by Riley Storm
The two women—the only two women on the ten-person team that composed fully a quarter of Logi-Net’s personnel, headed upstairs together.
The four-story building that housed the entire network administration and technological solutions company—as Charles liked to book them to his prospective clients—had the programming and frontline personnel on the ground floor. The two middle floors housed the sales, meeting rooms and HR areas, while the entire top floor was given over to Charles and the other two executives.
Sarah had never understood why a forty-man company had so many upper-level people, but it didn’t matter to her. They gave her a computer, and let her work away doing something she genuinely enjoyed, and they paid her for it. She wasn’t earning the most money she could for her position and skills, but to do that, she would have to head to a big city. Something that wasn’t an option for her.
“How’s G-Nance doing?” Jane asked, holding open the door to the stairs for her.
“She’s good,” Sarah said, following her friend as they made their way up to the third floor.
Nancy Mingott, Sarah’s grandmother and roommate, or G-Nance as she was affectionately known to the rest of her team, was a fan favorite of the ground-floor personnel at Logi-Net. Most weeks, Sarah came to work with plenty of baked extras, and some days her grandmother showed up all on her own to make sure the team was well fed.
Needless to say, everyone always asked after her grandmother. Sarah didn’t mind. After she’d moved to Plymouth Falls to stay with her grandmother, she’d quickly come to accept the spritely older woman was going to be involved in her life no matter what. It didn’t hurt that G-Nance had a quick wit and a sharp mind for things. Sarah valued her advice greatly.
“This is…full,” Jane said as they filed into the boardroom and took a seat at the back.
Sarah looked around, her thoughts echoing her friend’s words. It looked like everyone from Logi-Net was there. Not just the IT team, but HR, corporate, the sales team. Everyone. She settled in and waited for Charles to begin his pep-talk.
It didn’t take long.
The owner of Logi-Net came in through the door, walked to the front, and waved everyone to silence.
“I’m going to make this brief,” he said.
Sarah was already growing irritated. She had little time for any rich asshole, but Charles was the epitome of all that she detested. Average height, with thinning gray hair that should have been shaved decades ago, a bristly mustache and a suit two decades out of date, he was such a non-modern CEO cliché it hurt.
“By now, I’m sure you’ve all heard of the Drakon Outreach Center, yes?”
The assembled group shrugged as one. Of course, they had heard of the project. Everyone in Plymouth Falls had heard of it by this point. The mysterious Drakon family, one of the three founders of Plymouth Falls, had returned to the area and were investing in it massively. First and foremost was the DOC, a place where they planned to offer a vast multitude of services, all for costs low enough that most residents of the area could afford.
“Well, they’re only a few months away from opening the first phase. They’ve begun advertising it now, and for any of you who missed it, one of the prime sectors they’re expanding into is IT, Network Administration and the like. Where we reside.”
Sarah was torn. On one hand, she hated Charles, but on the other hand, she knew that the Drakon family was likely just as bad. What little she’d heard of them or seen on the news told her they were nothing but suave, snobby rich-kids who wanted to play with Daddy’s money.
“I just received word today, that they plan to offer their services at rates far lower than what we charge.”
“There’s a shocker,” Jane muttered sarcastically.
“As a result, effective at the end of this week, I am closing Logi-Net. Permanently.”
The room went silent for a moment, and then all hell broke loose. Charles was already stepping down from the podium at the front and heading for the exit. Behind him came the other two members of the executive, and close at their heels the sales team. The rest of the mob followed or broke up into small clumps, talking among themselves.
“Merry Christmas to me,” Jane said, slumping back into her seat.
“Yeah,” Sarah echoed, still in shock. “Did he just close his entire company out of protest of what the Drakons are going to do months from now, instead of, oh I don’t know, lowering his prices to be competitive?”
“Yup,” Jane said dully. “And he gave us all of three days’ warning. Two weeks before Christmas too.”
Sarah buried her face in her hands, feeling them shaking. Oh, how she hated rich people! Charles, the Drakons, everyone from her previous life, they were all the same! They cared about nothing but their profits. Not a single moment to think about the lives that would be impacted by their actions. Not one.
“What are you going to do?” Jane asked.
Looking over at her friend, she saw the blank, vacant stare on Jane’s face. Her friend had no plans. No backup, nothing.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “Not yet. I’ve got enough set aside that, combined with Grandma’s retirement, we’ll be okay for a while. Some months. Hopefully between then and now I can find a new job.”
She didn’t have much hope, however. Plymouth Falls wasn’t exactly in need of a lot of tech companies. It was a small town after all.
“What about that new company, the one that’s supposed to be moving in across the street from that Outreach Center?” Jane suggested.
“They’re not breaking ground until springtime,” Sarah said, spoiling the sudden outburst of hope. “Trust me. I’ve been keeping an eye on it.”
There didn’t’ seem to be any point in hiding the fact that she’d been looking for a new job, and pinning her hopes on DataDyne Systems as the key. The major web-tech company had bought the land across from the Outreach Center six months ago, but their office wouldn’t be ready for hiring for some time now.
“Oh.” Jane sounded defeated.
