By Sunday morning, I decided I'd sleep in. Lance had mentioned something about Sundays being the only day in the week he'd let me off. After working six days in the week and not really having much time to myself, I was grateful for this one day off. Just one week into the job has shown me how much of a busy man Lance is, no wonder he makes nothing less than seven figures weekly. I don't need Forbes list to know this, I've had a few meetings with him, his accountant and lawyer already to know this much.
My phone chimes, alerting me of a text message and I roll sluggishly to the other end of my bed, almost knocking my MacBook off the bed. I grab the laptop and tap it awake. The unsorted mails from last night greet me and I blink owlishly at the screen.
I then scroll through for a bit to see that they are all work mails from Saint Haven and also from Eagles eye, which there's a few interviews on the Speak Up rape report program, too. I shake my head and sigh. "Yeah right, day off indeed," I voice out to myself and close back the laptop, giving a mental note to myself to get back to it later.
I reach for my phone and see that it's just nine in the morning. I open up all the notifications, which contains seven missed calls, three texts and two voicemails, all from Noah. Right after I groan, I proceed to read the text messages.
Noah: Anderson, you need to stop by Eagles Capitol.
Noah: We need to talk ASAP
Noah: Pick up the damn phone ANDERSON!
I don't bother on the voicemail, it's sure going to be a continuation of his tantrums.
Biting the inside of my cheek, I pinch the bridge of my nose. Noah must have gotten the hint that I'm trying to avoid him. It's been just one week and he's already on my neck for results? I'm just one person and it will take more than a week to get anything personal out of Lance. Noah is just being an overbearing ass, and no matter how much I try to prove to myself that I work fine under pressure, I just can't. Especially after the events of last week, the death of the young boy and all we had to do to get things under control.
I pad down to my tiny bathroom to freshen up and I catch a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror. I take off my night cap and pick up the hairbrush lying neatly among a few other items on my counter.
I begin to brush off the slightly tangled ends of my brown hair. A habit I picked up since I was a little girl, my mom would brush both our hairs, mine and Levi's and tell us about her day at the hospital, she would just be getting home from a night shift and would still have enough time for us.
I stare back at the blank blue eyes in the mirror and fight back the burn of tears that try to make a way out. Levi looks exactly like mother but I have her eyes. I wonder if Levi feels just like I feel each time she looks in the mirror. Almost everything reminds me of her and it hurts.
I realize I'm starting to brush my hair roughly, so I drop the brush hastily and it makes a loud clunk on the counter. I turn my back to leave but stop mid stride and turn back around to place the brush neatly on the counter again.
I hear two rapid knocks on my room door. Then, "Gracie. Are you up?" Levi asks and pokes her head into my bedroom. "Noah's in our house and he doesn't look happy," she says.
"Oh dear God," I whisper to myself, groaning. I know there's no escaping this. Levi doesn't know what's going on and I can't really ask her to cover for me. I will have to face him one way or another.
Feeling defeated, I follow my sister out to the sitting room to find a very furious Noah, pacing my living room.
"Well, if it isn't the only man I know to always wake up in the wrong side of the bed every single day," I announce as I go to rummage through the kitchen.
Noah stumps his approach towards me with his hands on his waist. He isn't the tallest of men, we're probably the same height, but he carries himself with so much authority that makes him crowd your space when he's around.
"You think you can bail yourself out of this one by making jokes?" He asks me in a chastising tone and I hide my smile with the refrigerator door, blocking my view of his fuming self. "I'm getting news about your precious boss again and it's not-"
"Noah, please," I cut him off before he can finish his very revealing sentence and glance quickly at my sister in the sitting room fiddling with the tv remote. "Not right now," I say, gesturing to my sister.
Noah bites back his words and turns to look at her, obviously getting the hint. "Right," he whispers, "Uh, Levi, could you give me and your sister a minute? This is work stuff and we don't wanna bore the hell out of you," he requests with a fake grin.
"Right. Sure. Of course, I have to make a call anyway," Levi says, crossing the space of the sitting room, down to the hall and into her room.
Noah doesn't speak until he hears her door close behind her and he's sure she's out of ear shot.
"Can you explain why you've been ignoring my calls and texts?" He wastes no time at all as he begins to bombard me with questions.
"It was an eventful week, I didn't have enough time," I reply bluntly.
"You didn't have enough time to return my calls, so you've been working on your scoops?" He asks with a raise of his brows; something he does when he knows he'd get a negative answer but still expects the positive. "Give me what you got then." He stretches his hand out as if I have some documents in my refrigerator waiting to be handed to him.
"I don't have anything yet, Noah. But I'm working on it." I try to sound reassuring.
"You're working on it?" He barks, taking a step towards me and crowding my space even more like I wasn't already uncomfortable with him in my house.
I place a palm on his chest and try to shush him whilst giving a quick glance at my sister's closed door.
"I really hate inefficiency, Anderson, and that's the type of energy you're giving me," he starts bickering. "I need this story on Haven, and I... I. Need. You. To. Redeem. Yourself." He stresses each word whilst slapping the back of one of his palm against the inside of the other.
"Please keep it down, I don't want Levi hearing any of this," I beg, staring over his shoulder at my sister's door. "I'm trying my best, Noah," I protest and drop the jug of juice in my hand way too hard on the kitchen counter, it's a miracle the glassware doesn't shatter. "I'm really trying, but it isn't possible for me to start giving results so early in the job, it's just been six days, Noah. Six."
"You can do better than this, you're just being too careful or too lazy," he scolds and reaches for the jug of juice. Snatching my unused glass from my hands, he pours himself a drink, gulps the entire thing at a go and hands me back the empty glass.
I stare down at the glass in my hands, conquered and just fed up by his crap.
In three long strides, he's out of the kitchen and in my sitting room.
"Two weeks, Anderson. I give you two weeks to get me something or I hand this job over to someone with better efficiency," he warns and I feel my chest stutter a little.
"I..." I start to say I won't let him down, but even I don't know how true that is so I swallow my words back before he gets the chance to cut me off.
"That's right, you nothing!" He says and storms out of my apartment, leaving my ears buzzing from the loud bang of my door.