by Zara Zenia
“Yeah, she does,” I said, giving my obligatory response.
“We’re too old for her,” another said. “You should tap that, kid.”
“I’m probably not her type,” I answered.
By the end of the day, I was exhausted. My body just wasn’t holding up as well since I left The Organization. I was absolutely parched, but the water cooler was drained.
Like clockwork, the silver truck came speeding around a corner with a fresh cooler in the back. I thought about running away again to avoid making contact with Dana, but I was just too dehydrated.
Sometime during the day, she had changed into a short, tight dress. Her blonde hair fell on her shoulders, long and silky. She let the guys switch out the coolers while she stared at me. Instead of showing me the blindingly white smile she had flashed me earlier today, she was almost smirking, as if she was trying to prove a point. Her smooth, sun kissed legs looked amazing in the soft glow from the setting sun. She looked hot, and she absolutely knew it.
Without a word, she looked me up and down, raised an eyebrow, and then hopped back in the truck and sped away.
“You know,” the foreman said to me at the end of the day. “You can just come straight to this site in the morning if it’s easier for you. You can get a few more hours of work in before it gets too hot in the morning.”
I decided I would take him up on his offer. I needed the cash, and this construction site was actually closer to my hotel than the lumber yard was. Most importantly, it would limit any socializing with the boss’s daughter, thus dispelling all temptation.
Back at the hotel, I showered off in the frigid water, washing the dust and dirt off of my smooth, flawless skin. I always chuckled at the perfect bellybutton that the surgeons formed after my stomach was blasted open. It gave the illusion that I was a perfectly normal human being.
Before I went to bed, I counted the money I had earned. Soon, I would have to open a bank account so I wouldn’t have to keep making all of my transactions in cash. Paying large sums in cash would be a great way to be investigated. If my calculations were correct, it should only take a few more months of this work before I could safely move on. I didn’t want to stay too long, or become too familiar to anyone. Not just yet, anyway.
Chapter 5
Dana
I can’t really recall a time in recent memory that I had been ignored by a man. For years, I endured the constant catcalling by my dad’s employees. You would think that being the boss’s daughter would come with some protection. Maybe they weren’t explicitly asking me out on dates, but I could hear their hollering and snickers.
Even when I would go out with my friends, if a guy tried to hit on me, I could always use the excuse of having a boyfriend. I tried not to put any flirty vibes out there, because my ex-boyfriend was definitely the jealous type, and life was easier when he was happy.
Now that I was single, I worried that I didn’t know how to flirt after all. I had been with the same guy since I was basically a child, so I never needed to learn how. I also felt a little silly about having a crush on one of the construction workers.
Maybe yesterday was proof of my inability to flirt with men. I tried everything I knew how to do. I was friendly and interested in what Elijah had to say. When that didn’t work, I went home and took nearly two hours to get ready. I wore my tightest dress, and even took the time to wash and straighten my hair – which was usually pulled back into a ponytail these days, just to show him what he was missing. I gave him a sexy smile and even winked at him. Could I be any more overt?
I tried to ask some friends for advice, but they weren’t very helpful. They said things like “Oh, he must be crazy if he wasn’t interested in you.” I already knew this. All my life, my looks were the only thing people ever complimented me on. No one ever commented on my brains or any of my other abilities. And if I couldn’t use my looks to get me what I wanted, what else did I have?
I knew I wasn’t just my looks. I knew that if I ever got out of my father’s company, I could go on to do big things. I wanted to learn more about business, and maybe even have one of my own one day. There weren’t a lot of women in the construction field, and it would be really great to prove to everyone that I was more than a pretty face. I was intelligent and determined to be independent.
Being upset over a man I didn’t even know seemed trivial, but I couldn’t help it. He was the very definition of tall, dark, and handsome. I suspected he was a bit of a bad boy by the way he interacted with me. He was quiet, but not in a shy way. When he spoke, as little as he did, he was very deliberate with his words and looked me right in the eye. His dark eyes showed no emotion, making him impossible to read. I could tell he was hiding some sort of dark past or baggage, but I suppose that would be common in someone who had been in military combat.
Boys always seemed so obvious to me. Within a few seconds of talking to me, I could tell if they were into me or not. I had a knack for reading people’s faces. Subtle cues in posture, speech, and eye contact were like flashing lights to me. I got more information out of a few minutes of small talk than most people got in a day of conversation. Yet I had no idea what was going on with Elijah. It was infuriating.
It didn’t help that I was having a terrible time at work. The constant demands from my dad were about ready to break me. I had been his most reliable employee for years, and yet, he never let me do anything but the simplest, most menial work. Yesterday, for instance, I drove around and delivered water to a few different construction sites. Then, I spent the rest of the day cleaning up the break room. We even hire cleaning people, but I’m still stuck with scraping the mystery sauces that cement the sides of the microwave. I’ve made so many pots of coffee, that my job title could be “barista”. I’ve expressed my interest in taking on larger roles, maybe in the finance department, or even in management. Every time I ask, I get a condescending pat on the head.
