of me. We headed to the elevator which took us to the fourth floor where our office and the meeting hall were situated. I wasn’t shocked to have found everyone present, so I just apologized and the meeting started immediately.

The meeting lasted for about an hour before we finally rounded up, and we headed to my office afterward.

“Submit my schedule for the month to my desk,” I said to him as we got to his office, heading to mine afterward.

Barely thirty minutes I walked into my office, I heard noises from outside and I couldn’t help but wonder what the heck was happening out there. The door suddenly burst open and Janice barged in. I raised my eyebrows as I stared at him.

“What is she doing here?” I asked myself as I stared at him.

“How dare you, bastard!” She snapped at me, and I arched my eyebrows…