e l e v e n
So say what you wanna say, what you want
Shame is you won't say that to my face
I've done this before
Not like this, not like this ?
**
I woke up feeling refreshed despite my nap being less than an hour long.
Before I went to sleep, I ended up making a last-minute decision to get up five minutes before my alarm so that I could have time to spruce up my hair and face.
Since Kyle neglected to tell me that I'd be waitressing for the afternoon, I now had to revisit my plan of sticking to the shadows.
Julianna's disappearance meant that I was now the only woman in the house, and the thought made me somewhat anxious.
Kyle, Justin, and Damien I can handle.
But four other rich, entitled snobs?
I'd rather die.
Since I swapped out my uniform for a pair of shorts and a tank top before I took a nap, I rushed over to my closet to change back into my work clothes. This left me with two minutes to spare, which I used to style my hair.
I opted to wear it in a half-up, half-down style, with two strands removed from my ponytail to frame the sides of my face. After rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and sliding my shoes back on my feet, I swiped a thin layer of lipgloss across my lips before I headed downstairs to organize the food.
The house was eerily silent as I made my way down the hallway into the kitchen.
Strangely enough, Kyle was nowhere to be found, which was a bit concerning seeing as the clock on the wall read one-fifteen.
"Did you check the database for her credentials?"
I turned around at the sound of Justin's voice to see him enter the room with a slight frown on his face.
His attire screamed 'business casual' as it consisted of a pair of slacks and a button-up dress shirt. For a split second, my eyes drifted down to the strip of skin that was left exposed due to him rolling his sleeves up to his forearms.
My gaze fell away after he came to a stop in front of me.
Damn him and his brother for being so attractive.
Since he was still on the phone, I chose to wave at him as a form of greeting; however, Justin had other plans that pertained to squeezing the shit out of me.
A grunt tumbled from my lips after he pulled me in for an unexpected hug, and the feeling of his arm wrapped snug around my waist was dangerously similar to the embrace that I shared with his brother back in the conference room.
"Follow her credit card trail and tell me what all she purchased in the last thirty days," Justin spoke calmly to the person on the other end of the line.
The doorbell suddenly sounded at the tail end of his sentence, and it caused him to pull away from me ever so slightly.
"Can you get that?" he mouthed before he directed his attention back to his conversation.
I promptly made my way down the hall to answer the door, and my hands grew clammy as soon as my fingers came down on the door handle.
Great, now I've got to play hostess.
The thought alone caused me to slap a fake smile on my face.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen," I grinned while opening the door wide enough for them to enter in past me.
Four men dressed in apparel that was virtually identical to Justin's wandered in from their spot on the porch, and I couldn't help but notice the startled expression that each of them wore on their faces.
"You must be new," one of the taller ones commented with a raise of his brow.
I closed the door behind me before I turned to address him with a nod. "I'm Mr. Rodriguez's new maid, Lilac."
A man with strikingly blue eyes pushed his way to the front of the group before he slowly approached me with a smile.
"I always told Kyle that Pamela was starting to get a little old," he hummed.
The formidable gleam in his eye spoke volumes, and it led me to take a quick yet tentative step backward.
"Would you lay off?" the man with dark brown hair scoffed as he yanked blue eyes back by his shoulder.
"I'm Richard," he revealed, shooting me an apologetic smile. "And this idiot here is my partner, Brandon."
I shot them both a wary grin. "Nice to meet you."
Before anyone could say anything else, Damien suddenly appeared at the top of the staircase, causing everyone's attention to shift over to him.
"Well, if it isn't Graham and Walker," he quipped, addressing both Richard and Brandon by their last names. "It's been what? A year and a half now?"
"Longer than that, Hartley," Richard professed with the shake of his head.
Damien let out a small chuckle as he came down the stairs. He then shook hands with all of the men before his eyes finally flickered over to me as I stood, shifting uncomfortably in the corner.
"Why don't I show you all where we will be meeting?" he suggested without taking his eyes off me.
I clasped my hands together as if to say 'thank you' after the men turned around to venture off down the hall.
Damien addressed my gratitude with a wink before he instructed Richard and his men to head in the direction of the patio.
