Project X

by Watkins, TM

  I moved away from the counter to allow the next person to be served. Within a minute my coffee was ready and I was hesitantly walking to work. I could get these things past the security desk without issue, I could get them into the locker room and dump my bag, not a problem. I could also get them into the mail room without arousing suspicion but I could not walk through the green corridor with them. It was going to be difficult, I was going to have to get through the mail delivery for the ground floor and then return to the mail room to get the pen to continue to the upper floors. I was lucky that the service elevator was on the opposite side of the lobby, I would have to pass the mail room to get to it.

  The security guard nodded at me as I passed him with a bright and happy smile. I continued through to the locker room and dumped my bag, continuing onto the mail room with my coffee and naughty muffin. As I sat at the table and took a sip of the coffee, I removed the necklace. It was incredibly heavy and the chain was not nearly long enough. I stuffed it into the top draw, I would have to remember to collect it before I go upstairs. Gently I opened the muffin bag, crinkling my nose at the muffin and nothing else. I lifted it out and took a bite of it, feeling that the bag was still heavy. Carefully I pulled the bottom away and found it was a false panel, underneath it was my pen.

  “Hallelujah.”

  I tucked it into the draw with the necklace and set out to sort the mail. As I made my way through them I came across the parcel for Hiroki. It was a small rectangle parcel, no bigger than a packet of cigarettes. I continued on without too much thought, mostly because there was a camera in the room. When I had finished sorting the two trolleys of mail, I had counted fifteen parcels that were identical to Hiroki's. All were for signature and oddly I noted that they were for men only. I narrowed my eyes, wondering what they had sent them. It made it worse when one of the last ones I had come across was for Dorian. Now I wish that I had asked Walter what had been sent.

  The ground floor deliveries had gone off without a hitch, as usual. I had made my way back to the mail room, collected the stupid necklace and the pen and continued on my way. The camera pen, along with another similar pen had been put in the pocket of my shirt. Now all I had to do was remember to use the right one for signing. My timing had worked well, miss scowls had finished her shift and passed me as I approached the service elevator.

  I smiled brightly at her and received a half-hearted attempt at a smile. At least it was better than her previous attempts. My mood had settled down, keeping it to a simple smile. The doors to the elevator slid open at the first floor, miss bright and perky was already at the desk writing something on a clipboard. She tucked it under the counter when I approached.

  “Morning, tgif, right?”

  She chuckled. “Yeah.”

  I dumped the bundle of letters and parcels onto the counter, holding back Hiroki's.

  “I've got a parcel for a Hiroki…” I frowned pretending to struggle with his name. “Nakano. Did I say that right?”

  “Yep. I'll buzz him for you.”

  I pulled the first pen out of my pocket, waiting for the woman as she scuttled away with the mail. A few minutes later a young man walked out.

  “Hiroki Nakano?” I asked.

  I looked at the young man as he nodded and I knew that something was incredibly wrong. Either someone got their intel wrong or I've been sent a fake.

  “Sign here thanks.”

  He signed the docket and passed back the pen, I ripped the docket away and passed the parcel to him.

  “Have a great day, nice to meet you Hiroki.”

  The young man twitched a smile, one that was labored and reluctant. I kept it cool as I pushed the trolley back into the elevator and pressed the button for the second floor. Floor after floor I delivered the mail and collected little signatures on dockets. By the time I reached the thirtieth floor, I was beat. Dorian was in his office when I pushed the trolley into the reception area and lucky me, Amy wasn't here. With the mail and the parcel in hand I walked to the door and gently knocked on it. He smiled at me and I think that my heart skipped a beat.

  “Must be my favorite time of the morning. What delights do you bring me today Miss Ryan?”

  “Wouldn't have a clue, except you have to sign for this one.”

  He scrawled his signature and ripped the docket away, passing it back.

  “What's happening for lunch today?”

  “Uh, sandwich I suppose.”

