by Sonia Harper
Sighing once again, Adelyn stretched lightly and reached out across the bed in search of her dog. Her fingers slid across the soft, rumpled sheets and came to rest on soft fur. She buried her fingers in his fur and began petting him lightly.
“Morning, Sinatra.”
Yooowwwwllll.
Adelyn's fingers froze in the fur. That wasn't a Sinatra noise. She opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the bright light that shone through the window.
Odd, I thought I shut those curtains last night, she thought to herself.
Her eyes adjusted, and she focused in on the grey figure at the end of her arm. Yellow-red eyes narrowed in response.
Hissssss.
“Ah!” Adelyn jumped away from the creature and landed close to the edge of the bed in her panic.
“Good morning!”
“Ah!” Adelyn jumped back closer to the creature the moment she saw the man that was standing by her open bedroom door.
The monster hissed once again and took a swipe at her arm. A searing pain shot through her entire arm.
“Ah!” She shouted once again and jumped away from the creature, clutching her arm.
“Well,” the man by the door laughed. “I had no idea that meeting you would be this entertaining. If I'd have known, we would have met much sooner.”
Anger quickly replaced surprise and panic as Adelyn held onto her injured arm. “Who are you?” She demanded.
“You're bleeding,” the man jerked his head towards her arm.
“No shit,” she grimaced and dared a peek at the cuts on her arm. Yes, she was definitely bleeding. She gripped her arm tighter to try and dull the pain. “Who are you, and what are you doing in my room?” She demanded to know once again, frustrated and confused. In the midst of her pain, she was quickly trying to locate a suitable weapon as a precaution. Strangers in her room certainly shouldn't be afforded the benefit of the doubt.
The man slowly straightened, a lock of bright red hair falling onto his face. “I'm Pytho. I'm one of the owners here. Nice to meet you,” he nodded his head slightly, still leaning against the door to her room. “And that,” he nodded towards the creature on the bed. “Is Salien, my cat.”
“That thing is a cat?” Adelyn snapped. She turned and stared at the creature next to her on the bed. It had to be at least thirty pounds-all thick, grey fur and yellow-red eyes. It stared at her with malice, eyes narrowing. “Looks like a demon cat.”
Pytho's face slid slowly into an amused smile. “Thank you,” he said. “I'm sure she appreciates the compliment.”
Adelyn turned back from the cat to the man in front of her. Her eyes narrowed in on what he held in his arms. “I see you've met my dog,” she replied, frowning.
Sinatra was practically drooling in Pytho's arms as his belly was rubbed vigorously.
“Yes, he was very welcoming when we came in,” he smiled and rubbed Sinatra's belly some more. “You know, normally I don't like dogs, but your dog acts very much like a cat.”
Adelyn stiffened and glared at him. “If he wasn't purring at the moment, I'm sure we would both take offence to that.” She eyed him up and down. He was tall and certainly attractive, she thought as he focused his attention back on Sinatra. What caught her eye the most was his hair. It wasn't just red; it was a flaming, bright red. It couldn't possibly be a natural colour, she thought, especially with those dark eyebrows. But then again, she continued, admiring his lighter complexion, it seemed to suit him.
“Finished ogling me?” He grinned, not taking his focus away from her dog.
She blinked and sat back on her bed. “Who said I was ogling you?” She countered, sliding out of bed and walking towards the adjoining bathroom. “I was contemplating reporting my injury and collecting worker's compensation for the three days I'll need to recover from that scare.”
“Oh, I don't believe that for a second,” she heard his voice carry over into the bathroom as she washed out her cuts. She watched as the blood flowed down the drain and she cursed. No wonder she hated cats — damn vicious cat.
“But if you are seriously considering reporting cat scratches,” his voice was suddenly directly behind her. Adelyn jumped and looked up in the mirror to see him leaning down towards her ear. “I could ensure that you receive the appropriate hazard pay,” he replied softly into her ear, and damn if he wasn't grinning with those pouty lips of his.
