“I have to say that I’m impressed,” she continued.
“Impressed?” I asked, confused.
“Of all the men out there, you land Shyam Sethi! He has a reputation for being a hard ass. You cracked his shell!” She pounded on the table with her fist.
“I didn’t ‘land’ him. I don’t even know what we are. One minute, he can’t keep his hands off me, and the next minute, he seems cold and distant.” I sighed.
I finished off my second old fashioned, the liquid warming my belly on its way down. Nat motioned for the bartender to refill our drinks. I really wasn’t a drinker, but I had been sulking at home all week and needed to numb some of my worry. It worked—all that liquor and no dinner had quickly gone to my head and made me willing to unload the drama I had been keeping secret.
“Your boss obviously likes you, if he made out with you on your first day.” Nat nudged my arm with her elbow before taking a large swig of her beer.
Hearing her say that made me feel cheap, like I was just a piece of ass that Shyam had hired to mess around with on the side. I knew he had said he needed my help to track Tarun, but I couldn’t share that part with Nat. Still, I didn’t want anyone thinking I was fucking, or technically not-fucking, the boss for a job.
Sensing my irritation, she grabbed my hand. “Babe, that’s not what I meant. You’re fucking smart and you deserve this chance in your career. He would have been a damn fool not to hire you. I just meant that it sounds like he feels the same way about you as you do about him. I saw how he looked at you at the club. There’s something there.”
I sighed loudly. “I just wish we could have an honest discussion about what we are. I get too nervous to ask. And he’s not much of a talker, either.”
“That’s because he’s too busy sticking his tongue down your throat,” she teased.
I pretended to be appalled and pulled my hand away from hers to smack her arm. “Nat!” That part was kind of true, though. And it sure was a nice tongue to have down one’s throat.
We both giggled, too tipsy to care about how loud we were.
“But seriously, Mel. Being a woman in tech is enough of a struggle. Play the game and use this to your advantage. He hired you because of your brains. It’s so hard for girls like us to make it in this industry. Don’t let this fling you have with him ruin your career. I don’t know him personally, but men with power like him have a way of using women to get what they want. You have a great opportunity at Sethi Tech, and I’d hate to see it thrown away because he got bored and found another girl. Be careful. Only get involved if you’re sure he feels the same way as you and he’s willing to commit to being in a relationship.”
Working for Shyam was a big opportunity in my career. I could pretty much have any job I wanted with Sethi Tech on my resumé. I couldn’t let my attraction to him get in the way of what I had worked so hard for.
As for the criminal activities he was asking me to be a part of, I would need something worth a lot more than a great salary and benefits to do what he was asking of me. If the police were in his pocket, the likelihood of getting caught was low. However, I was more concerned with my moral standing.
Nat was right. This industry was a game, and I had to play it smart to make it big. I could put this job on my resumé and settle into an executive position at another tech giant on the West Coast, closer to home. I could financially support Mom so she could retire. I was willing to forego my morals if it meant I could take care of my mom for the rest of her life. The opportunity was staring right at me from a silver platter, and all I had to do was take it.
The bartender interrupted us with a new pair of drinks before I could respond to Nat.
“We didn’t order these,” I protested. My voice came out unsteady. It sounded different to my ears. The alcohol was definitely getting to me.
“They’re on us.” I froze and turned my head just enough to see two guys approaching us from behind.
“I’m Rob,” said the tall one with perfectly styled blond hair as he perched on the stool next to Nat.
“And I’m Josh,” said the shorter guy with sandy-brown hair.
“I’m Natalie, and this is Amelia,” she said as she placed her hand into Rob’s for a handshake that lasted longer than it should have. She was into this guy. I could tell from the way she batted her eyelashes and tucked her hair behind her ear after Rob released her hand.
I shook Josh’s hand out of politeness. His grasp was cold and foreign to my skin. I quickly pulled my hand back.
“So, what are you ladies up to tonight?” Rob asked as he leaned in closer toward Nat.
“Not much. Just catching up with a little girl talk,” Nat flirted back.
“I love when girls talk, especially in bed,” Josh chimed in. Jesus, he’s cheesy.
Sensing our girls’ night was officially over, I was ready to go home. I had had too much to drink already and didn’t want to sit around and make awkward small talk with horny guys. I stood up from my stool and threw some money onto the bar to close my tab. “Actually, I was just about to head home.”
“How about I escort you, then?” Josh stood up too.
“Awww, Mel. Come on. Stay a little longer!” Nat pressed. Rob whispered something into her ear, and she giggled. They were soon lost in a conversation of their own.
“No, really. I’ll be fine. I live nearby,” I said hastily, hoping it would convince him not to follow me. I didn’t like the idea of a stranger walking me home.
