by Leddy Harper
“That guy who had his hands on you a second ago. Don’t play dumb with me; you know exactly who I’m talking about.” That was enough to make me pause and listen to her explanation.
“Who, Finn?” She hitched her thumb over her shoulder, as if she knew I was standing not far from her. “He’s nobody, just someone I met last week when I interviewed him to be my assistant. And he didn’t have his hands on me. He stopped to make sure I had a ride home. What the hell are you even doing here?”
Oddly enough, hearing her call me a nobody stung, but I brushed it off considering the circumstances. I doubted it’d do any good to rush over and introduce myself as her new assistant, especially since she’d made it sound like she hadn’t hired me.
He stepped closer to her and dropped his arms by his sides, his hands balling into fists. “You haven’t responded to any of my texts all night. You haven’t even read them, so I knew something was up. I came down here to see for myself.”
From the sounds of it, I assumed this loser was an ex of hers. And based on the possessiveness he demonstrated, it appeared he hadn’t taken the break-up very well.
One of Mady’s friends nudged her way between them, clearly not afraid of him. “You seriously came all the way down here at two o’clock in the morning to try to catch Mady doing something wrong…all because she didn’t return your texts?”
The light from the front of the club highlighted the deep crease along his brow and constant tics in his jaw, his anger seemingly turning to rage. I’d been known to get jealous from time to time, but I’d never gone as far as this guy. It was enough to put me on edge. I was worried about just how far he’d take it, especially since Mady wasn’t doing anything other than standing on the sidewalk with her friends, waiting for their driver to pick them up.
“Stay out of this, Finn,” Kyle whispered from over my shoulder. It was then that I realized he had a hard grip on my bicep, as if trying to hold me back from going after the prick. “It’s not your fight.”
He was a good friend—always had been, and always would be. He knew me better than anyone, and because of that, he should’ve known he wouldn’t be able to stop me from interjecting—if it came to that. And since I knew him better than anyone, I knew that he wouldn’t let me get my ass kicked, which only gave me more confidence to break it up if need be.
“No, Kyle, I won’t leave until I know she’s all right.”
He huffed, well aware that there was nothing he could do to change my mind.
I refocused my attention on the scene playing out less than twenty feet away, just in time to see the guy turn his wrath from Mady to her friend, who had come to her defense. “This doesn’t concern you, Nellie. Got it?”
Suddenly, he grabbed Mady by the arm and attempted to pull her away, mumbling something I couldn’t hear over the frantic commotion coming from her friends. Kyle didn’t bother trying to stop me. In fact, as soon as that jackass put his hands on Mady, Kyle released his hold on me.
I had tunnel vision as I charged toward the small crowd, my sight zeroing in on the prick who thought he had the right to manhandle a woman half his size. At that point, it didn’t matter if I knew her or not, I wouldn’t stand for any female to be mistreated.
As if on autopilot, I gripped his shoulder and pushed him back a step, forcing him to release Mady. And through gritted teeth, I quietly—and as calmly as possible—seethed, “Get. The fuck. Away. From. Her.”
What happened next was as much of a surprise to me as it seemed to be to the four women behind me. One second, I was pulling the asshole away from Mady, and the next, I had him pinned against the wall outside the club. He had maybe two or three inches on me in height, but that didn’t faze me. Neither did the size of his muscles as they stretched the sleeves of his shirt or the pulsing vein in his thick neck.
At first glance, anyone would assume that I wouldn’t stand a chance against this guy. It was obvious he was a gym rat, yet I was never one to let that deter me. I was used to guys like him—meatheads who underestimated those of us who didn’t spend hours of our days lifting weights. What he didn’t know, though, was that I had experience. I may have worn a few extra pounds around my waist and lacked the muscle definition he clearly sported, but I’d spent my whole life dealing with his kind.
I hadn’t lost many of those fights, and of the few assholes I hadn’t won against, they at least learned to leave me alone. Nevertheless, whenever it came to defending a woman, I walked away the victor every fucking time.
