My breath filled my lungs instead of occupying my throat.
I’d never had such a physical response to a person, and I had no idea how to interpret it. Why did she scare me so much? Was it because she literally held my future in her hands?
I didn’t think it was so simple.
The feeling of being a monkey hit me again.
Something about her was predatory and seriously set off my warning instincts. Or maybe it was because I was used to being top of the food chain and didn’t know how to handle the reverse.
Either way, a bad sleep as I tore between excitement and nerves and stress was now messing with my imagination.
Or perhaps I really was a monkey and less evolved than her.
I’d be cute with a monkey tail.
I swung my pack onto the desk and riffled through the contents, unsure what Angelica meant by settle in. I had half my leftover money in there, glasses, a spare top in case I met with another coffee disaster.
And a pen.
“Ha!” I extracted the pen and set it upon the desk. I glanced around the office. My office. “Mine.”
My new favourite word.
Officially settled in, I headed for the elevator, thankfully not encountering Angelica on the way.
Two hours seemed a long time and I had no idea how to fill it—until recalling that I needed to keep looking for jobs. I couldn’t quit Live Right until I had the proper numbers and documents, and if the first two hours of this job were anything to go by, I’d switch jobs as soon as possible. I couldn’t ever recall being so tired in my life.
I purchased a roll of bacon and avocado sushi, proud of myself for locating a cheap food option. Finding a newspaper was a harder task. Eventually, I found a place tucked inside an underground mall with books, magazines, and lotto tickets.
A stack of newspapers sat on a table just inside the door.
I hadn’t accounted for the newspaper in my budget, so I waited until the cashier was distracted and slipped on my thick-rimmed glasses, riffling through the paper until I found the job notices.
The pet job was still up. Jenny had unrelenting standards, so that was a given.
The newspaper run and tomato factory job were gone. I peeked at the cashier to make sure she was busy and scanned the page again.
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
A cleaning job caught my eye. Ugh, it was for an address in the estates. I wasn’t cleaning the toilet of anyone I knew. A notice for a janitor job in a public school was printed beneath it.
That might be an option.
I cursed my decision to leave my pen at the office. If I hadn’t left my phone at the estate, I’d snap a picture. What the hell did poor people do in this situation?
The cashier looked over, and I hastily closed the paper.
Could I be a school janitor?
I’d never cleaned anything other than my hair and body. I did love my shave, wash, and hydrate routine, yet somehow I suspected washing my body and cleaning toilets were different things.
I read the price of the paper. Two dollars and fifty cents. I’d budgeted more than I would need, about fifty dollars more, in case an emergency came up.
Hmm, no, I wasn’t willing to spend two dollars fifty for a potential janitor job. I wasn’t sure it was for me.
With a quick nod at the cashier, I strode out, smiling at how much a few days had changed me. I’d gone from sleeping on the streets to being a renting, working woman in four days. And I’d turned my nose up at purchasing a newspaper. Go me.
The feeling of being precariously out of depth hadn’t disappeared, but I had a few handholds. And I’d only nearly died a couple of times. My encounter with Licky Lips was born of a foolhardy decision. Plus, I may have stepped out on the street into flowing traffic, but I was still inclined to blame the encounter with Black Tie on him.
Because his attitude sucked.
If I ever saw him again, I’d be sure to tell him. Maybe after removing said black tie.
I waited until 3:57 p.m. to re-enter Kyros Sky and return to Level 44. That was how much I dreaded feeling like a monkey again.
Four hours to go. Totally doable. And tomorrow? Well, I’d worry about tomorrow when it came around.
Ding!
The buzzing murmur from Monday greeted my ears. The other staff members were here. Thank Zeus.
I straightened my pencil skirt.
“You must be Basi,” a woman behind the desk said.
I couldn’t be certain, but she looked like one of the admins from yesterday. Her eyes were also bright blue, but she didn’t have the same terrifying effect as Angelica.
I echoed her cool tone. “I am.”
I was fluent in all three dialects of bitch—passive-aggressive bitch, sly bitch, and confrontational bitch.
“Angelica is gathering everyone in the staff room.”
I nodded and quickly deposited my bag in my office before walking to the staff room.
The murmur of conversation swelled as I drew closer. Right until I reached the door.
It cut off.
Everything and everyone.
Off.
My eyes widened. What was that about? My instincts said that one hundred people had been talking about me and somehow knew when I’d arrived to stop talking. But that was… crazy.
I stopped in the doorway.
“Basi,” Angelica greeted.
I looked at her and the same pounding heart I’d had all morning while in her company hit me all over again.
Then I glimpsed the other staff.
Bright eyes.
Looking at me.
Air wheezed in my throat.
My mind stalled.
Eyes like hers. The lot of them. Bright. Burning. Not all blue. A few greens. Some almost violet.
No one smiled, and the currently disconnected part of me was grateful because seeing their teeth would have tipped the terror surging unchecked through my body and mind into mindless territory.
No one spoke a word and sweat beaded on my forehead. My palms slickened with perspiration. My blouse stuck to my chest like I was in the tropics. Oh my god. My legs were shaking.
I had to be sick.
