Shouldn't Have Dealt

by Mara Lynne

  I give Mrs. Goble a wide smile as though I am selling some life insurance on the streets.

  “It’s not every day I get to eat with Eva Goble.” A few praises, I think, might finally win me Eva Goble. “And it’s not bad to treat a future client, is it?”

  “About that, Ms. Mohr.” Suddenly, her voice has turned serious. “I would like to hear your offer. I’m contemplating a change of environment.” She quickly glances at Samuel with her chin held high.

  “Of course, ma’am!” I could hardly hide my excitement. I continue, “We’ll give you a contract that is tailored to your preferences. We can discuss the upfront payment and the royalties with my boss, Tessie Thatcher. For the book design, marketing, and advertising, I can assure you that we have the best team for that.” The only problem here is to what extent Thatcher’s willing to concede for Goble’s high demands. They are like two ends of the spectrum.

  “I’ll have to see the contract first. Can you bring it to my apartment tomorrow?”

  “Yes, Mrs. Goble!” I almost jump off my seat. “I will definitely do that.”

  “What about your contract with us, Mrs. Goble?” Evans finally breaks his silence. “You owe us your third book. That is stipulated in the papers.”

  “I will pay for the violation.” She shrugs her shoulder as though she has no care about legal matters.

  However, as soon as I see Mrs. Goble’s eyes widen with astonishment, I immediately think some undesirable event is bound to happen. Evan is beaming like there’s no tomorrow now.

  “So early for business, isn’t it, babe?”

  I look over my shoulder and gasp when my lips freeze at the touch of something smooth and warm. My eyes go straight to those dark orbs that pierced me right through my soul. In that dark, piercing glare, I think I saw animation. However, it could be my imagination playing on me again.

  In an instant, without even thinking twice, I jump off my chair and wish I could disappear into the air.

  “What is the meaning of this, Stone?” Goble exclaims with her hands on her hips.

  “I’ll handle this, Evans,” Stone says and makes poor Samuel Evans vanish just like that. “Good morning, Eva.” He takes all the liberty to take the chair beside me.

  How on earth did that just happen?

  I stand there clueless, wondering how Stone appeared from thin air and surprised me with that kiss. Was it my fault that I moved my head to the side? Then again, I didn’t know he was coming or that he would do something like that. Oh, God! I think it is I to blame!

  I feel all my blood rush to my face. On the other hand, Stone seems unaffected. How can he just sit there like that kiss was nothing? He stole it from me. He shouldn’t do things like that to random girls. He should not!

  “Care to explain this hullabaloo, Hunter?” Eva sounds really mad. Her eyebrows are nearly crossing each other.

  “What should I explain?” the impervious Hunter Stone nonchalantly answers. He clearly doesn’t care if I mentally break down right at this moment.

  “You and Ms. Mohr!” Fire puffs out of her nose. “Is this one of your silly trick? I will never forgive you, young man!”

  “Where were you for the last six months, Eva? I thought you were my staunch supporter?” I bet by ‘supporter’ he means critic. It’s no secret to the publishing industry how Eva Goble dislikes Hunter Stone’s unconventional manner of dealing with his clients—especially if she’s one of them. She is having the same Stone treatment others unfortunately get, and she doesn’t like that. Hunter continues with his brash tone. “You don’t recognize my girlfriend, Angel Grant?” Hunter slowly reaches for my hand, pulls it toward his mouth, and plants a gentle kiss on it.

  “Angel Grant?” she blurts out.

  Dear, God, am I going to have to put up with Hunter’s game again?

  Eva shifts her attention to me and asks, “I thought you said your name was Angel Mohr. You are not scamming me, are you?”

  “Relax, Eva!” Hunter interjects while he tries to massage the cold away from my hands. “She’s my girlfriend. Why will she be scamming you?”

  “Because she said she works for McGraddy, and now she’s your girlfriend!”

  “Eva—” I try to butt in, but when Hunter squeezes my hand, I am silenced again.

  “Babe?” Does he seriously want me to take the seat next to him?

