by Ali Parker
When I knocked on his door, I received a yell from Jansen to let myself in. I held back a grumble while I pulled out the hotel keycard. Entering the suite, I immediately caught sight of Jansen sitting on the couch, his robe tied around his protruding gut. “About time,” he said, by way of acknowledging me.
He’d insisted I rush over here, and when I arrived, he wasn’t even ready to go. Without saying a word to him, I took a seat and stared off into the distance, trying to calm down. I wasn’t used to taking shit from anyone, let alone a puffed-up prick that I could drop with one punch.
It was another hour before Jansen stopped fiddling with his phone and got ready to leave. We left, stopping in the lobby so he could complain to the concierge about the quality of their orange juice. Finally, we made it to my car and headed out of the parking lot.
Jansen started giving me directions, and I assumed we were heading to some sort of business meeting. But we were nowhere near the manufacturing district. Maybe he had an appointment with someone else. A lawyer? An advertising firm?
Imagine my surprise when he directed me into the parking lot of the local shopping mall. “Park over there,” he said, pointing towards one of the entrances, the one flanked by posters for current film releases.
I parked, and Jansen got out. I followed as he entered the mall and headed up to the line outside the theater. I closed my eyes and counted to ten, trying to get a handle on the rage I felt. This fucking asshole had called me in, on my day off, to take him to the fucking movie theater.
And the kicker was, the asshole didn’t even pay for my ticket.
Chapter 12
Emma
I didn’t bother to come out of my room for breakfast. Or for lunch. I buried my head in my pillows, refusing to climb out of my warm comforter and greet the day. The world was a cold place, and I just couldn’t deal.
I can’t believe he did that to me.
I’d thought Jack was different. He’d shared things with me, and I thought he was opening up to me. It had given me hope, had allowed the crush that I’d carried in high school bloom into something more.
I’d thought we had something going on between us, thought we’d established some kind of fledgling partnership. Thought he’d give me a chance to prove I was more than an overblown secretary. Instead he was just like Dad and Matt, thinking he knew everything and that he had to keep me sheltered for my own good.
He wants to keep me locked up while he has all the fun. But that hadn’t stopped him from making love to me. It had been the most sensual and hot experience of my life. Until he’d given me the cold shoulder.
What had been the best sex of my, albeit sheltered life, had turned into the most horrible post-coitus decoupling I’d ever experienced. Although I hadn’t been with many guys, none of them had told me that I’d ‘had my fun’ afterward and said I needed to leave the hard stuff to the menfolk.
Fucking asshole! Why are the sexy ones always the biggest bastards?
It was after noon by the time I dragged myself out of my bed. The shower restored some of my sanity. Trying to push away the sadness that was smothering me, I clung to my anger. Fuck Jack Walsh if he thought he could tell me what to do. I won’t let him ruin my weekend. If he can’t handle me, then he doesn’t deserve me.
I climbed out of the shower, dried and groomed myself, then dug through my closet for something to wear. I settled on a bright sweater and a pair of jeans. Then I made my way out of my room and into the kitchen. Dad had settled in there, reading the newspaper.
Kissing him on the forehead, I told him I was going out. He barely acknowledged me, engrossed in the news of the day. I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Yet another man who wanted to ignore me.
Christmas was only a week away, and I’d done next to none of my shopping. This was as good a thing to do as anything else, and an excuse to get out of the house and into the public, where I could at least go through the motions and pretend I wasn’t dying on the inside.
Inside the mall, I tried to let the seasonal music and bustle of the crowds soothe me. I’ve always enjoyed Christmas. It was fun to try and find the perfect gift for someone, to show them how much they mean to you. I told myself that it was time to push past my misery and throw myself into the spirit of the holiday.
When I get home, I’ll decorate the tree, maybe make some gingerbread men cookies for the office.
I’d try my hardest not to bite the heads off each of them.