And this would be no different.
He did a lot of grunting and shit-talking—none of which I paid attention to—as he tried to fight me off. And when he failed to immediately knock me to the ground, it seemed to increase his anger even more. Which, of course, fueled my fire and egged me on.
“Don’t you ever touch her like that again. You hear me?” I growled into his ear while I held him to the wall with my forearm against his neck.
He responded by jabbing his fist into my side, just below my ribcage. There wasn’t enough force behind the punch to hurt, but it was hard enough to make me lower my arm, essentially freeing himself. It’d given him enough room to drop his arm back, ready to swing at me—a foolish move in any fight. It was typical of those who looked the part of a fighter without any real-life experience. They didn’t realize that it gave away the element of surprise, which allowed their opponent to beat them to the punch. Literally.
Before he could finish his “powerful” swing, my fist had already met his face. The gasps around me—caused by Mady, her friends, and whoever else had gathered to watch the brawl—had successfully muted the crunching sound of my knuckles slamming into bone and flesh. I knew he not only felt it, but he heard it, too.
He turned to the side, covered the side of his face with both hands, and curled into a standing fetal position. “Only pussies put their hands on women.” I towered over him, fully prepared for him to stand up and take another swing at me. “Next time, be a fucking a man and pick on someone your own size.”
Just as I was about to spit on the prick, someone came up from behind me and pulled me away by my arm. “Come on, Finn. That’s enough. Let’s get out of here before someone calls the cops.” I didn’t have to turn around to know it was Kyle coming to keep me out of trouble—or, should I say, more trouble than I’d already gotten myself into.
I gave in and backed away, but as soon as I caught the sight of Mady, her eyes wide in fear, mouth agape, hand firmly pressing against her chest, I stopped. I crossed the few feet that stood between us and gently cradled her arm to study it in the light from the front of the club.
“Are you okay?” I asked while regarding her, watching for any sign that she was hurt and praying she wasn’t afraid of me. When all I got from her was a blank stare and stiff nod, I huffed a sigh and dropped my head, breaking our eye contact. “I’m really sorry about that, Mady. I didn’t mean to let it get that out of control. It’s just…seeing a man put his hands on a girl…” I lifted my chin and met her stare once more. “I don’t deal well with that.”
“That’s okay. Thank you.”
I continued to hold her stare, hoping she’d say more, but she never did. Finally, one of her friends called out, “Our car’s here,” interrupting our moment. I wasn’t ready for it to end, but I knew we both needed to leave before the authorities showed up and we spent all night dealing with reports and giving statements.
“You should probably get out of here,” I whispered, not taking my eyes off hers. “I’ll see you on Monday, though. Take care, Mady.”
A forced smile briefly crossed her face, and it broke my heart. It was nothing like the ones she’d given me before; it was the kind of smile I wished to never see again. I wanted the ones brought about by humor or mild embarrassment, not fear.
“All right. See you then.” She stepped away, allowing her girls to lead her to the minivan that had pulled along the curb.
And then she was gone.
I glanced
over my shoulder, noticing that the loser had already moved along, and then headed back down the sidewalk with Kyle, neither of us speaking until we reached the crosswalk. And somehow, I knew his first question would be, “So, who is she?”
I shook my head and waited for the sign to let me know it was okay to cross the street. “She’s that Instagrammer I was telling you about. The one who was looking for an assistant.”
“Did you find her one?”
“I guess you can say that.” I shrugged and glanced his way. “You’re looking at him.”
“Wait…” The light switched, the word “walk” blinking from across the street. He stumbled at first and then caught up to me, slapping the back of my shoulder as he tried to get more out of me. “You? I didn’t even know you applied for the job. Why the hell would you do that if you already have one? And she hired you? Why the fuck am I just now hearing about this?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Sometimes, he was worse than a woman. He didn’t care too much for gossip, but he did enjoy getting an earful of the entertaining parts of my life, and apparently, he found my new job as Mady’s assistant entertainment.