Today, my dad yelled at me in front of clients because I didn’t have their paperwork printed out. I would have understood his reaction if he had asked me to do that, but instead, he had me running around town shopping for supplies. I calmly tried to explain it to him, but he wasn’t listening. He has no respect for me as an employee.
At home, he’s not so bad. I keep to myself, because being twenty-two and living at home isn’t the most ideal situation. My dad is happy to drink half a case of beer while watching a game on television, and my mom sits by the pool with a cocktail and a magazine for the better part of the day. I can’t talk to my mom about my problems with dad at work, because she always sides with him. I think she hopes that I’ll get married soon so I can move out of the house and leave the company.
My older brother is a financial analyst in another city. It pisses my dad off to no end. He was hoping that once my brother was done with college that he would come home and do all of the finances for the company. It was a bit of a shock to find out that he accepted a job over three hundred miles away from home. At the time, I thought my brother’s choice would make it easier for me to have an in with the company. Now, I wish I would have followed in his footsteps and gotten as far away from here as possible. No matter how hard I worked, when my father looked at me, he could only see disappointment.
After that little incident with my dad, I basically told him to fuck off and clocked out for the day. I didn’t want to go home, so I grabbed my laptop and went to a little diner. I knew it was one place that my parents wouldn’t look for me. I also knew that it had Wi-Fi, which I needed in order to look for new jobs.
At this point, I was going to look for any job, regardless of where it was located. I had no qualms about leaving the city. I thought about calling my brother to see if I could live with him, but we weren’t really close and it would be weird.
I clicked through dozens of job websites, but I didn’t like what I found. There were a lot of entry level positions at retail stores, restaurants, and secretarial positions, but I didn’t want to carry on what I wa
s already doing somewhere else.
However, every job that seemed cool or interesting required a college degree and multiple years of experience in things I never had the opportunity to do. I felt trapped.
Just as I was looking at college requirements and tuition fees, I saw a familiar face enter the diner. If I wasn’t miserable enough already, then this was the icing on the cake. I had so clearly embarrassed myself around Elijah, and now I had to face him outside of work, too.
“Hey,” he said, sliding into the opposite side of my booth. “Are you taking a half day today?”
I checked my watch. It was two o’clock, so I couldn’t exactly use lunch as an excuse.
“Something like that,” I replied. “What about you? I thought you guys were working late this week.”
He pointed out the window. Dark, massive storm clouds had rolled in.
“Lightning’s not far from here,” he said. “We were told we could go to the office or go home and wait for it to pass. I didn’t want to go far, so I thought I could get something to eat.”
He ordered a steak, a grilled chicken salad, and a bowl of soup. Now I understood why he was so muscular. I just ordered another cup of coffee. I wanted dessert, but I didn’t want to hear my mom ask me if I’ve put on a few pounds.
“What are you working on?” he asked, gesturing to my computer.
“Nothing, really,” I replied. “Don’t repeat this, but I’m looking for a new job. I can’t take working for my dad much longer.”
“Oh,” he said. “Sorry.”
“I just don’t know what to do,” I said, hoping that he would be able to offer me some advice.
“Yeah, I don’t know,” he said between mouthfuls of food.
“What would you do?”
“Hmm, not sure.”
I was nearly in tears. I just wanted someone to tell me that things were going to be okay. Instead, the guy that I had an unrequited crush on was being extremely cold toward me.
“Why did you even come sit by me if you didn’t want to talk?” I snapped. “If you wanted to be a dick, you could have done it from afar.”
He put his fork down and let out a dramatic sigh.
“Here’s the thing,” he said. “I don’t know you and you certainly don’t know me. Do you really think that I can give you advice on this issue with your dad?”
“Probably not,” I murmured.
He went back to shoveling food in his mouth. I was angry. I was angry with my father for treating me like garbage. I was angry with Elijah for refusing to be kind to me when I needed it the most. I was furious with myself for wanting a man that was clearly not interested in me.
I knew that Elijah was not good for me. He was incredibly sexy, but he was trouble. I knew I needed to stay away from him, but I just couldn’t.
Chapter 6
Elijah
I looked across the table at Dana. Her eyes were moist.
“You’re not going to cry, are you?” I asked. I didn’t have a lot of experience with people crying. Soldiers tended to hold it in.
She shot me a disgusted look. “Maybe,” she said. “I’ve had a terrible day. I think I have the right to.”
“Okay,” I answered, sliding a few of my extra napkins toward her in case she needed to sop up her tears.
“You’re a real piece of work,” she scowled. “I have never met anyone so cold and mechanical in my entire life.”
My stomach lurched. I hadn’t been outside of The Organization for long and I didn’t know if my interactions with civilians had changed. What if they did something to change my personality or emotions? My humanity.
“Hey,” I said, loosely grabbing her wrist. “I’m sorry.”