  “How deathly boring. Surely we can do better than that?”

  I shrugged and sauntered out of the room.

  “I'm sure we could. See you at twelve.”

  The hour before lunch is always the slowest, I lazed back and thought of the impending lunch, tonight's event and the possibility that this place will be relatively understaffed. I didn't know if the place kept normal business hours or if it did split shifts for certain staff but I figured that in the hours between five pm and eight am, there wouldn't be many people around. The sound of the main door opening roused me from my thoughts, I stood to find Dorian walking in.

  “Hey, bad news. I'm going to have to bail on lunch, sorry.”

  “It's cool.” I shrugged.

  Yes, I was a great actor. Internally I was crushed, externally I was cool as an ice block.

  “I've alerted Madelyn that you will be finishing early this afternoon. You need a dress for tonight, I'll be back before four to take you to the shop, okay?”

  “Sure.”

  After a restrained kiss he was gone again, I slumped back into my chair and willfully restrained the tear. I was not going to cry about him ditching me. He probably had something important come up. Maybe it had to do with Eva. With half an hour before lunch to go, I went and got my bag deciding that I would take the pen to Walter and ask him about the pictures of Hiroki.

  He was in the midst of a lunch rush, I slid the pen over the counter and he carefully pulled it away and tucked it into his pocket.

  “Hiroki was young.” I said quietly. “Are you sure you got it right?”

  “I didn't do it.” He shrugged. “Second born did it.”

  I huffed. Frank was usually good at his intel; he wasn't known for getting things wrong. There had been occasions of course, no one is that perfect.

  “Hey what was in the parcel?”

  Walter chuckled as he passed over my lunch order.

  “Limited time access to a lap dance at The Sugar Shack. Today only, twelve to one. I wish they'd bought one for me.”

  “Eww.” I snatched the bag away. “Don't talk like that freak-o. Be happy with your squeeze, 'k?”

  “Sure, later freak-o.”

  I wandered along the foot path, dodging the other workers and the occasional tourist, stopping when I saw a young Hiroki crossing the road ahead of me. He seemed pretty eager to his destination, where did Walter say? The sugar shack for a lap dance. I could feel the color draining from me, Dorian had been sent a parcel and he cancelled lunch on me. 'Limited time access to a lap dance.' Walter's sniggering words whistled through my head. Could I be that jealous of someone who was mine but wasn't really mine? I ignored all thought and followed Hiroki.

  The Sugar Shack was at the end of the next block on the other side of the road. I slipped into the alley for a loading dock and watched the entrance. He was loitering around the front door, looking at his watch. I glanced at mine, it was five minutes to twelve. The doors opened and a burly man bolted it back against the door and Hiroki went into the club. One by one I watched each of the recipients of the parcels go into the club, I had gotten to fourteen. It was now twelve thirty and I hadn't seen Dorian.

  “Find what you are looking for?”

  I gasped, nearly shrieking. Chet had slipped up the alley and whispered it in my ear.

  “Are you mad?” I hissed and turned back to the street.

  Still no sign of Dorian.

  “What if you are seen?”

  “And what if you are seen?” He teased. “You aren't supposed to know a
bout the contents of the parcel KC and now you're watching the place? Highly dubious.”

  “Piss off.” I snarled. “Go do your stalking in the next alley.”

  He sighed and I turned to look at him. Like everyone else on the street, he was dressed in a suit. Chet in a suit was a rare thing but when he did put one on, he looked pretty darn good.

  “Alright KC but be careful, you are playing with fire, you know that right? Dad's worried about you. I don't mean that he thinks that you can't do this, but really worried. We've had intel that you're being followed by someone else. My duties have gone from watching you to make sure you behave to watching you to make sure you're safe.”

  I turned and looked at Chet, his face was serious and there was worry in his eyes.

  “He's worried for me?”

  Chet nodded.

