Chapter Six
Lori met Oliver in the office the next morning, noticing he looked much more tired than usual, though it didn’t detract from the fact that she still found him undeniably attractive.
“Alright, let’s get going,” he mumbled. “The car’s waiting outside.”
“Are you alright?” Lori asked.
He nodded with little enthusiasm. “Didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Oh,” she puzzled over this, hoping it didn’t have anything to do with her. She didn’t really see how it could.
“Listen,” he said after the car departed from their building, “I know it’s usually the best method to ask a lot of questions in situations like these. But do me a favor, and try to learn as much as you can from observation, alright?”
“Sure,” she said. She tried to start by identifying what seemed off about him. He looked tired, sure, but more than anything he looked distracted. A couple of times, he glanced her way and saw her looking at him, but he kept his attention out the window.
“You get along with your dad?” Oliver asked out of the blue.
“Yeah, well enough,” she answered.
“What about your mom?”
Lori shrugged. “I don’t see her that much. She’s an electrical engineer in the Air Force, so she’s busy a lot.”
Oliver hummed in thought. “She’s never seen battle though?”
“No.”
“That’s good,” he said quietly. “Hopefully, she never will.”
She glanced at him again, wondering where this was coming from.
“Anyone in your family see battle?” Oliver asked.
“I think my great grandfather did, but I don’t know much about it. Why? Do you have family in the military?”
Oliver shook his head. “Just wondering.”
“Are you interested in joining?” Lori asked.
“Definitely not,” he said. “I just wonder how people come back from seeing such horrible things.”
Lori furrowed her brow and leaned forward a bit to see him better. “I know it’s not my business, but if there’s something you want to talk about, I’d be happy to listen.”
He didn’t respond. His eyes weren’t even following anything they passed out the window. Ultimately, he gave a hint of a chuckle and replied, “Thanks. That’s nice of you. But I’m fine.”
They arrived at a building that was much larger than the one Lori was working in. It looked more like she expected the twin’s company would look from the outside. Inside was gloriously decorated, and the front desk was run by three women with a much nicer demeanor than the ones Lori had first been introduced to.
They greeted both Oliver and Lori with smiles as Lori followed her boss to the elevators. The building was humming with many people coming and going. In the elevator, Oliver yawned and inspected his face in the mirrored walls. Lori said nothing.
Once outside, she noticed Oliver immediately greeted people with a warm smile and a pleasant, albeit quiet tone. He introduced Lori in passing, saying she was here to learn and assist him for the day.
“Pay attention as much as you can,” he said to Lori.
After that, he hardly spoke to her except to tell her to follow him places. They spent a lot of time riding the elevators up and down to different floors. Throughout the day, people came and went with progress information and updates to give Oliver.
More than once she heard him say, “Forward this to Owen,” but for the most part he handled everything himself. Everywhere in the building was admirably decorated, and the people were well dressed. Even the numerous teams of construction workers they came across had tasteful uniforms with the Jones’ logo on them. Aside from them, Lori noticed many people comparing different prints and pictures, though of what, she couldn’t really see. On another floor, she saw racks upon racks of clothing, as well as photographers and assistants and what looked like stage hands working on lights, backgrounds and furniture. On one floor, they even went by an area full of high-tech computers where multiple people were hard at work on … something.
After a couple of hours of non-stop talking and updates, Oliver had Lori follow him to the elevators again, where they went to the highest floor, only to get off and enter an even nicer looking one. Now the boss looked like he was going to pass out on his feet. They stepped off on the top floor to a large room with several doors on either side. It was much quieter here. Lori followed Oliver down a hallway toward a large door and led the way inside. Lori noticed this door actually had “Oliver Jones” written on it. Inside, it was a much larger office than the other one she had seen, and it looked like more care had been put into designing it. Closing the door behind them, Oliver let out a groan and shuffled over to the nearby sofa.
“Help yourself to whatever,” he mumbled, waving a hand to the short and long refrigerator with glass siding. Inside were all sorts of beverages, sandwiches, and containers of pastas, salads, and soups. Oliver laid himself out on the silvery-blue couch and brought his arm over his eyes.