She instinctively pulled her hand away.
“I’m sure everything will be fine,” I said, knowing what she wanted to hear. Her facial expression softened.
“I’m sorry for freaking out at you,” she said. “I’m usually not this emotional around strangers. It’s just been a rough time for me recently.”
“I’m not usually this unfriendly,” I replied. “Things have been a little weird for me, too.”
She didn’t seem convinced. I had been pretty rude to her. I knew that she just wanted to talk and I kept running off or halting her advances.
I got up and walked to the counter and picked a few plates from the dessert display.
“What’s this?” she asked as I put a plate in front of her.
“Let’s call it a slice of humble pie.”
She raised an eyebrow at me.
“Okay, I think it’s cherry.” I said.
She laughed and sunk her fork into the pie.
“Well,” she started. “It would be nice to have someone to talk to. Everyone else I know is completely unhelpful.”
“Sure,” I said, eating a mouthful. “Let’s hear it.”
“Things are falling apart. I recently got out of a long term relationship and I feel a little lonely. It doesn’t help that things ended badly.”
“What happened? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” I quickly backpedaled.
“No, it’s okay. I found out that he was cheating on me. I suspected it for a while, but I didn’t want to confront him. I was just too comfortable being in a relationship.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, not quite knowing what to say.
“Thanks. And now, I have to deal with all of this shit at work. It’s becoming too much for me. I wanted to be next in line to own the business, not sift through paperwork and clean up after people.”
“Why don’t you quit?” I asked.
“I don’t know where I would go,” she replied. “I can’t just leave everything and find a new place to live.”
“It’s easier than you think,” I said quietly.
“I’m tired of talking about myself,” she said, redirecting the conversation. “What about you?”
I took a big bite to buy myself some time to think about my response. I wanted to tell her the truth, but it could cost me my life. She seemed like someone who could see through blatant lies, so I knew I had to be careful about what I said.
“Well, what do you want to know?” I asked.
“Tell me everything.”
“I moved a lot as a kid. My parents abandoned me when I was a baby, so I was shuffled around the foster care system. I hoped that I would get adopted into a nice family so I could stay in one place, but it just never worked out.”
“That’s awful,” she breathed. “Do you know where your birth parents are?”
“I never knew them. If I could find them, I don’t even know if I would want to see them. They didn’t want me. I’m not their son. Not really, anyway.”
I felt vulnerable. I’d never really talked about my childhood.
“Anyway, once I graduated from high school, I joined the military. It gave me some purpose, some stability. I was still moving constantly, but only because I was wanted in different places. It was technically my choice.”
“How long were you in the army?” she asked.
“Seven years,” I lied, remembering the new birth date on my fake license.
“Why did you leave?”
“Honorable discharge. I was injured during combat, so I got to leave.”
I hoped she would accept this lie. Although, the truth is much more improbable. You don’t hear about soldiers going on to live civilian lives after being killed in combat.
“Really?” she asked, her blue eyes widening. “What happened?”
“I was grazed by a bullet. Nothing serious, but when they offered an honorable discharge, I went ahead and took it.”
“You were discharged from the army, and you could live anywhere you wanted. Why did you choose this dump of a town?”
I didn’t have an answer for that.
“It’s not so bad here,” I said, trying to get off of the topic. “There’s work, places to eat, and there aren’t too many people.”
“There’s nothing to
do here,” she sighed. “There are only a few good bars, a run-down mall, and one movie theater that never shows anything good.”
“Maybe you’ll have to show me one of the good bars sometime,” I suggested.
She smiled. “Sure. Do you like music?”
My face lit up. “I love music. Just about every kind of music.”
“There’s a bar in town that has pretty decent live music. I’ll take you there.”
We smiled at each other. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to go out every once in a while. If I could work at a construction site in broad daylight, and not get found out, hanging out in a dark bar for a few hours should be okay.
“Can I ask you something?” Dana said hesitantly.
“Go ahead.”
She bit her bottom lip. “Do you think I’m attractive?”
I chuckled. She twirled a soft golden strand of hair around her finger.
“Of course,” I responded, softly. “Why do you ask?”
“That was a silly thing to ask you,” she blushed. “You don’t have to say that just to make me feel better.”
“I mean it,” I said seriously. “You’re gorgeous.”
She blushed harder.
“Is this some kind of game you play with all of the guys you eat lunch with?”
“No, I’m embarrassed that I even asked. It’s just that when I met you, I wasn’t used to being so obviously ignored. I realize now how incredibly stuck-up that makes me sound.”
“Were you trying to catch my attention in particular?” I teased. “Or do you always show up to a construction site in your sexiest clothes?”
“Don’t tell me that you’re not used to lots of attention from women,” she said.
“On occasion. I didn’t really have a lot of time to worry about women when I was busy being shot at.”
“Right,” she said. “I suppose that would make dating difficult.”
She swirled her spoon in her coffee cup.
“Do you always run away when girls check you out?” she asked.
