by Anthology
Jerry knocked and entered, handed him a duffle bag, and laid the files on the desk next to his briefcase.
“What’s in the bag?”
“Clothes. You sat them down next to my desk the other day and left without them. I had them on top of my file cabinet.”
“Sweet, I thought I took those home.”
“If we’re good, I’m heading out. Jan made dinner reservations for us right around the corner.”
“That new Italian place they just opened?”
“Yeah. I heard it’s impossible to get a table, now. She called the day they opened, wanted to surprise me. She’s waiting at my desk.”
“Go. Have fun. Give her a kiss for me.”
His assistant left his office, closing the door behind him. Zayn emptied the duffle on his desk, grabbing the shorts and T, and went to his private bathroom to change. He probably didn’t need to but there was a rare occasion someone would walk in his office without knocking. He also had a wall of windows but with as high up as his office was, there was little chance of anyone seeing from that far away, unless they were spying with a magnifying scope.
When he emerged, he felt like a different person. Being successful had always been hard for Zayn because he’d grown up with nothing. He worked hard for every dime he had and he didn’t take it for granted. If he wouldn’t be frowned upon, he’d probably wear jeans to work every day because he hated stereotypes. The suit wasn’t really him, it was just a look. Society had deemed it necessary. To be successful, one had to look the part or run the risk of not being taken seriously.
One day, he hoped to change that stereotype. There had to be some statistics somewhere that stated people were happier in comfortable, casual clothing and relaxed work environments.
As Zayn left his office, locking the door behind him, he stopped at Jerry’s desk and dug for a sticky note. After he scribbled a message for his assistant to see him first thing in the morning, he made a mental note to talk to Jerry the next day about going over the dress code and policies for the office. It was time he made some changes. It was also a perfect opportunity to look at reviews for his employees and compensate them properly for the work they did daily to ensure the entire team was successful.
Hell, he didn’t even know if his employees liked him as a person. How could they? They didn’t really know him. Maybe a summer barbeque would be a great way for them all to get to know each other and their families. Happy employees were productive employees.
CHAPTER THREE
Jenna waited at the front desk of the ritzy high rise where her landlord lived. The floor in the lobby was so clean she was afraid to walk across it for fear of leaving a scuff from her black-soled heels. She couldn’t imagine living that way. Her own building looked like a broken-down cardboard box in comparison and there was no front desk to check in, so visitors could be announced. It was more like they needed an armed guard to keep out the riff raff. She’d been surprised not to find bars on the windows.
She liked having the fire escape attached to her apartment. If it really worked, it would have given her more responsibility for the residents in case of an emergency. But, last year when some idiot thought it would be fun to play on it, the bottom ladder broke off. It was okay, though. She’d rather not have strangers creeping around outside her window. Wasn’t like the owner was going to have that fixed anyway.
“Wait, I bet that’s some kind of fire hazard or safety law or something.”
If she complained and had it fixed, she wouldn’t get to do her favorite thing. On clear nights, she loved to sit out on the platform and imagine she could see the stars shining above. It wasn’t an ideal place because there was so much light pollution that the stars couldn’t shine through, so most of the time she just imagined she saw them. One day she would have her own place out of the city where she could lay on the soft grass and watch the stars move across the sky.
“Ugh, what is taking them so long?”
She was tired of waiting for someone to come back and help her. As far as expensive complexes went, that one wasn’t being run very well. She knew his address so she just snuck over to the elevator—no one was paying a lick of attention anyway. She clicked the up button and waited while the elevator said it was coming from the parking garage. When the doors opened, there was a man standing inside already, so she stood on the opposite side.
“What floor?”
“Oh, the top please.”
At least he asked her where she was going. Most rich people were only worried about themselves. Maybe he was the elevator attendant, but he wasn’t really dressed for that job. Clad in shorts and a T-shirt, he was carrying a duffle bag. The building was a little bit classier than that. The front desk guy had a suit on. Looked like this guy might have just come from the gym. Didn’t really matter. Once she had words with her property owner, she’d be out of there, anyway. He just better be there. She’d gone to his office and everyone was already gone so that was a wasted trip. Wasn’t like she had anywhere to be. Her apartment was a sauna.
In the compact space, with horrible but typical elevator music playing, Jenna caught a whiff of a delicious scent. Without conscious thought, she began drifting toward the stranger she was sharing the space with and corrected herself to again stand closer to the shiny wall.
Good lord, I must look like a hard-up teenager or something.
She chanced a glance toward the man and she was caught. Shit.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to stare but you just smell really good. And now I’m super embarrassed.”
“No reason to be embarrassed, and thanks for that. I guess it’s my cologne, must still be lingering on these clothes. My name is Zayn.”
He reached out his hand to shake hers. Did guys really still do that? Well, at least this one did.
“Hi there, nice to meet you. Oh, gosh that was fast. We’re at the top already?”