The symptoms started three days ago and became worse at random intervals… except for those times when I wasn’t, well, here.
Why were their eyes all so piercing?
Whatever the answer, I’d bitten off more than I could chew. Admitting that was easy as I stared back at one hundred heartbreakingly beautiful people who made my heart want to shrivel and die.
Whatever this breeding programme was, I was officially out of my depth.
“Basi?” Angelica’s face swam before me. “Are you alright?”
Looking at her was easier than peering at the one hundred staff.
“Alright?” I squeaked.
Someone laughed under their breath.
“There are a lot of us,” she said in apology. “I had no idea you suffered from stage fright.”
Stage fright.
I stared dumbly at her, regaining enough of my senses to guess what I looked like. Rational Basi, the tiny amount of her present, demanded I get my shit together. Because I looked like a fool.
“Stage fright,” I managed to repeat.
“Come with me,” Angelica said kindly.
I was ushered to a chair that thankfully didn’t face the gathered group. Profile to them, I kept my gaze averted to the cupboards lining the nearest wall.
“Everyone say hi to Basi,” Angelica said softly.
For the most part, the staff had kept quiet during my meltdown which seemed weird in its own right. At her words, they chorused, “Welcome.”
My eyes popped at the collective effect of their voices.
Predators.
I’d had the thought prior in regard to Angelica and had it again. There was no other way to describe their musical, silken sound. I gripped the undersides of the chair I sat upon, begging my bladder to
stay full.
Someone laughed again, and a faint strain of anger edged in around my fear.
“Basi Tetley is our new trainee and will stay with us all year.” Angelica continued. “For the next week, she will shadow Katerina to learn the ropes. Basi, would you like to say a few words?”
If I did, there was a strong chance I’d vomit or piss myself. Mutely, I shook my head.
“Stage fright,” she explained to the others.
That wasn’t what I felt. I might be ignorant of a lot of things, but I wasn’t delusional. Something else was going on.
I clamped my lips shut as bile surged up my throat.
I couldn’t stand it any longer.
“Basi?” Angelica asked when I bolted to my feet.
“Bathroom.”
The same fucker laughed again.
My cheeks burned in mortification, and yet I was so terrified and frozen that the loss of dignity didn’t otherwise touch me.
“Of course. Katerina will meet you in your office soon.”
Great. I won’t be there.
I moved stiffly out of the room, eyes focused on my goal. The door. Outside and down the hallway, I dragged in a sobbing breath. The air couldn’t get in my lungs fast enough.
Had I inhaled once in that room? I must have, but it didn’t feel like it.
My head swam and I pressed my hand against the wall as I panted, tears squeezing at the corners of my eyes.
After this morning, I knew distance would help, so I slid my feet forward in a heavy shuffle. Slowly, my head stopped spinning, but a pounding headache took up residence and remained.
What the fuck were they? Hypnotists? A hypnotist mafia? It would explain their bright eyes and the wariness I felt.
But so many of them? And all working in realty?
That didn’t add up.
Unless that was how Live Right became the largest and most profitable realtor in Bluff City. And how Angelica became so successful at such a young age. Those bastards hypnotised people to make a sale.
The legal implications of that were huge.
I made it to my office, blood returning to my limbs, and the ease of my movement coming back. By then, I knew that I’d stumbled on something illegal.
Big time illegal.
I’d gone from one cage to another. And I had to get out now.
Returning to my office door, I peeked down the hallway. People were leaving the staff room. Damn. In normal circumstances, I’d take my stuff and leave without explanation. That wasn’t possible if they suspected that I’d guessed something about their illegal activities.
Ding!
The elevator sang out, announcing someone’s arrival.
I could see the reception from here, but the lift was tucked around the corner.
“Kyros,” Angelica greeted.
Wait. The high-rise was called Kyros Sky. Was this the Kyros?
Hopefully he’d keep Angelica busy. She was the most likely person to prevent me from leaving.
A man approached the front desk, and I squinted at his frame.
Tall. Wearing a three-piece suit. Baby-making hormones, he had the sexiest ass I’d ever seen on a man. It wasn’t a body part I tended to catalogue on males, but on him? I could suddenly understand the urge to fondle the globes of his ass like in Fernando’s Eighth Ab.
Broad shoulders tapered to his hips. I’d always been a sucker for the upside-down triangle on men. And boy-oh-boy did he wear that suit.
In fact, it looked like he’d be adept at sliding right out—
I pulled up abruptly. The man turned at the same moment, talking to someone behind him.
Fucking fucker!
It was Black Tie.
“The new trainee was just introduced to the staff, sir, per your instructions.”
My jaw dropped.
“Will she be a good fit?” he asked, deep voice reaching my ears with ease.
Angelica didn’t hesitate to answer, beaming. “Absolutely.”
Squeaking, I retreated into my office in an arm-waving mess. My limbs were still funky from the staff meeting and I fell on my ass.
Sir.
Per your instructions.
This wasn’t happening. That man out there was Kyros—for whom the building was named. Which wasn’t important in the slightest. But he was the boss of this business? I’d assumed Angelica was top dog.
This was really bad.
This wasn’t happening.
