by Amy Brent
I stepped inside, heading towards the seat across the table from her that she gestured for me to sit in. But before I could even plant my butt in the chair, someone else was walking into the room.
If I wasn’t so wrapped up in why I was here and what this woman wanted, my jaw might have dropped. The man was utterly delicious, like a model crossed with a body building crossed with my dream man.
He was tall, definitely above six foot, and was wearing the cleanest, most crisp suit I had ever seen. I could tell that it was worth money, probably even more than I could make in a month, and that was only amplified by the impressive watch on his wrist.
But his clothes didn’t matter compared to everything else. Even under those expensive threads, I could tell that he was cut for the gods, complete with broad shoulders and large hands. His face was chiseled beyond belief, with both a striking jaw and cheekbones for days. His bright, green eyes shone from behind his dark lashes, complimenting his golden skin and raven hair. Although I was wary of men and especially strange men, there was no denying that whoever this man was, he was exactly my type.
“Miss Grady?” His voice was a low, masculine rumble that I just wanted to curl up and get comfortable in. But as drawn to him as I was, I reminded myself that I still didn’t know why I was here and I couldn’t afford to screw anything up.
“That’s me,” I answered with the right amount of enthusiasm I hoped.
“Thank you for coming in early. I realize that, with your overnight schedule and all, this probably wasn’t very convenient.”
No, it wasn’t, but I definitely wasn’t about to tell my boss’ boss’ boss’ boss that. “It’s no trouble, really.” I answered instead, trying to make my smile as convincing as possible.
I had plenty of practice with shoving my emotions down an acting like everything was alright, so this would hopefully snow over both of these people and could go about my life like normal.
Well, not that I had a normal yet. But I was trying to get there.
“Thank you, Shelly. You can go now.”
My heart skipped a beat as the woman nodded and headed out. Although I knew he was probably an important person in the company, I wasn’t comfortable being left alone with a strange man. Even if he was devastatingly handsome.
“So, Miss Grady, let’s not beat around the bush,” he continued as soon as the woman was gone. “I’m sure you’re wondering why we called you here.”
Obviously, but again, I couldn’t say that. “I’ll admit I’ve been wondering about it since I got the call.”
“I understand. It’s human nature not to like a mystery. We all want answer to the various mysteries that surround us.” This was…not how I was expecting the conversation to go. “But perhaps you could do the favor of answering a little mystery for me.”
My nerves clamored even more at his tone. I could sense that something was going on, but I had absolutely no idea what. I hadn’t done anything wrong, and I doubted my coworkers had either. Why was he talking to me like this then?
“I’m not very good at riddles, but I’d be happy to give you whatever answers I can.”
“Fantastic.” The neutral expression on his face turned cold and I felt as if the very temperature of the room dropped. “What I would like to know is why you’re working here under a fake name.”
The floor fell out from under me and it felt like I was dropped into the cold void of space. I stared at him, world cracking all around me, leaving me nothing to hold onto.
How did he know? Could someone have told him? But who? No one knew me here, I had made sure of that. I didn’t move three states away from my last place just to be recognized, so what the hell was going on?!
What if this meant I had to move again. If some stranger had already found out who I was, then there was no telling who else already knew. What if-
“Miss Grady, I’m waiting.”
I continued to stare at him, swallowing several times to try to wet my mouth. The way I saw it, I had two ways to go about this. I could run, and most likely get caught by security then turned in for identity fraud, or I could tell him the truth.
Or at least part of the truth.
Steeling myself against all the fear and shock that was coursing through me, I steadied my breath and made my choice.
Chapter Seven
~Raphael~
I hadn’t known when I had first walked in that I would call ‘Max’ in for a meeting, but when Freddy called and told me that her identity was indeed fake and that her real name was McKenna O’Grady, I knew that I needed to expose her immediately.
It was hard to describe how utterly enraged I was at first. Despite all my hoping, it turned out that this woman was trying to trick me as well! Was there really not a single decent human on the face of the Earth?!
But then my logical side had reminded me that there was a small chance that her fake name had nothing to do with me. Perhaps she was in some sort of witness protection program, or working under cover. Although that didn’t make the most sense, I found myself hoping something was true.
But true or not, I needed to confront her. I wasn’t the type to be able to let it go. So, I called Shelly and asked her to set up a meeting between us. Of course, she had right away, but I was left waiting for Maxi- McKenna to wake up.
I imagined that, given her overnight schedule, that she probably wasn’t going to be up until the afternoon, and it turned out I was right. McKenna had called a bit after two and confirmed she would be arriving in about an hour, giving me just enough time to ready myself for whatever load of bullshit she tried to heap on me.
For some reason, I had half expected her to arrive in her janitor uniform. I wasn’t sure why, considering that there were still many hours before her shift, but that’s just what had been in my head. So, when I walked into the room and instead saw her dressed in a crisp blouse and a pencil skirt that was barely visible from where she was sitting, I had almost lost my train of thought.
