Heller

by JD Nixon

  “I figured that out all by myself,” I teased. “Seriously though, the relationships between you all intrigue me. Take Niq. You said Heller isn’t related to him, but he’s a minor, isn’t he? I don’t want to be nosy, but shouldn’t he be living with his family?”

  Daniel gazed at me for a few long moments, his lovely brown eyes filled with a pained emotion I couldn’t decipher.

  “Tilly,” he said sadly, “you come from a fairly happy and normal family, I assume.” I nodded, thinking of my much-loved parents and two older brothers and their families. “That’s not the case with some people. Niq’s family is us. He doesn’t have another family. Neither do I. Nor the twins. Nor Heller, as far as I know. We’ve made a family, and a business, between us.”

  “Oh hell. I’m so sorry, Daniel,” I said contritely, cursing my nosiness. “I didn’t mean to pry. I was just curious about my new work-mates.”

  “I know, I know,” he soothed, holding out his palms in a defensive manner. “Heller told us that a new person would be inquisitive. It’s cool. Let’s just say that without Heller I wouldn’t be here today. I know that sounds melodramatic, but he really has been a saviour for all of us here. He took us in and brought us up when the rest of the world had kicked us to the gutter.” Daniel paused. “I suppose you could say that Heller likes to collect damaged people.” And he smiled at me sadly with his terribly beautiful crooked smile. I felt lower than the bottom of a politician’s shoe at that moment.

  Daniel’s mobile rang and he spoke for a few moments, then apologised because he had to leave as Heller needed him back in the office. I returned to my flat and spent my first afternoon and evening at the Warehouse unpacking, ‘shopping’ in the pantry and luxuriating in a long hot bath. It was blissful and so quiet. Everything was clean, fresh and tidy, and my cupboards were full of good food. And best of all, there were no pimply, horny engineering students around, trying to cop a feel at every opportunity. I was in heaven.

  I pulled on some old track suit pants and a baggy t-shirt. On my way to the kitchen to begin dinner preparations, I was startled when Daniel and Niq walked into my flat. I must have forgotten to lock the door behind me when I came back from the pantry.

  “We came to see how you were settling in,” Daniel smiled, examining my dinner ingredients. “Ooh, that looks great. What are you making?”

  “Baked salmon with dill and caper sauce, baked baby potatoes and an avocado and rocket salad. Followed by some fresh strawberries and cream.” All the food I craved when eating stolen burgers night after night.

  Daniel and Niq exchanged glances.

  “That sounds yum! Can I have dinner with you?” asked Niq.

  Daniel scolded, “Niq, it’s rude to invite yourself to dinner.”

  I smiled. “That’s okay. He can have dinner with me. Would you like to as well, Daniel?”

  “If it’s not any trouble, Tilly. It does sound delicious and much better than what I was going to cook.”

  “Which is the same thing he cooks every night,” complained Niq with all the scorn a teenager can muster – a veritable Mount Everest of scorn. “The only thing he knows how to cook. Pasta! Nothing but pasta, all the time. Pasta today, pasta yesterday, pasta tomorrow.”

  Daniel blushed, but admitted sheepishly, “It’s true. I haven’t got a clue how to cook.”

  “You’re going to have to run some errands for me though,” I demanded. “I need two more pieces of salmon and some dill and flat-leaf parsley from the herb garden.”

  “What’s dill?” asked Daniel with a puzzled expression.

  “We haven’t got a herb garden,” frowned Niq.

  “Yes, we have. It’s on the roof-top,” I explained patiently.

  “Is that a herb garden? I thought it was a bunch of weeds.”

  I slapped my forehead with my palm. “You two have a lot to learn. Come on,” and we all trooped up to the roof-top.

  I spent the next thirty minutes giving them a lecture about herbs, their different tastes and uses. By the end I was confident that they could identify the major herbs by sight and smell.

  Niq regarded me seriously, something approaching respect in his big pale blue eyes. “How do you know all this stuff? I don’t learn anything like this at school, but it seems really useful to know.” Daniel nodded his agreement, equally serious.