I floated around the stores, managing to find a few nice things for Dad and Matt. I had to check myself when I found a leather jacket that would look phenomenal on Jack. If he was my boyfriend, I wouldn’t have hesitated to buy it, excited to see how it hugged his muscled frame.
But he wasn’t my boyfriend. He was a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am jerk wad, and he didn’t deserve any gifts for the way he’d treated me. Maybe it was all made worse by the fact that I’d never had that kind of experience before. The guys that had braved the twin threats of my father and brother weren’t the one night stand type.
I didn’t think Jack was either. Apparently, I was wrong.
My mood soured by the reminder of Jack’s shitty character. I made a few purchases for my father and my brother then got the hell out of the store. The leather jacket remained on the rack.
On my way out, I glanced across the mall at the movie theater entrance. I was surprised to see a familiar form entering the theater. It was Jack, and he was following some overweight guy, out of sight.
It was Jack’s day off. Maybe he’d decided to see a movie. He was from Savannah, so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that he’d rounded up one of his buds and they were here to catch a matinee. Still, Jack didn’t seem to have much of a social life. Even in high school, Matt had been about the only guy he’d called ‘friend.’
My curiosity slowed my steps. I dawdled, debating what to do. It wasn’t like I wanted to talk to him, not after the way he’d treated me. A half-formed thought of me acknowledging him, then blowing him off in front of his friend tantalized me for a moment. But that wasn’t me. I wasn’t that desperate for attention, was I?
On the verge of shrugging it off and leaving the mall, I froze when I saw someone I recognized. It was one of the men from the picture on Jack’s phone, one of the group of guys who’d been hanging out in the alley. What was he doing here? Could it be a coincidence?
Before I could hesitate and talk myself out of it, I walked towards the theater. Buying a ticket to a random movie, I entered and positioned myself behind a 3-D movie poster of a gigantic shark. From here, I could see the action without being seen.
The alley guy stopped at the concession stand to pick up some snacks, but instead of heading into a theater, he hung around the small arcade beside the concessions stand. It was almost twenty minutes later, almost long enough for me to give up, before I saw Jack and his overweight companion come out of a theater. The big guy headed for the bathrooms, Jack following in his footsteps.
Outside the bathroom door, Jack’s companion turned around to address him. At first, I couldn’t hear what he was saying, nor could I make out how Jack responded. But then the overweight man raised his voice, almost shouting that he didn’t need anyone to hold his dick for him.
I recognized the voice and put two and two together. It was Dexter Jansen, the bossy prick that was in the running for our most annoying client ever. That meant Jack wasn’t here for a hang session with his bro. He was on the job.
Jansen turned and pushed his way into the bathroom, and for a moment Jack stood there, obviously debating how to proceed. He decided to ignore the man’s advice and entered the bathroom after Jansen. I stood there, behind the poster, my eyes peeled on the bathroom door.
That’s how I noticed the familiar-faced guy go in after them. The possibility of this being a coincidence was getting slimmer and slimmer. But what could I do? How could I warn Jack? He’d told me that I should give up my investigation. What would he say if he caught me here?
&nb
sp; I could leave now, go back to my car, drive home and try to ignore the shock that had gone through me when I’d seen Jack. Just the sight of him put my body on high alert. It would be best to avoid him, to avoid the situation all together. Just go home, wrap the presents and put them under a tree, pretend I hadn’t seen anything.
Instead of moving, I stood there, watching the bathroom door. I couldn’t quit now, not when events were unfolding right in front of me. Maybe I could find out who the man in the picture, now the man in the bathroom, was. It might give us a lead on the meaning of the information in the ledger.
The opportunity was too good to pass up. From my vantage point behind the shark poster, I waited, watching to see what happened next.
Chapter 13
Jack
I was about to tear out my hair. That asshole Jansen had told me he had somewhere important to be. Apparently, that somewhere was catching the newest computer generated animated movie. Not exactly what I would consider vital enough to risk leaving my hideout, let alone threaten my security guy with a law suit. But understanding Jansen was something I wasn’t likely to ever do.