“She just hired me this week, and I knew you’d give me shit for it.”
“What?” He pressed his hand to his chest and did his best impression of being offended. “Me? Give you shit for being some YouTuber’s bitch? That doesn’t sound like me at all. But if I’m going to be accused of it… So, what will you be doing? Walking around with a mirror so she can ensure she’s perfect whenever she wants? Do you have to learn how to do hair and makeup? Oh! Let me guess…you have to tell her how amazing she is every ten minutes.”
“You’re such an ass. This is exactly why I didn’t say anything to you.”
Unfortunately, he didn’t stop. “What are the perks of the job? Do you get to help her change her clothes? Maybe give her a hand while she steps into her panties? Although, I bet she doesn’t wear any.”
“Seriously, Kyle. That’s enough.” His words were starting to grate on my last nerve and piss me off. “Don’t talk about her that way.”
“Oh…you like her.”
It took everything in me not to walk away and find my own ride. “I don’t like her. I don’t really even know her. But that doesn’t mean I’m okay with listening to people talk shit about her, especially after what just happened.”
“Well, after you get to know her, then can we make fun of her?” He nudged me with his elbow, but I ignored it. “Come on, man. It’s too easy. Not to mention, you always have something to say about Kardashian wannabes. What’s so different about this one?”
“She’s my boss,” I said as we approached his wife’s car.
I climbed into the backseat and closed my eyes. I wasn’t dumb enough to think this conversation was over, but at least I knew I’d get a reprieve for the time being. His wife wouldn’t allow him to poke fun at another woman.
Marissa was the type of woman I wished I had. But Kyle had nabbed her in college, and I doubted there was another like her, which was part of the reason I’d remained single since my divorce. That, and my last relationship didn’t leave me with much hope. There was something that could be said about your wife waking up one morning and realizing she could do better.
Too bad my standards were so high when it came to women.
I didn’t get nervous very often, but as I walked into Starbucks to meet Mady for my first day of work, my chest tightened, my throat constricted, and my hands were so clammy I worried I’d soak anything I touched.
I hadn’t seen or heard from her since leaving the club Saturday night. No phone call, email, or text. Not that I’d reached out to her, either. But still. For the first time in over a decade, I was riddled with anxiety at the thought of seeing a girl.
Where the fuck did my confidence go?
I told myself that my fear was more about her reaction to the altercation than actually seeing her. All I could think about was the look on her face after I’d slugged that douchebag for touching her. I didn’t even know who he was—not that I cared. Her wide eyes, parted lips, and visibly shaking hands had haunted me over the past two nights. And the fear of losing my job before I even started had plagued my every waking moment since.
Shaking off the memory of that night, I searched the coffee shop for a certain brunette.
To my surprise, Mady was already at a table waiting for me. Thankfully, it was in the back corner. At least our conversation would mostly be private. I wasn’t sure if she’d want to talk about what happened, but I didn’t plan to let her make that decision. I had something to say, and if she wanted to change the subject once I’d gotten it out, then so be it.
“Hey, Mady…” I set my laptop bag on the table and then held onto the back of the chair across from her.
She glanced up from her phone and smiled, although it seemed forced.
I seriously hated forced smiles. Especially on her.
“Listen, about the other night…”
“It’s not a big deal, Finn.” She slid her cup of coffee closer to herself, as if it were somehow in my way. “It’s over and done with—no need to bring it up.”
Unfortunately for her, I didn’t let that deter me.
I lowered myself into the empty seat and regarded her with my arms crossed over my computer bag. “Well, it’s a big deal to me. I need you to know that you don’t have to worry that I’ll just go around starting fights. It’s really not who I am. But I’m also not the kind of guy who can ignore a woman being mistreated.”
She exhaled slowly and set her phone to the side. “The reason I don’t need an explanation is because I didn’t question your motivation. Coming to my defense doesn’t make you a bad guy. Now…if this becomes a habit, then I might have to reconsider that statement.” A coy smirk lifted one side of her mouth, and I internally sighed at the sight. “But until then, let’s just forget about Saturday night and move on. Okay?”