  I shrugged, trying to appear offhand, but secretly thrilled that they thought I knew anything worthwhile. “Well Niq, my mum and my two grandmas taught me how to cook and they all taught me all about herbs and spices when I was a kid. Also, Mum’s a mad keen gardener and has a lovely herb garden that I used to help her maintain when I was younger.”

  “Cool,” he said and pondered for a moment. “Can I meet your mum one day?”

  I ruffled his hair, causing a flurry of urgent rearrangement of those carefully poised locks. “Of course you can! She’d love to meet you. Word of warning though, because you’re so skinny she’ll try to feed you until you explode. And she’ll give you a lecture about your piercings. She’s convinced you get diseases from body piercings. I was never allowed to get any done except for my ears.”

  “That would be okay, I guess,” he said with his shy smile, still fixing his hair. I watched him, a surprising rush of fondness flooding me. Maybe he would enjoy the attention, I thought. I determined then to give him loads of my time while I worked at Heller’s.

  “You’ve done me proud today, boys. I’ll make Jamie Olivers out of you both yet,” I praised as Daniel correctly chose both the dill and the flat-leaf parsley.

  “Who’s that?” asked Daniel, eyes wide.

  “Jamie who?” Niq asked simultaneously.

  I stared at them and palm-smacked my forehead again. “Oh brother! This is going to be harder than I thought. Okay, let’s get dinner started and I’ll walk you both through the steps.”

  I turned around to go back down the stairs with the herbs and ran smack-bang into Heller who had been quietly standing behind me. It was like hitting a brick wall. The impact crushed the parsley and sent me reeling, but didn’t seem to have any effect on him. He grasped my upper arms to steady me. I glanced down at the parsley, pulled a face and looked up at him.

  “You broke my parsley,” I reproached and held out the ruined stalks for his inspection.

  The corners of his mouth twitched. “I believe that you ran into me,” he pointed out reasonably.

  “Yes, but I wasn’t expecting you to be standing behind me, otherwise I wouldn’t have run into you,” I observed, equally reasonable.

  “I was enjoying listening to your demonstration. I hadn’t realised the garden had such a variety of herbs. I’ll let Victor know that his hard work is finally being appreciated. He will be pleased. Niq, pick out some more parsley for Ms Chalmers, please,” he instructed. “We don’t want her dinner to be delayed.”

  “Victor? He’s your valet, right? I haven’t met him yet,” I said, smiling my thanks as Niq passed me a fresh bunch of parsley.

  “And you never will. Victor is an imaginary mythical creature that Heller invented to scare the kiddies,” said Daniel mischievously. “No one ever sees or hears him. And yet the pantry stays stocked, the place is kept clean and the herbs are nurtured. Spooky!”

  Heller’s lips twitched again. “Daniel is teasing,” he explained to me seriously. “He knows perfectly well that Victor is not imaginary. He’s just a very private person. He doesn’t enjoy socialising. I accept that.”

  “He’s the Loch Ness Monster of the business,” insisted Daniel, grinning. “Often spoken about, even allegedly sighted on occasion, but no reliable proof of his existence has yet been produced.”

  “Daniel,” Heller admonished gently, not without some tiny hint of laughter. It was obvious that there was a great deal of affection between the two men.

  “Okay, okay. I’ll stop,” he promised. “We have to go anyway. Tilly’s making us dinner tonight.”

  Heller frowned. “Make sure you go to bed at a sensible time,
” he said to me, his good humour evaporated. “You will have a busy day tomorrow with the stylists.” His wintry blue eyes raked over me, taking in the unattractive and unflattering old clothes that I’d thrown on earlier. “Not a moment too soon either,” he said unkindly and walked away. I tried to cover the hurt that his mean comment caused with a gigawatt smile as the three of us went back to my place.