“Maybe you ought to go home for the day,” Lori suggested.
“If only,” he replied. “There’s a lot to take care of first.”
“Couldn’t your brother come and take care of some of it for you?” she asked.
“He’s got his share of the work to do. He’s probably here already, and he’s just as bombarded as we are.”
Lori looked at the man, taking a seat in a nearby chair that matched the couch. “You weren’t lying when you said that other office is a farce, were you?”
A hint of a smile formed on his lips and she pushed away the thought of how good-looking he was when he wasn’t stern faced.
“Why go through the trouble?”
“Why do you think?” he asked, bringing his arm down to look at her.
She shrugged.
Oliver closed his eyes for a moment and asked, “Who have we spoken with today? Do you remember?”
“Not everyone.”
“Just the important ones. The different floors we were on.”
Lori did her best to recall and listed off the numerous things she observed.
“So, have you figured out what we do yet?” he asked.
“I have no idea. It’s like you’re running multiple businesses at the same time.”
He opened his eyes and gave her a knowing look.
Her mouth fell open. “Are you serious?”
“Magazines, home décor, fashion and beauty, even a health and fitness zone that we haven’t reached yet today. They’re pretty good at managing themselves though. We don’t need to check in with them as much. Can you see the theme yet?”
Lori thought. “Improvement?”
He nodded. “Upgrading.”
“Why so many departments?” Lori asked.
“Because that’s what people want. When we started, we were just in the modeling and fashion line, but the more we learned, the more we vicariously applied our taste to other aspects of our lives. Art has a way of blending over into multiple mediums. And people liked what we did, and they liked us. So, we broadened our horizons until we became what you see here.”
“But that’s so much to keep track of,” Lori said.
“Yeah, you’re telling me.”
“So… That other building…” she started, “That’s so you can get away from all of this?”
He sat up and rubbed the back of his neck.
“In a sense. But we still have a job to do, regardless of if we feel like it or not. At least over there we don’t have to keep up such nice appearances.”
“That makes sense,” she said, more to herself than to him. “You don’t seem to get much of a break from people here.”
He shook his head. “And I know we’ll have a ton of messages to go through, even after they’ve been recorded and sifted through.” He attempted to crack his neck but only winced.
“Come here,” Lori said, getting up to take off her shoes.
“What?”
“Scoot forward some,” she said. Oliver gave her a quizzical look as she climbed onto the couch behind him, putting a foot on either side, and brought her hands to his shoulders.
“You don’t have to do that,” he muttered.
“Yes, I do. I can feel your tension from across the room, and it’s getting to me.”
He chuckled and resigned. “Well, as long as it’s purely for selfish reasons.” He stifled a groan as her thumbs pressed against a fantastic spot between his shoulder blades. Touching him sent a tingle through her stomach. She suppressed the feeling instantly.
“And I thought my dad had tension!” she commented instead. “Your muscles feel rock solid!”
“Well thank you,” he joked.
“That’s not a good thing,” she said. “You need to find time to relax.”
“That’s what we hired you for –ouch!”
“What? By toying with me like we were still in high school?” she asked, a little bitterly. She squeezed his shoulders harder, making him hiss through his teeth.
“You’re closer to high school than we are,” he said. “Careful on the left side… That probably explains why you’ve been able to handle us so well.”
Her hands paused before going lower and pressing her thumbs to either side of his spine.
“What are you saying? That I’m immature?” she asked.
“Far from it,” he said, “We’re the immature ones, and we know it. But we have to let loose somehow.” He looked back at her over his shoulder. “And was it really so bad?”
She made a face and shrugged.
“How did you get good at this?” he asked turning forward again.
“Like I said, I used to do this for my dad. He would come home super tense all the time, and I wanted to help out.”
Oliver’s tone became more serious. “Was he tense because of us?”
“Sometimes, yeah.”
He said nothing after that.
