2. Chase #2
“Mr. Boss Man,“ I tilt my head subtly toward the direction of the boardroom. “His arrival completely threw me off my game.” I sneer over my arm. I watch as he shakes hands with all the members of the meeting.
They’re all sucking up to him already, like he actually has any authority here. Such ass kissers.
“Oh! Is he already here? I must’ve missed him when he came in–” Mia hops up from her desk chair and peers over the desk partition. Her eyes go wide as she takes him in. “Holy fucking shit. Holy–“ I push her down into her desk chair so she doesn’t blow our cover.
“Mia! Pull yourself together,” I hiss.
She gasps, covering her mouth with her hands. “No wonder you were all off your game. That might be the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen.”
I roll my eyes. “One–ouch. I thought I was the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen. And two–if he’s who I think he is…I may know him.“ I squint, looking back over at him. He grooms his hair back with his hand and turns to the left to talk to Heather outside of her office.
No, I’ve got to be wrong. The guy I remember was awkward and always so nervous. Scrawny and quiet.
There’s no way…
The name thing is weird, sure. But maybe it’s just a coincidence? I’ve served many people at The Oaks during my college days. And who’s to say I haven’t seen him at one of the events around here? I’ve met a lot of business men throughout the years.
There’s no way this was the Jeremiah Blackwood I knew.
Possible? Maybe. Unlikely.
“You were the most beautiful man in this office until…“ Mia mutters under her breath as she types away on her computer.
“Rude,” I mumble, lightly smacking her on her arm. I look back at him as he laughs softly at something Heather says. I guess I can see the appeal. In the obvious way, someone can be handsome. I mean, if you’re into the whole dashingly handsome, while dark and mysterious, type of thing.
I drag a hand down my face. I’m being dumb.
I’m confident enough in my heterosexuality to know when a dude is handsome.
That dude is clearly good-looking. Anyone with eyes can see that.
My gaze slowly returns to him again, drifting down his body.
He’s obviously some sort of athlete because his body is damn near perfect.
Again, these are just obvious things anyone could observe.
I swallow deeply, hoping to God that’s true.
I turn my head to look down at Mia, who’s still typing. “What are you typing away over there?”
“I’m an expert in social media; I thought you knew this.” She smiles. “What’d you say his name was?”
“I didn’t. But it’s Jeremiah Blackwood.” I frown. “There’s no way you’ll find him. There must be a million Blackwood’s out there—“
“Found him.” She points at the screen, cutting me off. She playfully blows at her nails, sitting back in her seat.
My brows shoot up as I scramble off her desk. “What? How?” I ask, hovering behind her, eyes scanning her computer screen.
My lips thin as soon as I see her extensive skills, which started and ended with searching him up on LinkedIn. “I could’ve done that.” I huff out a laugh. There he is, with a perfect headshot as his profile picture. “That’s him.” I nod, mouth suddenly drier than the Sahara Desert.
Hm, strange.
Other than Heather, we have zero mutual connections.
My eyes are narrow as we continue scrolling through his profile.
He went to McMaster University, which is far from Western University, where I graduated, so it couldn’t have been school or seeing him around campus.
We keep poking through his profile, but nothing is coming up that sparks any big connection.
“Check Facebook.” I nudge Mia’s arm.
Mia does her thing and brings us over to his profile.
Still, no friends in common. If this is THE Jeremiah Blackwood from my school, wouldn’t we at least have a couple of mutual friends?
“It’s not him…” I mutter out loud.
Mia clicks on his profile picture. This time, we see him in a few more different scenes. He likes hiking and traveling, and he’s obviously active. Judging by all his adventures, he also grew up wealthy. His life couldn’t have looked more different from mine.
Relief starts to set in as soon as I see there is no chance this is the Jeremiah Blackwood I went to school with.
Suddenly, Mia clicks on the “Photos of you” option and we jump from the past few years to a decade ago, back to 2015.
It doesn’t take long before we spot the answer, clear as day. My breath hitches as I take in the photo that I clearly was never supposed to see.
One single picture that was added and forgotten about.
Shock and guilt courses through my body as the realization hits me.
Dressed in a cap and gown from Richmond High School, on a bright, sunny day out on the steps, is a young man standing alone, holding his diploma in his hand.
I’m no longer looking at my new, built, confident, boss.
Now, I’m looking at the lanky, shy, long-haired outcast who attended my high school.
“Germ…” I whisper out loud.
“Germ?” Mia asks, turning to me.
Sadness creeps in as the memories flood my mind.
“We used to call him…Germ.”
Mia gasps, standing up again at her desk to look at the perfect specimen who is so clearly far from anything gross and diseased. “You’d call THAT Germ?”
I tug at her arm, pulling her back down. “Well, he didn’t look like THAT back in high school.“ I look back at the screen to see the picture of the boy I once knew. The boy who hated my guts. “He looked like that,“ I say sadly.
“What are you going to do?” Mia sighs, slipping back into her chair.
I scratch the back of my neck and glance back at Jeremiah and Heather.
He follows her through the floor, into her office, before she turns and quickly pokes her head out the door.
She catches my gaze, eyebrows jumping up.
Excitement is all over her face as she waves me over, clearly wanting me to join.
“Shit,” I exhale under my breath. “I don’t know…”
Jeremiah sits with his back to me, in the office chair across from her desk. His head turns slightly as if he might look at me—but he doesn’t.
As though I don’t matter, he turns back fully in his chair to focus on Heather.
Fuck.
The promotion of my dreams just became my worst nightmare.