  We had had a very pleasant dinner and evening together. I was very relaxed with them, enjoyed their company and we all laughed easily. They were both gentle sweet boys and I felt myself easily bonding with them. I learned that Niq ostensibly lived with Heller, but in fact flitted nomadically between Heller, Daniel and the twins as the mood struck him. I had the distinct impression that he was preparing to bunk down on my lounge after dinner, but Daniel moved him on, pointing out that perhaps I might be allowed to spend one night alone in my new abode. Niq reluctantly agreed.

  I obeyed orders and was tucked up in bed by ten. I had expected to toss and turn in a new bed, but instead slept for a solid and blissful eight hours, not missing the incessant thumping dance music from the rave club and the smell of cooking meat from the kebab shop.

  I slid out of bed in the morning and changed into some exercise gear, thinking that I’d better start shifting my flab before Heller made any more rude comments. I crept down to the gym on the floor below, hoping nobody else would be around. Luckily for me they weren’t, so I spent thirty minutes on the treadmill and then did some light weights. Better start easy, I thought as I left, eyeing the intimidating huge bar weights waiting for someone stronger than me to use.

  I returned to my flat, showered and ate breakfast. I didn’t have a wide choice of business apparel, the loss of my pale rose suit fairly well depleting it, so I slipped on runners, a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I left my hair loose that morning. A light application of makeup finished my preparations, but couldn’t hide the bruising that had fully developed across the bridge of my nose, or the scratches from the exploding glass. I looked like I’d been scrapping on the street downtown on a drunken Friday night.

  I walked down to the office and sat at my workstation. No one else had turned up for work yet. Not surprising perhaps, because it was only seven-thirty. Maybe I was a little too eager this morning. I spent ten minutes rummaging around in the three drawers to the right of my desk. There was a very nice supply of good quality stationery provided, including some Heller’s letterhead paper and pens with the stylish black and gold H logo, matching the sign on the office wall.

  I turned on my computer and while it was loading made myself a coffee at the machine in the kitchenette. I’d done some casual barista work before so was able to make myself a credible cappuccino, only burning my arm once on the steam. Back at my desk I brought up my favourite news site on the computer. I was reading about yet another terrible natural disaster when Heller walked in. He looked good, wearing tight-cut black suit pants, a dark green monogrammed shirt, opened at the neck, and elegant black crocodile shoes. He casually carried his suit jacket in his hand. I threw him a dazzling smile. He raised his eyebrows and glanced down at his watch. Then frowned as he took in my casual appearance and bruised face.

  “You don’t have another business suit?”

  I shook my head, instantly shamed at my impoverishment.

  “Come to me in about ten minutes and we’ll discuss the next few days,” he ordered, striding past me into his office. I watched him all the way. Nerves struck me suddenly and I could already feel the coffee pressing on my bladder. I stood up and walked around the office, trying to appear inconspicuous, looking for another bathroom other than the one near Daniel’s desk in which I’d changed before my interview. There wasn’t one.

  Problem! I thought as soon as I opened the door and walked inside, taking in my surroundings properly. There was just one toilet in the room, seat up. The toilet paper hadn’t been replaced and there were no female hygiene provisions. Daniel’s desk was only a few metres away. I baulked at the thought of sharing this space with the two men and Niq. I guess I’m not big on unisex bathrooms. I quickly backed out and dashed upstairs to my own bathroom. After checking my hair and makeup and brushing my teeth again to remove any coffee-breath, I walked back to my desk. Living where you worked certainly had a lot of advantages, I thought happily. I hadn’t even had to pack any lunch because I could just saunter upstairs and prepare it fresh at lunchtime.

  Chapter 7

  I sat back at my desk and continued perusing the news until I judged that the requested ten minutes were up. I hesitantly approached Heller’s office and knocked gently on the door. He looked up from his writing and gestured me in. I sat at a chair on the other side of his desk.

  He continued writing for a while and I took the opportunity to watch him. He was left-handed, his script confident, bold and surprisingly neat. His fingers were long and elegant, his nails manicured. There was what appeared to be faint scarring around the knuckles of his right hand and more recent scarring on his left. I was transfixed, staring at his hands, wondering how it would feel if they were caressing my skin. It was only when they stopped writing, placing the gold pen on the desk, did I realise that he was speaking to me. I looked up quickly, desperately focussing on what he was saying.

