Chapter 2 - Eight Means Eight
At 7:58 the next morning, I was standing outside Adrian Vale's office with three fa?ade alternatives tucked against my chest.
I checked the time.
7:58.
Then again.
Still 7:58.
Excellent.
Two whole minutes early.
Take that, asshole.
I'd stayed at the office until almost nine the night before finishing them, gone home, eaten cereal for dinner, and dreamed about buildings collapsing on people.
One person, specifically.
At 7:59, I knocked.
Nothing.
I waited.
Checked the time again.
8:00.
I frowned at the closed door.
Seriously?
I lifted my hand to knock again when a muffled voice reached me from the other side.
Adrian.
He was on the phone.
Of course he was.
I waited.
At 8:01, his voice finally came through the door.
"Come in."
I opened the door.
I'd never been inside Adrian's office before.
It was exactly what I should've expected.
Large.
Immaculate.
Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Miami.
Architectural models. Books. Drawings. Dark wood. Glass.
And absolutely nothing personal.
No photographs.
No stupid desk decorations.
Nothing that told me anything about the man sitting behind it.
Which somehow seemed appropriate.
Adrian looked up as I entered.
White shirt.
Dark tie.
Nearly black hair perfectly in place.
Deep blue eyes that somehow managed to make me feel like I'd already done something wrong.
"Ms. Stone."
"Mr. Vale."
I walked over and put the drawings on his desk.
"Three alternatives."
He looked through them.
I waited.
He said nothing.
I waited some more.
Was I supposed to sit?
Leave?
Breathe?
Finally, he tapped the second one.
"This."
My favorite.
Not that he needed to know that.
"Okay."
"Develop it."
"Okay."
He went back to his computer.
Apparently that was the entire meeting.
I turned toward the door.
"Ms. Stone."
I stopped.
"Yes?"
His eyes flicked toward the clock.
Then back to me.
"You were supposed to be here at eight."
I stared at him.
"I was."
"You walked through the door at eight-oh-one."
"I knocked at seven fifty-nine."
"I know."
"Then technically, you made me late."
Silence.
Oh.
Why did my mouth do these things?
Adrian leaned back slightly.
"Excuse me?"
"I said technically."
"I heard you."
"Great."
His eyes narrowed.
I smiled.
"Anything else?"
"No."
"Wonderful."
I made it all the way to the door.
"Ms. Stone."
Oh God.
I looked back.
"Yes?"
"Tomorrow, if I say eight-"
"I'll begin knocking at seven forty-five."
His expression darkened.
I escaped.
Maya was waiting for me when I got back.
"So?"
"He picked number two."
"I knew it."
"You said three."
"I've changed my position."
Ben rolled his chair over.
"Did he yell?"
"No."
"That's disappointing."
"He did accuse me of being late."
Maya checked the clock.
"You've been here since seven thirty."
"I know."
"What did you say?"
"That technically he made me late."
Ben slowly lowered his coffee.
"You said that to Adrian Vale?"
"I was tired."
"That's not a legal defense."
"I didn't say I was proud of it."
Maya grinned.
"You survived."
"Barely."
I dropped into my chair.
"And now I don't have to see him again until Friday."
Ben lifted his coffee.
"To freedom."
I lifted mine.
"To never speaking to that man again."
Maya looked behind me.
Her expression changed.
I stopped.
"No."
She pressed her lips together.
"No what?"
"Whatever is behind me."
Ben looked down at his desk.
Coward.
I slowly turned.
Nobody.
I glared at Maya.
She burst out laughing.
"You bitch."
"Your face!"
"I hate you."
"You looked terrified."
"I am terrified."
Ben was laughing now too.
I threw a pen at him.
He ducked.
"Violence in the workplace!"
"You deserve worse."
Maya grabbed my arm.
"Coffee?"
"Yes. Before I commit a felony."
Twenty minutes later, I was walking back through the office with a fresh cup of coffee in one hand and my phone in the other.
Maya had stayed behind because someone had stopped her near the break room.
I was reading a message from Ben.
I stopped.
Then looked over my shoulder.
Nobody.
Three dots appeared immediately.
Asshole.
I put my phone away and turned the corner.
Straight into a wall.
Except the wall moved.
My coffee didn't.
The cup crushed between us.
Warm coffee splashed across a pristine white shirt.
A hand caught my arm.
My other hand landed flat against a solid chest.
For one second, my brain stopped functioning.
Then I looked up.
Deep blue eyes.
Oh.
No.
No no no no no.