“It’s okay. I don’t mind. I’d love to get to know you better,” Josh said as he placed his hand on the small of my back. I didn’t like how it felt. It wasn’t like when Shyam touched me. I only wanted his hands on me.
I stepped away from Josh’s touch. “I need to use the restroom,” I blurted out, then turned on my heel and walked quickly away.
In my periphery, I saw a couple of large and beefy men sitting at a table in the back of the room. They wore short-sleeved shirts and had tattoos covering the exposed skin on their arms and necks. This bar was usually frequented by millennials who worked at one of the office jobs around the area. These men looked out of place because they seemed a lot older and were dressed like bouncers at a club.
One of the men followed me with his gaze as I continued walking. I felt my heartrate speed up. Maybe I was just being paranoid because I was drunk. The alcohol was surely altering my mind.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and lowered my eyes to the screen to avoid his stare. I brought up the number I wanted to dial.
I stopped in front of the bathrooms and rested my back against the wall. My finger hovered over the phone icon on my screen. Inhaling a deep breath, I pressed it.
XIV. Shyam
I sat back in my chair with my scotch in hand. Jai sat across from me on a loveseat with a girl on his lap. She rolled her hips to the beat of the music. Her large tits were out, bouncing in his face as she moved and gyrated. Jai pulled the side of her G-string away and slipped a hundred-dollar bill close to her skin, then let go of the fabric, causing it to snap against her hip and eliciting an excited squeal from her. Our men scattered around the private suite chuckled, which invited more topless women to dance their way over to them.
Jai noticed my indifference. “What’s up with you? Got somewhere else to be?” he said over the shoulder of his girl.
I ignored his smart-ass mouth and swirled the amber liquid in my glass. He liked to provoke me, just like any typical younger brother.
“Thinking about your redhead?” he kept jabbing.
“Don’t you have your hands full right now?” I asked, nodding toward his hands gripping his girl’s ass cheeks as she stroked her hips back and forth on his lap. “Shut your mouth, or I’ll break your jaw.” I meant it.
“Ouch. Someone’s protective over his new toy.” He had a stupid mocking grin plastered onto his face. “By the way, since when do we secretly hire new executives and give them huge-ass offices without consulting each other? Because I’m
thinking of hiring Lucy here to be our new VP of Research and Development and giving her the office right next to mine.” He slapped her ass cheeks hard as she cackled loudly.
“It was necessary to hire Amelia. She is advantageous to tracking down what we need.” I was careful not to mention Tarun’s name, just in case he tried to bribe any of the girls for information.
“I’m not complaining. She’s a hot piece of ass that I don’t mind seeing around the office.” He tilted his head back and closed his eyes, as if replaying images of her in his mind.
I clenched my fist, ready to punch him in the face to get him to stop daydreaming of her.
“Now that I think of it, I haven’t seen her around all week. Why is that?” he asked, opening his eyes and raising an eyebrow at me.
“She is reconsidering what I asked of her. She does not want to get caught up in anything…immoral,” I replied.
I hadn’t heard from her yet, so I wasn’t sure of her decision. She was sweet and innocent. I understood why she hadn’t taken the information I had shared with her well. I had offered her the opportunity to help us or walk away from the company. Walking away would probably be best for her. She had signed an NDA, so I knew she wouldn’t share any of the information that she had learned. Still, I couldn’t help feeling agitated whenever I considered the idea of her leaving.
“Let her go. We’ll just have one of our guys take over the new feature,” Jai said.
“She knows it best. It would be in our best interest to have her on board.” If she didn’t call me soon, I’d have to pay a visit to her apartment to convince her otherwise. Perhaps it would be more fun if she didn’t call me.
“Forget about her for tonight,” he told me. “Tara, my brother needs to loosen up,” he said to one of the girls dancing near me.
I took a sip from my glass and let the smooth liquid warm my throat. Tara slinked her way to my seat. Her long black hair flowed past her fake tits and ended right above her belly-button piercing. Her body shimmered in the darkness from glitter or whatever she had used to highlight her skin.
She licked her lips as she neared me and swung her foot over my lap and onto the side of the seat of my chair, exposing her inner thigh to me. I was enveloped in a cloud of cheap perfume that smelled overly sweet, like cotton candy. She bent over her knee slightly while arching her back and slid her hands from her calves up to the top of her legs. One of her hands lingered over her G-string and pressed against her pussy through the fabric as she moved to the music.
Just then, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and stared at the screen in surprise. Amelia. I rose from my chair, pushing Tara off me as I walked to the hallway outside of the suite. I answered on the second ring.
“This is Shyam.” There was no response from the other end, just a lot of noise, like she was in a busy place with a lot of people. But I knew she was there because I heard her breathing over the phone.
After a beat, she spoke. “I want a letter of recommendation.” Her voice wavered as she said it, not sounding anything like the sweet purr that I was used to hearing from her. She sounded like she had been drinking.
