The Assistant (8 page)

The sound of glass shattering into pieces caught my attention as the elevator door dinged open, and I looked back at the entrance of the penthouse suite in horror just as the maid came rushing out.

“Miss,” she said anxiously, “Please come back inside. M- maybe you can calm him back down?” I saw the fear in her eyes.

“He’s never done this before?” I asked in shock as I heard another thing break in the house.

“No Miss,” she answered, “and I have worked for Adrian since he was born. The last time he threw a tantrum was when his father had told him that he was in charge of the company; but even then it wasn’t this bad. I never believed he’d get angry over a girl standing up to him.” She looked over at the door of the penthouse.

I frowned and bit my lip before nodding. “It’s okay, I’ll take care of this. You can go home if you like.” I gave her a reassuring smile and a squeeze on the shoulder before re-opening the door that I was so eager to leave just 5 minutes ago.

“Adrian,” I murmured softly as I placed my bag on the table near the entrance.

“What the fuck do you-” he abruptly stopped once he noticed me standing at the doorway. I had reassured the maid but seeing him this mad, I couldn’t help but flinch from the harshness of his words.

“How about I make us some brunch, huh?” I asked as I plastered a fake smile on my face and cautiously walked over to him, not knowing what I was getting myself into.

I had broken Rule #3.

Chapter Five

What am I doing?

I placed the plate full of food in front of Adrian before walking over and taking a seat opposite him on the dining table. We ate in silence, and I internally groaned as I shoved another mouthful of eggs and chomped it down in an inhumanly manner.

I did
not
handle awkward situations well. I
was
the awkward situation. Was I meant to speak, or leave him be? Adrian didn’t say a word after I had re-entered his house, apart from leading me to the kitchen and telling me not to add any olives because he hated them. We were on the same boat for that.

His tantrum instantly stopped after that, and I was met with a silence I was neither comfortable with nor able to break. Was I supposed to start up a conversation? If so, about what? What if conversing ticked him off again?

“Can you shut the fuck up,” Adrian snapped, finally meeting my eyes.

“What? I haven’t said anything this entire time!” I exclaimed, putting my fork down in shock.

“You don’t have to,” he muttered while ripping off a piece of bread and shoving it into his mouth. “Your facial expression says it all. I’m surprised I’m not eating brain matter right now because your head looks like it’s about to explode.”

The thought of my own brain matter being mixed with the food in front of me nauseated me, and I cleared my throat and pushed the plate farther away from me to signal that I was done eating.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, gulping down my whole glass of water before getting up and taking my plate to the kitchen.

“You barely ate, Emily,” Adrian said in a stern tone. When I turned back around, I found him frowning at me.

“I’ve eaten enough.” I glared, before turning back to the sink and pulling at the tap as water came rushing down and spreading onto the plate. I heard Adrian’s chair scrape against the marble floor violently, before I felt his solid torso being pressed up against my back tightly. My breath hitched in my throat as he put his plate of food in the sink before snaking both arms around my waist in a backwards hug. “Why are you so damn difficult with me, shortcake?” he murmured into my ear. “You’re never like this with Allen, or when we’re at work.” I could practically feel the smirk that was implanted on his plump lips as his chin rested on my left shoulder.

“I’m only difficult to those who are difficult to me first,” I replied in an even tone, trying to mask the fact that he had an effect on me. “You’re my boss at work, so I have no choice there, and Allen is nice to me, so I’m nice back. It’s not rocket science.”

“No, I know that. Rocket science refers to aerospace engineering and focusing on how a rocket functions. Unfortunately, your mind doesn’t have a text book I can read to figure it out like rocket science does – hence why I’m asking the source of what has clouded my mind ever since the day we met. But I can see that I get through to you sometimes. I just have to get close.”

I finished washing the plates then turned off the tap before rolling my eyes and turning to face him in an awkward pose that reassured my conscience that my face wasn’t too close to his.

“And violate my personal space? Yep, that’s the way to go if you’re planning on winning a girl’s heart!” I faked enthusiasm, earning a chuckle from Adrian.

“I never said I was going to win your heart over. I just want to have sex with you.” He shrugged, and my facial features quickly transformed to a venomous scowl.

“Not happening,” I snapped, placing my wet hands flat on his broad chest before pushing him away. They left two imprints that looked tiny on his white shirt, but made it almost transparent enough for me to make out his tanned skin underneath.

“Why not? I know you want to,” he pointed out, earning another eye roll from me. “Plus,” he added, a smirk re-forming on his lips, “I’m pretty damn excellent at it, so you won’t regret your decision.”

“I don’t care how good or bad you are in bed, Adrian,” I declared angrily, “I’m just not that type of girl.” I tried to convey the finality of my decision through my tone.

He sighed. “Fine. I’ll just have to win your heart over the old-fashioned way before entering your prized jewel.” The infamous, undying smirk reappeared as I gasped in mortification before my features scrunched into a look of disgust.

“Adrian!” I exclaimed as my cheeks instantly flamed. “Don’t
ever
say that again.” I shuddered as his words replayed in my mind, and looked down at my shoes as I felt my blush deepen.

“What? Refer to your lady part as a prized jewel? Why not, shortcake? It clearly is, since you’re not letting me go near it.”

“Oh my god,” I frowned. “Will you stop talking about…
that
so casually? And stop calling me shortcake!”

“You’re something different, aren’t you?” he chuckled, amusement brightening his eyes.

I was about to reply but was cut off by a short knock on the door.

“Mr. Kingston.” A man’s voice came out muffled on the other side of the door. “I found the keys you were talking about in the car.”

My head instantly whipped in the direction of the door. “Is he talking about
my
keys?” I asked, hopeful.