“I’ll find a way though,” Sarah vowed. “I don’t know how, but I will. G-Nance is counting on me, and I’m not going to let her down.”
Chapter 3
Six Months Later
Had it really come to this?
Sarah’s hands hung off the top of her steering wheel, and she rested her head on them now, not willing just yet to exit her car. Warm weather was returning to Plymouth Falls once again, as the rains of April were slowly giving way now that May had arrived.
Much of her winter had been spent hibernating with her grandmother, exploring little of the winter wonderland that was the nature surrounding Plymouth Falls. Truly one of the great perks of living in the little town out in the middle of nowhere was the breadth of activities to fill summer or winter adventures.
There had been no money for it this year, she’d told herself. Funds had been tight, and even gas for the car had been strictly monitored. Wherever possible she’d walked instead, trying to conserve every dollar.
By doing so, Sarah and her grandmother had made the funds she’d had stashed away last for nearly six months. Six months, during which time she’d not found a single job. Not even serving fast-food. Absolutely nothing.
Now, in desperate need of income, Grandma Mingott had begun her push. The wise woman’s gentle words had slowly prodded Sarah into action, and now she sat in her car, outside the last place she’d ever expected to be.
The Drakon Outreach Center loomed above her, the first section of its enormous construction now complete. Cars filled the parking lot around her, and inside she could see lights and a bustling of activity as people filed in.
“It’s just temporary,” she said, trying to convince herself it was the truth. “Only until you can find something else. You’re not doing this because you want to, you’re doing it because Grandma is counting on you. She needs you to provide an income for her.”
It burned that Sarah hadn’t been able to find any other means
to provide for her aging grandmother, that in six long months she’d only gotten two interviews, and been declined for both jobs as ‘over qualified’. Whatever the hell that meant.
It means they know you’ll leave at the first chance for a better job. Don’t act stupid, you know they were right.
Maybe. But she didn’t have to like it.
“Okay. You can do this, Sarah. You can do this. Just go in, drop off your resume, and then see what happens. They might not even hire you, you don’t know.”
Resolve stiffening, she threw open the door to her car and got out, remembering at the last minute to snatch a copy of her resume from the passenger seat.
“So old-fashioned,” she snorted, tugging her burgundy spring jacket tight. There was a cool breeze circulating that morning that seemed to go right through her clothes, tightening her skin under its cool touch.
It was odd that a place as large as the Outreach Center wanted people to apply in person. Everything these days was done online. For Sarah, a tech geek, it seemed especially backward to be applying in person. Yet there was something quaint and reassuring about it as well. They wanted to know more about who they were hiring, not just a piece of paper.
Shaking away the thoughts, she crossed the parking lot, reminding herself why she was there. An income. Nothing more. No loyalty, no extra work, they weren’t going to get a single ounce more out of her than was defined by her contract.
That bonus will help a lot as well.
It was the signing bonus, offered only to those who hadn’t worked in four or more months, that had been the final argument Grandma Mingott had laid out for her. Nearly three months’ salary, paid upon hiring, it was nothing to scoff at. The truth of it all was, they needed the money.
Sarah needed the money. Her grandmother had been there for her when she needed it most, and she wasn’t about to let her down now.
The doors opened automatically, admitting Sarah into the gorgeous lobby of the Outreach Center. The arched ceiling was mildly reminiscent of an old cathedral, except on a grander scale than anything Sarah had ever seen. A swooping arc of intertwined metal dropped down and across the entrance before rising to the other side, and welded to it were the words ‘Drakon Outreach Center’.
Glass-walled offices occupied the right-hand side of the long rectangular lobby, while silver walls filled with bulletin boards lined the left. Twin staircases at the back were bookended by a pair of elevators that lifted up and away into the building. Sarah could only see the first four floors before the arched ceiling closed in, but she knew another five floors extended above that.
“And this is only the first of four sections to open,” she whispered to herself, yet again amazed at the size and scope of the project. The Drakons might be arrogant and snooty, but they certainly didn’t do anything half-assed, she would give them that.
A large wooden desk, a circle cut in half and spread apart by nearly ten feet occupied the center of the lobby and demanded her attention. She walked up to it.
“Hi,” a much-too-cheerful receptionist said, looking up from his computer with a broad smile. “How can I help you?”
“Hi,” she said, caught off-guard by the bubbly personality. “I’m here to drop off my resume?”
“Right. What department?”
“Um. Network Admin, Programming. Anything like that,” she said, hesitating, suddenly unsure of everything. Was this the right move? Is this what she wanted to be doing?
“Right. Take the right-hand staircase up one level. Hang a right, and then another right.” The receptionist turned, pointing at the glass-walled offices on her right. “Basically, you want to end up over there. In the hallway itself is a big metal desk with a lovely lad behind it named Matthew. He’s the one you want to talk to for that department.”
“Up the stairs, right, then right again. Metal desk, Matthew,” she repeated, making sure she had it right.
“You got it. Welcome to the DOC!”
“Thanks,” she said, walking past with a smile, exhausted by the other man’s energy. How could he keep that up all day with everyone who came in? Sarah was no grouch, but that seemed like a lot of social interaction for her. She preferred her computer.
