by Jessica Gray
Fernando swallowed and nodded. Ben sure didn’t sugarcoat things.
“Here’s the deal,” Ben continued, “there’s a one-week trial period. If you do a good job, I’ll put you on the payroll.”
“I won’t let you down,” Fernando promised. As if anyone would deliberately let this man down.
“Now the rules. Always comes down to the rules. While you’re working for me, you stick to my rules.” Ben’s green eyes pierced him.
“Sure.” Fernando swallowed dryly.
“Number one, no drugs, no alcohol. None. Not even over-the-counter cough syrup unless you’re sick. And the first time I smell alcohol on you, you’re gone.”
Fernando nodded, that would be easy. He’d never taken drugs, not even in his teenage years. And alcohol? An evening beer while hanging out with his gang or an infrequent glass of wine to celebrate a special occasion.
“Number two, always be on time. You’re late, you’re gone. Number three, no criminal offenses. If I find out – and I will – you’re in prison faster than you can blink. Understood?”
“Yes, Ben.”
“And last but never least – no fighting. If someone comes in here wanting to pick a fight, or a client gets mouthy, politely ask him or her to leave. Any questions?”
“No questions. When do you want me to start?”
“Tomorrow work for you?” Ben asked. When Fernando eagerly nodded, he slapped him on the back again. “I’ve been honest for ten years now. If I could do it back then, you can do it now.”
“Thanks.” Fernando left the gym, feeling like he was floating on air he was so happy. He was dying to share his good news with someone, but who? Amada was working today, and he couldn’t call her at work. His friends? All of his friends belonged to his old gang. A smile formed on his lips at the image of the baffled look on their faces when he’d tell them. But he quickly sobered, not only wouldn’t they understand, but it might pose a risk if they knew. They might get the idea to pay him a visit at the fitness studio, and that would only lead to problems.
Gwen. I should call Gwen. She’ll understand. Said and done. He pulled out her business card that was still tucked away in his wallet and called her office number, but only reached the answering machine. At a loss of words, he hung up the phone but dialed again a few minutes later. Still the answering machine. This time though, he was prepared and left his message. “Hey, Gwen. It’s Fernando. Could you call me back? Something happened today…and I wanted to share the news with you. Okay. Thanks. Talk to you later.”
His heart thundering in his chest, he hung up and plopped down on the couch. Today was the last day of his existence as a miserable, unemployed probationer.
Chapter 14
Gwen walked back into her office shortly after lunch, tired and depressed. It should’ve been an easy morning with only one client meeting and enough time to catch up on paperwork.
Instead, she’d spent the entire morning visiting one of her offenders at his home. When he hadn’t shown up for the prescribed meeting, she’d given him the benefit of the doubt and gone looking for him before calling the cops.
Unfortunately, a call to the cops had still been necessary. Gwen sighed. Those were the moments she hated her job. Yet another disappointment. When the cops had opened his apartment, they’d found him splattered across the couch, completely drugged up.
While spending the remainder of the morning arranging counseling and treatment for her client, her mind had drifted to Fernando. Again. At least he wasn’t a drug addict, so his odds of making it through his probation were much better. She longed to see him and at the same time her stomach clenched at the idea of seeing him again. To hell with her raging hormones and this insane attraction she felt for him. She really should know better.
Gwen eyed the blinking red light on her answering machine. Seventeen missed calls during her absence. What the hell was going on today? She listened to the messages one after another. Five from Vivian, each one more worried than the one before. Shoot. I forgot our lunch date. She fired off a text to her friend.
Sorry!!! Work trouble. No worries. Will call you later.
Some callers hadn’t left a message. Her boss relaying her some information. And so on. She stopped at the message of a judge who requested some urgent reports from her and spent the next hour preparing the information. Just before his session started, she ran the two blocks to the courthouse and delivered the required reports.
She decided to grab a quick sandwich in the courthouse cafeteria before returning to her office and answering the rest of the calls. Meanwhile, several new messages had arrived. Her legs still shaky from the exciting morning, she wanted to hide in a hole where nobody could find her. She willed the red blinking light to go away, but finally pushed the replay button and listened half-heartedly to the slay of messages. She sat up straighter when she heard Fernando’s voice.
Her heart thundered in her throat. Was he in trouble? No, his voice seemed happy.
“Hey, Gwen. It’s Fernando. Could you call me back? Something happened today…and I wanted to share the news with you. Okay. Thanks. Talk to you later.”
She picked up the phone with trembling fingers and called him back. He’d sounded so positive on the phone; she was anxious to find out about his great news. Did he finally get a job?
“Hello?” a woman’s voice came over the line.
Gwen’s brain froze as instant jealousy speared through her, and her voice refused to work.
“Hello?”
A woman answers his phone? And a young sounding woman. Gwen hung up before she could say something she might later regret. Her breath came in irregular bursts, each inhale dissipating her joy of moments ago until nothing was left. Nothing but the empty feeling of betrayal.
Of course he has a girlfriend. He’s been playing me to get special treatment.