“What?” I asked gruffly, annoyed that she was out somewhere, drunk.
“I want a letter of recommendation in return for helping you track down Tarun.” Her voice carried stronger this time. She’d made her decision, and I felt relieved. But it wasn’t smart of her to use Tarun’s name in public. Prying ears were everywhere in the underworld. She should have known better after seeing the map of data in the computer lab.
“Where are you?” I changed the subject to keep her from exposing anything further than she already had.
“A hallway,” she answered hesitantly.
I smirked to myself, remembering the last time I found her in a hallway. “Bad things happen to girls who spend time in hallways.”
“Only when bad men find them in those hallways,” she breathed into the phone. She remembered too.
“Jaan.” Dear. “I’m the baddest of them all. Tell me. Where is this hallway?” She shouldn’t have been out and intoxicated. Any jerk could take advantage of her in a vulnerable state.
“In a bar,” she answered coyly.
I could already tell I wasn’t going to get specifics out of her, but I asked anyway. “Where?”
“I’m not telling you.” It was cute that she thought she could keep anything from me. I had my own ways of finding out what I needed to know.
“Stay there,” I commanded her and hung up before she could argue.
I tracked her location using Sethi Tech tracking software and found her at a bar not too far from her apartment. I was certain she’d try to walk home inebriated and put herself at risk for assault.
I left the club through the private back entrance. The valet brought my car around. I shifted gears and sped away into the New York night.
XV. Amelia
“Stay there.” Click. The line went dead.
Shit. Why did I have a feeling that he was tracking my location at this very moment? Soon, he’d show up here and I’d lose all the nerve I had built up just to make that phone call. One look at him and I knew I’d lose my resolve to hold out for my demands.
A text popped up on my screen. Are you okay? It was Nat. I must have been gone for a while if she was worried.
I tapped my reply to her. All good. Just needed a breather.
Oh, OK. I’m going to head out with Rob. Want me to walk you home first?
No. I’m OK. Go ahead. Have fun.
K. Luv you! XOXO
Luv you, too!
I had forgotten to ask if Josh was still out there too. I really didn’t feel like seeing him again.
I returned to the bar and glanced around the area. No Josh. Now I just needed to avoid Shyam too. I grabbed my coat from the barstool and wrapped it around myself over my black tank top and skinny jeans, then stepped outside into the brisk night to make my way home before Shyam showed up.
A black sports car with tinted windows drove up to the curb in front of the bar. The driver’s side door opened, and a tall and tanned figure stepped out. Too late. Shyam made his way around the front of the car and stalked toward me.
God, he looked good. His black collared shirt hugged his tight muscles. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing his muscular forearms. Dark jeans hung low on his hips. My eyes lazily roamed just below his hips to his crotch. I realized too late that I was gawking and quickly righted my gaze up to his face. A knowing smirk lit up his sexy face. This man was a fucking Indian god, and he knew it.
“Get in,” he ordered as he opened the passenger-side door.
“I can walk home.” I continued walking past him. Since the universe wouldn’t allow me to preserve my ego around this man, I stumbled on a chunk of uneven pavement.
His hands quickly grabbed me before my butt met the sidewalk. “You’re drunk. Get in the car. Now.”
“I live one block over. I’ll be fine,” I said as I found enough balance to stand on my own.
“I don’t take well to repeating myself. Get your ass in the car before I put you inside.”
I sighed in resignation. Fine. I walked back to the car and sulked into the seat. Shyam got into the driver’s seat and put the car in drive. He drove in silence, with his hand gripping the gearshift. His frustration with me showed in the white of his knuckles.
When we were alongside the front of my building, Shyam didn’t stop the car. He kept driving past it.
“Hey! We missed my building,” I said, pointing backward.
He stayed silent.
I raised my voice to get his attention. “Stop! Where are you going?”
“Somewhere to sober you up,” he said, his eyes still focused on the road.
I stopped arguing, knowing that it was pointless to do so with Shyam. Turning my head to peer out of the passenger window, I took in the high rises and the soft glow of the New York City lights. They hypnotized me, steadying my thoughts. I felt myself drift of
f with the gentle vibration of the car and surrendered to the effects of the alcohol. The smell of cologne and tobacco soothed me to sleep.
I didn’t know how long I had slept for, but when I awoke, the city lights I was accustomed to had disappeared. There were no buildings in sight, nor pedestrians walking on the street. The road was dark and eerie. Trees lined it, but instead of looking peaceful and welcoming, they seemed foreboding and haunting.
We approached a massive metal gate. It was impenetrable. Shyam braked the car, and the gate slid open, allowing us passage. Large flood lights lit the driveway to what looked like a fortress. It was basically a cement building with darkened windows, no ornate architecture or elaborate landscaping.
Power: Power Series #1 Page 7