She pulled her head back and stared at him for a long moment. “Do I get anything extra for putting up with your sexual harassment?”
He laughed loudly, bending over and placing Sinatra on the floor. He straightened once again and placed his hands on his hips. “I apologise,” even though he was smiling, she could tell that he meant it, and it softened her attitude.
“Accepted,” She replied curtly as she turned around and opened a cabinet drawer, searching for a bandage. “Just you, though. I'm still mad at your damn cat.”
Laughing again, he walked over and grabbed the bandage out of her hand, taking it out of its wrapper and lifting her arm.
“What are you doing?” She blinked, staring at him as he felt around her cuts.
“I'm making up for the injury my cat gave you since she is never going to apologise,” he glanced at her face, a teasing glint in his eye. "Now shush, I'm about to administer some serious medical treatment here." Carefully positioning the bandage, he gently placed it over her injury and pressed lightly so that it stuck to her skin. “There,” he eyed his handiwork. “Better?”
She glanced down at her arm, feeling a slight tingle from where his hands had touched her. “I suppose.”
“You suppose?”
“Yes, well, you did come into my room unannounced while I was sleeping and let your cat tear up my arm,” she reached up and pushed away a wayward curl.
“I guess it was wrong of me to come in here while you were sleeping,” he ran a hand through his hair with a surprisingly sheepish grin. “I was curious and eager to meet you. Gregory has told us so much about you.”
“Oh, lovely. All good things, I hope?”
“Of course,” he responded, smiling. He glanced at a clock on the wall and sighed. “Well, I hate to bring an end to this conversation, but I probably should leave and let you get ready for the day. It's already after nine.”
“It's after nine?” Adelyn stilled, eyes widening. A slow panic overtook her body. “Are you kidding me? I'm late!” She rushed past Pytho and ran towards her closet, rummaging through her clothes and trying to find anything that looked like it matched, not caring what it was. “Gregory's going to kill me!” Shutting the closet door behind her, she quickly dressed and then ran out, heading back into the bathroom. “I was supposed to have documents ready to be mailed ten minutes ago! The courier is going to be here any minute! What the hell happened to my alarm?” She grabbed her toothbrush and quickly brushed her teeth.
“Geez, don't worry about it,” Pytho leaned down, scooped his cat off the bed, and walked towards the door, away from the open bathroom's view.
“Easy for you to say,” Adelyn's voice was barely audible over the running tap water in the sink. “You own this company. I'm just an expendable assistant.” Her voice trailed off as she began brushing her teeth.
“I'll talk to Gregory about it,” Pytho responded, lightly shooing an excited Sinatra away with his foot. “I'll tell him it was my fault that you're late. It's no big deal.”
“I have never,” the water was shut off. “Ever,” Adelyn walked out of the bathroom, fumbling as she was trying to put on her heels and walk at the same time. “Been late for work in my entire life,” she finished, putting the other shoe on and reaching up to pull her unruly curls into a more manageable ponytail.
“Great, now I get to look like a complete disaster today,” she muttered to herself, walking over and picking up Sinatra, trying to ignore the fact that he was begging to be picked up by Pytho. She carried him over to the bed and sat him down on her pillow. “Be good,” she told him firmly and waited for
him to lie down. “Don't chew on anything. Go on the pee pad only!”
“I'll will,” Pytho promised, leaning against her closet door.
Adelyn's eyes narrowed, and she pointed to the door. “Out!” She waited for Pytho to leave her room before following, shutting the door firmly behind her.
“Calm down,” Pytho laughed, scratching his cat's chin as he kept pace with her down the long hallway. “You look like you're about to have a heart attack.”
“Look, I'm going to try and say this in the nicest way possible,” She picked up her pace and turned to go down the main staircase. “You're rich. I'm not. I don't want to lose this job.”
