by Aria Grace
It’s him. The man who raped and beat me at a club is now standing in my office, blocking the only exit route as I break out into a cold sweat.
His eyes are wide as he inhales deeply, looking almost as surprised to see me as I am to see him. “Andrew Carson? You work here?”
I reach for my phone and stand up, backing around the other side of the table as I pull up my video app. “Please don’t hurt me. I promised not to tell anyone. I still won’t.”
“I swear I won’t hurt you. Can you please just listen to me for two minutes?” The man’s surprised expression falls, and that strange stirring is back in my belly. Okay, it was definitely a warning. I’m going to have to get better about listening to my intuition.
I don’t know what to do or say. I don’t want to just scream in the middle of the office, but if he gets any closer, I will.
“Please?” he pleads. “Just a few minutes.”
I’m now at the far end of the room, but I’m still completely trapped. He must be able to see my fear because he backs out until he’s completely outside the room again.
“I don’t want you to feel trapped in there but we need some privacy.” He points to the chair I was just sitting in opposite the door. “How about we trade places? I’ll walk around the back of the table and you can come by the door. That way you can leave when you want to…but we’ll still have some privacy to clear things up.”
I would like to have some clarity around that night. For the first few days I didn’t remember a thing. But I’ve had a few dreams that seem like they could be memories. And in all of them, this man is helping me, not hurting me. So I think I need this time with him as much as he seems to want it. “Okay. You walk slowly in that direction.”
He does as I ask, slowly entering the room and circling the desk clockwise as I walk toward the door from the opposite side. When I’m right by the entrance and he’s a good ten feet away from me with a huge table between us, I can finally breathe again. And as much as I don’t want to hear it, I know I have to get the full story of what happened that night. “Okay, talk.”
He gives me a sad smile and sits down, making himself even more vulnerable while making me feel ten times safer. “First of all, it wasn’t me. I saw a group of alphas take you to the back room and you looked frightened.” He stares down at his hands as he speaks quietly. “After a few minutes, I got worried and decided to go make sure everything was okay. I heard you scream from behind a locked door so I busted it down. By the time I got in there, the guys all hopped out a window and were gone. But you were bloodied and unconscious on the ground.”
I try to contain the tears that are building up in my eyes as he completes the puzzle that I only had a few pieces to until now. “So you didn’t…”
“No.” He shakes his head vehemently. “Of course not. I would never… I swear, I helped you get dressed and called a car to take you home. But you didn’t want to go, and I couldn’t leave you, so I took you to my place.”
That doesn’t sound unfamiliar. In fact, telling him I would just walk home is one of the puzzle pieces I’d been mulling over in my head for the past week. I’m not sure why I didn’t want to go home, but I believe what he’s saying is true. “I believe you.”
“Thank you.” He exhales and lowers his chin to his chest as if relieved. “This has been weighing on me since you left.”
I nod, knowing how he’s felt because I’ve felt the same way. Not being able to remember how my body got so bruised has made me feel even more vulnerable than when I was first turned out into the street by my parents right after I turned eighteen. “Me too. And, I guess I need to thank you for saving me.”
The man looks at me with intense eyes that are almost turquoise as they focus flit between both of mine. “I didn’t save you. If I had saved you, you would have walked out of there with a single bruise or…anything else. I rescued you too late.”
“Well, whatever you want to call it, no one else was there. If you hadn’t been, I’m sure things would have been much worse.” A shiver runs down my spine as I imagine what five guys could have done to me. “I think you saved me.”
He clears his throat and clasps his hands together. “Did you get to the hospital? I wanted to take you but you started to freak out. But you need to run tests for…everything.”
I close my eyes and nod, unable to look him in the eye through my shame. “I did a full workup at the campus clinic. Didn’t tell them what happened but everything came back negative. I have to get tested again in three and six months, but if you were only a few minutes behind us, they probably didn’t get a chance to, you know, finish.”
It takes a moment for him to answer so I look back at him. His jaw is clenched and he nods when he meets my gaze. “Let’s hope.”
We sit in awkward silence for a few minutes before we’re both ready to move on. I clear my throat first. “So, you’re the UX designer Chris has been telling me about?”
7
Jude
After we get past that extremely awkward conversation and move on to proper introductions, Andy—not Andrew, never Andrew—shocks the hell out of me by telling me that Chris Murdoch has been singing my praises and told him to go with anything I propose. I’m almost speechless because that man was always so argumentative with me. But, some people just like to bitch, and I have to assume Murdoch is one of them.
We end up working together for the rest of the afternoon because Andy is full of questions and wants to fill in the missing content immediately. He’s amazing with research and quickly finds the answers to almost everything I’m looking for within minutes. It’s a pleasant change compared to always working alone.
When his phone alarm rings at four, he quickly shuts it off and stares into space for a few minutes as if deep in concentration.
“Everything okay?” I ask, hoping he didn’t just get bad news.
“Yeah.” He smiles and turns his phone face-down on the table. “I’m just trying to decide if I should go to class or not.”