Up the staircase. Right. Right again. Ah, that must be Matthew.
She approached the desk, putting on her best friendly smile as the man behind it looked up. Before she could do more than extend her arm, however, a loud voice came from an office on her left. Those walls had frosted glass, and she could not make out much more than the shadow of the man she believed to be talking.
He was huge, and his voice, while loud, was not angry. She felt called toward it. Smooth, melodic, and somehow commanding, Sarah’s head twitched in his direction, and her feet tried to go with it as well.
What the hell was happening to her?
“He gets like that sometimes.”
She blinked, realizing the receptionist was speaking. The shadow came closer to the door, and Sarah’s face widened in amazement as she took in how big he was.
A muffled noise sounded in her ear that had to be the receptionist speaking, but she tuned it out as the door opened to reveal the speaker.
He was tall, well over six feet in height, and with a broadness of shoulders that spoke of a lot of time in the gym. An easy grin rested on his lips, seeming right at home on the blocky yet defined proportions of his face. Dark brown hair pulled smoothly off to one side topped his head, and he had a perfectly manicured goatee decorating the bottom half of his face.
Everything about him screamed rich man at her. There was also the suit. It hung so perfectly from his body that it couldn’t be anything but custom-tailored, and judging by the lines of the deep black material, it wasn’t cheap either.
Despite all that, all the red flags that should be going off, Sarah was mesmerized. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. He just pulled attention to himself, demanded it, like a black hole.
All at once, the head swiveled on the thick neck, muscles bunching and twisting to move it around. Liz nearly gasped as she saw the unusual tint of his eyes. Brown, earthen brown, yet in the bright light, she could easily see the tint of copper that darted through them. It was so different. The closer he came, the more details he could make out about them and—
He was coming closer.
Oh shit.
“Uh, here.” She all but flung the resume at the receptionist, hiring manager, CEO… she didn’t care. All that was on Sarah’s mind was to retreat. A full-fledged, panicked, unorganized route. She needed to leave and now.
“Excuse me.”
She had gotten perhaps ten steps before the voice came. There was no indicator of the person to whom it was directed. No ‘Excuse me, miss in the black pants and shirt’. No ‘Pardon me, young lady, stop right there’. Just those simple, polite two words.
And they froze Sarah in place. She was unable to move.
Frightened, cornered and feeling like a deer in headlights, she slowly turned back the way she’d come. Toward him.
Chapter 4
“Me?” she squeaked.
Jax frowned internally. Why was she so uneasy all of a sudden? She’d had no problem staring at him as he’d walked across the hallway. Her gaze had never wavered, she’d not even blinked. Not until he’d gotten close.
At that point, she’d thrown a piece of paper at Matthew and hurried away. His confusion at her sudden change of personality had only lasted a moment, but she’d gone a solid twenty feet in that time.
He’d thought to let her go, but something about the young woman called to him, and he needed to know more. Who was she? Why was she there? These questions and more were in need of answer, and Jax Drakon was used to getting what he wanted.
“Are you in need of any assistance?” he asked, stepping forward, closing the distance between them. He stopped abruptly, stunned at the way his dragon had subtly slipped into control, trying to force him to close all the distance. To walk right up to her and kiss her.
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br /> Behave, he snarled silently at the non-sentient entity inside him. Emotions fired back, including one of heated arousal. She was beautiful, there was no denying that. Everything about her was so perfect he could drink it in for ages untold.
Medium height for a woman, she had her hair let down, showing off the bangs that ran straight across her forehead, framing her face in conjunction with the rest of her long hair that ran down to just above her shoulders where it curled slightly inward.
It was that focus which drove him to see her eyes, hidden as they were behind her thick-rimmed glasses. They were a dark jungle green, captivating enough in its own way, but the pupils were ever so slightly tapered at the top and bottom, giving her just a hint of a catlike look that Jax found practically intoxicating.
All that was visible despite the glasses, and Jax found himself wondering what he would see if they came off. Those thoughts applied to the rest of her lush body. She was thick, but not ashamed of the extra padding gracing her hips, thighs and legs. He wondered, given her stance and frame, if she’d once been athletic but was now finding comfort in a different body as she entered adulthood.
“No, I’m okay,” the woman replied.
For a moment, Jax was confused, only then realizing that but a moment had passed as he evaluated her, and she was now responding to his question about assistance.
“Are you sure?” he pried gently. “We don’t get many visitors yet who aren’t in need of some sort of assistance.”
Some sort of fire lit in her eyes at his words. Jax couldn’t tell what, but a spark of personality pushed through the blank slate he’d been receiving until then.
“I, uh, I came here because I was thinking of applying for a job,” she confessed, her spine stiffening as she talked.
Why is she so defensive about that, I wonder? What shame is there in admitting you want a job?
He noted that down, determined to figure it out. Was there a stigma associated with coming to work at the DOC that he wasn’t aware of? The Outreach Centre was supposed to be open to all, but if someone was spreading word that coming here was only for losers or some such, he would have to see that such talk was shut down immediately.