Adrian Vale looked down at me.
I looked down at him.
More specifically-
At the enormous brown stain spreading across the front of his white shirt.
Oh.
Shit.
I'd just thrown coffee on the CEO.
"I'm so sorry."
His eyes dropped slowly to his shirt.
Then lifted to mine.
"I didn't see you."
"Clearly."
"I was turning the corner and-"
"Do you ever pay attention to where you're going?"
Excuse me?
"I said I'm sorry."
I looked around desperately.
Napkins.
Nothing.
I grabbed a handful of tissues from a nearby desk.
"Here, just-"
Without thinking, I started wiping at his shirt.
My hand moved once.
Twice.
Then my brain caught up.
My palm was on Adrian Vale's chest.
His chest.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
Under my hand.
Hard.
Warm.
Very much attached to my CEO.
I froze.
Adrian froze too.
His eyes dropped to my hand.
Then very slowly returned to my face.
"Ms. Stone."
His voice had changed.
I snatched my hand back so fast I nearly hit myself.
"Right."
Oh God.
"Sorry. Obviously you can wipe your own chest."
His jaw tightened.
I handed him the tissues.
He didn't take them.
Fine.
I put them on the nearest desk.
"I really am sorry. It was an accident."
"An accident that I'm wearing."
Well.
That cured the embarrassment.
"I noticed."
His eyes flashed.
"Maybe if you weren't walking through the office staring at your phone-"
"I wasn't staring at my phone."
"You were holding it."
"Those are different things."
"Are you actually arguing with me right now?"
His voice rose.
People were looking.
Wonderful.
"No."
"You walked directly into me!"
"You were also walking!"
Silence.
Shit.
There went my mouth again.
Adrian stared at me.
I became extremely interested in the coffee dripping from the bottom of his shirt.
When he spoke again, his voice was louder.
"Do you have any idea how careless that was?"
"It was coffee."
"That's not the point!"
"I know."
"Then stop arguing!"
"I'm not arguing."
"You're doing it right now!"
Okay.
That was technically true.
I shut up.
His chest rose sharply beneath the coffee-soaked shirt.
Unfortunately, now that I'd touched it, I knew exactly how solid that chest was.
Which was information I had neither requested nor needed.
Ever.
Adrian looked down at his shirt again.
Then at me.
"Pay attention to where you're going."
I kept my voice very level.
"I will."
He turned.
Then stopped.
Looked back.
"And put the damn phone away."
I stared at him.
He walked off.
I waited until he disappeared around the corner.
Then-
"Asshole."
"Angel."
I jumped.
Maya was standing behind me.
Ben beside her.
Both staring.
"What?"
Maya pointed in the direction Adrian had gone.
"Did you just spill coffee on Adrian Vale?"
"No."
Ben looked at the floor.
There was coffee everywhere.
He looked at me.
I sighed.
"Yes."
Maya's mouth fell open.
"On the white shirt?"
"I noticed the color, Maya."
Ben looked genuinely impressed.
"How are you still employed?"
"I apologized."
"You also yelled back."
"I did not yell."
"You told him he was walking too."
"He was!"
Maya covered her face.
"Oh my God."
"It was an accident."
"Angel."
"What?"
"You wiped his chest."
I stared at her.
"We're never discussing that."
"You wiped his chest."
"There was coffee!"
"With your hand."
"There were tissues!"
"Eventually."
"Maya."
She was laughing now.
I pointed at her.
"Not. One. Word."
She mimed zipping her mouth.
Ben looked toward Adrian's side of the office.
"I give you until lunch."
"For what?"
"To get fired."
"Go fuck yourself, Ben."
I wasn't fired by lunch.
Which I considered a tremendous professional achievement.
We went out to the little café across the street.
There were six of us.
Maya.
Ben.
Me.
Three people from another team.
And for forty glorious minutes, Adrian Vale did not exist.
I laughed until my stomach hurt because Ben tried to steal one of Maya's fries and she stabbed his hand with a fork.
I listened to Nicole complain about a date who'd spent twenty minutes explaining cryptocurrency to her.
I stole half of Ben's dessert.
He objected.
I ignored him.
Normal.
Everything was normal.
This was what work had been like before yesterday.
People.
Noise.
Jokes.
Lunch.
No terrifying blue eyes.
No shouting.
No coffee-related assaults on senior management.
I liked normal.
I wanted normal back.
Unfortunately, Adrian Vale apparently had other plans.
At three seventeen, he appeared beside my desk.
