by Mia Archer
That intense feeling lasted for the space of a heartbeat before reality came crashing down around me. It suddenly hit me exactly what the hell I was doing. Dancing and practically making out with a girl who was supposed to be my intern. Talk about inappropriate, even if it was hot!
Two feelings warred inside me. Duty. Desire. My desire to keep my job. My desire to take Erica home and see where this was going even though I'd never done something like this before.
Ultimately, though, I pulled myself away. I hated myself for it, but I did it.
"Something wrong?" Erica asked.
"I think I need a drink," I said.
Yeah, I was definitely going to need a drink if this was going to keep up. At the very least I figured it would take some of the edge off. With a little luck, though, it might even be enough to quiet that voice in the back of my head that was screaming I was being an idiot for doing something this unprofessional. That I was putting my career on the line, and that wasn't worth it even if Erica was incredibly hot and so very funny and smart and interesting.
I found myself wondering what it would be like to step into the office tomorrow and see Christine looking at me with that disapproval she did so well.
Sure there wasn't any way she could actually find out what happened here tonight, but I knew every sidelong glance from her was going to send terror running through me. And I hated that.
"Fine," Erica said. She seemed to sense some of the conflict running through me. "A drink sounds great!"
And so we moved over to the bar where hopefully a little bit of liquid courage would help me along.
8: Rich Girl's Mistake
"What time is it?" Nicole asked.
I pulled out my phone. Though it was difficult to see exactly what time it was. It was difficult for me to see much of anything on the screen with the way it kept swirling around. I blinked a couple of times and the blurry text finally resolved into something that was almost readable.
"Looks like it's a little after midnight," I said. I looked at Nicole, cocked an eyebrow. "Why? Are you going to turn into a pumpkin soon? Too much partying for you?"
Nicole took a step away from the bar, but no sooner had she took that step than she stumbled. She turned back and looked at me with a hazy alcohol fueled grin on her face. "I'm afraid if we stay much longer I'm going to do something that might get us both in trouble!" she said with a giggle.
That didn't stop her from reaching out to her drink and downing the rest of it. I watched in wide-eyed astonishment and shook my head, though I'd been packing it away just as much as she had tonight.
Something had changed after that kiss out on the dance floor. I wished I could figure out what it was. Sure Nicole would still get a little touchy-feely. Sure she'd been laughing and flirting with me, but under all of that there'd been a reticence. A reluctance. Almost as though she was afraid of what she was feeling.
Maybe I was projecting based on past experience, but let’s just say it wouldn't be the first time I'd gone out on a date with a girl who was getting used to the idea of the whole “being out on a date with a girl” thing. Only something told me that wasn't entirely what was going on with Nicole. I detected in a conversation, but so far I hadn't been able to drag anything out of her.
"Well we do have to be at work first thing in the morning,” Nicole said.
“You put too much stock in being on time,” I replied.
“Easy for you to say with that magic touch you have with Christine. I still have to worry about getting caught in dragon lady’s fire breath. Wish I could figure out how you pulled that off.”
I held my tongue, though for a moment I was compelled to tell her exactly how it was that I was able to stay out of dragon lady’s cross hairs. Something held me back, though. I’m not sure why, but I wasn’t quite ready to tell Nicole my big secret. Not yet.
“Man, walking home is gonna suck like this," Nicole said.
“I think we need to get you a car," I said.
Nicole blinked. "Get me a car? Well la dee da! Aren't we fancy! Let's just call down a limo and bill it to the company!"
I winced. I’d just inadvertently given something away about myself. I always just called my car when I needed a ride in the city. I had one ready to go and on call all the time. Not that Nicole knew anything about that. Not that anyone at the company was supposed to know anything about that, though from the way that Christine bitch had been treating me I had a strong feeling she had an inkling as to who I was.
"I meant a cab you doofus," I said. That seemed safe enough. That's what normal people took.
"I can't afford a cab," Nicole said. "I'll just walk home."
"No way," I said. "There's not a chance I’m letting you walk home in your current state!"
She locked eyes with me. "You could come with me, you know."
A thrill ran through me at those words. There was one hell of a promise buried in that. I'd like very much to go back to her place with her, only…
"Not this time Nicole," I said. "You're drunk. And we need to get you home."
There was something about the reluctance she'd had for most of the evening coupled with her sudden desire to have me go home with her that made me wonder if maybe it wasn't the alcohol doing more of the talking than anything else. No, if I was going to go home with her then I wanted to make sure both of us were going into it with both eyes open. That there were no potential regrets before we even started.
"Party pooper!" she said.
"Maybe I am, but you won't regret me pooping this party in the morning," I said.
At least I desperately hoped she wouldn't regret it. I knew I was going to regret it on some level, even if I knew it was the right thing to do. Nicole put her arm around me and I made my way towards the front of the club. I had my phone out in my other hand texting Jake, my driver. He’d been circling for the past half hour or so anyways. Not that he minded. He always got double pay for being out this late, and he always talked about how it was a nice excuse to listen to podcasts while he was getting paid. Still, I always felt a little guilty having him come out to pick me up from a night of drinking. Not that I'd done that much lately.
