Chapter 4
“ O h man,” I breathed as I let the door shut behind me, already rushing for the desk as I frantically opened the binder. I’d only made it to the side of the desk when my clicking steps came to a sudden stop because I had to be seeing the contents wrong. Or hallucinating. Something.
With a steadying breath, I flipped back to the beginning of the binder and slowly scanned the pages. A panicked-sounding laugh tumbled past my lips when I realized I hadn’t, in fact, been hallucinating anything.
The first few pages were employment forms, waiting to be filled out by me. Thankfully, Ada had written Office Administrator in the position slot, so at least I knew what my job was. After the forms, there was a handwritten note from Ada in beautiful script that said, “Don’t be too good at your job; it’ll annoy Asher,” with her number written below. But every page following was blank. Nothing more than filler to make the binder appear full.
I was in so much trouble.
Turning at the sound of the door opening, hope surged in my chest that it was Ada returning, as if this might all be one massive joke, but a bright smile automatically spread across my face instead when I was met with another man I didn’t know.
If I hadn’t already known all the details surrounding Asher’s siblings, I would’ve sworn he was Asher’s younger brother by the seemingly permanent scowl on his handsome face and the anger radiating from him. But Asher only had one brother who’d passed months before, which was how the adorable one-year-old, who was often in my house, fit into the mix.
“Who’re you?” the new guy asked as the door slammed shut behind where he’d paused just inside the building.
“I’m Chloe—hi!” I said as I dropped the deceptive binder on my desk and walked the handful of feet toward him, my hand already extended.
But he just glanced at my hand, then back at my face, never making a move to take it.
Awkward.
“And who are you?” he asked pointedly.
“Oh, I’m Lainey’s housemate,” I explained as I lowered my hand to nervously run both over my stomach. “And I, uh...I guess I’m the new Ada.”
At that, his eyebrows shot up in surprise. But instead of verbally responding to anything I’d said, he just gave a single dip of his head as he started walking away. Not that I planned on letting him get away that easily.
Grumpy people didn’t scare me off that easily. Clearly.
“And who are you ?” I asked, my smile widening as I shot his question back to him.
He mumbled something that sounded like “Evan” without stopping.
“Evan?”
“Evans,” he corrected as he turned enough to look at me, seeming more annoyed than before. “Beau Evans.”
“Got it,” I said in a tone that feigned seriousness. “I didn’t know we introduced ourselves in that whole Bond...James Bond style here. But I’ll be prepared now.”
A sneering laugh left him, the sound little more than a breath as his eyebrows drew together. But with nothing other than a quick, dismissive once-over, he turned and left for the remainder of the office.
“Two out of four,” I mumbled under my breath as I twisted to stare at my desk. “Not off to a great start.”
Then again, it wasn’t just the coworkers I wasn’t off to a great start with—it was the job in general. You know...since I literally had no idea what I was supposed to be doing.
With a determined breath, I rounded the large, wooden frame of my desk and reached for my purse. Once I’d fished my phone out of it, I let the bag fall back to the floor as I flipped the binder open once again.
Seconds later, I had a call going through to Ada. But just as quickly as I lifted the phone to my ear, her voicemail sounded, as if her phone wasn’t even on. After the same result a minute later, I texted Lainey.
Okay, okay, so you were right. BUT your man’s letting me keep the job and said Ada would train me...you know, like Ada said she was going to. Only Ada left right after without even telling me what the position was, AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING! Help?!
Also, is being outlandishly gorgeous a requirement to work here? Because if so, I shouldn’t be here. Also...goodness me *fans self*
I let my phone clatter to the desk when the front door once again opened, but the breath I’d started drawing in left on a rushed wheeze when I noticed the familiar man filling the frame, looking at me curiously as if he wasn’t sure he was actually seeing me.
Tall, also ridiculously handsome, and like something out of a Viking show... Cameron Rush. Asher’s best friend.
“Cameron, hi,” I said, the words sounding embarrassingly relieved. But I was truly thankful at least one person here wouldn’t either hate me on sight or try to hit on me.
He pointed at me as he took the last step inside, then looked off to the side, letting his finger slowly follow to point in the same direction. A second or two later, a loud laugh burst from him as his gaze settled on me again.
“Ah, man,” he began, head shaking sadly. “Asher’s gonna lose it when he realizes what Ada’s about to do.”
“Did,” I corrected. “And he already knows. He wasn’t thrilled.”
“Got it,” he murmured as he stole across the small space to rest his forearms on the top level of the desk. “Well, if she’s gonna leave anyway, I guess we’ll take you.”
I rolled my eyes at the tease but kept my voice low when I informed him, “I’m pretty sure at least one of your coworkers is already trying to get rid of me.”