  I should probably leave and let Hunter have his way with Eva Goble. I don’t like pretending anymore. He is still deluding himself. Is there a cure for this?

  He nudges his head as though telling me to sit down.

  “You know, babe, don’t be so embarrassed I found out you’re trying to steal my company’s precious gem.”

  I swear I see Eva’s eyes flicker the moment she hears the precious gem part.

  “Eva, Angel, and I have this serious rivalry going on. She doesn’t like to be outdone, if you know what I mean.”

  “This is not what you think it is, Mrs. Goble.” I feel like crying just to show Eva I am telling the truth. I took the chair and sit face-to-face with the woman. However, if I tell her the real story, she might see me as less credible. Who would want to work with someone who used to be a hired girlfriend? That will be a disaster for me if someone like Eva Goble finds it out. It will be the end of my career.

  The waiter arrives, bringing my breakfast and a glass of wine for Hunter. It seems that people here know what he needs. Maybe he’s frequenting this place, and people are already familiar with his demands.

  “So what exactly is happening? Why are you in McGraddy’s and not in Metamorphosis?”

  “She put down Metamorphosis because she thought I’d stop looking for her when she disappears from the face of the planet,” Hunter replies without hesitation. “But I found her hideout. Alabama, babe? Really? You think I won’t find you there?”

  Such a good liar! He does this without fail. This man should really be taught a lesson.

  “Does this reunion mean you’re back together?”

  “No!” I quickly counter.

  “I’m trying to win her out.” Hunter calmly asserts.

  “Just like how you’re trying to win me over again, isn’t it, Hunter Stone?”

  “Yes, Eva. Just like this.” He picks up his glass of wine and tips it toward the satisfied Eva, whose smile almost reaches her ears.

  “Well!” She claps her hands together. “You know my specifics, Hunter. I’ll wait for the new contract to be sent to my doorstep.”

  Hunter looks content after taking a sip of his wine.

  Eva gathers her legs together and stands up.

  “I guess this drama is over. My complaints are already attended specifically by you,” she says.

  “Samuel Evans will report to me directly about the progress of your book.” He offers her a handshake.

  “I thought you’ll be firing him for being so lame,” she hisses.

  “I don’t make impulsive decisions, Eva.”

  “Always the vigilant one, Hunter.” Then she turns to me with a smirk. “It seems that you are not a product of an impulsive decision, Ms. Mohr—I mean, Ms. Grant. Now you do look familiar. The pages don’t do you justice. Maybe that’s the reason it was difficult for me to recognize you.”

  So this is how I easily lost Eva Goble to Hunter Stone. Just when I thought it was my lucky day, it turns out to be one of the worst.

  Eva Goble makes her way out of the Emerald, swaying her big hips so gracefully and flipping her big locks everywhere.

  “Now it’s just you and me,” he states in a gentle manner.

  “You and your delusions,” I whisper to myself.

  “What about your food?”

  “I don’t think I’ll be able to eat with you around,” I reply harshly. Pushing the chair back, I stand up and pick up my bag from the table.

  However, before I can turn away from him, Hunter grabs me by the arm and pulls me to him, and I came face-to-face with his chest. His face is looking straight down on me, and there is t
his kind of look on his face I wish I haven’t seen.

  “Learn some manners, will you?” His anger seethes from deep within his core. He is gritting his teeth. “You are getting on my nerves lately. You used to be pretty cute when you play hard-to-get, but now, you are plainly rude.”

  “I’m quite glad about it!” I cry out. “At least now there’s a reason for you to stay away.”

  “Quite the opposite.”

  Hunter tightens his clutch on me. I can right away feel my wrist numbing. He’s hurting me now. I try to resist by pulling my hand away, but Hunter only squeezes harder each time.

  “You are taking everything from me, Hunter!”

  “Is Eva Goble everything for you?”

  Yes. Eva Goble means work. Work means survival. Work means Dad.

  Tears start to form at the edge of my eyes. My pride is working double time to stop those tears from falling.