“I think you keep forgetting that I own part of the company,” Pytho landed on the last step and followed Adelyn down the hallway towards the main office next to the library. “Don't worry. I'll make sure you don't get in trouble.”
“You sure about tha-,” Adelyn was suddenly cut off as she ran into something hard and the wind was knocked out of her. She threw her hand behind her instinctively as she felt her body begin to fall. A hand clasped around her arm and dragged her back upright.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I'm fine,” She replied shakily, still waiting for the floor to rise and meet her. She slowly looked up to see a man standing before her with one hand around her arm and another holding a large stack of paperwork. “Sorry I didn't see you....” She trailed off, staring at the man and admiring his long dark hair that brushed past his shoulders. He had the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen.
“No, it was my fault,” The man suddenly spoke in a soft, deep voice. He shook his head, and that silky hair moved gracefully with it. “I didn't see you there. To be honest, I wasn't expecting to see you here,” he turned to Pytho, and Adelyn caught a brief glare in his direction.
“Yeah, I made her late,” Pytho said apologetically, clearly uncomfortable with the look the man was giving him. “Sorry about that. This is Adelyn,” He introduced her. “Adelyn, this is-”
“Donovan,” The man interrupted him curtly and turned back towards her. “Pleased to meet you,” He offered his hand, and she lightly shook it.
“Pleased to meet you too,” she replied. “You're one of the owners as well,” she said, remembering the name from one of the schedules she created every week.
“I am,” he nodded, eyes scanning over the documents in his arms.
Adelyn looked at the papers and recognised them. “I am so sorry I didn't have those ready for you this morning,” she lamented. “It won't happen again, I promise.”
“No, it's quite all right,” he replied in his soft voice and shook his head, unperturbed by her explanation and apology. “Pytho tends to distract, so I apologise for that. It wasn't your fault, so please don't worry about it.”
“Are you sure?” She asked, still not reassured. His voice was so soft, and his face betrayed hardly any emotion, so it was hard for her to read him. She wasn't sure if it was because of the situation or if it was just in his general nature to sound that way.
“Absolutely,” he quickly flashed a small smile at her, though it appeared to be a struggle for him to do so. He looked like he didn't smile often. It was gone just as soon as it had appeared. “Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get going. It was very nice to meet you, Adelyn.” He nodded his head at her. “Pytho, I'll be seeing you later,” even though the tone of his voice never changed, there was something in it that reminded Adelyn of a parent warning a child that punishment was forthcoming. She had a feeling that even though the brothers had equal shares in the company, there was a pecking order amongst them.
“It was nice to meet you, too,” she moved to the side and allowed Donovan to pass by, trying to ignore the fact that his presence seemed to still hover over the both of them even after he had turned the corner and left the hallway. Closing her eyes and sighing, she rubbed her forehead and continued walking towards the office, feeling a headache start to settle in. This was not the best way to start the morning.
“Ah! There you are,” Gregory's voice came from inside the office as she quickly made her way in and sat at her desk. “I was wondering where you were.”
“It was my fault,” Pytho stood in the doorway, shoving his hands into his pockets and sighing dramatically. “I've already been caught by Donovan.”
“Good, then I don't need to say anything to you,” Gregory turned away from him and focused his attention back on his computer screen. “You may leave.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Pytho rolled his eyes and waved at Adelyn. “I'll see you around later.”
“Sure,” she smiled at him, feeling a bit uneasy at the way his brothers were acting around him.
He must be the youngest, she thought as she watched him leave the office. She turned back around and turned her computer on. “Oh, what a morning.”
“Don't get too comfortable over there, slacker,” Gregory warned, eyes locked on the screen in front of him.
“Oh great, I'm 'slacker' today? What's up?”
“The grocery order that you created yesterday seems to be lost. I've gone through the entire server."
“I'm sure that I saved it," Adelyn frowned, opening up the files on her computer and scanning them. "It was right here," she pointed to a folder on her screen. "Along with the inventory list I updated."
