Healing Nicole

by Rachel M Storm

"Oh, so you won’t be coming back at all after you leave?" My mother asks sadly.

  "If I get the Job then I plan on not coming back for a little while until I am settled," I answer.

  "But you will come visit us, won’t you honey?" My mom asks.

  "Of course ma,"

  "We will help you with everything you need help with pumpkin. Just call and let us know how it all goes." My dad says.

  "Great, thanks dad," I stand. "Well, I have to go see if I can get a hotel at such short notice and do some packing. I'll be leaving early in the morning so I probably won’t see you. I'll call as soon as I get there," I tell my parents.

  They both stand to give me a hug and wish me good luck. A few tears escape my mother's eyes when she hugs me again.

  "Be safe honey," she says when she finally lets me go.

  When I get to my house I unpack my trunk of the things I now realize I might not even need anymore. Well, I hope I won't need them. I fire up my laptop before heading to my room to pack a small bag of clothes.

  As soon as I am all done packing I go back to my laptop and fire up google and search for hotels in Port Elizabeth. I find a hotel, call them, and luckily enough, I get a room. After wiring the deposit to the hotel, I climb in the shower then go straight to bed.

  Please let me get this job. Is the last thing roaming my brain when sleep finally consumes me.

  ****

  The five hour drive has me exhausted as I park outside the Beverley hotel. I climb out of the car and grab my luggage in the back seat before making my way into the hotel. I'm awestruck when I walk into the spacious modern hotel lobby. Beautiful sleek white and grey furniture grace the enormous room, complete with a crystal chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling.

  This is supposed to be a four star hotel but it looks more like a five star. I start to look around, worried that I've arrived at the wrong place. I still have a lot of money from saving every cent from the age of seventeen, when I started working as a waitress at our local restaurant. And then there’s the chunk of money my parents insisted on wiring to me late last night. But this? This is too much, I would not be able to afford this kind of place.

  "Good day, ma'am. Can I help you?" A tall, handsome man with dark brown eyes, wearing a maroon and white uniform asks when he notices my lost look.

  "Oh, I'm sorry. I think I'm at the wrong place. I thought this was the Beverley Hotel," I tell him still looking around the beautiful lobby.

  "Yes ma'am, this is the Beverley Hotel. Check-in is right this way," He answers politely, leading me to where I should be going.

  I feel like such an out of place idgit right now.

  "Thank you," I say, following him to the check-in counter.

  "Good day, welcome to the Beverley Hotel." The woman behind the counter says as soon as I reach her.

  "Hi, room for Nicole Parker?" I say. She quickly types something on her keyboard. "Yes, here it is," she says producing a key card. "You will be in room 303. Enjoy your stay," she continues.

  "Thank you," I reply, still finding it hard to believe that a place like this could be so affordable.

  "Can I assist with your luggage ma'am?" The man from before asks. I assume, he's the bellman.

  "Um, there's no need. Thank you though." I reply. He shuffles from foot to foot like he is nervous. "Would you rather carry the luggage for me? You look uncomfortable," I ask him.

  "Yes please," he says, sighing in relief.

  I hand him my luggage and he leads the way to the elevators. The elevator ride to the third floor is quiet except for the soothing music. The doors ding as they open and I'm met by a beautiful hallway with a smaller, but equally enchanting, chandelier as the one downstairs.

  I slam into a hard body because I'm staring at the beautiful chandelier instead of looking where I am walking.

  "Oh my shit-sticks!" I exclaim when I feel myself falling backwards. Memories of the worst day of my life flash through my head.

  I feel strong arms catch me before I fall flat on my ass. Everything becomes white noise again as I feel a tear slip down my cheek.

  "Hey, I asked if you were okay," A deep, gravelly voice asks.

  "I'm so sorry, yeah, I'm fine. I should pay more attention when I'm walking," I say looking up into worried, beautiful emerald eyes.

  "No worries. Have a great night," he says, stepping past me into the elevator. I was way too embarrassed to even study any of his other features.