I just hoped my dad wasn’t looking over the expense records for tonight. It wouldn't do for him to discover I'd been out partying when I was supposed to be concentrating on my internship. That was the sort of thing that might get him to start more digging, and digging was the last thing I wanted considering the kind of entertaining I was doing this evening.
"This is a cab?" Nicole asked as she stumbled out onto the sidewalk and got a look at the car.
Her stumbling wasn't making things any easier for me. I tipsy even if I hadn't had quite as much to drink as Nicole. Stumbling around like this was difficult enough when I was just balancing myself. It became even more impossible when I was trying to balance someone else on top of that. Someone else who'd probably been a little too much in the sauce.
"Yeah, it's a cab," I said as Jake came around, but I waved him off. I’d never ridden in a taxi before, but I had a pretty good idea that cab drivers didn't get out and help people get into their cars. Particularly drunks.
Once we were in Nicole looked around in surprise. "Damn. This is a fucking nice cab!"
"Don't worry," I said. "Now give the driver your address."
Nicole obliged and we got rolling. As we went along Nicole started to doze off. She really had gotten a little too much to drink this evening. Hopefully that would mean she wouldn't remember much of this in the morning. At least not the part where I called a car that was way too nice and expensive to actually be a cab to come and get us. That was getting dangerously close to revealing who I was, and I wasn't ready for that yet.
Part of it was because I had a feeling dad would be upset if I went revealing who I was before he was ready to make that reveal, but mostly it was because I was getting hooked on how natural everything felt between me and Nicole. It was crazy, but with Nicole I knew she enjoyed hanging out wi
th me because of me and not because of any money I might have. That had been one hell of a problem at school as soon as people realized who I was and how much money I had sloshing around in my trust fund. No, with Nicole everything was real.
And part of me was terrified that would end if she figured out who I really was. That she was going out and kissing the boss's daughter. That was the real reason I was so scared of telling her who I was.
I figured the longer I could put off that moment the better.
Eventually the car pulled to a stop. "Here we are ma'am."
I shot a dirty look towards Jake, and he smiled back at me.
"Ma'am! This really is a fancy cab!" Nicole said.
I rolled my eyes and shot one final dirty look to Jake, but he didn't seem to notice. Or maybe he didn’t care. The latter was far more likely, actually.
"We’re home Nicole," I said.
Nicole looked up at the apartment building and blinked. Recognition slowly dawned through the alcohol fueled haze that covered her face.
"We’re home already?" she asked.
"You're home," I said.
She turned and locked eyes with me. That was a look that went straight to my heart. That went straight between my legs, too, if I’m being completely honest.
"Are you sure you don't want to come up with me?"
The question hung in the air between us. I heard Jake let out a long slow exhalation of breath in the front seat and I frowned. I could do without the editorializing from him. Not that he ever stopped no matter how many times I asked him to cut it out.
Nicole seemed to misinterpret that frown.
"It's okay," she said. "I get it."
"It's not that Nicole," I said. ""You're drunk. It wouldn't be right."
Nicole stared at me for a long moment. I wasn't sure whether I was about to get slapped or something better. Hopefully something better. Her arms wrapped around me and she hit me with an intense kiss. Even more intense than the one we'd shared out on the dance floor. I melted into her, letting her hands run up and down my body as we made out. Only for a moment, though. Jake was still sitting up there watching, after all. Getting one hell of a show. Probably not the first show he'd ever gotten, discretion was one of the reasons I kept him around after all, but I was always conscious of him being there.
Finally I pulled myself away. Nicole looked at me, her eyes lidded, and bit her lip.
"I can't wait to see you at work tomorrow," she said.
And then she was gone.
Well then. The evening had started out promising, it had gotten a little weird there in the middle when she seemed reluctant to get too close, and then it'd gone right back into one hell of a promising ending. I felt dizzy as Jake started the car up and headed back to my place. I felt like I was floating on air as the car moved along.
"I take it the night went well then?" Jake asked.
"No thanks to you and your editorializing up there in the front seat Jake," I said.
"Hey," he said. "I just call them like I see them!"
We made the rest of the ride home in silence. I didn't want anything to ruin the incredible feeling I was enjoying. This internship was going far better than I thought it would. I'd gotten some good intel for dad, I was learning the ins and outs of working in the company, and on top of all that I'd met Nicole who was one hell of an incredible woman. Who made me feel like I was falling for a girl for the first time all over again.
I grimaced as I thought of the first girl I'd fallen for. The girl I thought was my best friend, but it had really been a girl crush that didn't end very well at all when it turned out she didn't swing that way. The less I thought about her, the better. No, much better to think of Nicole. To hold onto that warm fuzzy feeling that had settled in the pit of my stomach. That feeling lasted right up until I stepped through my door and saw dad sitting in a chair reading a book.