She didn’t have any make up on that I could see, and her clothes were obviously both cheap and worn, but she looked amazing nonetheless. Her blue eyes were sparkling with curiosity while her cheeks were flushed -from nerves no doubt. She watched me with a keen sort of interest that made me feel as if I had forgotten to button my own shirt up all the way or had worn mismatched shoes. Once more I found myself wondering who this woman was and why she was lying to work at my company.
She had reacted better than I thought she would when I dropped the bomb that I knew. Sure, her already pale face went whiter than a sheet, and I could see her breathing hitch, but other than that, she stayed absolutely still.
It almost seemed wrong to have scared her so badly. If she was some sort of corporate spy, it was easy to see why they had sent her. She could melt the defenses of even the most hardened man with a furrowed brow and a pout, but I refused to let myself be swayed.
The seconds ticked on and I let her sit there in silence. I could tell that she wasn’t taking the time to cook up a lie, but rather was trying to get over the shock of me exposing her. In my opinion, that boded well. To me it indicated that she wasn’t used to lying at all and the sheer surprise of it was thoroughly shaking her down to her core.
“I…” Her musical way of speaking made a melancholy sort of tone, which I decided I didn’t like at all. She had a voice that was meant for happiness and brighter things. The sooner I got her out of my office, the sooner I could stop being bothered by the discrepancy. “I needed the fake name.”
That was a sentence, but certainly not an answer, so I sat there with crossed arms and waited for her to continue.
“For…protection.”
“Protection?” I parroted, raising and eyebrow. “From what?”
“If it makes any difference sir, I would prefer not to say. I came here to start a new life, and talking about my old one seems counterintuitive.”
“Counterintuitive, huh?” I took a deep breath. While she was finally giving me answers, they
weren’t really abating any of my questions. Also, I had no way of knowing if she was lying or not, even if she did have an innocent face.
In fact, what had even been the point of me calling her here? Not that I thought about it, it wasn’t like she was going to confess to corporate espionage outright like a criminal in a holding cell. If she was worth her salt at all, she would lie out of her ass to protect her mission.
I had essentially wasted her time and mine, but she was the one who had to come in and work a full shift later. Abruptly, I was very embarrassed by how rashly I had addressed the situation. I should have just waited for Freddy to get back to me with more info. He was the one person I could trust to solve this whole mess, and it was doubtful he was going to finish it tonight.
“What seemed counterintuitive to me is to have someone working for me who doesn’t trust us with her own name. You lied to us, and that doesn’t bode well for your trustworthiness as an employee. Not to mention the fact that you could just be a spy from another company sent to sabotage or steal.”
“Sabotage?” Her eyes went wide as she repeated me, and her shocked reaction seemed genuine. Interesting. But I still couldn’t let that phase me. “If that’s what you think I am, then you are really, really mistaken sir. I’m just a woman who’s looking to start a new life. I’m a nobody, and I’d like to stay that way.”
The way she leaned forward, and the spike of fear in her tone made me want to believe her. Hell, if she was lying, this woman was one hell of an actress. But I couldn’t trust her. Everything I knew about humans told me that doing so would be detrimental to everything.
“Very well then. I’m sure you understand the sort of position you’ve put me in,” I saw a flash of rebellion in her eyes as I said that, but she otherwise remained quiet. “I’ll tell you what. You go home, you have the rest of today off -paid, of course. You will be contacted within twenty-four hours of my decision. Until then, I wish you the best, Miss O’Grady.”
“Please don’t use my real name,” she whispered, her eyes flicking downward. “It’s dan- I would just prefer you didn’t.”
“Very well then. I won’t patronize you by saying it was nice to meet you in this way, but I do wish you a good rest of the day. I hope to see you in the future.”
“I can’t quite say the feeling is mutual,” she answered wish a shaky smile, her eyes clearly watering at the corners. She quickly tipped her head towards me then hurried out, allowing me to watch her round, plush backside as she went.
It was probably hypocritical for me to check her out mere moments after threatening her, so I averted my eyes. While firing someone was rarely pleasant, I had never felt so guilty for giving someone the business. And to be honest, I had been much gentler on her than I had ever intended to be.
Ugh. I was a mess. I didn’t know what was going on with me, but it needed to end soon. I was wasting so much time, productivity and energy on something that shouldn’t even matter.
But still, in the very back of my mind, I couldn’t help but hope that I was wrong, and she had some sort of good reason for lying to me. Even if I knew how unlikely that was.
Chapter Eight
~McKenna~
I stumbled out of the building like a corpse. I could feel just how little blood there was in my visage and tears were stinging my eyes like citrus juice. I couldn’t believe that everything was ruined so soon.
