by Maya Hughes
“Fine, Roy,” I said through gritted teeth, trying to sound pleasant. “The little girl was Rhys Thayer’s daughter. He came in a while after you left,” I said to Jeanine, trying my best to ignore her gag-reflex-inducing boyfriend.
“Shut up,” she screeched, throwing her towel at me. I had to laugh. Jeanine certainly had a flair for the dramatic. Hence her weekly auditions for Broadway shows and musicals. It hadn’t worked out so far, but I hoped someday she’d get her break. “What was he like?” she asked, pulling me down onto the couch. How to describe him? His deep chestnut eyes, light brown hair, and voice that sent shivers down my spine, even now, were hard to put into words that didn’t make me sound like a fangirl. The way he looked at me, it made me twist and squirm in my seat.
“He was nice. Relieved to have found his daughter. He said his people would be in touch with me about some papers or something they need me to sign.”
“Maybe he’s giving you a reward,” Roy said, intruding as ever, chugging my orange juice, the one with my name written on it, directly out of the carton before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. I bit my tongue.
“I’m sure he’s not. I didn’t do anything. She found me,” I said, turning back to Jeanine.
“I’ve seen him on the cover of a bunch of magazines and that big campaign he did last month to raise money for wells in Africa. He seems so nice,” she said, bouncing. He did seem nice in all those interviews and articles I’d seen over the years. But our interaction hadn’t been like that. It was different. Made me feel different. It hadn’t made me feel like I was in the presence of one of the world’s youngest billionaires, most generous benefactors and eligible bachelors.
My stomach had knotted like I’d been called into the principal’s office for doing nothing wrong. He’d sized me up, scrutinizing me, trying to figure me out. And I didn’t know if I wanted him to. As screwed up as my life was, he’d probably press charges against me for trying to steal his kid.
5
RHYS
Melanie Bright. Her name stuck in my mind, along with the rest of her, as I replayed our run-in at the diner. She’d kept Esme safe, and taken care of her after she ran off. That should have been the end of it. But I couldn’t get her out of my mind. The scenes replaying in my head were driving me insane. I was not a man who fawned over a woman. I wasn’t a man who bought flowers and chocolates and showed up with a limo. The world thought I was the perfect bachelor, rich, good looking, widowed, but really, I was just a fucked up guy who didn’t want to go down the path of marriage again. I couldn’t let someone have control over my actions, my thoughts, or my heart, which was why Melanie Bright pissed me off.
Derek walked in with a handful of files in his hand.
“I’ve got the files of the agencies applicants. I took the liberty of going through them myself and narrowing it down to these five.” He held the folders out to me.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. It wouldn’t work.
“Take a look at them. There are some really good guys in here. There’s even one woman. Ex-military, excellent references.”
“No.” I crossed my arms across my chest and stared at him. He went into statue sentry mode, which he did whenever he was nervous. “You. That’s who Esme needs.”
“Thayer, we’ve been over this.”
“We have and I don’t know why you think it won’t work. She likes you.” I rounded my desk and grabbed a glass from the bar cart. The silver and glass clinked as I poured two drinks. The amber liquor sloshed into the tumbler and I held out one of the glasses to Derek.
“Come on.” I motioned to the glass.
“I’m on the clock,” he said, his arms plastered across his chest.
“And I’m the boss. Have a drink.” Derek relented and took the glass from my hand. I took a sip, letting the oaky flavor burn its way down my throat.
“Why don’t you think you can do it?”
“She’s a little girl. She doesn’t need someone like me towering over her like a walking nightmare.” He gulped down half his drink. For some reason, Derek thought he was a bad guy. I had no idea why. His professionalism was unmatched. His recommendations were all top-notch, and he’d never missed a day of work. Plus, he hadn’t let my six-year-old wander out into the city streets on her own.
“After what happened at the bank and the diner, there’s no one I trust more.”
“She doesn’t like me. She doesn’t even talk to me,” he said, swirling his drink in the crystal tumbler.
“It’s nothing personal, Derek. She doesn’t talk to anyone, except for me.”
“And Melanie…” Derek let that hang in the air between us. He took a sip of his drink, enjoying my discomfort at the mention of her. And Melanie.
Melanie’s presence in my head unsettled me. I didn’t like it and I’d have to excise her from my mind. The only issue was Esme. She liked her. She’d asked for her a few times already. Maybe I could wait her out. Wait for her to forget about the waitress with legs that didn’t quit and a waist I wouldn’t mind wrapping my hands around. And there she was again, invading my head. I flung myself back from my desk and ran my hands through my hair. This did not bode well for me. I needed to focus. I didn’t need any distractions right now.
“What do you think about her?”
“Her file checks out. She was nice and Esme talked to her. I’d say that’s about as close as you can get to perfect,” he said, draining his glass.
There was a gentle knock on the door. Derek swung it open and Rachel stood in the doorway. Her arms full of binders and her tablet balanced precariously on top. Her hair flew every which way. She was a fairly new assistant to me. Her father asked me to do him a favor, but she didn’t need to know that. I knew the things a dad needed to do to make his daughter happy, so I went along with it. Plus, he promised me his vote for all my upcoming charity board elections.
