It wasn’t.

Amy woke up with a headache but she still had a positive attitude. Her mother sounded good on the phone and that gave her some added energy, but when she got to work she saw that Mr. Mancini had trashed the living room again.

Mr. Mancini.

Addressing him like that in her mind, or just by thinking about him, didn’t seem right at all. It seemed too formal for someone like him who’d come home, saw that the place was clean, then thought to trash it all again. Like an animal would.

And when she said trash, she meant it. The place looked like he must have had some wild party. Again, there were pizza boxes, bottles of beer and drinks, and bits of potato chips and Cheetos wedged into the cream carpet. And, that nasty smell she managed to tone down yesterday was back again.

What the hell was she going to do? She hadn’t even touched her actual work yet. She’d managed to go over the list of her duties and she could see that there was a lot. The first and foremost thing being that she needed to make sure he was at the ESPN show. Since the show was early, like ten o’clock early, Zelda suggested trying to get him into a routine of waking up early. She cautioned that he liked to sleep in till all hours of the day because of his party lifestyle.

He was upstairs now and Amy knew those women were with him. She highly doubted that they’d played whose shoe is this all night.

There was no way that she was even going near that room. There had to be another way, and as for this mess she didn’t think she could stand it. Particularly if it was going to be an everyday thing. The last PA left over a month ago so Amy was expecting a lot of administrative work. She always liked to sort that out first before dealing with events or other activities.

Deciding to leave the living room for later, she made her way through the sitting room in search of the office. She wanted to see what she was up against and maybe make a list so she could prioritize.

As she walked through the room the mess grieved her even more as it seriously damaged the appearance of the house. This was such a beautiful home with its floor-to-ceiling windows, which provided an abundance of natural light and a fantastic view of the beach. The vaulted ceilings and wide-open spaces were refreshing and attractive. She could imagine having dinner parties and opening the sliding doors to let in the sea breeze and gorgeous sunshine.

She marveled at the antique-looking fireplace in the corner with logs set neatly inside. If this was her house she’d sit there at sunset with the fire on, even though it was always warm in Malibu. She’d sit there and get cozy with a good book and her special blend of hot cocoa and cinnamon, watching the sun go down.

It was a nice thought. Perhaps one day she could have a nice place of her own. She’d never be able to afford somewhere like this even if she got the position at Dior, but she’d get a nice place.

She moved on to the study and immediately felt like she’d invaded his privacy. The room was filled with family photos. There were lots of pictures of who she guessed were his mother and sister. They looked very similar, but he looked exactly like his father. She walked out of the room, resisting the temptation to snoop around. It didn’t feel right.

The room next to it had to be the office. The door was closed but the giveaway was that he’d thrown all his mail at the entrance of the door. It looked to Amy like there was at least a year’s worth of mail there and she wasn’t looking forward to sorting through it. She gathered up what she could and moved it to one side so she could open the door, which only exposed more filth.

The wooden floor was covered in bits of paper, as if someone had chewed on it then spat it out. It was weird. This was how the whole floor looked. There was also dust and cobwebs all over the desk. This didn’t look like it hadn’t been used in over a month. It looked like it hadn’t been used in years.

She walked in and switched on the lights. As she did that she was certain she heard something scuttle past her, but there was nothing there when she looked.

Amy grimaced at the sight of open files all over the place, in disorder just like the rest of the house, but since this was within her job description she thought she’d keep herself in here today.

Then maybe she’d brave the task of getting him up early tomorrow. He was an athlete and looked in great shape, so she was sure he wouldn’t be averse to a morning jog or stroll, especially if that was on the beach.

Right now she’d clean up the floor a little and then get on to sorting through the documents, files, and mail. After that she’d deal with the emails.

She went to get the vacuum cleaner from the cupboard where she left it yesterday and wheeled it into the office. She then plugged it in and started going over the floors, sucking up the bits of paper. Within five minutes she had to empty the holder because it was so full, and she wasn’t even a quarter way across the room.

She honestly needed to speak to Zelda about a maid. This was completely ridiculous. Sure, she was getting paid for doing something a tad easier than her job, but by doing so she wasn’t getting to do what she was required to do.

“Hey, what the hell is this damn noise in the house!”