I had worked so hard to get the papers I needed and all the IDs to change who I was. To stop McKenna O’Grady from having a footprint so I could finally have peace. But then some devilishly handsome man in a posh suit had to waltz in and topple it like a house of cards.
What could I do? Just sit around and wait for him to fire me? The very thought made me want to sink into the ground and stop existing, and yet I kept trudging on towards the bus stop.
I had no idea what time the next ride was coming, and I didn’t even bother to check. It would arrive when it arrived and there wasn’t much else I could do anyways.
I stared blankly ahead of me, trying to calm myself. The last thing I wanted to do was to cry in public, even though that was exactly what I was fighting off.
I couldn’t say how long I sat there. Maybe an hour, maybe two. All I knew was that I was still as lost when the bus arrived as I was when I first sat down. It just kept cycling in my head how the strange man had figured out who I was. It wasn’t like anybody saw me on a regular enough basis to know something was amiss, and I was absolutely certain that none of the janitorial staff would rat me out.
I guessed I should be grateful that I had the night off with pay. My shoulders were still achy from the past to nights of really dancing my heart out, so I could use the rest. But still, I couldn’t help but think of all the extra cleaning my two coworkers would have to do to make up for my unplanned absence.
It felt like an entire lifetime passed before I shuffled into my front door, kicking my worn shoes off into the three other pairs of also-worn shoes I owned. I went straight to my sink and threw it open, pulling out one of the last gifts I still had from my previous life.
It was a simple paper bag, but what was important was the contents within. Mouth watering, I slid out two bottled of mid-priced wine and grabbed my corkscrew magnet from the fridge.
I had been saving these for a special occasion, hoping to celebrate a change of luck or a new wind of fortune. But now that I was once again spiraling into a dark pit of awfulness, it seemed like a good a time to use them as any.
I uncorked the first one then placed the other in the fridge while I chugged directly from the bottle. It was bitter and dry, but it was exactly what I needed. The room-temperature liquid coated my throat and forced a little warmth into my freezing body.
How did this crap keep happening to me? I was well aware that I had made plenty of mistakes when I was younger, but I didn’t feel like that justified the punishment the universe was heaping onto me. What had I done to deserve all the terribleness? For once, couldn’t I catch a break and have something good happen?
I supposed that would be too much to ask.
Sighing to myself, I turned some music on my phone and walked around my lonely little place. As much as I had been mentally deriding it for the past few days, I was now panicking at the thought that I could lose it.
I fell into a pattern of cursing until I lost my breath, weeping about everything that might happen, then determinedly telling myself I would get through it. It wasn’t until I was standing at the fridge that I realized I had finished the first bottle and was yanking out the second one. Well that was fine too. I had earned it.
It was strange to be up and walking around with so much time left before my shift, and it was even stranger to be up while drunk. And I was definitely feeling tipsy by the time I reached the bottom of the second bottle.
I picked up my phone several times, intent on calling HR and telling them exactly where to shove it, but thankfully my practical side stopped me. No matter what happened, I still needed money to pay rent and get food. Although I still had a check and a half coming in no matter what they decided, that money would be gone incredibly quickly if I lost out on this job entirely.
It was just starting to get dark when I finally lost control. It happened suddenly. One moment I was fine, the next I was sobbing my eyes out. I had worked so hard, and fought so long, and I could feel that I was going to lose it all again. It just wasn’t fair!
I went on like that for several minutes, my tears streaking down my face and leaving shameful little trails on my cheeks. It didn’t take much longer before the second wave of tipsiness sank in and I fell down into slumber.
**
“Are you aware of why I asked you here, Miss O’Grady?”
I looked up to see the same man from work was standing over me. He looked just as intimidating as he had in the office, but I couldn’t help but notice that there was no shirt under his suit jacket.
I licked my lips, distracted by his perfectly sculpted chest and the
very top of his abs. Lord, I just wanted to reach forward and stroke my fingers across those defined muscles.
He cleared his throat and I looked back up to his face again.
“Miss O’Grady, I asked you a question.”
Oh right. He had. “…what was it again?”
“Are you aware of why I asked you here?”
“You wanted to know about my fake name.”
“Exactly,” he said with a self-satisfied smile. “So do you want to tell me why you thought it was appropriate to come here in your underwear?”
What?!
I looked down, and sure enough, I was dressed only in some fancy negligee that I actually didn’t recall owning at all. But it was mint and lacy, and seeing myself in it filled me with a strange sort of confidence.
“Why do you think I wore it?” I retorted, sounding totally unlike myself. While I liked sex as much as the next woman, I rarely was so bold on the first time. “I thought you might like it.”
The man loosened his tie and looked down at me with those hungry, green eyes of his. “I do like it,” he practically growled. “But I think I would like it even better if it was on the ground.”
It was in that moment that I realized I didn’t even know his name. But that didn’t seem to matter with his cologne swirling around my nose and his chiseled musculature just a breath away from me.