Derek plucked the binders from her arms and put them on the solid oak desk. My father’s desk. I hated that fucking thing. But something about being in the room, closed up kept me from losing my mind.
“Hi, Rachel.” I drained the last of my drink.
“Hi, Mr. Thayer,” she said, out of breath. I shot her a look. “I mean Rhys. Sorry.” Her cheeks turned a bright shade of pink. Mr. Thayer was my father.
“I wanted to bring over your files for the meetings this week.” She stacked the binders in two neat piles in front of my chair. I flipped through some of the papers. One week’s worth of meetings.
Serving on the boards meant Esme and I could maintain a certain lifestyle. My little girl deserved the very best. The terms of my parents’ will were draconian, but I’d make sure she never had to deal with anything like that. She’d never question how truly loved she was. Never doubted how much I cared about her and I lost my shit when she went missing. It wasn’t like her. She didn’t wander. She didn’t even talk, at least she didn’t before.
“Is there anything else you need me for?” Rachel politely asked, her hands clasped in front of her. I glanced outside; the sun had set ages ago.
“No, sorry, Rachel. You can go.” Rachel picked up her tablet and headed for the door. I sat at the desk. Derek followed her out.
“Derek, I’m not taking no for an answer on this one. Until we find someone better, you’re her shadow.” He gave me a grim nod before following Rachel out. With them both gone, my mind wandered back to Melanie.
She got Esme to speak. She’d changed something in my little girl. I’d noticed it immediately. Now Esme didn’t shy away as much around other people. Her confidence, which had been nonexistent before, grew every day. Esme even reenacted her bit of heroics with Melanie’s scrapes, using her stuffed animals as patients and rescuers.
Melanie had done something in a few hours that so many others, professionals in their fields, failed to accomplish. I didn’t know if I could just walk away from that. I wanted to know more and it irritated me to no end.
Maybe I could just get her ou
t of my system, fuck her and move on, but I doubted it would work, especially if Esme wanted her around and felt connected with her. I didn’t want to screw my kid up any more than I already had. I was stuck.
Fuck her and forget her wasn’t going to work. And that shook me to my core. That was how I worked. How I made sure my encounters with women were on terms I dictated. It was how I’d survived in the years since my wife died. I didn’t know if I could take a chance on Mel. My desire to rid myself of this infatuation might end up breaking all my rules.
The last woman I was with stormed out after I told her the score and what she could and couldn’t do. If it weren’t for the ironclad NDA, I’m sure that headline would have been splashed all over the papers. And there would be a slew of other ones to accompany it. I fuck a woman until I’m tired of her, and then throw her back into the sea of women just like her. I use them like they want to use me. If it weren’t for my money, influence, and looks, I’m under no illusions that a woman would want anything to do with me. Hell, I don’t even think my looks matter. I could have a horn growing out of my forehead and a woman would tell me how she’s always wanted to ride a unicorn. I learned that lesson early, made the mistake once, and wasn’t going to make it again.
I didn’t waste my time thinking about one woman. I thought about women in the abstract. If I wanted a redhead, a brunette, a blonde. Maybe even a woman with rainbow hair or that gray look some chicks were doing.
But I hadn’t had a single woman stuck in my head for a long time. It unsettled me. I chalked it up to her helping my daughter. A daughter no man ever better think about the way I thought about women.
The plans I’d spent years putting into place were coming together. I didn’t need distractions. My full inheritance was only a few months away. I’d no longer be the marionette dancing on my dead parents’ strings. But I had to continue to fulfill the terms of their will, and that meant wearing this mask just a bit longer. I’d bided my time this long, what’re a few more months? Then I can finally have the life I deserve. A life no longer under the thumb of two people who didn’t give a shit about me. They had their masks as well. Caring, doting parents in public, but in private, I don’t think I saw them more than once a week.
6
RHYS
“Daddy, can I go see Mel today?” Esme waltzed into my room when the sun had barely crested above the horizon a few days after her runaway incident. I could barely pry my eyes open. I’d only managed to get to sleep a couple of hours before.
Esme asked this same question every day, multiple times a day since it happened. So much for hoping she’d forget. The orange glow cast long shadows over the city as I glanced out the floor-to-ceiling windows that ringed our fiftieth-floor apartment. I stretched my arms overhead and yawned.
“You didn’t get to spend enough time with her before?” I patted the bed beside me.
“No, I want to see her again,” she said, bouncing in place.
“Why, Esme?”
“I like her. She’s pretty, she’s nice, she gave me hot chocolate and I got to help fix her. She hurt herself and I gave her one of my hankies and I made it better. And then she took care of me.” She flopped back on the bed and bounced her feet up and down.
I gathered her up in my arms. Every day, I marveled at how lucky I was to have her. When I looked at her, I saw the best of her mother. The things that were the first to go when her addiction took hold. Her kindness and openness.
Esme didn’t ask for much, so when she did, it meant it was serious. It didn’t make sense. I couldn’t understand what it was about Melanie that Esme couldn’t let go of. There were plenty of things about her that stood out to me, her eyes, her ass, her feisty attitude, but these were clearly not the same things that my daughter admired. I needed to figure this out before I moved forward with my plan, to ensure there wasn’t something I missed.