Amy whirled around so fast she nearly tripped over the vacuum’s cord. Joshua Mancini stood in the doorway looking like he would incinerate her with his fiery gaze. Even though he’d just gotten out of bed he still miraculously managed to look good, with his hair ruffled, a white jersey top showing off his defined muscles, and loose sweatpants that hung low on his hips.

The vacuum was still going so he moved over to the plug and yanked it out of the socket.

“What the hell are you doing here again?” he yelled, returning his gaze to her.

“Work,” she replied, trying her best to keep her tone under control.

“No, you damn well aren’t, get out of my house and don’t come back,” he bellowed.

Amy’s cheeks burned from the embarrassment. She’d had a rough upbringing but in all her adult years no one had ever spoken to her like that, and she felt it even more because she really needed this job.

What was she to do, though? Insist that she was staying?

She couldn’t do that, but she couldn’t leave, either. Her mother needed her, and as bad as the place was she had to put up with whatever crap he threw at her.

“I was hired to be your PA. I’m just trying to clean the office.” She thought she could reason with him by explaining.

“I don’t need a PA, and the office doesn’t need cleaning.” His eyes bored into her with darkness and anger.

She was trying to focus on what he was saying but she swore something scurried past again. The dirt was one thing, but there was one thing Amy hated more than anything and that was…

She screamed from the depths of her soul as she saw the long thick tail of a rat disappearing behind the desk. And again when said rat diverted and scrambled back towards her in a frantic pursuit with its thick brown furry body and beady eyes. She stumbled, not knowing which direction to run, and tried to gather herself.

Higher ground. She needed higher ground, so she turned to make a run for the desk, trying to avoid the filthy creature.

However, she didn’t see the second rat that charged towards her in blind panic and ran straight over her foot. All Amy knew was she could feel its nasty claws over the exposed skin of her feet in her sandals, and its body was wet and slimy. The cherry on top of the horror was its disgusting long, pink tail whipping out at her ankles as it went by.

That was all her brain was able to establish before the air left her lungs and she fainted.

* * *

Josh didn’t know what the hell to do with her.

Was it so much to ask to be left alone? He just wanted everyone to leave him to do what he wanted, but people kept forcing themselves on him. That damn Zelda. And his whole damn team, for that matter.

They all needed to back the hell off and leave him be. Now look. As if he didn’t have enough on his plate, he had this woman to deal with. She’d fainted before him and crumpled into a delicate heap with her mass of golden hair sprawled out on the floor.

Shit. Who fainted at the sight of an animal? Sure, it was a rat, but fainting was a little dramatic. He looked at her wondering if he should just leave her there, but saw the creatures running around the room and felt a bit bad.

From somewhere inside him, he couldn’t tell where, he felt bad to leave her there in the midst of something she was clearly afraid of.

So, with deep annoyance, he picked her up and carried her to the sitting room so he could lay her on the sofa.

“Hey, wake up.” He nudged her, poking her arms. “Wake the hell up.”

Nothing, she was out cold and completely unresponsive. Panic made him check her breathing as the thought occurred to him that she may have hit her head.

Her breathing was fine and her head seemed okay too; she just really had fainted at the sight of the rats. He’d call pest control later, right now he was going to call Zelda. She’d wound him up the wrong way and he wasn’t going to be forced into anything.

He grabbed his phone and dialed the number. Zelda answered within the first ring. He opened with a mouthful of curses that fell off the tip of his tongue.

“You ass-backwards bastard, don’t you dare speak to me like that,” Zelda retorted. One thing about her was that she didn’t tiptoe around him because he was grieving. He’d never known her to go soft on him and she wasn’t about to now. She served back twice as much as she got in an argument.

“I don’t need a PA.”

“Son, you seem to be living in a dream world, but let’s not pussyfoot around the situation,” she balked. “If you don’t want to play for the team, resign. It’s simple. Just resign. Until your management informs me of your resignation, you sure as my ass ain’t skinny will have a PA. Now deal with it and make sure you shape up for the ESPN show. Or leave.”

She didn’t give him the chance to reply. He heard the phone slam down on her end and the line went dead.

Feeling frustrated, he threw his phone into the wall and watched it smash. He’d never felt so torn in his life and so damn conflicted.

Josh didn’t want to retire, and he didn’t want to play, either. And he didn’t want to go to this stupid ESPN show. After that it would be one public appearance after another. People would ask how he was doing and he wouldn’t know what to tell them. He wouldn’t know what to say.