  "You okay ma'am?" The bellman asks as I regain my composure, wiping the lone tear from my cheek and pushing the bad memories to the back of my brain, where they belong.

  "Yeah," I say, starting to walk again.

  "This is you," He says as we stop in front of a door with the number 303 on it. I swipe the key card in my hand and the door swings open, revealing a huge, beautiful room furnished with dark wood furniture. The queen sized bed decorated with red and grey bedding looks absolutely inviting right this instant.

  "I'll be on my way ma'am, enjoy your stay," The bellman says as he places my luggage in the room.

  "Please call me Nikki." I tell him. "Thank you for the help," I say, pulling a Twenty out of my back pocket to tip him. He graciously accepts and then closes the door behind him, leaving me alone.

  I take the time to take in the beautiful room. The queen size bed with the dark wood headboard and two matching bedside tables with a black lamp sitting on each is even more inviting now that I am alone. A plasma TV is resting on the chest of drawers against the wall in front of the bed. My eyes move to the window where two couches and a coffee table is. I walk over and look out the window and get mesmerized by the beautiful lights brightening the city. Damn, this is such a stunning view. I sigh and walk over to the door on my left. I open it and walk into the sleek black and white bathroom, complete with a toilet, basin, a left-hand corner bathtub and a shower with glass doors. A towel is hanging neatly on a towel rack attached to the wall.

  I immediately strip out of my clothes, climb into the shower to wash out the five hour drive that has left me exhausted. A little while later, I climb out of the shower and wrap myself with the too soft for words towel.

  A loud squeal bubbles through my mouth when I open the door to find a man on a ladder fidgeting with the lights.

  "What the hell?!" I say as I grip the towel tighter around my body.

  "Mother-" The guy says when he loses his balance on the ladder and falls, thankfully the bed breaks his fall. This would have been funny if a random guy wasn’t in my damn hotel room with me wrapped in nothing but a damn towel.

  "Shit, I'm so sorry. I wasn’t told that the room was occupied, it was empty earlier when I came by," the man says shuffling off the bed.

  I feel my face turn a thousand shades of red when I notice for the first time that the man is shirtless. I involuntarily bite down on my lip when I see the perfectly lined abs meant for a god.

  "Shit, I'm so sorry!" He says when he catches my gaze. He quickly grabs his button up shirt from the bed and covers up his perfect body.

  I look up to be met by the same emerald eyes that I bumped into earlier. "Oh, it’s you," I say shocked. He looks at me for a second longer before recognition fills his eyes.

  "Yeah, it's me," he says with a light smile playing on his lips. "I'm sorry about this," he says, busying himself with gathering the ladder and the light bulbs on the floor.

  Unlike earlier when I bumped into him, I take him in, studying his bed messy inky black hair, his dark eyebrows that bring out his gorgeous eye color, his strong square jaw and his tall frame.

  "I was just here to fix this light. I'll be on my way now." He says breaking me out of my gawking.

  "Yeah sure," I reply.

  My hand grips the towel even tighter when his gaze lingers a little too long on my body. "Um, bye," I say.

  He clears his throat before quickly retreating out of the room. Oh my, that was embarrassing.

  I quickly go through the motions of smearing my body with some lo
tion and getting dressed before laying out my clothes for the next day's interview.

  I then grab my phone and climb in bed. First, I call my parents to tell them that I arrived safely as I promised I would, then set the alarm so that I don’t blow my chances at getting this job by oversleeping. I switch off the lights and work hard on falling asleep.

  CHAPTER TWO

  NICOLE

  I jolt awake with tears running down my cheeks, soaking the pillow in the process from a nightmare that unfortunately was my reality. I sit up straight, slightly disorientated and switch on the bedside lamp, my eyes fly to the clock beside the bed in panic when I see where I am. I immediately relax and groan at the same time when I see that it is four in the early AM. I still have a few hours to get ready for my interview.

  I exchange the wet pillow with the dry one from the vacant side of my bed and plop back down, glaring at the ceiling like it's to blame for everything that has happened. A few seconds later, when I get tired of glaring I start to toss and turn.