“Yeah, doesn’t take long.”
They both moved closer to the door and waited for it to open.
“Sorry, I guess I never introduced myself. I’m Jenna.”
“Jenna?”
“Yeah, Jenna Perkins, but I don’t live here—just looking for someone. Are you okay?”
He had a weird look on his face but didn’t say anything. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. He let her go out ahead of him but when she stopped to look at the shiny numbered plate on the wall for the direction of the townhouse, he moved to walk around her.
“All good. Nice to meet you, Jenna.”
All of a sudden, he seemed to be in a hurry and his demeanor was different. She watched him walk away then realized she was supposed to go in the same direction. Wait. He’s going to the same apartment.
According to the plate on the wall, there was only one apartment on the top floor. Which meant he must live there. Which also meant he was her landlord. She walked up behind the man who called himself Zayn, while he fidgeted with his keyring. Was that even his name?
“Excuse me, are you Mr. Holden?”
Son of a…could that really be the same Jenna from my answering machine last night?
He’d already tried to find her at her place of work earlier that day, and both times he’d called, she was out of her office but he’d not once thought she would hunt him down where he lived. She must be really pissed.
When she asked who he was, he couldn’t ignore her because she was standing right behind him. He hesitated a few seconds, not sure what to say as he was forced to talk to her. It was stupid, really. He talked every day to strangers, it was part of his job. The problem, however, lay in the fact that he wasn’t physically attracted to all those other nameless people. He didn’t even know Jenna; he’d only been going off his infatuation from hearing her voice. He couldn’t lie, though. He might have thought once or twice about how she would look. His imagination didn’t do her justice.
He turned and took a step back, not realizing she was standing so close.
“Yep, Mr. Holden at your
service.”
Seriously? Dumbass.
“So, Zayn, was that your way of avoiding me?”
“Excuse me?”
“When you introduced yourself to me, you only gave me your first name so I figure that was your way of not revealing who you really were.”
“Uh, no. That’s not why I did it. Zayn is my name, I just didn’t think to put my last name with it. Most don’t care and the ones that do, usually want something from me so I’m just used to not giving it. Besides, most people that come to this building know who I am already.”
“Well, it seemed pretty convenient since I was here looking for you. Did you get my voicemail last night—or, I guess it was this morning?”
“I did and I tried to meet up with you at your office this morning but I couldn’t wait. I also called a few times.”
“You came to my office? Were you wearing a suit? I never got any messages, though.”
“I didn’t leave any and yes I was in a suit. The man I tried to talk to didn’t really have much to say so I didn’t tell him who I was—I just left.”
He lowered his head. That was his fault. He really should have been more forthcoming. He pushed open his front door and backed away.
“Would you like to come in? We don’t have to have this conversation out in the hallway unless you really want to.”
“Sure, I’ll come in.”
When she walked past him, he shut his door and quickly stowed the duffle bag in the front closet before following her into the living room. He’d come back for that later. Seems that his tenant Jenna was pretty ballsy, didn’t wait for an invitation to walk right into his living room and help herself to a seat. He liked that.
“Can I get you something to drink? I have a couple cans of Coke, I think, and some bottled water.”
“Thanks, I would take a Coke. This looks like a pretty new building. How long have you lived here?”
Well, isn’t she a chatty Kathy.
He disappeared, coming back with two cans.
“It’s actually going on three years now for the building, but I didn’t move in until last year. I was contemplating moving into an actual house instead of apartment hopping but in the end this place won out.”
He handed her the cold can and motioned for her to have a seat. He chose the chair next to the sofa.
“I’m so tired of apartments. My dream is to own a house outside of the city. I’ll make sure to have central air, though.”
She smiled at him. He liked it. She wasn’t as hostile as he thought she might be.
“Speaking of air, I’m really sorry about the unit that runs your apartment. You are all good to go, though. I stayed with the guy this morning until he got it up and running. It was out of Freon, I guess.”
“Oh, thank god. I was not looking forward to another night of no sleep.”
“I’m really sorry you had to go through that, and that I didn’t know sooner.”
“Well, I get that’s why you have a building manager. But I have to say, I don’t think your boy Frank is really getting the job done.”
“I agree with you on that one.”
Zayn’s cell rang and he hopped from the chair.
“I’m sorry, can you give me a minute? That’s my assistant.”
He had chosen a different ring for Jerry, so he would make sure not to miss his calls. Hopefully it would be a quick call and he could get back to Jenna.
“Hey buddy, what’s up, I’m kind of in the middle of something.”
That wasn’t fair to his assistant because Jerry usually only called about work. Zayn knew Jenna more than likely wouldn’t leave because he’d taken a phone call and he shouldn’t be so short with his assistant.
“Oh, right. Thanks. I’ll check my email in a little while, then. I’m glad you caught that one. I’ll be working on it later just in case you hear from me again. Have a good night.”
