Maid To Be

t w e n t y

When I woke up Thursday morning, something in the air felt different.

I went through my morning routine in a daze, and when Julianna asked me what was wrong, I told her I didn't know.

I just had a horrible feeling that something bad was going to happen today.

I was in the middle of dusting the shelves in the living room when my phone began to ring from somewhere in the house.

"Did I leave my phone in there with you?" I called out to Julianna.

"Yes!" she yelled back. "Hold on, I'll bring it to you."

I felt my stomach churn as Julianna entered the room with my phone in her hand. She passed it over to me, and I let out a shaky breath as I tried to calm my nerves.

When I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Kyle, the uneasy feeling in my stomach heightened.

Julianna sensed my discomfort and, being the sweet angel she is, decided to hang back until she knew for sure that I was okay.

"I'm sure it's nothing," she reassured me.

I shot her a small smile before I answered the call.

"Hell—"

"Get your ass down here now," Kyle cut me off immediately.

I flinched at his volume, and I looked up to see Julianna staring at me with a frown on her face.

She definitely heard that.

I opened my mouth to respond, but the unmistakable beep of the call ending sounded in my ear, leading me to pull my phone away from my face.

Julianna and I both stood, frozen in place, as neither of us knew what to say. Finally, I managed to snap out of it, and the first thought that came to mind was:

"I'm so dead."

??————-　?　————-??

One outfit change and two anxiety attacks later, I found myself staring at Kyle's mahogany door, nearly stressing myself to death.

I've been standing here for the past five minutes, and I still haven't gathered up the courage to knock.

"What's the worst that could happen?" I muttered before rapping my knuckles against the wooden door.

"Come in," he commanded before I could even finish knocking.

I slowly entered the room, shutting the door behind me.

Kyle seemed to be having some sort of internal battle with himself as he glared at the documents in front of him. The sound of my heels clicking against the floor snapped him out of the trance he was in, and as soon as his eyes met mine, his expression changed entirely.

"Sit," he instructed while reaching up to rub his jaw.

I made my way over to the chair that was sitting in front of his desk, and my hands grew clammy at the thought of him being less than six feet away from me.

As soon as I was settled, Kyle leaned back in his chair, and asked, "Is there anything that you'd like to tell me?"

My breath hitched at his question.

How in the hell did he find out?

I sighed, turning the words over in my mind before I spat them out of my mouth. "Look, I'm sorry okay? It wasn't my intention to get caught up, and it certainly wasn't my intention for this many people to know about it."

Kyle took a second to digest what I'd just told him.

In a way, his silence was worse than him yelling. When it was too much to bear, I shakily said, "I don't understand why you're so upset about this."

This got his attention.

"Because I've been meticulously planning this takeover for the past five years!" he snapped. His frustration was beginning to become more and more evident. "And now it's all gone to shit thanks to you and your stupid-ass agenda!"

I blinked.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" I asked.

It suddenly became clear to me that we were talking about two very different things.

"What do you mean what am I talking about?" he spat. When he saw the blank expression on my face, he asked, "Why do you think I'm mad right now?"

"Because I got into it with Logan's ex, Chelsea?" His question made me second-guess my answer.

Kyle let out a short, breathy laugh.

I followed his movements with my eyes as he pushed away from his desk, coming to stand at his full height.

"I don't give a flying fuck about that homie-hopping whore," he professed while rounding his desk.

My mouth fell open at his confession.

"Then why—"

"Someone leaked an extremely important file to the public this morning, and as crazy as it seems, all signs point to you," he interrupted me.

My mouth fell open even wider as he moved to sit on the edge of his desk.

"Excuse me?"

Surely, I didn't hear him right.

I mean, this had to be some sort of joke.

"Those files were in the envelope that I asked you to bring me yesterday," he continued, eyeing me closely.

Everything fell into place as soon as he said this, and I froze as yesterday's events came rushing back to the forefront of my mind.

Kyle had once again called and asked me to bring him something, only this time it was a Manila envelope that he kept in his office safe. I found this a bit weird, seeing as I knew that it wasn't for an interview or meeting.

If it were, it would've been in a company folder.

Oh my God.

"The files were missing from the envelope," I whispered in realization.

"No," he grunted matter-of-factly. "They were in the envelope at one point in time because I put them there. They only turned up missing after I asked you to bring them to me."

"I didn't do it," I told him firmly.

"Nobody except you has touched that envelope in the past year," he confessed. "And only four people know of its existence."

Never in a million years did I think we'd be having this conversation right now.

"Well, why don't you ask them?" I bit back.

I watched as Kyle's fingers tightened around the edge of his desk.

"Because," he seethed, "one of them is sitting in front of you, the other was the original owner of the documents, and the last two are family."

I opened my mouth to say something, but he quickly cut me off.

"You, however, are a stranger whom I ever so graciously let into my home.

" He paused to collect his thoughts, and I could tell that whatever he was about to say next was going to be something backhanded as hell.

"So tell me, if you were in my shoes, who out of the group would you turn to look at first? "

I felt a mix of hurt and anger swirl through me as I struggled to keep a lid on my emotions. "With all due respect, sir, you're out of your mind if you think I took those papers," I told him. "Why would I even want to leak those files?"

None of this made any sense.

I only learned of their existence yesterday.