She felt like a fool. She swallowed back the lump in her throat. “How could I have been so stupid? I should have known better than to fall for one of my clients. They are all the same. Willing to do anything to cheat the system and get ahead. And Fernando has just proven he isn’t better than the rest of them.”
After her little self-talk, she turned on her computer, trying to complete some work, but the letters danced in front of her eyes, and all she could see was Fernando’s face laughing at her for being such a fool. Today definitely wasn’t her day, and after battling to concentrate for what seemed like an eternity, she turned her computer off, grabbed her bag, and called it a day.
Standing in front of her car, she made the conscious decision to forget about Fernando Garcia for good. He was nothing but a juvenile delinquent who’d grown up to become a career criminal. He was nothing to her, and she wouldn’t waste her precious peace of mind on him.
She climbed behind the steering wheel and without paying much attention to what she was doing, she entered the highway and passed her exit, heading to the one place that always made her feel better. The beach. It was almost evening by the time she’d fought her way through the traffic and pulled into her favorite spot in Los Angeles – El Matador Beach.
It wasn’t the best beach if you wanted to sunbathe, but that was only an asset in her eyes. Due to the steep gravelly path being the sole access, there rarely were many people and on a weekday like today, it was deserted. Six miles north of Malibu, it boasted pristine white sand surrounded by massive rock formations forming a crescent shape.
She grabbed her beach bag, something she always kept in the car and hiked down the steep cliff. A variety of small caves provided her enough shelter to shuck her clothes and slip into her swimsuit. The breeze coming in from the sea sent shivers across her skin, and she ran into the ocean. At the first impact with the icy water, her breath halted, but a few moments later, it felt wonderful. Therapeutic.
She swam along the coastline, setting a vigorous speed in the hopes of working every last trace of a certain hot man out of her system. When the sun was beginning to set, she returned to the be
ach, rubbed herself dry, donned her clothes, then sat down on the towel to watch the natural spectacle.
The sun sat inches above the horizon, as if it was resting, tired from a long day of shining. Slowly, the perfectly round ball sunk into the ocean, sending flames of orange across the water and painting the sky in glowing shades of red and pink.
Gwen sat and watched long after the last rim of the golden sun had disappeared behind the horizon – gone until the next morning. A deep sigh escaped her lungs at the beauty she’d just witnessed, and she slung her arms around her knees.
He’d like this place. I’ll have to bring him here…
That thought destroyed the peaceful atmosphere, and angry at herself, she stood up and returned to her car. Normally, the beach was her refuge but today nothing seemed to be off limits for her wayward daydreams. All of which featured a gorgeous brown-eyed man named Fernando. A man who wasn’t worth her attention.
Chapter 15
When Fernando didn’t hear back from Gwen, he started to wonder about the choices he was making. The fact that she hadn’t even cared enough to call him back wreaked havoc with his emotions, and he began to doubt whether or not she was worth his attention. That woman was so far out of his league, and really, what did he have to offer her? Not calling back was probably her way of politely telling him to fuck off.
During the course of the week, his mood went on a rollercoaster ride, despite the fact that he enjoyed is work. One minute he was optimistic, the next one he believed his life didn’t make any sense. At least when he had been with his gang, he had friends to hang out with, but now?
The reason for changing his life was disappearing into thin air, which made it so much harder to stay on the path. When their next meeting rolled around, he went with mixed feelings. He lingered outside the building for as long as he could, hoping for some kind of miracle. If an earthquake struck right now, he wouldn’t have to go inside. Or maybe she was sick?
Dragging his feet up the stairs, pausing on every resting place like an old out-of-shape man, he reached the third floor and knocked on her door. She barely looked up and gestured for him to sit down. Still, she was strikingly beautiful with her long blonde hair falling down her shoulders. Instead of hating her the way he’d done the last few days, his traitorous body responded to her nearness, and his dick jumped in delight.
Fernando gritted his teeth at the surge of lust. She was history. Ancient history. But try as he might, he couldn’t prohibit the warmth from spreading across his body at the sight of her, and his hands itched to tuck those unmanageable strands behind her ears.
Gwen, though, never once looked into his eyes. Worse, her voice was cold as ice with an accusatory undertone to it, as if he had done something terrible. After putting up with her for five minutes, he lost his temper.
“To hell with it. If you’re angry with me, say it to my face, but don’t play games!”
She shook her head. “I’m not angry. Now, please tell me what you achieved last week.”
“I got a job.” He burst out, unable to contain his excitement. Now she at least had to appreciate his achievement. But no word of praise came from her lips.
“Good. Can I see the paperwork?”
He stared at her, his spirits sinking as quickly as his hopes and dreams. Any probation officer – even the most hard-boiled one – would have complimented him and started a small speech about how important that first step was, blah, blah, blah. Not her. She stayed unmoved as a rock.
“I don’t have them yet.” The way she pursed her lips was enough to let his need to know push his pride aside, and he asked the question that had been a thorn in his side. “Why didn’t you call me back?”
