I reached back home after an expensive cab ride. Usually, I'd take the subway but today was not a regular day and Jordan Parker wasn't anything like my regular headaches.
I unlocked the door and entered in.
"You're back!"
I jumped up at the spot and squealed out loud. My hand flew over to my chest and I turned around to face Maddy.
I hadn't expected her to be home at this hour.
"Jeez, Maddy. You scared me," I said.
"You have to tell me everything. What happened? Are you fired? Did you quit?" I walked towards the kitchen and rested my bag on the island.
I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and turned to my friend. "No and No."
Her face scrunched, "What do you mean?"
"I was not fired and I did not quit," I said.
"Why not?!" she squeaked.
"Would you rather I quit?" I kept a hand on my waist.
"After the way that jerk behaved with you, yeah!"
"Well, his manager cum best-friend managed to keep me from filing for harassment," I told her.
"What? You were going to file a case?" she asked sounding confused.
"No, but his manager— Alec, thought so," I pointed out and explained to her the things that happened earlier today.
"WOW," she breathed when I finally finished talking. "That was one heck of a first day."
I walked myself to the living area and plopped down on the couch. "I know, right?" I exhaled.
"As much as I was attracted to Jordan Parker, his douche personality just makes me want to kick his balls till they descend back," Maddy seated herself on the couch in front of me.
"Believe me, had I not promised Jeremy that I'd get this done, I wouldn't have gone back there," I said.
"You still don't have to. Let me talk to Jer," Maddy reached for her phone on the coffee table and I sprang up.
"NO! Don't do that. It's not necessary. I can handle it, Maddy."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Yes, mother," I smiled at her. "But what are you doing home so soon?" I frowned.
"Oh, I had a feeling you'd need me. Plus, Rob can manage one day without me," she leaned back on the couch.
Maddy owned a pretty successful coffee shop downtown— Cup-a-beans, and Rob was the manager there.
"Rob is going to quit one day."
"He's not," she waved her hand carelessly, "I pay him well."
"Mhm-hmm," I hummed.
"Man, I am so bummed!" she raised her hands in frustration. "I had this vision in my head of you and Jordan falling in love all Fifty Shades type and Jordan following you around like a possessive guy and all that assertive dominance shit—"
"I told you watching sappy love stories was going to rot your brain one day. Look what it did to you."
"Hey," she exclaimed. "A girl can have hopes for her best friend."
"Madison Cooper, can you stop this nonsense now?" I was feeling tired already.
"Okay, okay. Jeez. It's just me and my wishful thinking," she held her palms up in defense.
"First of all, Jordan Parker was nothing but a complete ass-hat. Second of all, you of all people know why I can't get into something like that or anything at all which can result in someone getting hurt—
"Do you seriously think Jordan Parker would get hurt?" Maddy raised an eyebrow.
"That's beside the point," I added. "After what happened last time... I don't think I have the time to risk something like that again." I fell back lazily onto the couch as images from an earlier life played in front of my eyes as though they were being displayed through one of those old film projectors.
I blinked my eyes and the image changed.
Max Jones was the only image that I pressed pause on. A boy with black hair, blue eyes, features like that of a delicate swan.
"No, no. Come back you." I felt a tug on my arm as Maddy pulled me straight up on my feet. "That was an old chapter," she said.
"It wasn't too long ago. I wonder if—"
"If he jumped up to his own ass and died? I doubt that. He never cared for what I asked of him."
"Anyway—" I started but got distracted by a loud beep emerging from my phone.
I fetched it out of my blazer pocket and read the screen.
*Come back, Rose. We start today.*
The message read. It was from an unknown number but it wouldn't take a genius to figure out who sent it.
I grunted. "Maddy, could I murder someone? I mean it wouldn't cause me much trouble, right? Because as it is I will—"
"God! You pessimistic creature!" she interrupted. "Who is it?" I held the screen at her face.
The phone beeped again.
"Be here in an hour or I'm asking for a replacement." Maddy read the text out loud and her eyes landed on me.
"Jordan Parker!" I squealed faking excitement.
She laughed wildly, "You have your work cut out for you, don't you?"
I cursed my stars and stomped towards the kitchen. Grabbing my bag off the counter, I searched for my heels that I had thrown somewhere across the room. I slipped into my black stilettos and hurried outside the house.
"You call me if he's being too much of an ass," said Madison from behind me.