"Oh, I don't know? Maybe because those files were all the police needed to see to prove that Durant & Co has been embezzling money from their company for the past eight years," he declared while running a hand through his hair.

"Every deal they've made and every dollar they've stolen can be accounted for in those documents. "

"And the problem is what, exactly? Are you involved or something?"

"The problem is that I was getting ready to snatch up their company since they filed for bankruptcy. But now that those files have been released, the company might as well call itself Mia because that shit is gone."

A heavy silence fell over the room. I could feel the anger radiating off of Kyle in waves, and for some reason, this made all of mine dissipate.

Now, the only thing left for me to feel was hurt.

"I-Uhm, I'm sorry that these papers of yours went missing, but I'm telling you that I didn't do it." I paused, and with the shake of my head, I added, "Now I know we've only known each other for a little less than three months, but what exactly have I done to make you question my loyalty?"

Kyle said nothing, which was to be expected.

"I guess I can understand why you might think that everything bad that's happened to you so far is my fault. I get it, I'm new. But, if I say I didn't do it, I didn't do it."

Kyle reached up to rub his temples. "Look, I wish I could believe you. I really do. But there's literally no other explanation as to why—"

I abruptly stood up from my chair, silencing him mid-sentence.

"You know what?" I announced. "I'm done."

I grabbed my purse and turned to walk out of the room, my mind made up.

Kyle stood to his feet as I reached out to open the door. "What? What do you mean you're done?"

I whipped my head around to look at him. "I mean, what's the point of working for somebody who clearly doesn't trust me?"

"Miss. Reynolds," he began, causing me to flinch.

"And you can't even honor the one thing that I asked to get out of this stupid deal." I shook my head, wrenching open the door. "Thank you for the opportunity, but I'm sure that someone else would enjoy it more than me. I'll be out of your house by the end of the week."

And with that, I stepped out into the hall.

"Dammit!" Kyle swore as I began to race down the hallway. "Lilac!"

Movement sounded from behind me, pushing me to walk faster. Kyle was clearly going to try to follow me to the elevator.

I let out a sigh of relief when I saw the elevator doors open from down the hall. The second the doors finished opening, I stepped into the metal box and began pressing the 'doors closed' button.

My pressing became frantic as soon as I saw Kyle walking down the hallway at lightning speed.

"Shit," I muttered when the doors started to close.

My problem? They weren't closing fast enough.

Kyle slid through the doors just seconds before they closed completely.

The elevator suddenly lurched to a start, causing me to inhale sharply.

There's no way for me to escape him now.

We were the only ones in the elevator, and to make matters worse, we were on the twentieth floor, which meant that we had a long way to go before we reached the ground level.

Kyle's eyes seemed to be glazed over as he continued to stare at me with an unknown look in his eyes.

"Look, I'm sorry, but—" I began to tell him off, but he didn't give me a chance to finish.

"Twice now you've walked away from me," he said while slowly backing me into the corner wall. My legs began to shake at the thought of us playing into our roles. "Make it a third, and trust me when I say, the consequences won't be in your favor."

"Do you understand?" The closer he got, the harder it became for me to focus on what he was saying.

"Yes," I breathed.

"Good," was all he said before he wrapped his hand around my neck and slammed his lips onto mine.

The action caused me to stumble backward and I found myself humming into the kiss after the cold metal wall pressed against the exposed skin on the backs of my legs.

Kyle's hand tightened around my neck at the sound.

Amidst the chaos, one thing became clear to me, and the thought was so abrupt, I nearly pulled away from Kyle's warm embrace:

Veronica was right.

This is exactly what I wanted to happen.

I wanted to test his limits, and now that I have, I don't know what else to do.

Enjoy it while it lasts, my subconscious mind whispered. Because this is it.

We broke for air a few seconds later, and my breath hitched when Kyle suddenly switched his grip from the front of my neck to the back of my neck. His thumb came to rest on my jawline, and this position gave him a clear view of my heaving chest.

My knees grew weak as he slowly kissed his way down my jaw.

His teeth grazed along the side of my neck, and the feel of his breath hitting the surface of my skin caused my eyes to briefly flutter shut.

He nipped at my skin a couple of times before he lifted his head so his lips were level with my ear.

"Tell me you didn't do it," he demanded huskily.

I opened my mouth to speak, only to lose my train of thought after he suddenly pulled my hair, forcing me to look up at him.

"Don't be rude, sweetheart," he scolded, his irises darkening in disapproval. "I want you to look at me when you say it."

I struggled to regain control of my breathing as he repeated his question a second time, his eyes daring me to try him again. "Tell me you didn't do it."

Knowing that I was already skating on thin ice, I slowly wrapped my arms around his neck, using the fact that I was wearing heels to my advantage.

Kyle immediately released the grip that he had on my hair as one of his hands fell to my waist, while the other shot out to press against the wall next to my head.

Even though my heels added to my height, Kyle still towered over me, which is why I used my hold around his neck to pull his face closer to mine.

My gaze flickered back and forth from his eyes to his lips as I softly said, "I already told you . . ."

I trailed off, wanting to leave some space in between my lead-in and my confession.

Figuring that there was no better way to distract him, I leaned in and connected our lips once more.

When I pulled away, the two words that Kyle was desperately waiting to hear finally fell from my lips:

"I didn't."