I crawled across the carpet for my desk, certain my legs couldn’t bear me. After a day from hell, crazed instinct was finally in the driver’s seat. It wanted me to get under the desk so the earthquake called life could collapse this high-rise on my dumb head. Instinct also didn’t want me to crawl around to the other side.
A shortcut was best.
The space at the front of the desk was narrow, but I could make it under.
I slid my arms in, turning my head sideways to get it through.
“Basi?”
I froze, ass in the air. Could she see my lacy black G-banger through the slit in the back of my pencil skirt?
Please don’t be here.
“I was hoping to introduce you to the CEO of Live Right…”
Black Tie was with her now? Or standing in reception? My mind latched onto hope—
A masculine voice rumbled through the office. “It appears we came at a bad time.”
That. Mother. Fucker.
He already knew who I was! There was no missing the gloating tone.
I didn’t respond to Angelica, consumed with sudden rage. An entire day’s worth of fear turned into a furious missile. Target: Kyros. He’d set this up somehow. I was part of a prank. They’d all worn contacts to freak me out.
My fingers shook with the urge to wrap around his neck and squeeze. However, my immediate predicament was how to extract myself from beneath the desk. To slither forward or to shuffle backward? I opted for forward to gain a second to collect myself under the desk.
Sliding onto my stomach, I pulled myself through the small gap.
Footsteps rounded the table, and, flat on my stomach, I eyed the black leather business shoes as Kyros came to stand in front of me.
Freens.
Of course he’d wear the most expensive shoe in existence.
I pulled my legs through and crouched under the desk, waiting for him to move away so I could crawl out and try to get through the next painful conversation.
The bastard sat.
In my spinning leather chair! Right in front of where I crouched. Was he trying to outmanoeuvre me? I’d been pushed to my limits today.
He’d just pushed me past them.
Teeth barred, I shuffled forward on my knees until I was between his open knees and stood as quick as possible. I refused to give him the satisfaction of lingering in that position.
There wasn’t any way to free myself from the triangle his legs made with the desk. Not without touching his thighs or climbing over his legs.
Seething, I met his bright green gaze.
I should have listened to that errant thought two days ago. The one that drew parallels between his eyes and Angelica’s. Reality wasn’t the only bitch. Hindsight could fucking join it.
He didn’t bother to hide his smirk. “I’m sitting.”
Kyros spread his hands wide.
What was he on about? I scowled, my churning anger mounting.
“What was the other part?” he asked. It was the rhetorical kind of question.
“Ah. Yes,” he purred, the sound deep and menacing. “You told me to sit and rotate.”
Understanding shot through me in one bolt of pure wrath. I tracked his movements as he pushed the seat back so he was free of my legs.
As I watched, he rotated three times in the spinning chair.
My chair.
I’d only felt hate once in my life. And it was at my rich friends for nearly destroying Tommy.
He stopped spinning but didn’t stand. His eyes met mine agai
n, and I met him head-on. Hair the colour of toffee only made his meadow-green eyes brighter.
The urge to physically attack him surprised me—not being prone to violence. I tapered it though, remembering my theories on the illegal activity happening on Level 44. I couldn’t play this wrong. Not if something dodgy was going on.
“Cute,” I replied. “And you are?”
A gasp sounded from behind me. Shit, I forgot Angie was here.
The man rested back against the headrest. His eyes glittered as he searched my face. My eyes catalogued his smooth skin—just on the golden side of beige. His neck begged to be free of that damn tie.
“You know who I am,” he replied.
He turned his attention to rolling up his white shirt sleeves. His three-piece suit was Air Force Blue—one of my favourite colours on the opposite sex. The giant’s tie was slim again, and the same black as his shoes. A huge watch adorned his left wrist. Otherwise, his only accessory was a gleaming silver tie pin.
I watched as he rolled his sleeves, wondering if it might be the most attractive thing I’d seen in my life.
A shame he was… well, him.
Hopefully Angelica would enjoy the show because I wasn’t standing around to be humiliated any longer. I turned away as he started on the second shirt sleeve. Shoving my pen in my bag, I drew the drawstring and swung it onto my back. The man behind me had stilled—the leather of the chair wasn’t squeaking anymore.
Those observations only served to demonstrate how acutely aware of his movements I was.
Dammit.
“Is Katerina ready?” I asked Angelica, who stood open-mouthed in the doorway. Her eyes flittered between me and the hulking idiot at my back.
She nodded.
“I wasn’t finished speaking with you,” Kyros said. His calm tone didn’t fool me. He wasn’t used to being ignored. I could smell entitlement from a mile away.
I rounded the desk and only turned to face him when nearly at the door. Smiling, I lifted both brows in polite enquiry. “Yes, sir?”
The frown that graced his face was a tiny win, but I’d happily take it.
Kyros stood slowly, and I took in his towering height. He would loom over me, and I wasn’t a short gal. My lower stomach clenched against my will at the sight of his powerful frame. It’d look great hovering over me in bed.
He rounded the desk and stalked across the room, oddly graceful for a person of his height. “You might be interested to know you didn’t scratch my car.”
Blood Trial: Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers Book 1) Page 6