Chapter 2
Two
Jaclyn
Present
“How did therapy go the other day?” Brandon asks me as we walk into the office together.
Not only is Brandon my neighbor, a big coincidence is that he also just happens to work at the company that I work at. We see each other almost every single day.
Whenever he gets off work early he always helps me out by picking Junior up from daycare and then hanging out at the apartment until I come home. I sometimes get home late from work because Jules always has me working on new assignments everyday and she expects them done, on her desk the next morning.
Sometimes she’ll give me a good week or two, depending on what the assignment is.
“It went well. She upped my medication for the nightmares.”
“I don’t want you getting used to those.” Brandon gives me a scolding look.
“I’m not,” I say, but I know that if someone were to take these pills from me I’d definitely make a fit about it. “They just help me.”
“Have you ever taken antidepressants before? They can be addictive.”
“I took them once when I was younger but I stopped because they weren’t doing anything for me and I found other ways to make myself feel better.”
I never told Patience about how I would use antidepressants in high school when I hated myself back them.
“Why can’t you find ways to make yourself better now?” Brandon raises an eyebrow at me, making me feel like I’m getting lectured like a toddler.
I shrug. “They just help me, Brandon. It’s not that serious,” I say before walking away from him and going in the direction of my office.
I don’t need to get scolded like a toddler who did something bad.
The pills help me.
Yes, they might be bad for me, but they have made the nightmares go away drastically in the past year or so. I still get some, but since I started the new dosage they haven’t been as bad.
“Oh, Jaclyn, Jules said she wants you in her office to talk to you about a new, important project,” Jules’s assistant says as I walk past her.
“Sounds good, Diana. Thank you.” I smile at her before going into my office.
It’s small. I have a desk in the back of the room with a bookshelf to keep some of my books since I don’t have a space at home. I also have a pretty good view of the city.
I’ve worked at Sports Calling Media for about three years. This was the job where I started my journalism career. It was hard juggling this job and taking care of Junior because I wanted to be with him constantly. I hated taking him to daycare and not seeing him all day. Sometimes Jules would let him stay in my office on days where he would have a hard time at daycare.
Jules said all of the remote positions were filled up, but she’d let me know as soon as one opened up.
I’m one of the head journalists here at Sports Calling Media. I go out and do interviews with sports stars and then write a column about them for our magazine or website.
I put my purse on my desk and grab my notebook and pen before walking out of my office to head to Jules’. I knock before opening the door. I smile at Jules as I walk in.
“Morning,” I say as I sit in the chair in front of her.
“Morning, how’s that little munchkin of mine at home doing?”
Jules loves Junior. Whenever he comes into the office, everyone always loves giving him attention. Jules loves it when Junior visits and she always spoils him with hugs and cookies she has in her drawers.
“He’s good. He’s been asking for cookies lately and I don't know how to get him to stop,” I jokingly say.
“Well bring him in someday and he can get as many as he wants,” Jules says before grabbing a paper from her desk and handing it to me. “This is your new assignment.”
I look down at the paper and see a name that still haunts me to this day.
Hayden Night.
“What’s this?” I ask, as my heart races.
“Your new assignment. We got offered seats to his fight this Friday, front row, and we’re also able to have an interview with him after the fight in his dressing room. Media got in contact with his agent and we got an interview. We’ve been meaning to get one with him for months but Hayden Night is a hard person to get a hold of.”
Whatever she says afterwards kind of fades into the background.
Hayden Night.
The boy who would appear in my dreams at night to try and save me before the black hooded man would arrive.
Hayden Night was my knight in shining armor; until he wasn’t.
He’s the boy who made me truly know what it felt like to be loved. He gave me the kind of love that girls would read in books and wish for.
The fact that I have a part of him with me every single day used to make my heart ache but now I just see Junior for who he is.
I look down at the paper and see all the information needed for this interview. Where his room is, the passes, the location, the time, everything.
This is happening.
But it can’t.
I can’t see him in person. It will ruin me.
Everything I’ve built back up will be brought down with just a single look from him.
“Jaclyn, what’s wrong? I thought you would like this? You’ve always said you liked fighting.”
“I can’t interview him,” I say, putting the paper on the desk.
She doesn’t know the history between me and him. Only Patience, Brandon, mom, and Calvin know.
Jules doesn’t know that this boy fucking ruined me.
Jules furrows her eyebrows and she now looks pissed and confused because I never turn down an assignment, ever.
For the past three years I have been at her beck and call and that’s why I am one of the lead journalists here. I’ve worked hard to earn my position by never saying no. But this interview is the one interview I can’t do.
I would be forced to tell him about the son he never knew he had.
“You never turn down an assignment. Why this one?”
“I can’t do this, Jules. I wish I could give you an answer as to why, but I can’t.”
Jules leans back in her chair and rests her hands on the arm rest. “You’ve been working here for three years, Jaclyn. You have never turned down any assignment. Why this one? If you can’t tell me then you might as well not come back after today.”
I furrow my eyebrows at her. She’s never threatened my position, ever. But at the same time I’ve always been a good employee, saying yes to everything.
“I can’t. This interview-”
Jules cuts me off. “If you can’t tell me, then it must not be important,” she says, making my heart crack a little. “This interview is so important for us, Jaclyn. It could get us so much publicity, you don’t even understand.”
“I do, it’s just-”
“No, either you do it or you can just start packing your things up. I can have other journalists take this assignment. No one would pass it up.” Jules sighs and she leans forwards, resting her arms on the desk. “I don’t want to fire you, Jaclyn. You’re a great asset to this company and I know you need this job. But you can’t let something like a cocky fighter stop you from something that could change your life.” I nod my head and nip my lip. Jules is right, I can’t let him control my life or emotions. I can be strong enough to do this. “I’m going to offer you something. I’ve been thinking about it for a while but if it will convince you to do this interview then so be it.”
“What?”
“A pay raise. Say $115K a year instead of $98K?”
My eyebrows probably touch my forehead because that is such a huge pay raise.
I could use the extra money, especially since things are getting more expensive.
No one could say no to money.
Everyone has a price.
So I agree to the thing that will most definitely change everything in my now peaceful life. “Okay.”