“I think that answer is a big, fat yes.” I save the file I’m working on and shut my laptop. “This will all be waiting for you tomorrow or whenever you get back here. Don’t worry about it.”
He smiles and saves his file too. “I know, but…”
“But what?” I put my bag on the table and give Andy my attention, curious about what has him considering skipping class.
“I’m kinda having fun.” He looks embarrassed to admit it but his rosy cheeks are just too damn cute.
I smile wide as I slip my laptop into my padded bag. “I am too. But school comes first. This project won’t be finished for months. Two or three at the minimum, assuming the rest of the content is as easy for you to find as everything was today.”
“Really?” His shoulders relax and he closes his laptop too. “Great. This is a lot more hands-on than I expected so early in my internship. I’m loving it.”
“Alright then.” I stand up and stretch my back, arching it with my arms wide above my head. “I won’t be back in the office for a few weeks but I’ll keep adding to the list we created and you can just check things off as you can get them done.”
“A few weeks?” I glance at his face quick enough to see the disappointment there, but he catches himself and schools his features almost instantly. “You’re not here every day?”
Oh.
Hmm.
That reaction is…unexpected.
“Not usually, but that was when Murdoch didn’t want to deal with this project. I guess if you’re going to be working with me, it might make sense to come in when you’re working. Are you here every day?”
He smiles and inhales deeply. Any hint of disappointment I might have seen a moment ago is gone now. “Yeah, through the summer, I’m full time. I’m not sure about after that.”
I cock an eyebrow, confused. “What about the class you have today?”
“Oh, that’s not for school.” He rolls his eyes. “Well, it kinda is a school but not
my regular school.”
I have no idea what he’s babbling about, so I just stare at him, waiting for him to make some sense.
“It’s an infant CPR class. It’s just for today and Thursday. I signed up for it two months ago, before I knew what my hours here would be. After that, I’ll be able to work late every day.”
“You have an infant?” I don’t know why my mouth suddenly feels like the desert and my stomach is roiling…but I don’t like that idea at all.
“No, of course not.” He smiles as he pulls his laptop to his chest and leans a hip against the table. “I’m living with my brother’s family for the summer. I’ll be watching my niece and nephew more often so I want to be prepared for anything.”
“Oh, that’s awesome.” And suddenly, the world is right again. Whatever weird feelings that were meandering within me are gone and I can breathe easily. “I love kids. And it’s great that you have family nearby.”
Andy’s eyes get glassy again as he stares at me, almost…adoringly. “Yeah, they’re pretty awesome. I can’t wait to have a family of my own someday.”
I’m surprised by his blatant desire to have a family. Most guys, especially those in college who are planning careers, don’t think about settling down until their mid-thirties or later. According to his driver’s license, Andy is barely twenty. He’s way too young to be thinking about a family. Although, something about the idea of him chasing after a brood of little ones makes me feel warm inside.
A warmth I haven’t ever known before.
I guess I’ve always known I’d have kids someday. And I’m getting to the point in life where I’d much rather have one mate to settle down with rather than doing the dating thing. But I’m still caught off guard by the longing I see in Andy’s eyes.
Does he see the same longing in mine?
Before I head into work the next morning, I do something I haven’t done in a long time. I rub one out in the shower like a damn teenager. Mostly because of the dream I had, which starred my new intern, but also because I’m hoping it will help reduce the risk of me having to hide a hard-on all day like I did for the latter half of our meeting yesterday.
Andy is already set up in a small conference room when I arrive. “I hope you don’t mind this room. Since it’s just us, I figured we didn’t need the bigger conference room.”
“Yeah, this is perfect.” I set my bag on the table and pull out my laptop.
“No one ever uses this conference room because there aren’t any windows, so Jenny said we can use it every day if we need to.”
“Great.” I clear my throat as I wait for my computer to boot up. “So, how was your class last night?”
Andy's face grows a few shades lighter and he grimaces. “God, I hope nothing ever happens to those kids when I’m alone with them. Trying to do chest compressions or the Heimlich on an infant is terrifying.”
“Yeah, I imagine it would be.” Thankfully, I’ve never been in a life-or-death situation with someone, the night I found Andy in that room notwithstanding, so I’ve never been put to the test of having to try to save their life.
“I guess I feel better having taken the class, but honestly, I think I’m going to be more paranoid about them eating anything instead of more confident, like I’d hoped.”
“Do you babysit often?” I ask, curious to know what his evenings are usually like and maybe what his status is.
“No, not too often. My brother-in-law is home with them quite a bit, but since I’m staying with them for the summer, I’m trying to encourage them to do more date nights.” Andy chuckles as if remembering something. “They need alone time with other adults, not just alone time with each other.”
When he catches my eye, that rosy tint colors his cheeks, and I have to close my hand to stop myself from reaching out and brushing my thumb over his heated cheek. “That’s very thoughtful of you.”
He shrugs. “What about you?” Andy isn’t very subtle as he glances down at my left hand then back to my eyes. “Did you do anything fun last night?”
