I thought about my day at Richardson & Sachs. It wasn’t at all what I expected. My coworkers weren’t friendly, and I was pretty much just another desk jockey, assigned to do all of the boring paperwork for the real lawyers.
The thought made my eyes water.
I’m a real lawyer, I whined bitterly to myself. I am. I didn’t work this hard for so long to be swept aside by people like Eliza.
Was Alex being serious earlier? If I asked, would he really offer me a position at his father’s firm? Would it be better there? Would the work environment be less hostile? Would I be able to do the work that I’ve been trained to do?
I rolled onto my side, tugging the duvet to my chest. I simply couldn’t believe my luck. First Alex offers me a place to stay, and now he’s offering me a job. How often does life throw these kinds of opportunities at you? Rarely. Would it be so bad if I took him up on his offer? Or was this really just going to be a recipe for disaster? What if things didn’t work out? What if everything came crashing down and I was left with nowhere to go again?
Just when I was about to drift off into sleep, I heard a door down the hall creak open. Footsteps shuffled about, made it roughly half-way down the hall before they stopped entirely. My heart was pounding in my chest. Had Alex changed his mind? Would I be expecting a knock at my door any second? I held my breath in anticipation, wondering all the while if this was really about to happen.
But nothing happened. There was no knock at my door. Alex didn’t call to me from the other side. His footsteps shuffled back to his room, door clicking gently behind him. I swallowed, primarily out of confusion, but also out of frustration. The tension in my body had every muscle straining, yearning for contact.
I didn’t get a very good sleep that night.
6
Tia
The next morning, there was no sign of Alex. I woke up and hopped in the shower. Towel dried my hair as I got dressed for the day. I slipped into some dark pantyhose, pulled up just above my hips, before stepping into a dark grey pencil skirt. I buttoned up my white collared shirt and pulled a dark red cardigan over my shoulders –rather fitting for the Valentine’s Day weekend coming up—before leaving toward the kitchen to find something to eat. There was no breakfast waiting for me like the day before, no sexy roommate working his usual charm. There was, however, a tiny note left on the kitchen island.
Got called into work. Will see you later!
Alex had surprisingly pretty writing. It was loopy and elegant, perfectly legible despite the smudged ink. I glanced at the time on the microwave oven. It was 7:50AM. I sighed. I really needed to start getting up earlier. I made my way to work quickly. I figured that dashing to work on foot would be a hell of a lot easier than trying to flag down an Uber in the middle of rush hour. Besides, on my tight budget, I didn’t think I could afford to spring for a rideshare.
Work was hell. In fact, I was pretty sure that it was even worse than yesterday. I didn’t even get the chance to sit down in my sad little cubical before Eliza pounced on me, ready for the kill. She slapped a fat stack of paperwork down on the desk in front of me, the sound so sharp that it made me jump in my seat. I blinked, and then immediately shot her a dirty look.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“Patent filing,” she explained simply. “Richardson wants you to review them and correct any errors.”
Grunt work. Great.
“Okay,” I replied anyways. At that point, I was willing to say anything to get Eliza off my back. But to my dismay, she didn’t leave right away. Instead, she leaned against the frame of my cubical, an accusatory sneer on her face.
“So…” she starts, voice dripping with bitterness. “How do you know Alex?”
I didn’t know what came over me. A sudden defensive wall built itself up in my mind. I crossed my arms in front of my chest, crossed one leg over the other, and leaned back in my cheap office chair with shitty lumbar support. I frowned, clicking my tongue before answering her.
“What’s it to you?” I snapped.
I could tell by the way Eliza raised her perfectly arched eyebrow that she was less than amused.
“Excuse me?” she hisses.
“You’re excused.”
Eliza scoffed, thoroughly offended. “You’re sleeping with him, aren’t you?”
I didn’t answer. Eliza wasn’t even worth the effort to correct her. No, I wasn’t sleeping with Alex.
But I sure as hell want to.
Eliza tapped her foot on the tile floor, a mischievously dark glint in her eyes. “This is clearly a conflict of interest,” she began. “You’re sleeping with one of Richardson & Sachs’ biggest rivals. You’re probably a corporate spy, aren’t you?”