"I think this time I won't be going in blind. So I can handle it," I said.
"Bye, Rose," she teased and I flipped a finger in her direction before rushing myself out on the street.
I called for an uber again, because there wasn't much time to walk to the subway and crawled into the backseat.
~~~~~
I looked at the watch on my wrist and sighed in relief. I still had 5 minutes left before his hour was up. Thank God for no traffic.
"Okay, Sky. You can do this," I looked straight and knocked on the huge opaque glass doors.
"Come in," I heard the voice I had already started detesting.
I walked into Jordan's office while trying to suppress the urge to chew his head off.
I spotted him splayed across the sofa instead of his chair. His blazer was still off and the sleeves on his white shirt were rolled halfway up till his elbows. His back was resting against the comfortable-looking sofa with his hands spread at his sides while his legs were stretched out over the coffee table, crossed one over the other.
He curled his lips and raised a brow in my direction.
"Are you glued to that spot?" He smirked.
I felt like I was snapped out of a trance. But, ignoring his question I started to walk in his direction. "This is highly unprofessional, Mr. Parker," I said.
I stood a good two feet away from where he was.
"What? Sitting on my own couch?" He asked gesturing around, "Or are you talking about the time you slapped me."
I nervously shifted in my spot. I do regret hitting him. I mean, had he not aggravated me so much, I might have not resorted to a physical assault like that.
"I mean, I am your boss after all," he continued.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "You are not my boss. I don't work for you. This is a mutually beneficial deal. Although, no amount of money can turn this into a benefit for me."
"Ah. Semantics," He waved his hand nonchalantly and leaned forward to grab the coffee mug resting near his feet. "Coffee?" he asked.
"No, thank you," I tapped my feet on the floor restlessly.
"Are you sure? It's Irish," he raised the cup in my direction.
I visibly cringed. "Mr. Parker, when we had decided on starting from tomorrow why would you call me on such short notice?"
"I don't recall agreeing to such a thing. What I do recall is your palm against my cheek and then my best friend asking me to apologize to you for some reason," he scrunched his face.
I bit back the remark I had for him and swallowed it in with my pride. "Is there something that I have to write about, Mr. Parker?" I questioned.
"Don't you want to follow me around and write a book about me?" he asked, taking a sip from the mug.
I didn't even want to think what it tasted like. I felt glad that I never made my beverages Irish. Especially one which had steam rising from it.
"That's not what I'm going to be doing—"
"But, you have to write about me, don't you?" he interrupted me.
"Yes," I replied curtly and Jordan got up on his feet.
I watched him as he put the mug down and took two long strides to stand in front of me.
"I have a meeting and you're coming with me," he said and walked past me.
I followed him with my eyes as he grabbed his blazer and his phone from his desk.
"Why?" I asked.
He stopped in his steps and faced me, "Because I'm telling you to. I'm sure you'll want to include that in your piece."
"Okay," I said hesitantly.
Jordan moved towards the door and I followed after him.
"Oh, before I forget," he turned around abruptly and I almost crashed into him. "Can you manage to keep your hands off my face?" he asked with a hint of alcohol on his breath.
I faltered back. The air around me smelled of Jordan and Johnnie Walker. Intoxicating and brain-cell killing.
If I had to deal with this every day, I needed all my brain cells.
"As long as you keep yours off me," I retorted.
Jordan parted his pink lips to word something but closed it before any sound could come out. He pursed his lips and his deep green eyes zeroed in on my form but not before they traveled horizontally from my head to toe.
I suddenly felt very vulnerable under his gaze. I gulped hard and took another step back as if to shield me from his view, or to at least put some more gap between our bodies. It felt strange to be looked at that way by a man who didn't look like he was ready to pounce on you at the first chance. I felt the hair on the nape of my neck rise.
When a guy who looked like Jordan Parker looked at you the way he was looking at me, it made you question so much about yourself. His eyes on me didn't feel invasive like others'. It just made me uneasy in my own body. It felt as if he was studying me, trying to find something worth his while. Suddenly, I found myself caring about what must be going inside that mind of his.
After a moment of silence, he finally spoke, "I can't promise something like that." The corner of his lip lifted in a smirk.
My eyes widened at his response and something inside my stomach flipped and turned as I watched him turn around and stalk out of the room.
"Try to keep up," he said.
I stared at his retreating posterior while my jaw touched the floor.
What just happened to me?