Once I was sure that they were all outside, I swiftly made my way to the kitchen to start on the drinks.
In addition to the fettuccine alfredo, Julianna also made a salad and some breadsticks. She even went out of her way to make lemonade for the men to have as a drink.
After searching around the cabinets for a serving platter, I began placing each individual's cup on the tray so that I wouldn't have to make multiple trips.
I was nearly three-fourths of the way done when a voice spoke up from behind me.
"Feeling better?"
I turned around to find Kyle staring at me from the archway.
"Totally," I retorted while glancing back down at the glass in my hand.
I set the cup down next to the others before I idly gestured towards the tie that was hanging around his neck. "Need some help with that?"
There was a pause on his end before he finally conjured up a response.
"If you don't mind," he uttered coolly.
I quickly finished arranging the rest of the glasses before I made my way over to where he was standing. A familiar sensation of comfort washed over me as I grabbed both ends of his tie and began folding the material over itself like I'd done a countless number of times before.
"So tell me," I murmured after forming the perfect knot, "how a businessman such as yourself doesn't know how to tie a tie."
Even though I wasn't looking at him, I could almost sense him smirk at my question.
"Julianna does it for me," he said simply.
My movements staggered for a fraction of a second as I bit my lip to try and contain my smile.
"Cute," I told him nonchalantly. "Where is she anyway?"
Kyle let out a small sigh. "My dad needed her help with something, so she left an hour early."
The sound of Damien's laughter suddenly drifted in through the patio doors behind me, and the interruption pushed me to work faster.
"Does she have any kids of her own?" I was genuinely curious about her background because she stays here practically all day to cook Kyle's meals, and she has never once mentioned a family member other than her brother.
"My uncle died when I was six," he answered shortly. "So, no, she never had a chance to."
"Where did you learn how to do this, anyway?" Instead of waiting for me and my nosy ass to ask him another question, he decided to flip the script and ask me one of his own.
I hesitated before responding since a small lump decided that now would be the perfect time to form in the middle of my throat.
"My dad used to let me tie his tie before work every day," I admitted quietly. "The Windsor knot was his favorite, so I hope you don't mind."
In a desperate attempt to deflect my emotions, I quickly finished the knot and laid the tie down flat against his chest.
"Your window of being fashionably late is rapidly beginning to close by the way," I teased while taking a step away from him.
"Like you weren't five minutes late to your job interview," Kyle scoffed as he strolled over to the patio door.
This time there was no stopping the wildly amused grin from slipping onto my face. Kyle took my silence as his cue to leave, and I watched him slip outside with a hint of a smile on his face.
The sound of laughter then filled the air as he greeted the men on the patio with ease.
A small chuckle escaped my lips at the thought of them catching up with each other like old friends.
If there's one thing I know for sure, it's that the businessmen who work in this area of the city are all fake as hell.
After filling the rest of the cups with lemonade, I grabbed the platter off the counter with both hands and made my way over to the door. Damien was posted off to the side since he was technically still on duty and he was kind enough to assist me in sliding open the door.
Even though the patio table was tucked underneath a gazebo-style awning, the midday heat was still overwhelmingly severe.
My skin grew hot the second my shoe came into contact with the stone pavement, and it caused my grip on the tray to tighten.
The men ignored my presence entirely as I began setting the glasses of lemonade down on their placemats, and I couldn't help but listen in on their conversation as a person whose name I've heard before just so happened to be the subject of their discussion.
"The Durant's filed for bankruptcy last week," Richard declared smugly. "Did you hear?"
Since Kyle was sitting at the furthest end of the table, he was the last one to receive his drink.
"Of course I heard," he grunted while holding out his hand so that I could give his glass to him directly. "That's why he snatched that deal with R however, a quick reminder that Kyle was watching made me re-evaluate that decision.
I turned my head to see that the owner of the hand was none other than Brandon freaking Walker.
"Lilac, is it?" he asked even though he already knew the answer.
"That's right," I confirmed stiffly.
Out of everyone that I've ever met in my life, no man has ever made me feel this uneasy before.
My eyes flickered down to my wrist as he still had it firmly in his grasp.
"Could I have some water?" he eventually requested after a few seconds of silence had passed.
I internally fought back the urge to slam his face down into his salad bowl.
"Of course," I responded, shooting him my world-famous fake smile.
This prompted a few of the other men to chime in with the same request.
"Extra ice," Richard added to his order.
I offered him a small nod to show him that I understood, and Brandon finally let go of my wrist after Kyle raised an eyebrow at him.
My words were barely audible as I threw them over my shoulder in the midst of rushing over to the door. "I'll be right back."
As I passed by the stove, I made sure to turn the burner off since it had been operating on low heat to keep the food warm while the men ate their appetizers.
My actions came to be severely redundant as I grabbed another set of glasses to fill with water. Once they were ready, I distributed them out to the men that asked me for some before I hurried back inside to work on the main course.
I began scooping out reasonably sized portions of the alfredo before plating it on a medium-sized saucer. I then placed a breadstick directly next to the noodles and twisted it around horizontally so that it would fit on the plate without hanging off the side.
I did this six more times, adding in an extra plate for Damien since I figured that he was hungry too.
As soon as everything was ready, I neatly positioned the plates on the platter before carefully inching my way over to the door to deliver the food to the men. The topic of their discussion hadn't changed in the slightest, which made my job of serving that much faster.
I would've disappeared back inside just as quickly had Kyle not beckoned me over with the curl of his finger at the last second. Assuming that he wanted our conversation to be a private one, I leaned down so that he could speak to me without the others hearing.
"Go to your room," he commanded sharply, "and don't come out unless Justin, Damien, or I tell you to."
The I'm-not-taking-no-for-an-answer tone that coated his voice caught me so off guard that I didn't even think twice about complying.
"Got it," I replied without hesitating.
Once Kyle proved to be satisfied with my response, he silently dismissed me to go back inside. Both Justin and Damien caught my eye as I turned to leave, and the stone-cold expression that they wore on their faces made my lips turn down into a frown.
What the hell are they trying to hide?
This one thought continued to plague my mind as I slipped back into the house and booked it up to my room.
I kicked off my shoes and flopped down onto my bed with a sigh. Since I was lying on my back, my eyes naturally came to rest on the ceiling.
The inner child in me begged to take another nap, but the universe seemed to have other plans as my phone randomly began to buzz near my feet.
I reached over to grab it and was surprised to see that I had received a text from Jessica.
It is crucial that everyone on Mr. Graham's team signs their respective document as it is a nondisclosure agreement.
Thank you!
I immediately turned to grab my laptop so that I could print out the documents using Kyle's wireless printer downstairs.
His warning for me to stay in my room echoed in the back of my mind as I pulled up Jessica's email. I let my mouse hover over the word 'print' as I thought through my decision one last time.
Screw it, I finally thought to myself. These documents are for the benefit of his company, not mine.
Setting my laptop aside, I quickly rushed downstairs to retrieve the papers from the printer.
My movements were a lot quieter due to my lack of footwear, and I made sure to avoid passing by any windows that looked out onto the patio to ensure that I wouldn't get caught.
It was a grab-and-go mission once I reached Kyle's office. I was down here for one thing and one thing only:
The documents.
The sound of a door opening and closing caused me to dart out of his office at lightning speed, and I couldn't help but check over my shoulder to make sure that nobody was behind me.
Nobody was there, of course, but that didn't mean that I was in the clear.
I made a move to turn the corner, only to stumble back a bit after I came into contact with a reasonably hard body.
"Excuse me—" the rest of my sentence became lodged in my throat after I caught sight of the person's face.
"In a rush?" Brandon smirked, gazing down at me like a predator would do its prey.
I could feel my defense mechanisms shutting down as I slowly took a step back.
"Yes, actually," my voice was a step above a whisper, making it hard for him to hear what I'd just said.
"You said, no?" he taunted, eyes glinting in amusement.
My heart began to race at the thought of us being left alone together in this big ass house.
Ever since some frat boy tried to force himself on me at a party a couple of years back, the thought of me being in close proximity to a man that I'm not comfortable with makes me freeze up like a statue.
If this were anybody else, I'd be putting up one hell of a fight. But something about Brandon seemed sinister—almost as if he got high off women being scared of him, or something.
I attempted to sidestep out of his way, only to be blocked by his figure once more as he mirrored my actions.
"Please move," I begged after he proceeded to take a step closer to me.
His hand came down to caress the side of my face, and the gesture made me flinch against his palm.
It finally clicked in my brain for me to open my mouth and scream after he pushed me against the wall with an unnecessary amount of force.
As if sensing what I was about to do, Brandon quickly pressed his hand against my mouth to muffle the sound that would've otherwise come out.
"Don't," he hissed in my ear. "We don't want Kyle finding out about this, now do we?"
I glanced up at the ceiling to try and prevent the tears that were pooling along my waterline from falling.
Don't let him see you cry, don't let him see you cry, don't let him see you cr—
"You have two seconds to get the fuck off her, or I swear to God I'll end your life right here in this hallway."
My gaze flew down from the ceiling at the sound of Kyle's voice, and after hearing the threat that had been imposed upon him, Brandon slowly removed his hand from my mouth.
After turning around to face Kyle, he then proceeded to ask, "Since when do you give a fuck about your maids?"
Kyle stepped forward so that he and Brandon were standing toe to toe.
"Since bitches like you put their hands on them," he spat before he turned to point at the front door. "Now get the hell out of my house."
Damien and Justin bounded into the room just seconds after he said this, and I watched their guards go up as they assessed the scene that was playing out in front of them.
Brandon slowly gave into Kyle's instructions, veering around him to head over to the door.
I could feel the tension leaving my body at the sight of him walking away. That feeling, however, ended just as quickly as it began after Brandon decided to mutter one last thing under his breath.
"Man, you haven't tripped this hard over a female since Ashly—"
In the blink of an eye, all hell broke loose in front of me.
Kyle wrapped his arm around Brandon's neck and yanked him backwards, trapping him in a chokehold. "You want to run that by me again?"
I watched in horror as he tightened his grip, seeking to cut off Brandon's airflow entirely.
Damien rushed to my side to pull me away from the chaos, and I silently stared up at him as my mind was still in a state of shock.
"Are you okay?" He took my head into his hands and turned it around in a circular motion so that he could examine every inch of my face. "Did he touch you anywhere?"
I chose to ignore him, focusing instead on the struggle that was happening over his shoulder.
Richard and two of his other colleagues were trying to separate Kyle and Brandon while Justin stood off to the side, talking animatedly into the phone.
Damien gently grabbed my chin, forcing me to look up at him.
"He'll be fine," he reassured me softly.
I tried my best to ignore how quick he was to recognize the level of concern that I had for our boss as he pulled me into the first room he could find.
"Do you need some water?" is one of the very first things that he asked me after he closed the door behind us.
I shook my head.
"I'm fine," I said after a prolonged period of silence had passed. "Seriously."
Damien seemed more than hesitant to believe me.
"And he didn't touch you," he stated more so than asked.
"Besides pushing me against the wall and putting his dirty ass hand over my mouth, no," I confirmed, "he didn't touch me."
Damien slowly came to stand in front of me as I was now sitting on top of the conference table with my legs dangling off the edge of it.
"Why the hell were you downstairs, Lilac?"
"Jessica sent me a text asking me to print out the revised NDA that Kyle's lawyers sent over at the last minute," I explained. "She told me to give it to him before the meeting ended, and I figured that I'd be able to do it and go back upstairs without any problems."
I paused to let out a scoff. "Clearly that didn't happen."
Damien opened his mouth to say something else, only a sharp knock on the door caused him to shut it just as fast.
He walked over to the door and cracked it open to see who it was before he allowed them to enter.
"They're gone," Justin announced breathlessly.
"And Kyle?" Damien questioned, grimacing slightly.
Justin ran a hand through his hair, sending strands every which way. "I sent him to his room to calm down, but judging by the shit that I just heard flying around a few seconds ago, I don't think that's happened yet."
My eyes briefly fluttered shut.
Today has proven to be the worst day of my entire existence.
"I'm going to go lay down," I muttered before adding in a wildly sarcastic, "Again."
In an attempt to settle their nerves, I gave both of the boys a hug before I left the conference room and headed for the stairs. The sound of glass hitting the wall echoed through the foyer as I made my way upstairs.
The rate at which Kyle was throwing things at the wall let me know that he was still severely pissed off.
You'd think that this would make me steer clear of his room, but if I'm being honest, it made me want to do the exact opposite.
I figured that knocking would be pointless since he wouldn't be able to hear me over his reckless activities, so I chose instead to open the door wide enough for me to peek inside.
Many of his decorative pieces lay, broken on the semi-rug-covered floor.
Kyle was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window that covered the extent of one of his walls, and since his back was facing me, he hadn't heard me come in.
Or at least I thought he hadn't.
"Leave," he declared without even turning around to see who it was.
When placed in pressing situations, I often turn to humor as a way to cope. It is because of this that I addressed his statement by saying, "You know I'm going to have to clean all of this, right?"
Kyle merely batted his eyelashes at me before he pointed to the door.
"I'll do it," he said harshly. "Now get out."
In lifting his hand to point, I caught a glimpse of the vast amount of blood that was covering his knuckles.
"You're bleeding," I stated rather obviously.
Kyle spared a glance down at his fingers before he looked back up at me with a bored expression. Without thinking, I marched over to where he was standing, making sure to steer clear of the glass that littered the floor.
I then grabbed his hand and led him to his ensuite bathroom.
He surprisingly went along with it as he watched me search through his cabinets for a first aid kit. I produced the red pouch, along with a bottle of rubbing alcohol, before closing the cabinets and laying the contents out on the countertop.
I turned on the faucet and guided his hand underneath it while fighting to ignore his blank stare.
The silence was deafening as my fingers worked to dry his hand with a small towel. I lowered my head so I could get a better look at his cuts, and I bit back a smile after a few strands of my hair brushed against his wrist, causing him to shudder.
"Are you okay?" Kyle surprised me by breaking the silence a few moments later.
Not wanting to speak on the subject any longer, I decided to ignore his question altogether.
"Sorry," I told him, apologizing in advance for the sting of the alcohol that I was about to pour over his knuckles.
He pulled away at my response—or should I say my lack thereof.
"Insufficient answer." He turned his head to face me so that we were now making direct eye contact. "Try again."
"God," I scoffed, leaning my hip against the counter, "today has been eventful, hasn't it?"
My sarcasm wasn't even intentional at this point.
I just seriously hate talking about my feelings.
Kyle didn't seem to care, though, as he shot me a glare that was deadly enough to make me start talking.
"I'm fine," I finally admitted with a sigh. "Just a bit freaked out, that's all."
The compassion that briefly flickered in his eyes fell away in a mere instant.
"Why the hell can't you listen?" His voice was a step below a shout, but it was still loud enough to demand my full undivided attention. "It's not like my request was something impossibly hard for you to follow."
"I know, but Jessica wanted—"
"Is Jessica here right now?" he snapped, cutting me off mid-sentence. "Because last time I checked, she called in sick today."
I opened my mouth to politely ask him to drop the attitude, only he wasn't done lecturing me yet.
"Regardless of what you may think, I don't order you around just for the hell of it," he confessed. "I've worked with some of these men before, so I know how they move."
My gaze dropped down to the floor.
"So Brandon . . ." I trailed off, struggling to find the right words to use.
"Is a fucking sadist," Kyle had no trouble filling in the blank for me. "And he's dodged the police one too many times."
"So what?" I shot, feeling somewhat defensive. "You were just looking out for me?"
Kyle leaned his head back haphazardly and let out an exaggerated breath in response to my question.
"Finally, she gets it!" he belted out sarcastically.
He then tilted his head back forward so that he could peer down at me. "I'm not heartless, you know."
I swallowed down a laugh at his statement.
He sure had me fooled.
"Of course you aren't," I deadpanned.
Because exploiting women before you toss them aside like used tissue is a morally correct thing to do.
He narrowed his eyes at my response.
"Miss. Reynolds," he stated dully.
I already knew that he was about to tell me to get back to work, which is why I took it upon myself to head over toward the door.
"Yeah?" I hummed.
"Go clean up the kitchen," he instructed, confirming my thoughts to a T.
A crazed smile played at my lips as I shook my head in amusement.
"Already on it, sir."