“Nothing as exciting as you. I finished the last three episodes of Stranger Things then went to bed early. It was quite a night.” I waggle my eyebrows.
“Well, I guess considering what you had to deal with the last time you went to a club, I don’t blame you for wanting to stay home and chill.”
Andy’s eyes connect with mine, and I just watch him watching me for a long moment. “I do have a lot of regrets about that night, but as long as you’re okay…” I don’t finish the thought because I don’t know how to. He’s not okay. He was raped because I was too selfish and lazy to be bothered enough to react quickly when I knew something was wrong. And it’s not even like I can credit that night for us meeting since we would have met her regardless. Yeah, definitely a lot of regrets.
Andy’s voice is low but firm when he pulls me from my thoughts. “Well, if you’ve ever wondered whether you were a hero or not, I think you answered that question.”
I shake my head, wanting to get off the topic as soon as possible. Every time I think about it, I can’t stop playing the what-if game.
What if I had cut in while they were dancing and gotten Andy away from that guy before anything else could have happened?
What if I had followed them immediately and stopped any kind of assault from happening in the first place?
What if I had broken down the door on my first try, and beaten the shit out of every one of those men who were trying to hurt Andy?
“I’m not really into the club scene anyway. I went a lot more often when I was younger, but now that I’m an old man, I’d rather sit at home with popcorn and Netflix.”
8
Andy
Jude is definitely not old. He’s a few years older than me, but that just makes him a bit more mature. And a lot more sexy.
I give him a small smile. “I don’t know. Hanging out with my family and watching movies doesn’t sound so bad.”
Jude’s eyes darken, and it looks like he’s scenting the air. Dear god, am I releasing some kind of lusty odor?
Jude stares at me for a few seconds longer before seeming to shake out of it. “Yeah, well, we should probably get to it.” He projects the staging website on the wall-mounted monitor and opens up the punch list of items we need to complete. “As you can see, I added a bunch of stuff last night. Obviously, you don’t have to do it all immediately. I’ll just keep adding to the list as I find things that I need, and you can work through the list at your own pace.”
At first glance, the list is intimidating. And long. But this is a great learning opportunity for me, so I’m excited to be given such a big responsibility. “You got it. I’m ready to roll.”
For the next few hours, we work in companionable silence. Every now and then, I have a question for Jude, and he’s always quick to answer. But there are so many other things I want to ask him about. Like how he got involved in this business and if he likes owning his own company or has ever worked as an in-house designer.
It’s ten minutes to noon when I finally work up the courage to ask Jude if he has lunch plans, and just when I’m about to open my mouth, Matt pokes his head through the conference room door. “Hey, Dude. I heard you were back today. You want to grab lunch?”
I keep my head down, pretending to be so lost in concentration that I don’t notice the invitation hasn’t been extended to me. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jude tilt his head in my direction. God, I hate being a pity guest.
“Yeah, Andy, right?” Matt asks, pointing at me. I’m surprised he knows my name. We haven’t been formally introduced but Chris pointed him out to me on my first day.
I look up as if I’m just noticing that he’s standing there. “Yeah, hi.”
“Would you like to join us for lunch down in the café? They have some decent sandwiches.”
“Wow, is it noon already?” I glance at my watch and feign surprise. “Thanks for the invite, but I need to run a few errands at lunch.”
I make the mistake of glancing in Jude’s direction, and his narrowed eyes are locked on me. He knows I’m lying, but I’m grateful that he doesn’t try to call me out on it. After keeping his eyes on me for a few seconds longer than appropriate, he turns back to Matt. “Yeah, sounds good. You ready now?”
“You know I’m always ready to eat. Let’s go.”
I keep my head down and continue working until they both leave the room. After waiting a good ten minutes to give them a head start, I shut down my computer and head to the back stairwell to go grab something to eat. There’s a deli across the street that I’ve been meaning to check out, so that’s the obvious choice. The line is long so I take that as a good sign of what’s to come and peruse the wall menu while I wait for my turn.
“Hey, you work over at Matco Electronics, right?”
I glance up and realize the guy standing in front of me is talking to me. He’s obviously an alpha, but he doesn’t have the traditional body type. He’s only an inch or so taller than my five foot eight frame, and although it looks like he has thick muscles, they aren’t wide or bulging like Matt’s and Jude’s are. “Yeah, just started a few days ago.”
“Cool, welcome. I work there too. I am Xander.”
“Nice to meet you, Xander. I’m Andy.” I hold out my hand to shake, and when he does, his hold lingers for a second longer than is customary for a business associate.
Interesting.
He asks me what department I work for and tells me about some projects he’s working on, but whatever he’s talking about doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. He’s an engineer, and I’m not familiar with most of the terms he’s using. But Xander seems like a nice guy, so when he places his order and asks if I’d like to join him for lunch, I don’t hesitate. I don’t know very many people at the company yet, and it never hurts to have a friend around when you’re the new guy.
