A Reclusive Heart

by R. L. Mathewson

  and the paparazzi descended on her. After a quick one minute search she realized that her phone wasn’t in her bag.

  “When did they fire you?”

  “Probably after they realized your books sucked.”

  “Need help? Guess you can’t call your family,” someone shouted.

  Jamie hugged her bag to her chest and tried to walk away, but they wouldn’t let her. Anytime she tried to move away they shifted to block her. When she tried to fake left and go right she was knocked down and before she could get back up she found about a dozen people standing over her, yelling questions that she’d rather not think about as they documented her humiliation.

  She tried to stand up, but no one would budge an inch, forcing her to curl up into herself and bury her face against her knees as they continued shouting their questions and knocking into her as they shoved each other to get the perfect shot.

  As she was stepped on, kicked, humiliated and screamed at she couldn’t help but wish that she had some chocolate and Nick’s arms around her as the first embarrassing tear streamed down her cheek. Thankfully she had her face buried against her knees so the cameras missed it, but that didn’t stop them from trying to get some kind of a reaction from her.

  ******

  “I’d love to make you dinner tonight, Nick,” Mandy, Sandy or was her name Chrissy? said as she leaned in a little too close for his comfort, forcing him to sit back in his chair and shift away from her as he shot the empty chair by Rick’s side another glance.

  Where the hell was she?

  She should have been here by now. In fact, she should have been here an hour ago, but the woman was a no show. He called her apartment, thinking that she’d run back because she’d forgotten something, but she hadn’t picked up. She wasn’t answering her cell phone either and now he was really starting to worry about her.

  “Nick?” the woman said with a hint of a whine to her voice when he didn’t answer her right away.

  “I have to catch an early flight in the morning,” he said absently as he turned to shoot another glance at the boardroom’s closed double doors.

  “That’s okay. I don’t mind giving you a ride,” she said in a husky whisper that left absolutely no doubt in his mind about what she really meant.

  “Not interested,” he said, not even bothering to soften the blow as he sent another questioning look to Rick, who wore a grim expression as he shook his head no. Great, his little recluse hadn’t called Rick to let him know why she was running late.

  “What do you mean you’re not interested?” the woman demanded, but Nick was barely paying attention to her as he stood up and headed for the door. He didn’t need to look back to know that Rick was right behind him.

  “The morning meeting is canceled. Please return to your duties,” Rick said as Nick pulled his phone out and tried to call Jamie one last time.

  “Are you sure she was coming in today?” Rick asked as they stepped in front of the elevator.

  “Positive,” he said, hitting the call button repeatedly with a little too much force.

  “Any idea what could be keeping her?” Rick asked.

  “Not a clue,” he said, regretting leaving her on her own. He should have insisted that she drive with him, but he hadn’t wanted to give the office gossips anything to talk about.

  “Fuck this,” he snapped when the elevator didn’t move fast enough. He made his way to the stairwell, glaring at anyone that got in his way. Three minutes later they were downstairs in the busy foyer, searching for her.

  “Do you see her?” Rick asked.

  “No,” he said, barely biting back the urge to put his fist through a wall.

  Where the hell was she?

  “Let’s check outside,” Rick said, already heading in the direction of the monitored glass doors. As they moved to step outside the two large guards Rick had posted at the door stepped aside, revealing a large group of paparazzi going nuts not twenty feet from the building.

  “Police are on their way, sir,” one of the guards informed Rick, but the man didn’t seem to be listening as he moved towards the crowd.

  A feeling of dread twisted his stomach as he followed after Rick. When he heard some of the questions being yelled he moved faster, shoving anyone that got in his way aside as he fought to find his little recluse. When he finally found her he felt his heart break and his teeth grind.

  “Please just leave me alone,” she begged, her voice breaking on a sob as she buried her face against her knees.

  He didn’t hesitate as he bent down and scooped her up in his arms. At first she went rigid and moved to push away from him, but then she looked up and saw him and her body relaxed as she buried her tear soaked face against his shirt.

  “Is this your boyfriend?”

  “Are you using her for her money?” a woman demanded as she snapped their picture, but he ignored them all as he shouldered his way through the crowd.

  Thankfully Rick stepped in front of him and cleared the path.

  When they reached the front doors one of the large guards noticeably swallowed. “She didn’t have a pass and wasn’t on the list,” he explained.

  “Did she ask you to call us?” Rick asked in a cold even voice. When the man nodded Rick didn’t even hesitate in saying, “Then you’re fired.” It probably saved the man from a trip to the hospital. That and he wasn’t about to put his little recluse down.