  “You know what to do, Angel. You got nothing to lose if you choose me.”

  Chapter 8: An Eye for an Eye

  There’s nothing in this world that I fear today more than to hear my cell phone ring. For the entire day, I was anxiously waiting for Thatcher to call and announce my dismissal. After that terrible meeting with Goble, I don’t think Thatcher will be happy to hear that I lost the bid. I was so close to closing the deal, but here came Stone in his white stallion, so equipped and fired up to rescue his beloved queen from me, the evil witch. Now, the evil witch has to face the magical and scary dragon that can single-handedly extinguish her.

  Right after the meeting, May called me and said it was better for me to stay away from the Mezzanine until I am told to come. She said Thatcher is currently in a state of denial. Most of the workers were sent home without prior notice or explanation immediately after Thatcher heard about Goble finally signing with Stone. It seems that Thatcher wants the entire place for herself.

  While I am so preoccupied with the thought of dismissal, I hit the internet for some vacant jobs. It will not be long until I am unemployed so better prepare early on. It is not yet time to press the alarm button, though. We are still floating. I have saved enough for the rainy days, and guess what, this might just be the time to make use of that money.

  Getting an online job as a freelance writer will be great. I think that might just be a good supplement for a pre-school job. For the meantime, I might need to stick to these jobs until I find a real one.

  “Here, take a look at this.” Ray hands me a white mailing envelope. He has been frequenting our house while he too looks for a permanent job in the city. He said he almost depleted all his finances on his Alaska trip, so he needs replenishment.

  “From Stone Holdings?” I quickly open the letter.

  “You’ll be surprised,” he utters in the most excited tone.

  “You got a position in the new publishing division of Stone Publishing?” I asked after skimming through the first paragraph.

  “Yes!” He hugs me tightly like a child. “It’s a new one! Can you believe it? I’ll be an Assistant Editor for my first job!”

  I quickly run my eyes through the next paragraphs. There is something anomalous in the letter. I just can’t immediately decipher it out.

  “I don’t know who will be my boss, but I don’t think it will be one of the famous editors they have in other divisions. Maybe someone new, I guess,” he adds.

  “Congratulations! I’m happy for you!” I couldn’t be happier for Ray. He has always dreamt of working in Stone’s company.

  “I know I shouldn’t be like this when you are all so beaten up with McGraddy. You should try Stone Publishing. I am sure Hunter will have you with open arms.”

  I shoot him a glare.

  “Okay, I take it back,” he says right away. “Why do I always end up giving bad advice?” I hear him murmur to himself.

  “Anyways, Ray, I think I found something really helpful for the meantime.”

  He moves his face closer to the laptop screen and read the advertisement aloud, “Teacher Assistant. Precious Angels Montessori?”

  I nod.

  “For the meantime?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you think the pay will be enough?”

  I don’t really think the pay will be enough for all our expenses including Dad’s medications and treatment, but it will help. Besides, I’ll still have that freelance job on the internet. Hopefully, I’ll find a job with good compensation before the month ends.

  “It’s manageable,” I answer Ray.

  “Okay, dear, but don’t hesitate to ask help from me.” Ray smiles sweetly. “I’ll empty my piggy bank for you anytime.”

  “I know.”

  Ray steals the laptop from me and opens it.

  “I need to find out how on earth Hunter Stone is related with Damien Etheridge.” His fingers are tapping the keys real hard. “I can’t believe you overlooked that thing for six months. You didn’t even care to do some research.”

  It’s not that I did not care. I just thought to myself that if I dig for the truth, I’ll end up getting more hurt. Just knowing they’re related already created a profound mark that I’m afraid time cannot heal. That one revelation blew up everything beautiful I had with Damien and exacerbated everything ugly and horrible with Hunter.

  Maybe I was just scared of the impossible. Perhaps, I thought that the more I knew about Hunter and Damien, the more impossible it would be to reconcile with the latter… that if I knew more about them, the more I would realize that Damien will never forgive me. I just do not want that to happen.