Even though I didn’t want to drop the subject—I had so many questions I wanted to ask—I nodded and agreed to let it go. For now. “Deal. Just as long as I don’t have to worry about whoever that was showing up again and causing more problems.”
“Oh, don’t you worry about that, Finn.” A full-blown smile now stretched her lips, which made my own twitch with the desire to mimic it. “We’ve officially broken up.”
Well, that answered one nagging question. Except it wasn’t enough to ease my curiosity; if anything, it piqued it. And no matter how hard I tried to bite my tongue, I couldn’t resist asking, “You mean you actually dated that asshole?”
Mady’s grin disappeared as she slowly shook her head. “Yeah, but not anymore. Obviously. As sucky as that was the other night, at least it gave me a good kick in the ass to dump him—something I should’ve done a while ago.”
While I was relieved to know she was no longer seeing that prick, the fact that she had in the first place bothered me. I hadn’t thought she was the type to date guys like him, but then again, I didn’t know her. Which was why it didn’t make any sense that I’d felt a little let down after hearing that they’d been together. It seemed I’d inadvertently put her up on a pedestal, and it wouldn’t be long before she came crashing down.
“Well, I’m here and ready for work.” I shook off my disappointment and pulled out my laptop. “Have you come up with a task list for me, or is that something we’ll figure out together?”
Mady quickly grabbed her phone off the table and tapped the screen a few times until she had her note app pulled up. “I thought of a few things, but since you’ll be the one performing the tasks—and you clearly know more than I do about what needs to be done—I figured I’d just explain everything and let you come up with your own list…if that’s okay.”
“Yup. Works for me.” I opened the document on my laptop that I’d started earlier. So far, I only had a few notes based on our earlier conversations and a couple of things I’d thought of after searching through her social media.
&nbs
p; “I pretty much need help with everything.” She shyly giggled, which once again left my head spinning. Mady Russo was a puzzle that I wasn’t certain could ever be solved. “And it can change on a daily basis, so I’m not sure what to put down since there are so many factors involved.”
“Makes sense.” My hands paused above the keys of my laptop, ready to type out anything of use. But she just kept spinning in circles instead of spitting out her actual needs. I let her ramble for another ten minutes before I broke in. “This is how I see things… You’ll need to communicate daily tasks to me, so we need to figure out how to accomplish that. It would make the most sense if I create a shared document that you can type in when things come up.”
She began to chew on her bottom lip, as if my suggestion had made her uneasy.
“If you don’t like that idea, we can set up a time every morning to go over the daily agenda. That can be done over the phone, so you wouldn’t even have to leave your house. Or if you come here every day, I can meet you and go over what you need me to do then. Whatever works best for you, Mady.”
“I don’t really see the point in meeting daily. Seems unnecessary, if I’m being honest.” Her eyes darted around the room, and I feared she’d bolt at any moment. Why was this so hard for her? My attempt to come up with a simple task list seemed to set her into a tailspin. “But I guess a phone call every morning could work.”
Finally, we were getting somewhere. “Well, I still think we should have a shared document so you can see what I’ve done, what I haven’t gotten to yet, what I need from you, etcetera. As well as a shared calendar. That way, we both know exactly what’s going on. It will eliminate a lot of the initial confusion before we find our rhythm.”
Her smile didn’t appear to be forced, yet it wasn’t the easy, genuine kind I’d grown used to. Then she shrugged and added, “If you say so. I’ll just follow your lead since I’m new to this, and you’re not.”
We spent the next couple of hours going over the day-to-day operations of her business, as well as her goals and dreams. I needed to know where she wanted to go in order to help map out a way to get her there. It was obvious she didn’t want to remain stagnant, so I needed to know everything, all the way down to her craziest desire for her brand. And by the time we finished, I had a good idea of what I had to do.