  “. . . and I’ve no doubts you’ll be happy to hear that,” he continued, unaware that I had missed the first part and therefore had no idea of my level of happiness at hearing what he’d just said. “So Rumbles will take you there at ten and then Mei will look after you.”

  “Rumbles?” I queried, wishing I’d been listening.

  “I know, it sounds improbable, but he swears that is his real name. He will collect you from your desk before ten. You should be back this afternoon by no later than five. Then tomorrow we have appointments with some potential new clients. Your first test, you might say. That’s all,” he said, dismissing me and turning back to his work.

  Great! Something or someone named Rumbles was taking me somewhere and then someone named Mei was taking me somewhere else. I didn’t have a clue what I’d be doing, but I’d be back at five. Mental note to self: stop perving and pay more attention next time.

  Rumbles turned out to be an incredible giant wearing the Heller’s uniform. He was an older man and one of the more senior security officers. He told me that he was second-in-command in the security section under Clive and also did a spot of discreet chauffeuring of VIP clients on Heller’s direct instructions. He was to be my escort for the day and confided that he had been given strict and detailed instructions by ‘the Boss himself’ on safely delivering me to wherever I was going and home again. That made me feel special.

  He was quite chatty and told me more about the security part of Heller’s business. They did one-off assignments for visitors to the city, and also had ongoing relationships with certain events managers who provided regular security work and crowd control at concerts, weddings, and other large gatherings. The bread-and-butter of the firm though was long-term security work at businesses and large building sites. Heller also loved winning private security jobs where his surveillance teams would tip off his security teams of any breach in the security systems previously installed by the business. That was win-win-win for him because he received income from the initial installation of the security equipment, the ongoing surveillance services and the follow-up security services, all in the same job.

  Rumbles detailed some of the assignments he’d been involved in as part of a Heller’s security team, including for a couple of A-list movie stars, a drug-addled major international sports star and a very famous but alcoholic and promiscuous young singer.

  “Sounds so exciting,” I breathed, desperate to hear more salacious details. “I hope I get to meet some famous people too.”

  He looked at me pityingly. “You think it’s going to be exciting being around celebrities or rich people, but it’s generally not. A lot of them are arrogant shits who don’t even notice you or even forbid you from making any eye cont
act with them, and the rest are addicts or just plain crazy. Even with the ones that are slightly normal, you have to deal with the paparazzi and those bastards are clever and persistent. And every now and again you’ll get a fanatical fan. So it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be.”

  I nodded agreement, but I still secretly had stars in my eyes. This job was going to be fantastic! There couldn’t have been a luckier woman in the world – free everything as well as the chance to meet celebrities. I was in heaven.

  We pulled up outside a deluxe and discreet hotel. Rumbles rushed out of his door and around the front of the black 4WD to open my door for me.

  “Thank you,” I said appreciatively, not sure that had ever happened to me before in my life. He led the way through the lavish foyer to the hotel’s spa retreat.

  “Here you go, Miss,” he said, with a gallantry that I assumed had died a few centuries ago. “After you’re finished here, Miss Mei will pick you up and take you for the afternoon. I’ll return for you at the end of the day.”

  “Thank you so much, Mr Rumbles,” I said, and we shook hands, much to his amused delight.

  “I hope you enjoy yourself today, Miss,” he said sincerely. “The Boss made a good decision to hire you. You’re a real breath of fresh air at Heller’s.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say in response to that, so merely smiled brightly at him and walked into the spa. There I was greeted warmly by professional and considerate staff. And for the next three hours, I was pampered to within an inch of my life. I was massaged, pedicured, manicured and waxed. I had a deep facial (the staff being careful of my poor nose) and the skin specialist enthused over my pale skin – so beautiful, so clear, just lovely – and I was given an armful of expensive products to nurture my specific skin type. I had my hair treated and cut expertly and was given another armful of expensive hair products. I had my makeup applied and was given many tips on doing it properly, ominously including how to cover bruising.