  As Jamie trembled in his arms he followed a very somber Rick to the elevators.

  “Are you okay?” he asked softly, wishing for Jamie’s sake that everyone would stop staring at them so that she could calm down.

  “I-I could really use some chocolate right about now,” she said softly, sniffling.

  “I’ll hunt down the biggest chocolate bar I can find. How does that sound?” he asked soothingly as he stepped into the elevator after Rick.

  She sniffled as she thought it over. “C-can I have two?”

  “Yes.”

  “A-and a Coke?” she asked, sounding hopeful, but no less pathetic as she continued to sniffle and shake in his arms.

  He sighed heavily as he pointedly ignored the questioning look Rick was sending their way. “Fine, you little sugar addict. You can have a Coke.”

  “Can I have two?”

  “No,” he said, knowing that she’d regret consuming that much sugar at once.

  “You’re mean,” she grumbled even as she snuggled closer in his arms.

  “Uh huh,” he said, adjusting her in his arms as he waited to arrive at their floor.

  “Take her to my office,” Rick said, but Nick had no intention of listening to the man. He wanted to take Jamie to his office where he could take care of her.

  “I’ll take her to mine. We have a few things to go over,” he said, hoping Rick would just drop it and let him have some time with his little recluse.

  “I need to talk to her about a few things,” Rick stubbornly pointed out.

  “We can talk about them in my office,” Nick argued just as his little recluse started to struggle for freedom in his arms.

  “Um, guys? I can walk to my own office,” she said, drawing his attention. He looked down at her tear streaked face and noted the deep blush burning her cheeks.

  Of course she was embarrassed, he realized feeling like an idiot.

  His little recluse embarrassed too damn easily. He also knew how hard she tried to blend in and go unnoticed and being carried in the office by him wasn’t going to help. With a great deal of reluctance he set her down on her feet.

  “Better?” he asked, pushing her lose hair back behind her shoulders.

  “Much better,” she mumbled, hugging her bag tightly to her chest.

  He watched as she threw Rick a nervous look. “Is there a morning meeting?”

  “No, not this morning,” Rick said, giving her a reassuring smile.

  “Alright then,” she said, straightening up as the elevator came to a stop.

  “Then if either of you
gentlemen need me I’ll be in my office,” she said, shifting anxiously as she let out a slow breath.

  She was nervous and there was nothing he could do for her. He hated this.

  He hated having to pretend that he didn’t care to protect both of their reputations, but if he still wanted to have a job by the end of the day then he had to. He was her editor and technically her boss and sleeping with her was more than enough to get his ass canned.

  If he lost his job for fucking one of the clients his reputation wouldn’t be worth shit and he’d never work in this field again. He loved his job and what he did.

  He sure as hell didn’t want to start over again, but more importantly, he didn’t want to leave his little recluse to fend for herself. She needed him and as long as he was around he was going to protect her.

  When she stepped off the elevator only to look around nervously he had to stop himself from smiling since he knew that she wouldn’t appreciate that one bit.

  He stepped off the elevator to join her and waited a moment by her side for her to admit that she was lost, but of course she was too damn stubborn to admit that so he gave a strand of her beautiful strawberry blond hair a gentle tug to get her attention.

  “Your office is down that hall,” he said, gesturing to his right.

  “I knew that,” she said with a stubborn nod as she took off in that direction, hugging her bag tightly as she went. He sighed heavily as he watched her occasionally jump out of the way of someone who wasn’t watching where they were going and he knew without seeing her face that she apologized each and every time.

  It seemed they still had a few things to work on, he thought as he moved to follow her only to come up short when Rick stepped in front of him.

  “We need to talk,” the man said, not looking pleased at all.

  Chapter 22

  If she didn’t get a fix soon she was pretty sure she was going to die, Jamie thought as she shifted restlessly in her too firm leather chair as she tried uselessly to focus on the word document in front of her. She was supposed to be writing. Well, she assumed that’s what she was supposed to do since no one had told her differently. She was already caught up editing other writer’s manuscripts so that really left her with nothing to do but write.

  She checked her inbox, hoping that she’d find the email telling her that it was her to turn to write the next chapter, but so far nothing. This was the first time she’d ever collaborated with someone on a book and she had to admit that it was pretty fun. The story was enjoyable and she was really enjoying the twists and turns she had to keep up with. It was a challenge, one she loved and hoped to do again.

