Chapter Ten
The warm hum from the copier filled the room. Lillian could feel her eyes getting droopy at the rhythmic sound, but it wouldn't be much longer before she finished. The stack had lowered quite a lot, and in a few more moments, her extra work would be all finished.
Then she could go home, put on her PJs, and snuggle on the couch with her cat, until they both fell asleep. She still wasn’t certain what exactly she was going to wear out the next night, but surely there would be something in the back of her closet.
If anything, there was the tight red dress her sister had gotten her in Italy. Totally club material, but Lillian wasn’t sure she could pull it off.
Eve always looked great in anything red. Her jet-black hair seemed to beg for a bit of color, and red always seemed the perfect match. Lillian, not so much.
She was always worried it made her hair and skin look washed out or something. There were women that could wear it and women who couldn’t. She’d always lumped herself into the couldn’t category.
Before she could finish debating with herself, the copy machine beeped loudly, and she glanced down from where she was leaning on it.
Paper jam, it flashed on the screen.
"No, no, no, no, no."
Not now. Of all times, now was not the time. All she wanted was to get finished and go home and put the strange day out of her head and think about the fun she was going to have the next night.
Lillian pulled open the tray to check for the paper. Still fully stocked. She grabbed the hatch and lifted it up, looking inside for some evidence of a paper being jammed somewhere.
Nothing.
She slammed the copier shut and pressed the little red button. The machine gleefully beeped back at her and flashed the paper jam message once again.
She stepped back, half wondering if she kicked it if that might work. It was about the only option she had at that moment.
Lillian threw her hands in the air and used every bad word she’d ever learned before taking a deep breath. When she’d just about calmed herself, she stepped back toward the copier, but a noise caught her ear.
She frowned and walked over to the doorway, glancing down the darkened hallway. It was now almost past seven, and she was certain that the building should be empty. Even the doorman Dave, who still wasn’t her biggest fan, had likely gone home for the evening.
"Hello?"
No answer.
Lillian turned back toward the copier but stopped when she heard another strange noise. This time it sounded more distinctly like shouting. She poked her head back outside the door and listened once again, then turned toward the fire exit to her left.
Her employers told her the basement shouldn’t ever be a concern of hers. Or at least Margaret had. But maybe someone was down there. Maybe something had fallen or something and needed help. She’d hate to leave the building only to find out some poor guy had spent the entire weekend in the basement with a broken leg.
Lillian took a deep breath and flexed her hands a few times before stepping toward the door and opening it.
The sounds of shouting grew louder as she did so. Not just one person, more than one. So it wasn’t one poor guy with a broken leg. Her concern lowered, but her curiosity grew.
"This is a bad idea," she said to herself as she stepped into the stairwell. "Going toward the shouting is a very bad idea."
She couldn't stop herself though. She just kept thinking that she'd never forgive herself if someone were trapped down there over the weekend and needed help. Maybe some crates had fallen on top of several men. Thankfully the fluorescent lights were overhead, and she wasn't left making the descent in the dark. So it wasn’t a total horror movie scene.
Lillian swallowed, and her heart thumped. She made her carefully way down the stairs. The closer she got to the noise, the more certain she was that this wasn’t the best idea. It didn’t have to be a horror movie scene to be bad.
A sudden thought gripped her. What if it was some sort of Mafia thing? She’d not seen any evidence of the alleged connection since starting her job, but maybe they hid all the bad things down in the basement. The thought didn’t stop her.
Her curiosity had gotten the better of her. Now she needed to know what the heck was going on. Her bosses all seemed so secretive, and she wanted to know just a little bit about what they were hiding.
No one could ever say she was a coward.
Lillian carefully opened the garage door. The shouting grew much louder than it was on the other side. It echoed off the walls, and she was surprised it had been as muffled as it was considering the noise now hitting her.
From where she stood, she could see the area was more like a locker room than a basement, complete with a shower room. A few cars were parked there, but for the most part, it was clear this was used as a sort of gym.
Lillian frowned. This was the big secret? Seemed silly they wouldn’t just say it was a gym. Maybe they could open it up to everyone. Although that might be the reason they didn’t want her poking around. She was only a temp, and maybe she didn’t have access to all the perks. As it was, Margaret didn’t even want her using the coffee pods.
Not that she wanted to anyways. Cocoa was her thing.
Several loud shouts refocused her attention. The noise was clearly coming from around the corner. Her palms started to sweat as she slowly made her way over.
Lillian always had been the curious one, her sister Eve close behind her. They’d been the kids who charged into their parents' room when they heard strange noises coming from inside.
Big mistake. There were some things a person should never see.
They were the ones to poke a bush when it rustled in the middle of the night. And they were always the first to jump into the lake back home.
Lillian might not have seemed like it, but she wasn’t one to just back away. It had likely been why she’d acted that morning during the accident without even thinking. It’s also why she kept at the job despite her disastrous first day.
Slowly she made her way around the corner into the small enclave at the back of the basement. A large group of men stood there in a circle around two other men. Some of them had their shirts off. Some of them had them on. Some men were bloodied and bruised, but many weren’t.
Lillian frowned at what she was seeing. None of it really made sense. This was a gym, right?
And there, in the center of the circle stood none other than Erik, his broad back to her. A large tattoo of a wolf stood out against his muscled skin.
Her mouth fell open as she openly stared at him. Christ, he was even more magnificent than she imagined. Beads of sweat dripped down his back to where his black slacks dipped low on his hips.
When he turned her way, she felt all the air rush out of her, and all she could see was how amazing he was. A perfect specimen of man.
"Let's get this started!" