Chapter 8 - Sky
Most people would’ve cleared out of work by five on a Friday night…and they did. Except me.
I should’ve been annoyed by the fact that I was staying back late while everyone else had cleared out for the night, but in all honesty, I didn’t mind.
In a way, it was more relaxing when it was just me there in the office, able to focus on my work without being interrupted by help requests. Instead, I kept my head down and continued what I was working on, making sure everything was ready for the next publishing cycle.
The building was almost eerily silent, with some lights off except for a few rows surrounding my office, but I filled that silence with music through my earbuds all the while I worked as hard as I could, considering I had already put an entire work day in.
At the very least, I wasn’t needed for anything else, so I could go at my own pace and do what needed to be done on my own time.
After a few hours of working, a text lit up my phone screen, and I glanced over to see it was from Gemma.
Don’t work too hard tonight…I need my brunch pal tomorrow.
Even if there was concern in her words, I found myself smiling anyway. I almost forgot about our plans, but the reminder made me look forward to it more.
I sent back a text reassuring her that I wouldn’t stay too late or do anything too far beyond my means before I got back to it, double-checking a document before hitting print.
Overall, I was in a good mood as I stood and headed for the printers. I moved through the otherwise silent floor, hearing only the click of my heels against the floor. There were likely others still working elsewhere in the building, but as far as I knew, my entire section had been cleared out, and there wasn’t a soul to be seen.
Eventually, I reached the printer and pulled out the warm stack of papers, doing a quick check of them before I shuffled the stack together and exited the small room.
I hummed quietly to myself as my music played, intending to return to my office, but the moment I saw him there, my breath caught in my throat and I came to a sudden halt.
On the other side of the room, sat at one of the tables meant for collaborating, Damien was there hunched over his laptop and whatever else he had for surveillance purposes. Despite the rows of cubicles in front of him, it was hard to miss him because of how tall he was.
My brows furrowed as I watched him for a moment, seeing how concentrated he looked before I huffed out a breath and continued walking. With more purpose in my steps then, not wanting to be caught watching him, I slipped back into the privacy of my office and placed the stack of papers down on the desk.
Hovering over it with my palms against the surface, I forced out a breath and my fingers through my hair. For some reason, my heart was beating faster than it had been before.
Whether it was because I thought I was alone and didn’t expect to see him there with me, or just because it was Damien, I didn’t know. But either way, I had to take a deep breath to calm my heart.
That initial shock ebbed away, however, and my brows furrowed as I quickly checked the time.
It was already eight, and he should’ve been long gone by then. He normally left shortly after everyone else did, so I couldn’t understand why he was suddenly sticking around.
Sighing, I couldn’t help how my mind stayed on the topic and essentially halted all of my progress for the night.
There was no denying how strange he had been acting lately.
At first, he had been splitting his time up between floors as far as I knew. He did sweeps throughout the building, sometimes standing by the front door, or tucked away in the room he was using to keep an eye on everything. But recently, he had been on my floor more often than not.
It made me feel paranoid to even think about it, but it seemed that no matter where I went, he was there somewhere, lingering in the background. He was interrupting my work, questioning my coworkers’ integrity, and unsettling people in general.
And while I pretended to not notice, I could feel his eyes on me from time to time. It was like I couldn’t shake him no matter what I did.
I potentially would’ve been flattered by the idea of him taking an interest in me, but by that point, he was getting on my nerves.
He was always there, always watching, and always acting so entitled. So important, as if I couldn’t handle anything on my own.
I couldn’t understand why he decided to attach himself to me, but it was driving me insane.
I stood there awhile longer and tried to process my frustration, I eventually forced out a breath and pushed away from the table.
I couldn’t keep going with him constantly lingering, and I knew I had to say something.
Even if he was a big, intimidating guy, he was grating on my nerves, and I needed him to stop.
Exiting my office again, I fixed my lips into a tight line and moved across the floor, eyes set on him. As I approached, Damien eventually lifted his head, eyes landing on me.
Having him look at me like that, with both a mix of surprise and what looked like sheepishness made me fight back a shiver. The way he took me in always made it seem like he was giving me his complete and utter focus and something about it made me want to melt, but I couldn’t. I steeled myself against it and crossed my arms.
“Sky…can I do something for you?”
Not letting up on my irritation, I looked over his impromptu workspace, wondering why he wasn’t tucked away in that small room of his. “You can tell me what you’re still doing here.”
As if aware he had been caught, that sheepishness took over as he wore a faint grin and leaned back in his seat with forced nonchalance. “Well, I thought I’d review some old footage since nobody’s here.”
Something about that response only irritated me more. “Reviewing it for what?”
I could tell he was searching for something to say as he absently scratched his chin. “You know…to see if I can find those rats.”
My eye nearly twitched at his words, not believing him for a second. “Yeah, sure…the rats you keep going on about.”
He chuckled. “Don’t believe me?”
“No, I don’t,” I mumbled, arms still crossed. “I don’t believe Gemma has you here to keep an eye on the possible rodent population in this building.”
Damien’s smile turned a bit more smug, as if enjoying getting on my nerves. “You might be surprised…knowing New York and all…”
At my wit's end, I couldn’t help but drop my usual politeness as I leaned a bit closer, brows furrowed. There was something about him that irked me despite how beautiful he was. He got under my skin so easily, and I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Cut the bullshit, Damien.”
Caught off-guard by my sharp words, his brows went up, and the words died in his throat before he could even say them.
Not wasting the opportunity, I continued, voice raising slightly. “Listen, I’m not oblivious. You’ve been hovering around my floor and me more often than necessary, and don’t you dare try to deny it. I don’t know why you’re doing it, but I don’t need you guarding me like I’m some precious artifact.”
Despite looking shocked about the fact that I was calling him out, with at least a hint of that sheepishness still, he corrected himself and crossed his arms. “Who says I’ve been guarding you, hm? You sound pretty confident about that.”
My brows furrowed at his dismissive words, and I scoffed. “You couldn’t be any more obvious, you know. You’ve never hung back this late after work, but now that I’m around for the night, you’re still conveniently here.”
He gave me an almost challenging look. “I don’t expect you to understand what I do, but you’re making some pretty big assumptions here, sweetheart.”
Something about his forced smugness only irritated me further, and I didn’t care to be nice to him anymore. While I normally would’ve been affected by his gaze and the way he was poking and prodding at me, I was too annoyed to entertain his antics.
“Don’t try and act clueless. We both know you’ve been lurking around a lot more than necessary.”
“Is it such a crime for the guard to…I don’t know, guard?” he asked, eyes gleaming with every intention of not letting it go. Of not admitting that I was right.
It only made my blood boil more.
“You know damn well it’s not as simple as that.”
Even then, Damien maintained his ground, assessing gaze firmly on me while I stood across from him. The way the corner of his lip turned up ever so slightly made me want to shake him until he admitted it.
I didn’t know why he had me so on edge and more combative than usual, but I wasn’t about to back down either.