  “You think he doesn't love you but you're wrong. He adores you and wants you alive. Keep that in mind when you're playing hide the snake with your target.”

  He turned down the alley, walking away.

  “Am I doing something wrong? Is this not Tilley's tactic, bed the target to get the information?”

  Chet stopped and hung his head with a sigh.

  “It is. But you are different to Tilley. You’re not a slut.” He turned his body slightly to look at me. “Don't think that dad doesn't know what she gets up to and don't think that he approves either. I can assure you that it has broken his heart to think that his little girl is like that. Can you be the one that makes him think that both of his daughters are like that?”

  I was stunned, Chet turned back to his path and walked away. How far he would get before he stopped and resumed his hidden bodyguard duties I didn't know. I leaned on the brick wall and continued to watch the doors to The Sugar Shack while eating my lunch. It was now one o'clock and I was due back from my lunch break.

  No one seemed to care that I walked in ten minutes after my lunch had ended, I walked to the locker room and dumped my bag. When I walked out of the locker room I was so despondent about the state of things that I didn’t notice Dorian at first. He was leaning on the wall opposite the door to the woman’s locker room, his arms crossed with a slight sneer.

  “How was the barista?”

  Chapter 27: Fornicating Friday

  I stared at Dorian, smoothly he lifted his body from the wall and moved closer.

  “Did you not hear me Kasey?”

  Frown, stutter a bit of gibberish, frown again. Yep, I was a master of speaking the English language.

  “Are you fraternizing with the barista?”

  “No!” I gasped.

  Jeez, that would be so wrong but okay so I guess he didn't know how wrong.

  “You cancelled lunch so I went and got something. I'm low on funds and my friend gave me some gift cards to use.”

  The attitude died away and he gently caressed my jaw.

  “Forgive me, had I known.” He sighed and shook his head. “I was called away on urgent business.”

  I inwardly snorted, wondering when people started calling lap dances urgent business.

  “Did you follow me?”

  His eyes widened just a fraction.

  “Pardon?”

  “I said, did you follow me? How did you know where I went to lunch?”

  “The urgent business. I saw you go in when I was uh… travelling to the meeting.”

  I raised my eyebrows slightly. The fact that The Sugar Shack was pretty close to where Walter worked was just putting another nail in the coffin. Not that I should care, in fact it should be a healthy dose of reality. A cold shower to the emotions that will help me endure the future.

  “Urgent business huh?”

  Okay so I really didn't care. Not in the slightest. I wasn't supposed to know about the contents of the parcels and it was killing me that I did know and couldn't call him on it.

  “How far did you follow me?”

  “Just until you went in, I couldn't be late.”

  Damn it, no wonder I hadn't seen him go in. He was already there.

  “Well I got my lunch and ate it elsewhere. I don't know why you're worried about the barista, he's not my type. He was talking to the other guy that was in there, while I was waiting for my lunch I overheard him telling him about what he did last night. He went to a strip joint and he's got a girlfriend who doesn't know. I think it's wrong, don't you? She's elsewhere thinking he's doing something that was a lie and really he's at a club with naked chicks putting their business in his face. I'm not into that kind of guy, you know the kind of guy that thinks it's okay to drool over half naked women, treating his girlfriend as if she's an idiot. I can't stand men like that.”

  The color had drained from his face and I turned and walked away. Where the little speech had come from I don't know but at least I didn't tell him what I knew. I could hear his quickened footsteps behind me, I wasn't walking fast but I had a few steps on him before his mind must have finally clicked into gear. He had been quietly calling out to me, stopping when anyone got too close. Dorian followed me into the mail room and I took a deep breath, reciting my mantra. I knew nothing. I don't know what was in the parcel. I know nothing about a free lap dance at a strip club. He was in a meeting.

  “Did I do something wrong?”

  “No.”

  “I'm sorry about lunch, I had to go and get Eva's medicine.” He sighed. “It's a prescription drug that only I can sign for. I was back by twelve thirty, if I had known where you were we could have still….”