Lori’s eyes were marveling at the skillful way his hair had been cut in the back, and she felt tempted to touch it. Moving briefly to his shoulders again, she brought her fingers up to work at the back of his neck, right at the hairline. He openly moaned from the contact, and it made her smile. She liked that sound.
Several minutes went by without speaking, where she just listened to the soft sighs he made, telling her he was beginning to relax at last.
“Mr. Jones─” she started.
“Oliver.”
“Huh?”
“No one’s listening. You can just call me Oliver.”
“Okay,” she said, pausing in her movements as he tried again to bend his head to the side. The satisfying crack told her he succeeded. She brought her hands back up to work at the back of his neck. “Why couldn’t you sleep last night, Oliver?”
He didn’t respond.
“Did you have nightmares?”
“Why? he asked.
“You were talking about military trauma earlier. I was wondering if that had anything to do with it.”
He was quiet for a moment before muttering. “I don’t have nightmares.”
The door suddenly opened and the other Jones came to a halt when he saw them on the couch. Lori froze but Oliver didn’t so much as flinch.
“What’s going on?” Owen asked.
When Oliver didn’t answer, Lori offered, “Your brother was having neck pains, so I offered to rub his shoulders for him.”
“You should give it a try, Owen. She’s good at it,” Oliver said.
The older twin didn’t look amused. He narrowed his eyes at Lori’s hands.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea─”
“It’s fine, Owen,” Oliver said with some annoyance.
“Why haven’t you answered your phone? I’ve been calling you.”
“I turned it down for the time being. I needed a break.”
“How am I supposed to reach you, then?”
“You always know how to find me.”
“Well, there’s still a lot we need to take care of out here.”
“I’m aware of that. But I needed a break,” he said again. “I’m exhausted.”
Owen’s jaw tightened as he looked at his brother.
“I could give you a massage too, if you like, Owen,” Lori offered.
Owen turned his glare to her. “What did you say?”
She went to repeat herself, then realized what he meant when his brother let his head fall forward in her grip.
“Oh… Your brother said it was alright not to say Mr. Jones.”
“No, I said it was alright to call me Oliver when no one was around.”
Owen’s eyes became intense. “Just what’s going on in here?”
“She already answered that question,” Oliver said. He winced a little as she continued to work at his shoulders.
“Well, I think you’ve had enough now,” Owen said.
“I’m just trying to help him,” Lori said, pressing her fingers in harder. “What’s the big deal if he needs a little -?”
“Agh!” Oliver grabbed his shoulder, gritting his teeth.
“Sorry-”
“Get off him!” Owen yelled, rushing forward as Lori scrambled off the couch. He knelt in front of his brother, and touched his arm. “Let me see.”
“It’s fine.”
“Let me see, Oliver!”
“There’s nothing to see. She just pressed too hard that’s all.”
Lori frowned in confusion. “What’s really wrong with your shoulder?”
Owen glared at her, “None of your damn business!”
She flinched.
“Owen, stop,” Oliver raised his voice.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Owen snapped at Lori. “You could have hurt him!”
“I’m not hurt!” Oliver offered.
Owen turned to him. “You are hurt!”
“I’m not!”
“Oliver─”
“Owen, stop!” Oliver grabbed his brother by the arms and looked him dead in the eyes. “Listen to what I’m saying. I–am not–hurt. Alright?”
Owen stared back at him, mouth open, looking like he couldn’t believe such a thing to be true.
Lori was losing her battle against the lump in her throat and struggled to speak.
“Clearly,” the breaking of her own voice caused the tears to well up in her eyes, “this is between you two and not me. I’m gonna go.” She got her shoes and quickly put them back on.
“Hold on, Bennett,” Oliver said.
“No, really. I need to go,” she said, hurrying from the room.
Oliver sighed and looked back at his brother’s wild eyes. “I understand, Owen,” he said in a gentle tone. “I do. But you have got to learn how to control yourself.”
There was the tiniest trace of a wince in Owen’s eyes.
“We can’t keep doing this, it isn’t good for you to worry this much.”
