Chapter 5
Cassandra
I looked around in my tiny new apartment. It was so small that four long strides could take you from one side to the other. It had ugly walls, peeling paint and a low roof. It looked more like an abandoned storeroom than a place to live. A small area on the right was turned into a kitchen with a counter, stove and a small fridge. The right side had a wall that separated the tiny bedroom from everything else. Remaining in the middle was the living room. I placed my duffel bag on the floor and set my hands on my hips. “Alright, this is what it is. Accept it and move on,” I said to myself and started off with fixing whatever could be fixed. It was time to get my life back on the road. I had the apartment and a few interviews scheduled in the upcoming week. I had already closed the doors of the past and was looking forward to the future.
I had worked for a PR agency for the past six months and it had been a dream job. I absolutely loved it. Generous allowances and employees’ facilities were of course additional perks. I was given an apartment in the building near to the office along with transport. I was proud of what I had landed in such short time. And then it had all blown up like a bad dream when Kenneth James, my boss asked me to get into the role of seductress and help him land an important client whose account could bring the agency to a very high level. I refused, of course, and was asked to choose between my job and my self-dignity. I packed my stuff from the table and left, only to find a seal on my apartment’s door with my stuff thrown out. I had left my stranded luggage at Mrs. Bowles, a kind lady who lived two floors down. I was on good talking terms with her so I called in for a favor and then boarded the plane to the Bahamas for Avery’s wedding.
Cleaning the best I could, I arranged my clothes in the small built-in wardrobe and changed the sheets of the bed that creaked every time I applied a small amount of pressure on it. Done, I fell on the bed and closed my eyes. I finally let my mind wander back to the morning I had woken up in Aaron’s arms. The night we had shared was filled with passion, desires and so much more. I had let go of my control and had embraced the opportunity to lose myself completely into the expert hands of the infamous manwhore, Aaron Maxfield. Little did I know he would awaken an entirely undiscovered part of me that was, wildness? The night that I had agreed upon was supposed to be a one night stand and forgotten the next day. But I was damned because every detail of it was written in in clear bold letters in my mind. I couldn’t forget it. When the hangover of Aaron’s touch faded, I had realized what a mess I had gotten into because I wanted him again and again and so much more from him. But Aaron didn’t do repeats. Hurt and disappointment had gotten over me. I had left his bed, planning to leave a note that would save us from the morning-awkwardness. While searching for a pen and paper what I had found was a pink thong with a note and number from his previous two lovers whom he had likely screwed previously, at the same time. Anger had flooded inside me at the conclusion that he treated every woman the same way and I was just one of his playthings along the way. I had known what I was getting myself into before I was in his bed, but looking at the souvenir of his scores, I was encountered with this unnamed feeling. But that was my decision and there was no reason to regret it. So I had left his room without leaving a single thing that would speak of my presence there. And then I had asked Gina to return his jacket along with my thanks. I wanted him to feel that it was me who had used him, not the other way around.
I was trying hard to put all of it behind me. Men and relationships weren’t on my radar. I got tempted for a night but that was it. I wasn’t going to let it rule my mind. And it wasn’t like I was ever going to see him again. Aaron Maxfield and that night was now like a dream I had encountered, enjoyed and then opened my eyes to a new day with new choices.
*
It was the fourth interview I had been to and I had no hope of getting a call back from it. Each of them demanded why I left my previous job, and given I had received no recommendation from my jackass ex-boss, all four of them weren’t willing to give me a chance. I had seen uncertainty in their eyes. Let it be then. I wasn’t going to publicize why I was fired from the job. I was beginning to lose it. My only ray of hope was getting the call from LeoField Ad Group. It was the most prestigious advertisement agency in Seattle with big accounts on their board. I had heard highly of the two men who ran the agency. I had met Mark Leonard briefly at one of the events I was covering a few months back and the guy was a legend in the industry. But everybody knew that it was the other partner who actually made the decisions and managed the entire group. If only I could secure the interview. All I needed was that one chance and then I’d prove what I was capable of if they took me on board.
On the morning of the twentieth day, I was standing in the elevator of LeoField Ad Group, heading for my interview. “You have to get this, Levant, there is no other option.” I was determined and high spirited as the door opened to the executive floor and I stepped out with my chin high and steps confident. “Cassandra Levant, I am here for the Assistant Account Associate interview,” I said to the strawberry blonde in mid-thirties on the reception desk. She looked up at me with a curt professional nod and talked into her phone. “You’ll be seen shortly. Please have a seat,” she gestured towards the waiting area.
I sat on the green leather couch and looked around. Being an ad agency, it wasn’t all that conventional. The interior wasn't special, everything was in white, black or grey. It was a creative blend, yet soothing to the eyes. Minutes passed and I kept looking at the people rushing in and out of rooms. I glanced at the large clock on the wall as ten minutes turned into fifteen and then twenty. I wasn’t approached yet. Just when I was about to get up and ask the receptionist, an extremely pretty brunette stormed out of the elevator and walked straight towards the door on the right. “Miss. Marek, please wait. You can’t go in there,” the blonde receptionist, called after her but the woman was long gone. She quickly reached for her phone and spoke into it, “Sir, Miss. Marek is on her way to your room.” Her face paled and she muttered after a few seconds, "I am sorry, Mr. …” her words were probably met by a dead line.
Ten minutes later the same brunette was leaving from where she had vanished, this time her face was red, from anger maybe. “Ms. Levant, please make your way in. Take the second door on left,” the receptionist called me five minutes after the brunette’s departure. She gestured at the same right door and gave me further directions. I thanked her and walked in.
I knocked on the door and opened it. The room was still. The chair on the other side of the desk was rotated so I didn’t know who was seated there. But there was something familiar in the air. Something I had gotten addicted to in the Bahamas. Don’t go there. I told myself and then knocked on the door again and asked in a clear voice, “May I?” No answer came and I felt stupid. After a few long, drawn out seconds, a low throaty voice spoke, “You may, Ms. Levant.” A voice I knew all too well. And then the chair swirled and I met those pitch black eyes that were embossed in the back of my mind like a sharpie. Aaron Maxfield was sitting before me, looking at me like he was ready to strike and sheer me. Air left my lungs and I tried hard to resume by breathing. Just when I had thought I’d never see him in my life again, he had to sit in the place which held my entire future.
I tried to walk as confidently as I could to the desk and then took the seat. Placing my folder on the table and bag down to my feet, I straightened my skirt and then ran my fingers through my hair. When everything was in place, I finally looked up. Holy earth to hell and back, his eyes was stripping me and I felt all the longing that I had tried to suppress in the past twenty days, taking back over me. I was instantly wet between my legs. Be a chess player. Nobody needs to know what you feel inside or think. Yes, that was what I was going to do. I cleared my throat and said, “Well, isn’t this a coincidence.” I said in a light tone, which came out as a hoarse whisper. Aaron leaned back in his chair and his thumb and index finger reached his chin which he scratched softly. The image of what these fingers had done to me came flying back and I flushed. “Yes, it is. Maybe that’s because a few things were left unfinished the last time we parted. Don’t you think?” he said in a tight tone and his eyes bored into me like daggers. That’s when I gathered; he was pissed – royally pissed. And a big part of my brain wagered that I was the reason.