14. Chapter 12
NOAH
“ W hat are you going to do about it?” Oliver asked as he walked into his office.
Noah sighed. “Do about what?” he asked. “What am I missing?”
He had slept terribly last night, worrying about Frankie’s safety.
How was he supposed to live like nothing was wrong when she lived in the worst part of town?
He wanted to get her out of there as fast as he could, but he’d told her the only way that would happen was if something dangerous happened.
Hopefully, something did. It sounded bad, but Noah wanted her safe, and she wasn’t safe there.
“What are you going to do about her living in that neighborhood?” Oliver sat in the chair in front of Noah’s desk. “What are you going to do about claiming her?”
“She is mine. Do not get any ideas, Oliver,” Noah growled, pointing a finger at him.
Oliver scoffed. “I wouldn’t take your girl away from you. I saw the way you looked at her, and I saw the way she looked at you. You are perfect for each other. Now, what are you going to do?”
Noah sighed, rubbing his hand down his face. “There isn’t much I can do.”
“Bullshit!” Oliver gave him a pointed look. “There are a lot of things you can do to get her out of there.”
“I promised her I wouldn’t make her move unless something happened that put her at risk. I don’t break my promises. I won’t break my promise with her, not when I want her to trust me,” Noah explained.
“So you are going to wait until she gets hurt? Or is robbed?” Oliver asked. “Doesn’t seem very wise to me.”
Noah growled. “It’s not, but she wouldn’t take the job otherwise. I knew she needed the job.”
He was kicking himself for making that deal from the get-go. He didn’t want to, but he didn’t want her not to take the job and continue to live there or worse, on the streets. He wasn’t going to allow that to happen.
“What exactly is it you’re worried about?” Oliver asked.
“Everything?” Noah asked. “I just said if something dangerous happened around her apartment, I would be packing her belongings and moving her into one of my apartments. I promised her I would even let her pay rent if that happened.”
That was another thing he wanted to take back, but he couldn’t. He told her he would, and he wasn’t going to back out of his promise now. No matter how much it hurt him.
“Her health?” Oliver suggested. “Did you talk about that at all?”
“No, we didn’t.” Noah sighed. “Not in that way. I asked her if there was anything we needed to know. She hesitated. I know she lied, but I didn’t push her. She seemed really nervous and exhausted.”
He was slacking on everything when it came to Frankie. With every employee, he made sure they knew their health was the most important thing. He wanted everyone to be healthy and able to do their jobs to the best ability.
“I would call her in for that conversation. That may be your way into getting her to move.” Oliver shrugged. “Just something to think about.”
“Why are you telling me this? You’ve never worried about an employee like this, never wanted to talk to me like this,” Noah pointed out. “What are you trying to do?”
“You’ve never taken an interest in anyone.
So many women flaunt themselves in front of you and you ignore them, yet you take one look at Frankie and have already claimed her,” Oliver observed.
“I don’t want anything bad to happen to her anyway.
That isn’t a good part of town. I would be moving her as fast as I could so she isn’t in any danger.
Poor girl looks absolutely exhausted this morning, she clearly isn’t getting good sleep. ”
“She’s here?” Noah asked.
“Yes, she was downstairs talking to Dominic.”
Noah looked at his clock. She still had thirty minutes to get to the building to work. What was she doing here already?
“I’ll have that conversation about her health right now.” Noah got up from his seat. “She’s in trouble.”
Oliver whistled as he walked out of the room. Frankie’s bottom was his now. Did he not tell her several times not to come in until ten?
“Frankie.” Noah raised his voice.
Her eyes went wide as she stared at him. Good. He wanted her to realize what she had done wrong.
“Mr. Noah,” she squeaked. “Hi. Can I help you with anything?”
Dominic’s expression was full of amusement as he looked between them. He walked away before Noah could get right in front of her.
“Just Noah,” he reminded her. “Do you know what time it is?”
She pulled out her old phone and winced. “Nine thirty,” she mumbled.
“Nine thirty. And what time did I tell you to come in?” he asked.
She looked up at him. “Ten, but I thought I would come a little earlier to start on things. Not much earlier. I’ve already been up for hours doing chores at my apartment.”
He could see the bags under her eyes, and he didn’t like that. He wanted her to be the best version of herself. She couldn’t do that when she was exhausted and working a lot.
“Did you not sleep in?” he asked.
Frankie looked away and wrapped her arms around her stomach. He did not like that one bit. What was going on there that she wasn’t getting good sleep?
“I wake up early,” she whispered. “I’ve always woken up early. I can’t stop my body from waking up.”