Owen’s mouth stammered mutely before he whispered. “I can’t –”
“You need to try,” Oliver said.
“I can’t. I just can’t.”
“I believe you can. And I have to go after her before she leaves the building.”
“Forget about her,” Owen said with new vigor.
“No. See? You’re not thinking clearly. And she doesn’t deserve to be yelled at like that.” Oliver removed his brother’s grip on him and quickly got to his feet.
“Oliver!” Owen called after him. But he was already gone.
. . .
“Bennett!” Oliver called when he spotted her near the elevator. “Wait a minute.”
She stepped in and hit the button wiping her eyes. “Please just leave me alone.”
“Don’t go, Bennett,” Oliver said, blocking the closing doors with his hand. “That wasn’t your fault. That was all him. He overreacted.”
“It’s fine. I just want to go home, okay?” She tried hitting the close door button again, but he wouldn’t budge.
“It’s not fine if you’re leaving the building crying,” he said.
“If you’re worried about appearances, I won’t say it had anything to do with you, just…” she tried hitting the button several times more.
“Bennett, please. Let me fix this,” he said gently. He held out his hand to her. “Don’t go. Just come with me for a minute.”
She sniffled and looked up at him. He did seem sincere, and she wasn’t looking forward to trying to find her way to the exit on her own. After a brief hesitation, she stepped out of the elevator, ignoring his hand.
“This way,” Oliver said, leading her to an empty office. He turned on the light and locked the door, getting a box of tissues from the desk. He gave her a moment to compose herself before speaking.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Bennett. That was all my fault, I should’ve stopped you sooner.”
“I didn’t think I was pressing that hard,” she said tearfully.
“It’s just the one spot. The rest of it felt great.” He tried to sound encouraging, but she just gave him a hard look.
“What happened to your shoulder?”
He sighed. “I got an injury a long time ago. It’s better, but the muscles underneath never healed completely, and they’re still tender at times.”
“What kind of injury would make him yell at me like that?” Lori asked.
“He’s…” Owen heaved a sigh again, trying to think of the quickest way to get to the point. “He’s just overprotective of me, and his temper makes him say things before he thinks them through.”
She sniffled again and wiped her eyes. “Does this have anything to do with war trauma?”
His soft expression disappeared as he apparently realized this wasn’t going to be dropped without an explanation. With a sigh, he started to undo the buttons on his shirt. “Alright.”
He turned his back to her and pulled the fabric from his shoulders. Lori saw a large round scar on his left shoulder. A bullet wound. Oliver turned back to her, and she saw another mark on the opposite side.
“Clean shot, in and out,” he said.
“What happened?” Lori asked, fighting the urge to touch her fingers to his skin and caress the scar. What was it with men, scars and vulnerability that captured her every time?
“Remember when I said we started out in the fashion business? Well, we got that from our grandmother,” he said. “She had her own clothing line that did very well. And we grew up with good money. But she didn’t want us to take it for granted, so as soon as we were old enough, we started studying the business to learn some responsibility. As we got older, she wanted us to pay our own way, so we got through college by modeling part time.” He smirked a little. “Needless to say, a couple of twins in the modeling business got a lot of attention from the young ladies. And even some young men. Anyway, we kept to ourselves mostly. We had a few fair-weather friends, but no one we particularly cared about. And I’m sorry to say that we weren’t very nice to everyone.”
Lori frowned a little. Despite their toying with her previously, she hadn’t been expecting that.
“We didn’t do it to hurt anyone outright,” he said quickly. “But after we graduated we’d been out for about a year, a few of our less fortunate school mates found the store we were working in. They demanded apologies, said we apparently ruined their lives in school. That other people had mocked them because we had, and they couldn’t perform well enough to hold good work.”
Oliver sighed again.