“Well, unless there was anyone else using
my
car that also happened to lose their keys, I’d say yes, they are in fact, your keys, shortcake.” He walked past me with a grin as he went to open the door, and I glared at his back as he took the keys from his driver. “Thank you,” he stated in a simple tone, before shutting the door.

I squeaked in excitement and snatched the keys out of Adrian’s hands. “Yay! I can finally go home and get out of his horridly uncomfortable dress and call my parents and do some work and read a book in peace.” I grinned, sighing as I mentally envisioned the plain four walls of my bedroom and my oh-so-comfy sofa in the petite little apartment I worked my butt off trying to buy.

Adrian raised an eyebrow at my excitement and smirked, but didn’t say anything as he walked over to the living room. He grabbed a black leather jacket that was thrown carelessly on the sofa and a set of keys, then placed his hand on my lower back.

“Come on, shortcake. Let’s get you home.”

***

“Dad, everything is fine- No, I didn’t call because I was busy; not because I’ve forgotten you guys…Yes, I’ll visit when Blake goes down to see you two. Tell Mom not to worry about this stuff – it’s just a new job, once I get the hang of it, our regular calling schedule will be back. Okay, I love you both. Bye.”

I hung up the phone and rolled my eyes at an amused looking Amy, who let out a small laugh once I huffed. “They honestly need to calm down a little.”

“Hey, at least your parents care about you. The last time I wasn’t the first to call them was on graduation day at college!” We both burst into a fit of laughter before Amy cleared her throat. “How’s little ol’ Blakey doing anyway?” Amy asked curiously, plopping onto the couch beside me after she had inserted the DVD for
Warm Bodies
into the DVD player.

I shrugged. “He’s okay. As successful as any lawyer would be, I suppose. The last I heard from him was when he asked me for a photo of me. Remember when I told you about that? It was like two weeks ago.”

Amy nodded. “Yeah, I remember. Anyway, let’s get back to Mr. Sexy pants!” She squealed excitedly. “So he actually just casually stated that he wanted to fu-”

“I swear to god if you continue that word, Amy Hale,” I warned, “I will personally drag you out of my apartment and take you across the hall so you can sit with Mr. Flecture and his wrinkly nakedness.” We both shuddered at the mental image of the old, hairy man across the hall from me.

“
Do
you? God, he’s such an arrogant jerk to you. I love it!” She shivered with an excited expression, and I gave her a look of disbelief. “What?” She shrugged innocently, “You’re living my dream. Let me have my moment. Anyway, I just want to know what that little tantrum episode was about. I mean obviously it was about you leaving, but I didn’t know he’d be… angry. It’s kind of a turn on, isn’t it?” She grinned as a glazy look transformed her usually playful eyes and I threw a pillow at her face.

“Amy! A 25-year-old throwing a tantrum is
not
a turn-on.” I frowned. “It was pretty weird though… I mean, his maid said that it’s only happened once in his life before… and Suzie told me he deals with not getting his way by sleeping with an endless amount of girls until he feels like he’s satisfied. He is honestly the weirdest person I’ve ever come across.” I frowned in thought.

“Come on, he’s nothing compared to sticky Stanley.” We both shared another mutual shudder as the memory of our freshman college days resurfaced in our minds, and the mental image of a tall, lanky boy with slightly crooked teeth and grey eyes sat next to Amy, touching her notebook in class and making it sticky enough to hang on a wall. He did the same thing to a pen I let him borrow. And my arm. I remember taking four showers that day, to try and rub off the sticky fingerprints he left on my arm.

“Okay, maybe not the weirdest. But he’s definitely something else…” I trailed off.

“Sexy. That’s what else.” Amy giggled as I grabbed the same pillow I used to attack her previously, and threw it at her face again.

“You’re impossible when it comes to discussing men,” I declared as the doorbell rang.

“That’s why I’m the best person to talk to when it comes to them!” She grinned. I shook my head at her logic and opened the door to greet Molly and Claire, but they beat me to it.

“We come bearing cookies and cream ice cream!” Molly announced, grinning.

“And lollies! You can’t have a girl’s night without lollies!” Claire added, trailing behind Molly as they entered the house.

“Hello to you too,” I muttered, giving them a sly smile as they looked back and gave me sheepish looks.

“Hi,” they replied in unison, making both Amy and I laugh.

There was a short moment of silence before everyone’s eyes grew wide and I was the first to place my thumb on my nose.

“NOT IT!” I screamed loudly.

“NOT IT!” Molly and Claire repeated shortly after me.

“Aw, man,” Amy whined, “It’s always me.” We laughed. Amy, Molly, Claire and I have had a tradition of an individual in the group being the ‘maid’ for the day ever since we first became close. Amy was usually always the slowest to respond to our method of choosing the maid – but it was the quickest and fairest way to do it.

“What would you all like me to make for dinner today?” she asked in an overly phony enthusiastic voice, glaring at us all once we laughed at her again.

“Emily, it’s your call today,” Molly declared. They all turned to face me.

“Um,” I bit my bottom lip and frowned in thought as I mentally scanned the ingredients I had in my refrigerator. “We’ll just make pasta and hot chips today. I don’t feel like torturing Amy just yet. Go get the plates and chips, Ms. Hale. Chop, chop!” I snapped my fingers and pointed to the kitchen as Amy lazily pushed herself off the sofa and grumbled nothing in particular as she shoved passed us, making us all laugh again.

“I want wine as well please, Ms. Hale!” Claire called out, giggling.

“And a chocolate bar for me!” Molly added, smirking.

“And while you’re in there,” I said, trying to think of a way to complicate my order, “I wouldn’t mind a big cup of cold water. On the rocks.”

“Fuck you all!” Amy called out, making us burst out into fits of hyena laughs, Amy joining in from the kitchen.

Adrian Kingston was temporarily forgotten at that moment.

Almost
.

***