Zayn said goodbye and laid his cell phone on the kitchen counter then went to join Jenna in the living room.
“Sorry if I’m keeping you from something,” Jenna said and started to rise from the couch.
“Oh no, you’re fine. I’ll actually be working all night, but I don’t want to bore you with all that.”
“I can go if you need to get busy.”
“I wasn’t going to start ’til after dinner. Hey are you hungry? I need to order in tonight anyway and I would actually like to talk to you a little more—it’s about the work I’m in the middle of.”
“You want my help with your work?”
“Well, kind of. It’s about your apartment building.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Why in the world would he want my help with his work? I’m an editor, not a business guru.
“What exactly do you need from me?”
“How about we order dinner first and then I’ll explain.? Are you in? I’m buying.”
“I guess I can’t turn down free food.”
She would still like to know how she could help him. She sat on the couch with her Coke while he ran off to the kitchen where she could hear cabinets and drawers slamming closed.
“Are you alright in there?”
“Yep, great. Just found what I was looking for. Are you allergic to anything?”
“Not that I know of.”
That’s a new one, she’d never been asked that by a guy before. He should be careful, or she might think he cared. Since he was taking a while, she was tired of sitting so she decided to look around a little while he ordered dinner. He had a fireplace with a mantel full of pictures, but none of the people looked like him. That was a bit puzzling. She’d also never asked if he were married but there were no photos of him with a woman. Well, there was one—but she was older, so Jenna assumed that was his mom.
His apartment was nicely decorated for a guy. She would bet he’d hired an interior decorator because most guys didn’t have the skill to decorate a place to not look like a man cave. It could have come furnished--either way, she’d be surprised if he’d picked everything. Probably wasn’t exactly a fair assumption to make, she wasn’t usually so stereotypical regarding gender roles. She liked the earthen gray and coral color scheme a lot, though. The navy-blue sofa matched both and gave a nice splash of color in the living area. He even had some nice black and white framed nature art on the walls. Those were pictures she would choose for her own place.
She walked toward the floor-to-ceiling windows and was taken aback by the view. She could see a few stars peeking through the veil of lights from the city and was instantly jealous. There were no fire escapes on this building and she would guess probably no fully-opening windows, either. That would be one heck of a fall.
“Amazing view, isn’t it?”
“I was just thinking the same thing. I can even see some of the stars from here. Not like my apartment. There is no view from my window except for the alley and trash dumpsters. There’s also a horrible mystery stench that comes in with the wind.”
“Yeah. About that. I’m sorry. I never realized how bad that building had gotten and was shocked when I went in there this morning. That’s what I’d like to talk to you about.”
“About my building? Well, I guess technically it’s yours, but where I live?”
“Yeah, I found out some disturbing stuff when I was there this morning. Truthfully, I’m surprised it’s still standing.”
“Oh, I did not want to hear that. Is it safe to even be living there?”
“It hasn’t been condemned yet, but I really need to take action on the property before it does start having more problems. The air conditioning is only the first to rear its ugly head. And just so you know, I didn’t put a new unit in for your apartment, I only had them fix the Freon problem.”
Feels like there’s something he’s not telling me.
“So, what’s the bad news then? I feel like there’s more you haven’t said.”
“All the air conditioning units for the entire building need replacing.”
&nbs
p; “Okay, so replace them.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“You don’t have the money?”
That’s a surprise.
“Jenna, it’s not about the money. The building is falling apart. I know you’ve noticed it. You had to have.”
“Well yeah, I did notice but it’s still livable. I don’t’ spend my entire day there.”
“You might not but a lot of others do. Many of them are elderly and if their air went out, they wouldn’t be as resilient as you with the heat we’ve had lately. And what if the elevator broke and stranded someone inside for hours at a time? We both know Frank isn’t going to rescue anybody.”
“That’s definitely a true statement. I don’t trust him at all. He’s not really useful for much, except stalking.”
“Oh, you mean you don’t like to be in Frank’s company?”
“He’s horrible!” Jenna laughed and moved through the room to a different window hoping to see more stars.
“You know, I do have a secret stairwell that leads to the roof. Maybe you would like to see it?” He’d followed to where she was standing.
“That would definitely be a step up from my fire escape.”
The view was amazing and she didn’t want to leave the window. How did one get lucky enough to live in a place like he had? Zayn stood at a safe distance but still close enough she could smell the cologne that was becoming one of her favorite scents. Time stilled as the silence overcame the moment. Watching the movement above was mesmerizing.
In addition to that, being around Zayn was more comfortable than she liked to admit. When she didn’t find him at work, her number one goal was to find him at home and bitch him out. But after meeting him, she no longer had any desire to. He was actually a nice guy.
“So, are you going to tell me what kind of help you need from me? I’m curious now. You said it was about the building I live in but I think you’re avoiding telling me the rest.”