  “It’s not necessary,” I silently say, walking away from the table. Ray is unstoppable at finding the truth.

  “How can that be unnecessary?” he asks with his eyes still on the monitor.

  I get myself busy with drying the dishes, an obvious thing to do to avoid whatever information Ray has to say later on.

  “Holy crap!” Ray shouts.

  The dishes slip off my hands, and they hit the sink.

  “Angel, are you alright?”

  Seriously, Ray frightened me with his reaction. I am dead tempted to run to him and sneak a peek of what he’s seen on the internet.

  “Hunter’s an illegitimate son of a woman named Victoria Stone, heiress to Stone Holdings and daughter to a business tycoon. Victoria Stone and James Etheridge were childhood sweethearts. He was her first love. They went to the same university and became an item for two years, but Etheridge got engaged with Mary Hamilton, apparently a daughter of an English aristocrat.” His eyes skim down the page. “So little information,” he murmurs to himself, sounding disappointed.

  I just found myself glued to the little information Ray was reading aloud, and like Ray, I was upset that he had to stop reading.

  “I think the Etheridges and the Hamiltons had to totally wipe out all news regarding James and Victoria. This tiny info here seemed to be the last one surviving, and this dated almost thirty years ago,” Ray adds.

  No doubt their power can do that.

  “How old is Hunter, Angel? Cause I know Damien is twenty-four.”

  I honestly do not know.

  “Damien was born in ‘91… while Hunter was in ‘86. That makes Hunter twenty-eight years old,” Ray says after a little more searching.

  So young to be a CEO, I thought.

  “And oh, my! Hunter is surprisingly delicious. He’s gorgeous!” Ray exclaims like an old virgin seduced by some cowboy. “Look at him! He’s even hotter than Damien. Well, Damien is hot, but Hunter is just… he just has this… oomph! You know what I mean.”

  I quickly slam the laptop’s lid close so that Ray will shut up his mouth. He’s always like this whenever he finds good-looking guys.

  “You might want to step into my shoes,” I sternly state, glaring down at him.

  “Oh, definitely! If only I could. You always have the best guys, Angel.”

  “They’re brothers, for heaven’s sake, Ray!”

  Ray looks like he gets the drift.

/>   “It’s not like you played on them both. It’s Damien you love. Hunter was just your employer. So don’t get too serious, okay?”

  I fall down the chair and bury my hands on my face.

  “I wish Damien thinks like you.”

  “Speaking of Damien, I heard he’s already woken up and that he’s okay. Lucas, a friend of mine, works there as an aide, and he told me Damien might be discharged tonight.”

  “How okay is okay?”

  “He’s probably fine now. How was he when you visited him?” he asks.

  “He was asleep, but the nurse said he’ll recover. No complications after the surgery.”

  Ray nods in deep thought.

  “So what happens after this? Will you go to Damien and try to talk with him?”

  I don’t really know. Deep inside me, I want this to be over. I want things between us fixed. I miss him. I really, really do.

  “You said you saw him outside your house the night before the accident, right?”

  “Yes, why?”

  Ray scratches his chin with his fingers. “What if he came here to make amends with you, but something just came up that changed his mind? I don’t think Damien was a coward.”

  I saw Damien right after Colin left. Colin was in high spirits that night, and Damien must have seen that. He must have misinterpreted Colin’s visit.

  “I shouldn’t have brought Colin here.”

  “You think he thinks that you and Colin are together?”

  He might have. He even assumed right away that Hunter and I have something. He wouldn’t have fled like that if he opened his eyes and trusted me. It’s just so sad that his trust in me is now gone.

  I am no longer the Angel he loves, he must have thought, and it crushes my heart to think of it.

  All of a sudden, my cell phone vibrates and blinks twice.

  I slide my finger across the screen to unlock the message, and it reads, YOU’RE FIRED! – Tessie Thatcher.

  I sigh.

  “Who was it?”

  “Thatcher. I’m fired,” I say rather coolly.

  “Sorry about that. You should terrorize Stone for that.”