The look she gave him was full of pain and sadness.
“Gwen, talk to me. I wanted to share the exciting news about my job with someone who’d understand. Someone who’d appreciate how much of a deal it was. But you never called back.”
“I did.”
“No, you didn’t.”
Her shoulders slumped, and he heard the tremor in her voice. “Yes, I did. A woman answered the phone…”
Fernando stared at her with wide-open eyes, then laughed. “You were jealous? I can’t believe it!”
She shook her head, still staring at the folder.
“Gwen. Look at me.” He waited until she did and the magnitude of sadness in her eyes almost toppled him over. “Gwen. The woman who answered the phone was my sister, Amada. She lives with me.”
“Your sister?” she whispered, shaking her head as if she didn’t believe him.
“My sister. She’s lived with me ever since our parents died.”
Finally, the doubt faded from her eyes and made place for something else – shame. “Now I feel really foolish.”
A stone fell from his heart. He wanted to pick her up and kiss her senseless. “I was so disappointed when you didn’t call.”
“I’m sorry. And now tell me everything about your new job. Or no, wait. I think this merits a celebration. Wait here.” She stood up and left the room. A minute later, she came back with two cups of coffee and two candies. The same candies he’d seen in a big bowl at the water cooler. “That’s the best I could come up with,” she said with an embarrassed smile.
“That’s fantastic.” They both sat at the meeting table, and he told her about his job interview, Ben, his first workdays…
“Well, it’s not my ideal job, but it’s a good start,” he concluded and added, “becoming an honest citizen is much more difficult that I imagined.”
“How’s that?”
He shrugged. “I’ve never had a regular job that expected me to show up every day at the same time and stay there for eight hours straight.”
Gwen laughed, the sound reaching into his soul. “That’s one of the downsides to being an adult, but it’s how the majority of us live. Welcome to the real world.”
A knock on the door cut into their conversation. Gwen glanced at her watch and said, “Time’s up. We’ve been talking almost an hour. My next client is waiting outside. See you next week.”
Fernando left the building with buoyant steps and a whistle on his lips. She was jealous! How could he be upset? It meant she was falling for him as hard and fast as he was falling for her. But he also realized their mutual attraction would make their working relationship difficult.
He knew he could request another probation officer, but he’d have to make up a good reason, and that would probably put her in a bad light. No, he couldn’t do that to Gwen, nor did he really want to deal with any other person.
Looks like I’m stuck with you, lady. And you with me.
Chapter 16
Gwen did her best to focus on her job, asking questions and notating his answers in his file. But the more she concentrated on his business, the more she found herself daydreaming about a different kind of business. It sure wasn’t easy to separate the client from the man.
Sitting across the table from her, she could feel the intense heat radiating off of him and every time she dared to glance up into his mesmerizing brown eyes, she saw only lust and passion in there. How could a girl stay calm and professional under those conditions?
She cleared her throat. “Have you heard from your former gang members? Have they tried to contact you?”
Fernando fixated on a point above her head. “Nah. Nothing.”
Insane attraction or not, her brain was still clear enough to recognize a lie. Gwen narrowed her eyes at him and then leaned forward on her desk. “That’s a lie.”
The stubborn expression that crossed his face tempted her to grin, but she schooled her face and said, “Fernando, you have to be honest with me. Even if you think you’ve done something you shouldn’t have. The only way I can help you is if you talk to me and tell me the truth.”
She knew she’d gotten her message across when he flushed and looked at her with embarrassment in his eyes. “Okay. They contacted me. So what? It wasn’t my fault. I ran into them on the
street, and it was too late to sidestep them.”
Gwen hesitated. The answer was perfectly valid, but she was receiving strange vibes from him. Something was off. “And what did they want?”
“The usual. Big talk.” He writhed under her scrutinizing stare.
“What kind of big talk? Remember, you must be honest with me if you’re serious about turning over a new leaf in your life.”
Fernando sighed and visibly slumped. “They wanted me to disarm the security measures on a warehouse to rob the place.”
Gwen’s eyes nearly popped out of her face. “Rob a warehouse? Did they tell you which one?”
He rolled his eyes. “Come on. They’re not that stupid. I only know there’s a whole shipment of tablets and smartphones inside. They said it would be a big one with loads of easy money on the black market.” He looked at her, misreading the alarm on her face. “I told them no way. I’m serious about becoming honest – for you.”
Despite the alarming news, relief flooded her system, followed on the heels by heat rushing to her core. Damn hormones. “I didn’t expect anything less.”
But this was information she had no choice but to report to the police and the more information she could give them, the more likely they could stop the crime before anyone got hurt. With the most casual tone of voice she could muster, Gwen went on a fishing expedition. “Any idea when you were supposed to do this?”
“Nope. I sent them away. They’re always planning something, but these two goons are amateurs. Without me, they stand no chance.” His eyes glinted with pride, and Gwen instantly worried about him. It was so easy to relapse, and she recognized how much self-worth he derived from being the go-to-guy for the difficult security stuff. If he could only use that skill for the good.