“You’ve had plenty of people take care of you, Esme. Why do you want to see Melanie?”
“I want to see if her owie is better. She was bleeding and I saw her and it made me sad. I wanted to help her. I wanted to make her happy,” Esme said, beaming and bouncing on my bed. I couldn’t help but smile. I love this little girl. I love her more than I ever thought possible. And it looked like my do-gooder ways were rubbing off on her. “Maybe she could come here. I could show her my room.”
“I think it’s a great plan, Esme. I think that could be arranged.” I needed something from Melanie and I’m sure we could come to an agreement. One way or another she would help us. She’d been able to crack through Esme’s shell and I wasn’t going to let her shrink back inside, not when there was so much at stake—for both of us.
My afternoon plans were thrown off by an urgent call from Rachel. Documents had arrived from all the foundations of which I’m a board member. These were notifications of previously unannounced elections taking place at the end of the year. This didn’t happen. It never happened. It was every organization I belonged to, which set off the warning bells in my head. Something was going on.
“Rachel, I need you to get to the bottom of this. Figure out what’s going on and report back to me. I need to know who’s behind this.” I ended the call and stared out over the city, my hands shoved deep in my pockets. It was the place I’d called home for the past ten years. Home. The clouds on the horizon churned and brewed with something ominous and I needed to know what it was so I could put a stop to it. There was so much more at stake than money.
The massive amounts of money I threw at these organizations meant my seats had always been secure, until now. I closed myself up in my office, the familiar smells of wood and leather calmed me as I slid behind the desk I hated, and poured over the documents myself, looking for some indication of what might have pushed everyone to call these elections all at once. I knew who was behind it, but I still didn’t understand why. Losing a seat would completely screw over the plans I had for Esme and myself.
The door swung open and Esme came barreling in with her coloring books and crayons in hand.
“Can I color, daddy?” The pages of her coloring book rustled as she laid down in front of the large windows, everything fanned out in front of her.
“Of course.” Maybe I should just walk away from everything. Take her and go. No, I’d sacrificed so much already, I was at least going to make sure my little girl came out on the other end of this without a care in the world. She sat in the corner coloring as I flipped through folder after folder. She was perfectly content.
I needed to get out of this office, this building. In the breaks from worrying about what the loss of these seats might do, my mind drifted to Melanie.
“Hey Es, do you want to go see if Melanie is working right now?” I asked, standing up from my chair. Esme immediately perked up and ran to put on her coat. I grabbed the folders Rachel had delivered earlier off the desk. Now was the perfect time to let Melanie Bright know she would be working for me by the end of the day.
7
MEL
The smell of freshly baked cookies filled the air. Shannon had on her funny frog oven mitts. I loved it when she would talk to me in the funny voices with those puppets. But now my eyes were glued to the chocolate chip cookies that she pulled out of the oven.
“Back up, Mel. These are super hot.” She set the baking sheet on the stove and grabbed the second tray.
“Can I have one now?” The smell was overpowering me. I wanted to gobble up every single one right away. My feet kicked back and forth in my chair at the kitchen table. My homework was spread out in front of me, along with a tall glass of milk. Carrots and grapes were in a little bowl. My brain food, Shannon called them.
“Not until after dinner. These are because you did such a great job at your violin recital.” I’d been so nervous. I had only been playing for a few months, but the instructor said I was a natural.
“Please, can I have one now?” I put on my best dopey puppy face, sticking out my bottom lip. Shannon burst out laughing.
“Okay, fine, kiddo. But you better eat all your veggies at dinner.” She picked up one of the piping hot cookies off the tray and put it on a small plate in front of me. I loved her so much. I wrapped my arms around her waist and hugged her to me. She always smelled so good.
“I love you, Shannon.”
“I love you too, kiddo,” she said, rustling my hair.
I jolted awake, covered in sweat. My heart thundered in my chest. The same nightmare plagued me for years. I’d never been able to shake it. I glanced over and jumped.
Roy’s knees were the first thing I saw. He sat on the coffee table, less than two feet away. Any other time, I’d roll over and pray he’d go away. It wasn’t the first time I’d caught him watching me. But I couldn’t afford to make waves.
I paid Jeanine a portion of the rent. I wasn’t a freeloader, but I wasn’t on the lease or anything. I couldn’t roll over this time because he was so close. I didn’t trust him. His cheap cologne filled my nose and made me want to puke. As my eyes adjusted, I saw his arm working up and down on his dick. His sweatpants were pulled down in the front and he stroked himself, staring right at me. I yelped and jumped up onto the couch. There was nowhere else for me to go. He was too close.
“What the fuck, Roy?” I bellowed. My heart pounded in my throat.
“Just lay back down, Mel. I’ll be finished soon,” he said, still palming his dick, like it was completely natural for him to be jerking off in front of me while I slept. My stomach turned and my fight-or-flight instincts went into high gear. It was the same nauseous dread I lived through so many nights growing up.