We bought our tickets and found seats in the theater comprised almost entirely of hapless parents and children all hyped up on sugar. But the worst part was, the movie had barely started before Jansen got up to leave the theater. I followed him out and he’d given me the stink eye over his shoulder.
“I’m just going to take a piss. I don’t need you to hold my hand.”
I barely held back a smart retort, something along the lines of if he was going to drag me out to watch a child’s cartoon on my day off, I was going to at least do the job he’d threatened to sue me over. Instead I shrugged. “You aren’t to be left unescorted per the security parameters you agreed to.”
Jansen didn’t acknowledge me, he just headed back into the lobby and over to the bathroom. And I tagged along, following after the creep who’s about to take a leak. This is exactly the kind of Saturday I’d had planned, after all.
I had to force myself not to think about the real Saturday I wanted. One where I woke up in bed next to Emma’s warm body, her scent enveloping me like a field of flowers. I’d hold her, rain kisses down on her beautiful face, her neck, moving lower, taking my time.
It would be something soft and wonderful, not like that frenzy that had taken place on the conference room table. Not that I regretted the act itself. It had been so hot, so frantic, so intense, that I’d spent most of the night blissed out. When I wasn’t berating myself for my gigantic mistake that was.
Emma was off limits. The sooner I learned to accept that, the better.
Jansen hit the bathroom door and turned to me. “No need to follow me in here. Unless you’re a queer or something. You’re not getting a peek at my junk.”
I held my expression neutral while I thought about all the ways I could make this bastard eat his words. “You are not to be left unescorted.”
“Look, asshat, I don’t need you to hold my dick for me!” Jansen’s voice rose, and I saw a couple teen boys at the arcade look our way and start to snicker. The rich prick turned away and pushed his way into the bathroom.
I stood there, debating whether any of this was worth it. At this point, I was happy to let Jansen’s rivals steal any secrets the man had. If that was even why Shadow Security had been hired in the first place. Whatever reason Jansen had hired us didn’t matter at the moment. He was approaching the point where if he caught fire, I wouldn’t piss on him to put out the flames.
Still, if I hung it up now and headed home, Jansen would make a stink. It was almost as if he were looking for an excuse to fuck us over, like he did every other person he made a deal with. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction, just like I didn’t want to disappoint Smith. The old man had trusted me, had given me this job and the chance to prove myself. I wouldn’t blow it just because the guy I was guarding was acting like a spoiled brat.
I entered the bathroom just in time to see Jansen head into a stall. Great, he’s going to take a shit. And I get to stand here and enjoy that. Nice.
I walked to the sink and washed my hands, just for something to do, to take my mind off what was going on behind the stall door. To add insult to injury, another person walked into the bathroom and made straight for the stall next to Jansen’s.
Perfect. Now there are two guys doing their business. I shook my head, wondering if I was really cut out for the personal security service. I’d never thought I’d end up standing guard over a bathroom stall before. What a glamorous life I lead.
A loud cough broke the silence. There was another, then another. I turned to face the stalls, but I couldn’t determine which one the coughing was coming from. The stall doors stretched almost to the floor, and I’d be damned if I was going to bend down and investigate.
I was relieved to hear a flush, and shortly after, another. Jansen came out of the stall and headed to the door, not bothering to wash his hands. Just another indignity to chalk up to the rich prick. I followed him out, and we started making our way back to the theater. I tried to contain my excitement at watching the thrilling conclusion of a cartoon about singing insects.
There was a sudden flash of movement within my peripheral vision. My years of training were ingrained, and I turned to assess the possible threat. I saw someone duck behind a poster of a giant shark and blinked. What the fuck?
That can’t possibly be who I think it is. There’s no way.
