Chapter 15
The moment I saw him emerge from the town car, I immediately got up out of my seat. It was so sudden, so furious, that it had startled those around me. But it was impossible for me to forget what he looked like. He was with another business associate, a man who had come out of the other side of his vehicle, and I noticed he had approached her quite casually. However, I could almost feel from where I was the tenseness in her entire frame.
After spending a little bit of time with her, it was impossible not to notice the difference. She was turned away from him, her hand limp in his, the deepest frown across her face. At different intervals, she would try to pull her hand gently out of his grasp, probably so as not to draw any unwanted attention, but he, on the other hand, never seemed to have the good sense to let go. Until now.
I was so furious all I saw was red, but given my position, I still managed to stop before them and give him one last chance to rethink his actions and behave himself. At my words, Hannah turned to me shocked, and so did the idle client. He was confused, as though not understanding why I was suddenly involved, but then I saw a slight note of familiarity flash in his eyes, and he pointed in recognition.
“You”re the lawyer,” he said. ”Is it Guy? Templeton, right?”
I ignored him, my gaze going straight to her now limp wrist that he still held. She pulled it gently harder now, and finally, it budged.
This was too easy,I said to myself. From what I knew about him so far, he needs to be sued, and whatever trash business he had crumbled into pieces. However, since it seemed his brain had come back to his head, I returned my attention to Hannah.
“Let’s go,” I told her and pulled out my phone to call my driver.
Just then, however, I heard her curse, and instantly I turned around.
“For fuck”s sake!” she yelled, startling the street and the passersby all around, and I soon saw why. He had once again grabbed onto her arm.
“Why won”t you just leave me the hell alone? I”m not your freaking mistress, I was an employee. That”s it!”
And that was the last straw for me. She had remained calm and warned him of her boundaries time and time again, yet he had ignored it. Packing all my annoyance and aggravation into a single punch, I swung it straight into his face. He was instantly knocked down, possibly out, as he was flung backward and left sprawled on the ground.
Hannah gasped by my side, but just then my driver pulled up to the curb, and I nodded my head over to him to get her attention. Somewhat sheepishly in agreement, she went toward the car, and in no time, we were settled in and on our way back to the office.
It had been quite a while since I had felt the need to beat someone else that viciously, and so even as I headed back to the office, I found that I was still furious. I sparred as a sport, but that mad, I wanted to cave his freaking face into his head.
Sighing, I looked out of the window and thought of what to do next. The car remained quiet, with neither of us speaking, but I realized then that what I truly needed was some space and quiet. So, I gave my instructions to my driver.
“Stop at the Haven”s Bistro close to the office,” I told him, and he nodded in response.
“Yes, sir.”
Soon we arrived and headed in. Then I chose a booth farther from the rest toward the back, and we both took our seats. I passed over the menu, and she accepted it gently, and I couldn”t help but feel sympathy for her. It made me even more pissed at what an asshole I”d been all day. I”d been thinking solely of how to get her to quit and making her as uncomfortable as possible. The other secretaries had not been this way; I had more or less ignored and tolerated them until they made very peculiar and detrimental mistakes. It almost felt as though it was being planned, but of course, that didn’t make any sense.
“Eat something,” I told her. “You haven’t had lunch yet.”
She nodded then and ordered a salad. I hadn’t completed my meal back at Jade’s Fin but given the altercation and that moron”s face still in my mind, I had completely lost my appetite.
“Do you want a salad as well?” she asked me just before the waiter came over, and I looked at her. If I was really going to give her a chance, then I needed to be honest with her.
“You don’t know this, but I”ll cut you some slack. I don’t eat salads, and I usually don”t eat lunch either unless it”s a business meeting of some sort. Today was a unique day because... well because I wanted to have lunch with you like I”m doing now... to discuss and prepare for the meeting at two.”
I heard the lie very loud and clear and understood without a shadow of a doubt that I was giving in and playing a dangerous game. Sure, I wanted to eat with her, but it sure wasn’t because of the meeting.
“What,” she said, and I lifted my brow in question. “You wanted to talk about the meeting with me? But... at the time, I had already quit.”
And just like that, I was caught. I could deny it, I could say that she got it all wrong as usual and could do nothing right, but I wasn’t a freaking dick, and it wasn’t her fault that she was so attractive.
“Do you have many female friends?” I asked.
“Uh…” she was very clearly surprised by the question. “Not particularly.”
”What does that mean?” I asked.
“Well, they”re more like acquaintances.”
This was most definitely not the point of this question.
“What I’m trying to ask is if you’ve had issues with females the same way you have with men? With men, it”s the constantly being hit on, and with females, I guess, a bit of enmity at constantly being hit on?”
She stared at me, and for a second, I wondered if I had crossed the line. I felt foolish even talking about this, as I would never delve into personal matters this way, but I simply wanted to give her a shot, and in order to do that, I needed to be honest.
She lowered her head then in response.
“Yeah, I have.”
“Good,” I said. “Well, that was the case with me also.”
Her head snapped up in surprise.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re immensely attractive, and because of that, there is the possibility that this might be more of a distraction than a benefit, to me and to our clients. And, I admit to being unnecessarily hostile so that you’d up and leave on your own.”
It took her a little while to process it, and it made me almost certain that Gloria was going to kill me because there was also now the high possibility that she might use this as evidence in suing me for wrongful termination in case things didn’t ultimately work out as I had planned.
“That’s incredibly unfair,” she said, and I nodded.
“Sure.”
“I”m not that attractive. There are girls more beautiful than I am walking up and down the streets, so why do I have to suffer when I”m not even half of that?”
At her words, I was truly flabbergasted. She obviously didn”t know just how pretty she was, and it was almost amusing to me as it was fascinating. This type of woman was endearing, and so I couldn”t help but be amused.
“There’s no need to drag this on. I”m not here to correct your self-image. All I”m saying is that I wanted you to quit, and you did, back at the restaurant, and since you’d quit, I wanted to offer you a different proposition. But now that you”ve expressed your desire to return to the position and quickly learn the ropes of all that is needed, then there is no need for any of that.
She stared at me until the waiter came over to deliver her salad.