Surprised bemusement crossed his features. “What? Why?”
But before I could decide what all to tell him about the unfortunate incident with Steel Wall, he glanced to the side and asked, “Where is Ada anyway?”
“Right, so?—”
“Why aren’t you answering the phone?” The voice lashed out, preceding Asher as he charged around the corner. With a nearly imperceptible nod Cameron’s way, his eyes quickly scanned the entryway of the building before snapping to me. “Where’s Ada?”
“I already asked,” Cameron said, then slanted his head toward me. “You stopped Chloe from answering.”
Asher looked to the door as if he knew what I was about to say, then set his infuriated stare on me. “Where’d she go?”
“I’m not sure,” I said with a shrug. “But she did leave.”
Asher worked his jaw, his head bobbing in quick, firm nods. “Your training?” he asked, once again already seeming to know that Ada hadn’t just stepped out for a minute or two.
I glanced at the binder as hesitation swirled in my stomach. But I could do this. I would do this. There wasn’t an option because I needed this job.
“I’ll figure it out,” I said with a confidence I in no way felt.
With a heaving breath, Asher sent a chilling look Cameron’s way that had me taking a step back, and I wasn’t even the reason behind the look or who he was directing it at. Not to mention, there was a desk separating us.
“She couldn’t have done all this in a normal way,” he seethed to Cameron. “She had to push me—frustrate me—as much as humanly possibly on her way out.”
“It’s Ada,” Cameron said, his easy smile showing he wasn’t intimidated by Asher or surprised at Ada’s tactics.
“Drives me crazy.” Asher reached over the desk and picked up the office phone. After a quick look all around it, he pinched the bridge of his nose before messing with the side of the phone. “She shut it off,” he muttered as he set the phone on the main part of the desk again. “If it rings, answer it. If the call needs to go to one of us—” With another frustrated exhale, he glanced between Cameron and me.
“I need to start the morning meeting,” Asher informed Cameron, or maybe me, I wasn’t sure. “I don’t have time to show you the phones. Just take a message if someone calls. I’ll send someone up here later to walk you through everything.”
“Okay,” I began, but the brightness of the word faded because Asher was already walking away.
Not that that was unusual for Asher Briggs. I’d mostly grown used to this side of him over the past months. But his brusque manner on a regular day was one thing. On a day like today, when I felt so completely out of my element and had already felt the animosity of two other people? Well, it was a wholly different thing.
“It’ll be okay,” Cameron said with an encouraging smile. “Most of Ada’s job was answering phones and organizing client files, which we’ll get you into.” Tapping his hand against the top section of the desk, he pushed away. “You’ll pick everything up in no time.”
My shoulders jerked up in a shrug that was too jumpy to be anything less than anxious. But my smile and tone gave nothing away when I lied, “I’m not worried about it.”
“Good,” he called out as he strode away just as my phone chimed.
Scooping it up, I let myself sink into the desk chair just as another message from Lainey came through.
Lainey Pearson
You’re not actually being serious about that part about yourself...right? But does that mean you met the Deadly Duo?
Also, I can’t say I’m surprised about Ada, even though I wasn’t expecting her to do this. But I know nothing about what she did there. Sorry! Maybe talk to Asher?
I thought over the guys who’d walked through the door so far, then glanced toward the edge of the wall separating the front space from the rest of the office as I tried figuring out who could possibly be the Deadly Duo .
If I hadn’t already known Asher, I would’ve assumed he was part of it, but since I did, my mind skipped over to Beau Evans, then quickly flashed back to a pair of infuriated, amber eyes. Eyes that had shown every ounce of his resentment and seemed to see straight through me.
Um, Deadly Duo?
Lainey Pearson
You’ll know when you see them. Hudson and Mallory.
A startled laugh crept from me at the idea of Hudson, the shameless flirt, being part of something Lainey had titled Deadly Duo . But my amusement died at the next text that came through.
Lainey Pearson
Supermodel gorgeous. They look like undercover assassins, even though Asher swears they aren’t the most lethal ones of the team.
Got it.
Except I wasn’t sure I did because all I’d known about Asher’s company before this morning was that it was a security company. Once I’d arrived at the building, I’d finally learned its name—Shadow Industries. But in all the times he and Lainey had said security over the past months, I’d thought they meant home security. Cameras, alarms, the like.
After Lainey’s last texts, I had a feeling that wasn’t the kind of security this business offered, and I wondered if I should actually be afraid of Asher Briggs...of all the men I’d encountered so far this morning.
Dark hair and angry, golden eyes danced through my thoughts, sending a shiver down my spine. But as I caught myself stealing another glance at the edge of the wall I was sitting in front of, I knew that shiver didn’t hold the warning it should’ve.