He looked up and it wasn't a pleasant expression on his face. That was an expression that said he knew everything.
Motherfucker.
I mean obviously he was. I was here, after all. But you know what I mean.
9: Family Chat
"Please, have a seat," he said gesturing to a chair set up next to him. His mustache twitched as he gestured. That meant he was irritated but not angry. Yet. Either way, not good.
"Thank you so much for offering me a seat in my own fucking apartment dad," I said.
He arched an eyebrow. That was all the emotion he usually ever showed. That or the occasional sardonic smile that indicated he was enjoying me acting out against him. Like it was some sort of game to him or something.
"The apartment I pay for, I might remind you," he said.
I sighed. Moved over and took a seat next to him. He frowned for a moment. What the hell did he want from me? For me to act out? Throw a tantrum? Fight him on this? I'd learned long ago that it was a futile effort.
"So to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" I asked, trying to keep my voice as syrupy sweet as possible.
"You know exactly why I'm here," he said.
"I'm sure I don't," I said, keeping that smile plastered on my face.
Even if I wasn't going to come out and fight him directly, at the very least I'd long ago learned that it didn't pay to give up anything he didn't already know. As much as he liked to pretend that he was omniscient, that was far from the case. I'd gotten away with more than a few things over the years by keeping my mouth shut.
Then again, more often than not he really did know a hell of a lot more than I’d prefer he did. The only question was which situation I was in now.
"You want to tell me about your new supervisor at work?" he asked.
I shrugged. "The lady seems like a real bitch. She's running the department with an iron fist. Making a bunch of people do her work for her while she sits back in her office playing solitaire all day long."
Dad shook his head. "I'm not talking about Christine. I'm talking about your immediate supervisor."
I grinned. "Funny that you immediately know I'm talking about Christine when I rattle off that laundry list of corporate misbehavior."
Surprise registered on his face for the briefest of moments and then he was back under control. He did fix me with one of those sardonic smiles though. And shook his head. I’d just scored a point, and it made me feel good even though I hated that our conversations were always about who could score the most points.
"She's nice enough. A good supervisor. She's the one whose stuck doing most of Christine's work. I'm surprised she hasn’t left. Apparently the only thing keeping her around is that Christine has pretty much sabotaged the careers of everybody who dared leave her little personal fiefdom."
"Is that all you want to tell me about your supervisor?"
"Yeah, that's about it.”
"And the fun you were having at the bar tonight?"
He reached into his jacket and pulled something out. A picture. Of the two of us kissing out on the dance floor. I squeezed my eyes shut.
"You can come out now Morgan," I shouted.
Heels clicked on the floor and I turned to face Morgan. A few years older than me, she was dressed in a strictly business outfit. I don't think the woman knew the meaning of business casual. There was also a slight lump under her jacket. One of the reasons she was always dressed in business attire was that it made it far easier for her to hide the holster under her jacket. Just in case things started to go wrong and she needed to fend off somebody trying to kidnap me or something. Not that things had ever gotten that bad. No, the only thing Morgan had ever protected me from was a good time.
Well, I suppose there was at least one exception to that rule. Morgan had shown me one hell of a good time once upon a time a couple of years ago when I convinced her to let loose a little with me at a campus bar. I don’t know which reason made her turn into a psycho after the fact more: that we’d shared a night and nothing since or that I’d managed to get her to let her guard down for one night to the point t
hat she got carried away to share that night in the first place.
Either way it had been a poor decision on my part for numerous reasons, not the least of which was the way she stuck to me like stink on shit after that night. The way she always hovered and went above and beyond even what’s expected of a crazy bodyguard. And so it came as no surprise that she’d be somewhere close to what was happening right now.
Stalking me in the name of helping? Yeah, that was right up her alley. Not for the first time I wished I’d told my dad about that night. The blow-up to follow would be unpleasant, to be sure, but it would also mean no more Morgan following me around. Only that would also mean someone else coming in to fill her shoes, and an unknown quantity was more of a worry than a slightly clingy guard who went too far in the name of protecting me because of one ill-advised overnight.
Better the crazy and clingy devil you know, and all that. Only right now I really wished I’d gotten rid of her earlier. Though someone else would’ve done my dad’s bidding, so it wasn’t an entirely fair thought. With that hypothetical other person, though, it would’ve been just business. Judging by the smile on Morgan’s face she was getting just a little bit of pleasure from this.
I turned back to my dad, the fury evident in my voice. "You sent Morgan out to tail me? Seriously?"
This time both eyebrows went up. That was more reaction that I usually ever got from him.
"I don't know that I appreciate your tone young lady.”
"And I don't know that I appreciate you using my "bodyguard" to spy on me!"
"You know that a girl in your position needs a bodyguard. To make sure…"
"That you're always going to be able to keep an eye on me?" I asked, disgust coming to my voice. "Let's be honest with each other dad. That's what this is really all about. You keeping an eye on me. You keeping a string tied to me at all times. God! This is why I didn't want to work for you or your company in the first place!"