  As I realized that I was wrong about his whereabouts I turned and looked at him, he shrugged with an apologetic smile.

  “What's wrong with Eva?”

  “Uh, she's… she's got a blood disease. Quite rare.”

  Suddenly I was hit with a wave of realization. Hiroki, blood specialist. He was here for Eva. Maybe the whole first floor was here for Eva. Maybe they had nothing to do with the information that I needed. Damn it, that will set things back a few days while I reassess a new target.

  “Is she okay?” I continued.

  Dorian shrugged.

  “Not a doctor, don't know.” He mumbled as he pulled a chair out and sat down.

  Dorian pulled my hand making me straddle him on the chair. As I sat on his lap he pushed my tight skirt up my legs, resting his hands on my backside. His lips traced over mine, his eyes lit up with wicked delight. I wrapped my arms around his neck enjoying the slow and needful kiss. His fingers made their way under the material, gripping the edge of my thighs. He was such a tease, his fingers were so close yet so far, he would move them slightly and it would be enough to tease a whimper out of me.

  “I have an offer for you Miss Ryan.” He whispered against the skin of my neck. “A change of duties. Come Monday I will be in need of a new receptionist and as much as you would be too much of a distraction, I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather have.”

  My eyes widened as he kissed his way over my sternum, his hands had moved over my body and were now undoing the buttons.

  “But the mail?” I gasped as he cupped my breast. “Who will deliver the mail?”

  “Why do you care?” He pulled the material of my shirt away, exposing the lace of my bra. “The promotion means more money, better conditions and best of all, you get to hang out with me.”

  I looked down, his smile was wicked as he pulled back the lace and licked the skin. A flurry of sensations jolted to my head, I gasped and his free hand was back on my backside and pushing me against him.

  “Dorian.” I breathed heavily.

  “Accept the offer Kasey.”

  “God yes.” I gasped loudly.

  Dorian chuckled and pulled the lace over my breast, the other hand slapped my backside.

  “Back to work you bad girl.”

  I jumped slightly, feeling the soft sting of his touch.

  “You can't leave me like this. I won't be able to work properly.”

  “Imagine how I feel.” He grinned. “Oh look, you can.”

&
nbsp; He grabbed my hand and put it between us, feeling the pressure of hardened fabric. I traced along the line, feeling the heat in my cheeks. Dorian's breathing had become heavier, his eyes closed for a moment. When they opened again they blazed with need, the green of his eyes were dark. His mouth was open slightly as he enjoyed the attention.

  “Tonight will be so much fun.”

  “Now would be even more fun.”

  Dorian was about to say something when the rattle of the garage door opening echoed through the room. I rolled my eyes and got off him, pulling my skirt down.

  “Tease.” I whispered with a smile.

  “You know it.”

  Chapter 28: No selfies allowed

  Bobby pushed a cart into the room, offering a smile under the gruff beard. The door rattled its way down and I was left with the feeling of being watched. I turned and saw Dorian standing at the end of the corridor, adjusting his tie with a wicked glint in his eye.

  “Do not touch yourself. I own your pleasure.”

  “Excuse me?” I frowned at him.

  “You heard me. No touching unless I tell you to.”

  I was dumbstruck, wondering when it was that we had that conversation. Since when did he own my pleasure?

  “Now, I think I need to go and see Mrs Cooper about the new employee.”

  “She'll think I've screwed my way to the top.” I muttered petulantly.

  Dorian chuckled.

  “Well not yet, maybe later.” He grinned wickedly. “And I already told her that you weren't going to be in the mail room for long. She has her contingency plan already on his way. You'll have to ensure he's trained before we leave this afternoon.”

  “Are you mad? A few hours.” I scoffed rather frustrated. “It took Jack all day to train me.”

  Dorian pouted at me as he straightened his jacket.

  “Fine.” I folded my arms with indignation.