But I would recognize that figure anywhere, even when it’s crouched down and trying to hide from me. Emma Smith was behind the shark poster. What in the name of fuck was she doing here?
I remained calm, not letting my inner turmoil show up on my face. I couldn’t believe that Emma had followed me here. What other explanation could there be? She was stalking me.
That didn’t seem to make sense. Although we’d shared something phenomenally hot, Emma didn’t seem like the type of girl who would turn psycho afterwards. Yet here she was, in the same place at the same time. How else could she have known I would be here if she hadn’t followed me? Even I didn’t expect to be here today.
Although I wanted like hell to confront her, I couldn’t leave Jansen’s side, no matter how much I wanted to find out what the fuck Emma was playing at. My hands were balled into fists at my side as I fought to control my breathing.
Yes, I’d made a huge fucking mistake, having sex with Emma last night. I’m sure it had hurt, the way I’d acted afterwards. But that didn’t give her an excuse to start following me around. What the hell did she think it would accomplish. It wouldn’t change anything, other than force me to make sure we weren’t alone in the same room again. I just don’t understand.
Back in the theater, I pulled out my phone and sent her a text. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
I kept glancing over my shoulder, keeping an eye on the theater entrances, half expecting her to appear in the theater. But she didn’t, and she didn’t respond to my text either. What game was Emma playing?
We’d only been sitting there for about ten minutes when Jansen stands up suddenly. “This movie fucking blows,” he announced, loud enough for several parents to pin him with dirty looks. “Let’s go.”
I followed Jansen out of the theater, keeping my eyes peeled for any signs of Emma in the lobby. The space behind the shark poster was empty. She wasn’t around the concessions, nor in the arcade that I could see. Emma had vanished.
I checked my phone again, but she still hadn’t responded to my text. A tiny tendril of anxiety began to work its way into my gut. In the parking lot, a gust of cold wind hits my face, followed by a few sprinkles of rain. The weather fits my mood perfectly.
On the way back to Jansen’s hotel, I considered how best to confront Emma. We needed to hash this out now. It couldn’t wait, not if her behavior had escalated to stalking. Still, she didn’t seem the type. Perhaps there was another explanation, as unlikely as that might be.
I fo
llowed Jansen to his hotel suite, wondering if I would find Emma waiting inside somewhere to jump out like some absurd jack-in-the-box. His rooms were clean, however, and soon I was headed back to my vehicle. I pulled out my phone, annoyed to see that she still hadn’t responded.
“Meet me at the office in 15 minutes,” I texted her, anger and worry fighting it out in my stomach. This was all my fault. I’d given in to the greatest temptation of my life, and now it had created chaos. Emma was a beautiful, wonderful girl, one who didn’t deserve what I’d done to her.
But I couldn’t allow her to harbor any hopes about a future with me. And I couldn’t allow her to follow me around like a lost puppy. Sooner or later, her dad and brother would find out, and things would go from SNAFU to FUBAR.
Gunning the engine, I sped out of the hotel parking lot in the direction of the Shadow Security office. It was time to make Emma understand, once and for all, that she and I weren’t going to happen.
The thought opened a black hole in my stomach that sucked out any joy that lingered after the ecstasy of last night. It started to rain, fat droplets that turned the world gray. How appropriate.
Chapter 14
Emma
Fuck. He saw me.
Jack’s face had shown only a momentary flash of surprise before it had hardened and he’d turned away, but it was enough for me to know that he’d seen me crouched behind the poster.
As soon as he was out of sight, I stepped out from behind the poster. My only thought was getting the hell out of Dodge before Jack could come back and find me. I knew I was in for a lecture, at minimum, and I didn’t want to have to face him.
Then I caught sight of the familiar faced man, heading towards the theater exit. He pushed through the door and back out into the mall. Without hesitating, I followed. This was the reason I’d stuck around. Regardless of what Jack thought, I was onto something important. This guy being here at the same time as Jansen had to mean something.