It had only been six months. Jesus, just six months since the accident that took away everything from him, and everyone was acting like he’d had enough time to grieve and be fine. Make decisions and be his old self again.

And as for this PA, it was all wrong. He didn’t want her there. She didn’t need to be there. He was certain he could do whatever was required of him in his own time. Besides, look at her, she didn’t look like a PA. He turned to face her and thought she looked like one of the dolls his sister used to play with when she was little.

She appeared smaller lying down than when she stood up, almost childlike. But the silky gray blouse she wore that molded to her fully rounded breasts enunciated that she was every inch a desirable woman and showed off her shapely feminine curves.

His eyes roamed over her figure, appreciating her assets. Unlike most women he admired, she had a sort of angelic, ethereal presence about her that really stood out. Maybe it was because he was always used to loose women who threw themselves at him and hadn’t taken note of women like her. Josh may have been off his face drunk yesterday, but he remembered the mortified look she gave him when she saw him checking her out.

She shouldn’t be here. Truth be told, he was hoping that telling her to clean yesterday would have gotten rid of her. His last PA was a guy and he couldn’t stand the mess either. Back then Josh had a maid, but apparently she left because he hit on her. He couldn’t remember. So many people came and went, and his days all seemed to roll into one. Sometimes he didn’t know what he was doing, or saying.

She stirred a little and he poked her arm again, trying to wake her.

“Girl, woman.” She looked young, like early-twenties young, so he wasn’t sure which was best. He also couldn’t remember her name. “PA person.” He shook her arm again.

Still nothing, just that stir.

He looked at her and thought she would be right at home in one of them family films like The Wizard of Oz or sitcoms like The Brady Bunch. He smiled as the perfect name for her came to him.

“Hey Kansas, wake up.” He almost laughed when her green eyes fluttered open. Her eyes widened as she looked at him, trying to work out who he was and where she was.

As realization hit her she jumped up and looked about her with that terrified expression she had earlier when the rat ran over her foot.

“You have rats,” she shrieked.

“They live here.”

She glowered at him, looking at him as if he was crazy. “How can you say that? They’re rats. And they weren’t even pet rats either.”

“Like I said, they live here. If you don’t like them you can leave.” He drew his brows together and glared at her.

“I don’t like it, and no I won’t leave. I’m here to work and if you don’t like it you can call the cops on me.”

He almost laughed again. She certainly had spunk. He kind of liked that.

“This is my house,” he reminded her. That stalled her a little, but didn’t stop her.

“I’m you’re PA. There’s a lot that needs to be done. Particularly in preparation for your public appearances, and your upcoming game. Don’t you want all of that organized so you can just worry about playing and training? Or whatever it is you do during this time?”

He thought about what she was saying and what Zelda said. They both had relevant points, but he decided he couldn’t be bothered to deal with this now. He didn’t know what he wanted and what he was going to do. Everything was a mess and he couldn’t make any rational decisions.

He’d have to think about what he was doing, but not now. He was already more sober than he usually was at this hour and he feared the impending guilt that would hit him full force if he remained this way.

Allegra and Cindy were upstairs waiting for him, and he just wanted to grab more beer and get back to them.

“Mr. Mancini—”

He held his hand up, interrupting her. “If you must stay here, please don’t call me that. Mr. Mancini is my father. Call me Josh.”

She held his gaze with those emerald eyes of hers and he found himself lost in her beauty.

“Josh, the house is a mess. You need to have it cleaned, and call pest control. You can’t have rats running around like they live here.”

He smiled at her as a plan brewed in his mind. He wouldn’t get rid of her. No, that would cause too much trouble. He’d just drive her crazy, just like the last PA, and she’d leave on her own accord. Then he could let Zelda and the senior management know he could do everything himself.

“No, you can sort that out.”

He watched her full lips tighten and her eyes widen again. Then he walked off to grab his drinks before she could protest.

* * *

What an absolute jerk! An absolute jerk. He didn’t even ask her if she was okay. What kind of person was so heartless?

Amy had fainted because he was so nasty he had disgusting rats in his house, and he was practically on the brink of throwing her out again. No decent person did that.

She took a moment to steady her fuzzy mind, and when she did she called pest control and asked them to come straight away. Thankfully they came within the hour and managed to catch the two rats. They also set traps for any others that might announce themselves.