  After another minute she realized that staring at her inbox wasn’t exactly going to help so she turned her attention back to the chapter that she was working on, but her mind kept drifting to what happened outside not even an hour ago. As hard as she tried she couldn’t stop thinking about the things they’d said to her. Nick had warned her about the paparazzi and how cruel they could be to get what they wanted but it hadn’t prepared her at all.

  She really needed some chocolate and a Coke, but so far she hadn’t been able to track any down. When she asked around her questions were met with stares of horror and comments about carbs and diets. How could any woman function without chocolate? she wondered again. It really was unnatural.

  After a quick search of the vending machines on the floor and the break room she discovered much to her horror that everyone had been telling the truth. There wasn’t one single morsel of chocolate to be had. For all of ten seconds she considered sneaking out of the building and hitting the convenient store she spotted down the street, but she really didn’t want to deal with reporters again.

  A small knock at her door had her sitting up and nearly sighing with relief.

  Nick said he was going to find some chocolate for her and since he knew the lay of the land a heck of a lot better than her she figured that he’d have better luck finding some chocolate and hopefully that was him bringing her the much needed sustenance.

  “Come in,” she said, trying not to look too eager, for the chocolate or the man she wasn’t sure which one she needed more.

  When a pretty, tall brunette stepped into her office carrying a cardboard box she did her best to hide her disappointment. The woman placed the box on the corner of Jamie’s desk and with a smile explained, “This is all the mail we picked up from your apartment building while you were on tour.”

  “It’s all my mail?” she said, nearly pouting. Not only was there a lot of mail to sort through, but she had been kind of hoping that there was also some chocolate in there.

  “Yes, Miss. Harris. Is there anything else I can do for you?” the woman asked with a polite smile.

  “No, no thank you,” she mumbled, not at all looking forward to the task of sorting through all of it. Thankfully she’d set up her checking account to automatically pay all of her bills so she didn’t have to worry about those. As the woman quietly left she pulled the box closer to her, dreading every single minute of this chore. She hated sorting through junk mail.

  Not even thirty seconds into the dreaded chore she came across a letter.

  There was no address, but at least it wasn’t junk mail. She opened the letter and felt the air rush out of her lungs as her eyes widened. With a shaky hand she put the letter aside and practically dove through the rest of the mail, looking for any more letters. She found thirty-five letters in total, each one more gruesome and detailed than the last.

  Having absolutely no idea what to do, she placed the letters that made her sick to even look at into the box and headed out of her office, hoping to find Nick. He would know how to handle this, she decided even as she tried to shove away the urge to drop the box and finally make a run for it.

  ******

  “How’s the tour going?” Rick asked as handed him a glass of iced water.

  “It’s going really well,” Nick said, wondering when the man was going to get to the point. He didn’t have to wait long.

  “That kid isn’t going to sue,” Rick said as if Nick had really been worried. The kid got what he deserved for attacking Jamie. As far as he was concerned the kid was lucky to still be walking.

  “He attacked her,” Nick simply said.

  Rick nodded his agreement. “I’ve seen the pictures, but from what I understand it was part of a frat house scavenger hunt. He wasn’t trying to hurt her.”

  “I don’t care what it was for. He had no business putting his hands on her,”

  Nick explained calmly even though the memory of the asshole putting his lips on Jamie’s left him anything but calm.

  “You don’t think that you took things a little too far? You broke his jaw, Nick,” Rick said, sighing heavily as he sat in the chair across from him.

  Nick looked over and met his friends eyes as he asked, “If it had been Dana would you have done anything differently?” he asked, knowing the soft spot the man had for Dana Pierce. She was a sweet woman that they both cared deeply about. He also knew the man viewed her as a sister. When Rick didn’t answer, but instead clenched his jaw tightly he had his answer.

  “Was there something else you needed to discuss? I need to get back to my office and go over the rest of the dates to make sure there are no last minute surprises,” Nick said, not bothering to wait for the man to speak as he stood to leave. He had too much shit to do to sit here twiddling his thumbs.

  “Have you slept with her?” Rick asked bluntly, taking him off guard.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” he asked, sitting back down.

  “Jamie. I need to know if I should have someone else work with her.”

  “Do you have a problem with her work?” Nick demanded.

  Rick frowned. “No.”

  “Do you have a problem with my work then?”

  “No.”

  “Then I don’t see how it’s any of your business what we do in our spare time,”

  Nick said, refusing to
lie and belittle what he had going on with Jamie to save his own ass. If they fired him, and he prayed that didn’t happen, then he’d go with her and watch out for her during the rest of this tour and hopefully when it was finished he’d have another job. One thing was for certain, he wasn’t ready