  I finally get tired of being in bed and decide to get up and grab the box of dye from my bag. I wasn’t sure about dying my hair a darker color, but now that I'm awake and have no idea what to do with myself, I think I'll just do it and get it over and done with. New hair, hopefully new city and job and most importantly, new beginning.

  Three hours later I'm done dying my hair. I’ve showered and dressed in a black pencil skirt that rests just above my knees. A beige silkish, short sleeve blouse that is tucked into my skirt with high heeled pumps that match my blouse.

  With one last look in the mirror, I grab my keys and make my way out. A short while later I park in front of the massive building with C Maynard Inc written in big cursive letters. It was surprisingly close to the hotel and I’m thankful for that. It would have been a disaster if I was late because I got lost or something.

  I take a big calming breath before climbing out of my car and making my way into the building. And again, I’m amazed by the modern, absolutely stunning building I walk into. The reception area is all white with marbled floors and there are a few paintings hanging on the walls. I start to walk towards the counter where there are three women seated behind computers.

  “Good morning ma’am, how can we help you?” The redhead seated in the middle asks as I come to a stop in front of them.

  “Morning, I’m Nicole Parker and I’m here for an interview with Mr. Maynard,” I tell her.

  "Alright, one minute please," she says dialing a number on the phone to her right. "Sunette, Miss Parker is here for her interview," she says, talking into the little mike from her headphones. "Sending her up," she says again after a slight pause.

  "Mr. Maynard will see you. Take the elevator to the fifth floor," she says pointing to the direction of the elevator.

  "Thank you," I say on a shaky voice as I make my way to the elevator.

  Nerves wreak havoc in my stomach as the elevator starts moving. It feels like a thousand butterflies are flapping around in there. What if I blow it somehow?

  The elevator doors ding open and I step out while getting my phone from my bag to switch it off. Again, I walk right into a hard body. I stumble back as the phone falls out of my hand.

  "Mother buffer!" I say reaching for the phone just to bump heads with the person I just slammed into.

  "Ow," I say rubbing my forehead and a low gravelly chuckle fills my ears.

  "Don’t sweat it, I got it," a familiar voice says as he picks up my phone and hands it to me.

  "You again," I say when I see the beautiful emeralds from yesterday. "I'm so so sorry," I apologize for being such a klutz.

  He looks at me with confusion swirling in his eyes. "You say that like you know me," he finally says. Oh, right. He probably doesn’t recognize me with the new hair color.

  "I bumped into you yesterday and you were in my room fixing my lights," I tell him as a blush creeps up my cheeks.

  "Right, towel girl." He says, a smile forming on his face. "You look different, I like the hair," he says, causing me to blush even more.

  Wait, did he just call me towel girl?

  "I'm sorry to interrupt, are you Miss Parker?" A tall, stunning woman, with a heart-shaped face, brown eyes, long pitch black hair and a body fit for a model dressed in a short-skirt pin striped suit that looks like it was especially tailored just for her, says as she comes to stand in front of us.

  "Yes, I am." I reply.

  "I'm Sunette, we spoke on the phone," she says

  "Good to meet you," I tell her.

  "Likewise. Mr. Maynard is ready for you," she says. "You can walk right into that office," she continues, pointing at the office with the open door.

  "Thank you," I say to Sunette. "I'm sorry about bumping into you... Again," I tell Mr. Tall dark and handsome who I keep making an ass out of myself in front of. "I got to go," I say walking toward the office.

  "So, will I see you tonight at the office dinner?" I hear Sunette ask Mr. Tall dark and handsome but I don’t hear his reply to her because my nerves are making my heart pump into my ears.

  I straighten myself before knocking.

  "Come on in, Miss Parker," a deep voice says from inside the office.

  I walk in and another dark haired, handsome man with similar eyes to Mr. tall dark and handsome outside, wearing a black suit with a white shirt moves out from behind his desk to greet me.

  "I'm Connor Maynard," he says, extending his hand to shake mine. Oh my word this man is too hot for words!