He wondered if her body wouldn’t let her because she didn’t feel safe. She was flat out at the club, the noise not waking her up.
“Come to my office with me.” He held his hand open. “Let’s talk in private.”
Frankie hesitated as she stared at his palm. Was she nervous, scared?
“It’s okay. We’re going to talk, and you will get a punishment for disobeying my orders,” Noah told her.
Her eyes went wide. “But… Dominic was waiting outside my car for forty minutes before I came down. I felt bad that he was there, waiting.”
His eyebrows pulled together. Noah told Dominic that he didn’t need to pick up Frankie until close to ten so why was he there earlier?
“Stay put.” He pointed his finger. “Do not go anywhere. If you do, you will be in trouble.”
“Even if I have to pee?” he asked.
“If you need to go to the bathroom, you may, but you are to come right back here,” he stated. “And before you ask, if there is a fire or anything like that, and you need to leave the building, you can. I want you here when I get back so we can head up to my office together.”
She smiled. “You knew.”
Noah chuckled. “I figured that was where the questioning was going to go.”
She smiled and clasped her hands tightly in front of her. He looked at her hands, his eyebrows pulling together when he realized her knuckles were turning white. Frankie often put her hands in front of her like this. Was something wrong?
“Fra—”
“Are you going to be talking to Dominic? I don’t want our meeting to go too long and me being late for work,” Frankie said.
His eyes narrowed on her. “Yes, but this conversation isn’t over.”
Leaving the room, Noah walked to where he knew Dominic would be, the entrance.
“Everything okay with Frankie?” Dominic asked.
“Were you there an hour early?” Noah didn’t waste any time asking his question.
His eyebrows pulled together. “Yes, I was. There was no mention of getting her later until she texted me and told me.”
Noah shook his head. “I told you yesterday she wasn’t to come in until ten.”
“No, you didn’t,” Dominic replied. “I got no text.”
Clenching his jaw, Noah pulled out his phone and found Dominic’s contact, only to see his message written out but never sent. Sighing, he took a couple of seconds to regain his composure.
“Sorry,” Noah said after a little while. “I had it written out, but forgot to send it. My fault.”
“So that means you can’t get punish her for coming in early,” Dominic pointed out.
“I don’t know about that. She knew she wasn’t supposed to come in early and could have told you,” Noah replied.
“She didn’t know what else to do, and she didn’t want to make me wait longer since I had already been there a while.” Dominic placed his hand on Noah’s shoulder. “We talked about it in the car. I was just about to bring her up to your office and explain everything.”
Noah sighed. “Really?”
“Yes, really. She said she didn’t want to get in trouble with you, but that she didn’t want me to wait in case I needed to do something. So I brought her here. All my fault,” Dominic explained.
“Thanks.” Noah nodded and walked off.
Frankie was right where he left her, her hands clasped tightly in front of her as she looked around the room. Would she like to come and play with the other Littles? Maybe he should ask her.
Noah stood off to the side as he looked at her, watched her.
She was absolutely breathtaking as she stood there, looking at the main room with such longing on her face.
He was definitely going to ask if she wanted to play with the Littles when they arrived after her shift or when they came over the weekend.
But at the same time, he didn’t want to ask her because she needed all the rest she could get with the dark circles under her eyes.
Was she not getting any sleep?
“Oh, I didn’t see you there,” Frankie gasped. “Sorry. Was I in my thoughts long?”
He shook his head. “No, you weren’t. I was stuck in my thoughts.”
Noah held his hand out as he got closer to her, and she grabbed it. A feeling of rightfulness washed over him as they walked to his office. She felt right. There was something about her that fit perfectly with him.
“You aren’t going to be in trouble,” Noah said as they got closer. “Dominic explained that you told him, that he suggested you come in early after some time of you going back and forth about what to do.”
Her shoulder slumped. Was she really that worried about it?
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I didn’t want to get in trouble with you, disappoint you, but I also didn’t want him to have to wait a long time for me.”
Noah helped her sit on the couch before kneeling in front of her. “I’m sorry I put you in that predicament. I thought I had texted Dominic, but I hadn’t. It falls all on me.”
She shook her head. “It’s okay. You didn’t know. I thought about texting you, but I didn’t want to interrupt something if you were in the middle of a meeting.”
He cupped her face. “Frankie, I don’t want you to feel any guilt over this. You did what you thought was right in a situation I put you in. You did good.”
She sucked in a breath.
“And you can message me any time, even if it interrupts something. I will stop whatever I am doing to make sure you are okay,” Noah whispered. “No matter the time of day or night, you message or call me whenever you need to. Or even want to. Understand?”
“Yes, Sir,” she whispered.
“Good girl.”