I knew immediately that he was there because Ben stopped talking mid-sentence.
I looked up.
Adrian had changed his shirt.
Of course he had.
Light blue this time.
No tie.
Sleeves rolled to his forearms.
His hair wasn't quite as neat as it had been that morning.
For some reason, that made him look even more-
No.
Absolutely not.
He was holding one of my drawings.
My stomach sank.
"What happened now?"
His eyebrows lifted.
I immediately corrected myself.
"Sorry. What can I help you with?"
He put the drawing on my desk.
"This needs to change."
I looked at it.
"Okay."
"Before you leave."
"Okay."
He didn't move.
I looked up.
"Anything else?"
"That's it."
"Okay."
Still didn't move.
Why was he standing there?
I looked back at the drawing.
Then at him.
He seemed irritated.
Again.
Had he been born irritated?
"Mr. Vale?"
"What?"
"You said that's it."
"I know what I said."
"Okay."
Silence.
What the hell was happening?
Then Daniel from the desk across the aisle leaned over.
"Angel, are you still coming with us after work?"
I looked over.
"Yeah. Probably."
"Seven?"
"Seven-thirty."
"Perfect."
I smiled.
"Text me."
When I looked back at Adrian, his expression had somehow gotten worse.
Fantastic.
"What?"
His eyes sharpened.
There went my mouth.
Again.
"Is there something else you need?"
"No."
"Okay."
"Finish the revision."
"I said I would."
"Then do it."
My smile disappeared.
"I am."
"Angelica"
I froze.
So did he.
For one strange second, neither of us spoke.
Angelica.
Not Ms. Stone.
Angelica.
He knew my name.
Obviously he knew my name.
He'd read it from my badge yesterday.
That wasn't the weird part.
The weird part was hearing it in his voice.
Deep.
Sharp.
Husky.
Familiar in a way it shouldn't have been.
I stared at him.
His expression closed almost instantly.
"Ms. Stone."
There it was.
I blinked.
"Yes?"
"The revision."
"I'll finish it."
He gave one short nod.
Then walked away.
I watched him go.
Maya's chair rolled toward me.
"No."
I didn't look at her.
"No what?"
"What was that?"
"I don't know."
"He called you Angelica."
"I know."
"He never calls you Angelica."
"I KNOW."
Ben leaned over.
"Maybe the coffee damaged him."
I looked at him.
"Thank you for your contribution."
"Anytime."
I looked back toward the corridor.
Adrian was gone.
Maya followed my gaze.
"Angel."
"What?"
"I have a question."
"No."
"You don't even know the question."
"If it's about his chest, I'm quitting."
"It wasn't."
"Good."
She paused.
"Was it hard?"
I grabbed a folder.
She screamed and rolled away.
At five forty, I finished the revision.
At five forty-two, I sent it.
At five forty-three, I shut down my computer before Adrian could materialize from the ceiling and find another problem.
Maya was putting on her jacket.
Ben was already gone.
"You ready?"
"Very."
We headed toward the elevators.
Maya pressed the button.
Then glanced at me.
"You know what's weird?"
"Everything about the last forty-eight hours?"
"He's harder on you."
I looked at her.
The humor had disappeared from her face.
"I noticed."
"I've seen him yell before."
"So have I now."
"No. I mean before you started working on Solara."
The elevator arrived.
We stepped inside.
Maya pressed the lobby button.
"He's an asshole to everybody."
"Comforting."
"But with you..."
She frowned.
"What?"
"I don't know."
My stomach tightened slightly.
"Just say it."
She looked at me.
"Angel, I think that man genuinely hates you."
I stared at her.
Then threw both hands in the air.
"THANK YOU."
She jumped.
"Why are you happy?"
"Because somebody finally said it!"
"That's not a good thing!"
"I know! But at least I'm not imagining it."
The elevator doors opened.
We walked into the lobby.
Maya shook her head.
"Did you do something to him before yesterday?"
"I had never spoken to him."
"Maybe you did something without knowing."
"Like what?"
"I don't know."
I pushed through the glass doors.
Warm Miami air hit my face.
"Maybe my existence offends him."
Maya laughed.
"Could be."
I looked back through the glass.
Up through the bright lobby.
Toward the offices above us.
Somewhere up there was Adrian Vale.
Thirty-eight.
Six feet tall.
Deep blue eyes.
Terrible personality.
And, apparently, a personal vendetta against me.
Two days ago, I wasn't even sure the man knew I existed.
Now I was fairly certain he wished I didn't.
Progress, I supposed.