Mr. Mancini—Josh—didn’t come down the whole time the pest control men were here. He just stayed upstairs with those women doing only God knew what. Or, maybe God himself didn’t want to know. The whole thing made her feel extremely uncomfortable.

She was still feeling unsteady from the incident earlier, but pushed aside her feelings and focused on working. Amy resumed her cleaning tasks in the office and managed to get it to a reasonable degree so she could get herself started on her actual work. She thought she’d tackle the other parts of the house later.

She turned on the computer just to see how many emails there were, and when she did her heart almost jumped out of her chest. She had 33,205 emails to work her way through and that landmine of letters. It was crazy, completely crazy.

Feeling faint again, she chose the letters first because that would also be filing and tidying the office. She also didn’t think she could stand staring at the computer screen for so long. She’d have to set aside a day for that.

She heard voices in the corridor as she opened up the first letter. It was the women. They were talking excitedly about shopping. She then heard the front door open and close as they left.

Josh came into the office. “I need these.” He held his hand out towards her with a small piece of paper between his fingers.

She assessed him, he seemed different from earlier. He was drunk again. Just like yesterday.

“What do you need?” she asked, resting the letters she held down on the table.

She walked over to him and took it. It was a list.

“You can get most of these at the drugstore,” Josh slurred.

The first item on the list raised her eyes to him with disgust.

It was a large box of extra-extra-large condoms, ribbed, which he wrote in capital letters. He also wanted five bottles of lubricant, all different flavors, and ten cases of beer.

“I am not getting these.” She shook her head. But he only responded with a laugh.

“Yes Kansas, you will. Aren’t you my personal assistant? Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? Personally assist. Now go and assist me with my needs before my women come back.”

Lord Jesus, she couldn’t do this. She couldn’t do this. As she looked at the air of menace on his face and saw how serious he was she felt the backs of her eyes sting. This was day two, and she’d already been through so much.

Her hands shook, as did her body, and she was ready to scream at him, but the image of her mother’s face and her frail body lying in the hospital bed after her last surgery sprung to her mind.

It sprung to her mind and stilled her soul, giving her strength to take the list from him.

She walked past him, heading towards the door and holding back the tears so she wouldn’t cry in front of him.

“Oh yeah. Hold on Kansas.” He caught up to her.

“Why are you calling me that?” she hissed. He could at least call her by name.

“You’re my PA. I’ll call you what the hell ever I want, Kansas.” He gave a cruel laugh. Then took hold of her elbow and ushered her to the sitting room. “Do you see that?” He pointed ahead to the glass wall.

“What am I looking at?”

“That kid,” he hissed.

She had seen the boy when she first looked but didn’t think he was actually referring to him as a that. “You know what’s worse than your four-legged friends from this morning? Those things.”

She looked up at him and narrowed her eyes. “You mean children?”

“Yes. Children. Get rid of it.”

He really was vile, and simply just awful. What kind of man was he?

The boy looked to be no more than ten. He had short dark hair, a backpack on his back, and a football shirt. But it wasn’t any ordinary football shirt. It had number forty-eight big and bold on the front. Above the numbers was the Gladiators’ logo and below that was written Mancini. The boy held a football under his arm and just stood there looking on as if he was waiting for something.

Her heart broke as she watched him.

Josh cleared his throat and inclined his head to the side, taking pleasure in her reaction. “Get rid of him and tell him not to come back, or I’ll call the cops and have him sent to juvie.”

He was serious; every word he said reflected the seriousness in his voice. Even if he was drunk. She was speechless.

“Okay.”

He smiled the same cruel smile and laid a heavy hand on her shoulder. “Good, I’m starting to like this relationship of ours. Having a PA definitely has its perks.”

As she watched him saunter away she planned to call her mother’s consultant when she finished work. She wanted to get his thoughts on the maximum time that her mother could wait for the surgery. Last time when they spoke he said it was imperative that they plan for the surgery, but he also knew they had no more money.

Maybe she’d jumped into this too quickly without thinking. If her mother could wait, then she’d find another job. Maybe she could go back to New York and Teddy would give her her old job back.

All she knew for certain was that she couldn’t stay here. Not with this man who had to be the optimum definition of the worst guy she’d ever ever met in her life.