"They're both gone," Gregory shook his head, frowning at the screen. He leaned forward and began rubbing his hand over his beard with a concerned look on his face.
Adelyn grinned. He was always so serious. She gasped dramatically and threw a hand over her chest. "What if we've been hacked? They'll tell the world that we go through twenty bags of potato chips in a week!"
Gregory stared at her, unamused. "I need you to re-assess both kitchens and write down what needs to be restocked,” he said in all seriousness before turning back to his computer. "Use paper this time, slacker."
Adelyn snickered as she stood up and grabbed a pad of paper. “I love the fact that you think missing grocery lists is tantamount to an emergency.” She quickly made her way to the door and dodged a pen that was thrown in her direction. “I'm all over it, boss.” She saluted him as she left the room.
*
Ten hours later, Adelyn slowly walked back to her room, completely exhausted. Gregory had insisted Adelyn to do most of her work that day by hand. Gathering grocery lists, re-writing schedules on paper, changing them around, mailing payments instead of just sending them electronically...if she hadn't been working with him for the past two weeks, she would have guessed he was afraid to use the computer. Considering how technologically savvy he was, it confused Adelyn even more that the only excuse he offered for not using it all day was that their network was 'acting up'.
Sighing, she reached the top of the stairs and turned the corner towards her room. All she wanted to do tonight was sit in her tub and soak. Her aching feet were protesting after a long day of running around.
Walking up to her door, Adelyn noticed two things at once: her door was cracked open, and Sinatra was not lying on the bed. Alarmed, Adelyn entered the room, searching first around the bed before striding into the bathroom and the closet, all the while calling out for her dog.
“Oh, no,” she moaned. How on earth had he gotten out of the room? Had she properly shut the door after she took him for a walk at lunch? She had walked around the Manor all day, and she hadn't seen Sinatra anywhere, so where could he have run off to? Images of pee-stained chair legs and expensive curtains torn to pieces flashed through her mind. There were far too many expensive items in this place she thought as she totalled up an estimated amount of the hypothetical damage.
Anxiety levels spiking, Adelyn tore out of the room, leaving the door slightly open on the off-chance that Sinatra would return. Running down the hallway, she stumbled down the stairs, calling for her dog at a level she hoped wasn't shouting.
Where could he have gone? The answer hit her suddenly, and she froze.
The kitchen.
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Normally, she'd be back in her room half an hour ago with a nice meal for the both of them. Perhaps Sinatra had found the door open and decided to search for food himself?
Adelyn quickly made her way to the kitchen. Pushing the swinging doors open, her eyes scanned over the interior of the kitchen. Making her way across the stone floor, she walked around the kitchen island and began checking alongside the counters. She whistled.
“Sinatra?” She whistled again. “Sinatra?”
When there was no answer, she began moving towards the trash bins on the other side of the room. As she reached the bin, she heard a small whimpering noise from behind her.
Spinning around, she looked back and forth, walking back towards the counters.
Barely audible, she heard another whimper. Turning towards the food pantry, she began cursing. Of course, he was in the food pantry. He used to do it all the time in her apartment. The pantry was where she kept his food and treats. He must have shut himself in there somehow.
She reached for the ornate doorknob and opened the pantry. “Sinatra?”
Eyes adjusting to the dark, she began to feel worried when his little body did not immediately come running out the moment she opened the door. Groping around the inside of the pantry blindly, she fought with the light cord for a moment before giving it a hard tug.
Blinded only for a moment by the sudden flash, she immediately looked down in front of her and frowned. The back wall of the pantry was...open?
“What on earth-,” Adelyn reached forward and gently grasped one of the shelves. It looked as if the wall was ajar slightly; the shelves pushed towards her. Perhaps the entire panel had been knocked loose from the wall, and Sinatra was trapped behind it? She gently tugged, a test to see if the shelves were in danger of falling.
Adelyn felt a strange feeling tingle through her body as the shelves not only moved back easily, but they also brought the wall with it.