“So… When we didn’t behave any kinder to them then, they drew guns on us. They said it was meant to be a robbery, but we both know better now. The security guards grabbed their guns, and soon bullets were flying everywhere. One of the guys from school got killed. Owen and I managed to get away, but one of the bullets hit me in the shoulder, and I went down. It’s hazy for me after that, but I remember flashes of Owen’s face hovering over me. He looked scared beyond belief. And, apparently, the wait during surgery was too much for him. He’s been traumatized by it ever since.
Oliver looked up at Lori.
“He wouldn’t want me to tell you this, but he sometimes still has night terrors. It’s not as frequent as it used to be, thank God, but now and then he’ll still come into my room to make sure I’m still breathing. That’s why I didn’t get much rest last night. He had a particularly bad episode.”
“So, from his point of view,” Lori said, “You’re always in danger of being hurt. Of getting killed and taken away from him.”
Oliver nodded.
“I understand now.”
“Add that constant worry to the stress that this job puts on both of us,” Oliver said. “That’s why he gets a kick out of stressing other people out. He likes to toy with people to see what he can make them do. But he isn’t a bad guy.”
Lori looked up at him and there was something about the way he’d opened up and the way he was looking at her that made her heart pound heavier in her chest. She realized that deep down, from the moment he’d walked into the office, she’d wanted him. She couldn’t deny the attraction. Not to herself and not to anyone else. “I never thought either of you were.”
Her face was sympathetic, understanding, and just beautiful, he thought. She must’ve noticed too because she came closer to him, eyes taking in all his features.
“No one here knows about this,” Oliver said. “So please keep it just between us.”
“Why did you tell me?”
He continued to look at her and study her face.
“Promise me,” he pressed.
She nodded. “I promise.”
He went to button up his shirt, but she put her hand on his. “Leave it.”
“Bennett─”
She moved his hand away so she could move hers over his bare, solid chest.
“We shouldn’t be doing this,” he said.
“Isn’t this what you wanted?” she asked in a hushed voice. She was very close to him now. “Isn’t that why you gave my wardrobe an upgrade? And why your eyes have moved over me when you thought I couldn’t see.” She snaked her arm around his waist and pressed herself to him. “I’ll be gentle with your shoulder.”
His breath quickened, and he tried to think clearly with little success.
Lori brought her other hand up to caress his face. “Oliver,” she murmured. “You brought me here for a reason.”
“To m-make you feel better,” he said. “His steely eyes were glazing over with evident want.
“No, I mean you brought me to this building for a reason. You didn’t have to. You could have kept toying with me in the other office. Could’ve kept looking at me,” she brought her lips just out of reach of his. “… Toying with me.”
He closed the gap instantly and kissed her, his hands coming up to encircle her. His lips felt incredible against hers, and she was surprised by her own boldness. Where had this come from?
She wasn’t the type to pursue and hunt men, but on the other hand she couldn’t resist a damaged soul. She couldn’t resist the way he looked at her and she couldn’t stop herself from whilst trying to fight the attraction and spark she felt. Yes, he was her boss and yes, their liaison was off limits, but right now it didn’t feel that way. It felt like he was just a regular, handsome man who’d opened up to her and shared his scars, both inside and out. Who had come to make things better instead of letting her leave to sort things out alone. And who was kissing her now as if he was as thankful for the connection as she was. She brought both of her arms around the small of his back and held him against her, enjoying the feel of his taut abs against her body. She knew he was thinking something similar as his kisses became more heated.
She felt a moan rise in her throat and didn’t bother to hide it. Just as she brought the tip of her tongue to his lips, he quickly pulled away.
“We can’t, Bennett!” he said quickly.
“Yes, we can,” she urged, trying to get closer again.
“This isn’t right. I can’t do this to your father.”
She stopped. “My father?”
“You’re his daughter, I can’t just…” he trailed off, not able to finish the sentence. She searched his face for a chance he would change his mind. But as quick as it had started, he straightened up and redid the buttons on his shirt. “This isn’t professional at all.”
Now she was stung all over again. She set her jaw and kept her head up, even as her eyes fell to the floor.
“I understand today’s been hard on you,” Oliver said. “You can go home for the day if …”
She was already out the door.
Oliver heaved a sigh.