  "I'm Nicole Parker. Pleasure to meet you sir," I say, eliciting a chuckle to come from him. Did I say something funny?

  "Have a seat," he gestures to the couch at the corner of his office. I take a seat as requested and he sits on the couch opposite from me.

  "Okay, Miss Parker. I have actually already made up my mind about you," Mr. Maynard says, causing my heart to dive down my stomach from disappointment.

  "Oh," is all I can reply.

  He chuckles again, "No, it's not like that," he says. "I made up my mind that you got the Job. Your CV is really impressive and I spoke to your last employers and they only had great things to say about you." My eyes light up as excitement slowly surfaces. "This interview is actually just a meeting to discuss your package and to meet you face to face." He continues.

  "Oh my, thank you so much Mr. Maynard," I say with my smile reaching my eyes.

  "Sure. Here, go through the contract and look over the package we offer, then if you accept let me know when you can start." He says, handing me a file with my name typed on the cover.

  "No need to check the package, I'll take the job sir. And I can start anytime you want me to," I tell him accepting the file.

  "That is great, Miss Parker. But I would rather you at least read through the contract, and if you are happy with everything then you can start next week Monday," he says

  "No problem Mr. Maynard," I reply happily.

  "Well then, that's it." He says standing and extending his hand out to me again.

  I follow suit and shake his hand. "Thank you, Mr. Maynard, I appreciate the opportunity." I tell him.

  "You are welcome, I look forward to working with you," he says.

  "I will get back to you about the contract tomorrow," I tell him as I make my way out of his office.

  "Looking forward to it," he replies.

  I wave goodbye to Sunette, who is now seated behind a table, typing something fierce. The elevator is already open so I climb in and press on the ground button and the elevator doors shut. As soon as the doors are completely closed, I start doing my embarrassing happy dance.

  Finally, things are starting to look up.

  CHAPTER THREE

  MACE

  "Uncle Mace?" Abby, my six year old niece says, causing me to panic a bit because I know all her embarrassing questions start with uncle Mace in that sweet tone of voice.

  "Yes, princess?" I answer warily.

  "Why don’t you and daddy have girlfriends?" She asks
and my eyes widen.

  "Well..." I let the word hang in the air as I search for more words to come to me.

  "Never mind you then uncle Mace," she says and I sigh in relief before taking a sip from the water bottle in my hand. "Why doesn’t daddy get a girlfriend? I'd like to have a mommy and I want to be a big sister." I spew the water in my mouth from shock.

  How the fuck am I supposed to answer shit like that?

  "I... Um..." I stutter.

  "It's not like it would be hard for daddy to get one you know," she says, brushing her doll's long hair.

  "It wouldn’t?" I regret the question as soon as it leaves my mouth.

  "Yep, I heard some ladies at the supermarket saying that daddy is one hot sa-ma-ma-bitch," this time I choke on air.

  "Princess, that is a very bad word," I tell her in a stern voice. Hoping that this also deters her from the subject.

  "I'm sorry," she says, bowing her head.

  "Come on honey, it’s time for bed," Connor calls from upstairs.

  "Coming daddy," Abby calls back. "Goodnight uncle Mace," she says before running into my arms. I pick her up, give her a hug and a peck on the cheek.

  "Night, princess." I tell her as I put her back down.

  She rushes upstairs and a few minutes later I hear Connor singing her the same song our mother sang to us when we were kids.

  "Why are you red?" I jump at my sister's question. Where the fuck did she just come from?

  "Are you like some kind of damn ninja, Angela?" I ask, eliciting a laughter from her.

  "Yeah, yeah. Why are you blushing, did Abby embarrass you again?" She grins, because she knows that’s exactly what happened.

  "She asked me why Connor and I don’t have girlfriends!" I tell her, my face heating up even more. She bursts out laughing.

  "You are enjoying this way too much Ang," I glare at her. "Why does she always ask me such questions? She never seems to ask you or Connor." I continue.

  "What are you two losers giggling about?" Connor asks as he joins us in his living area.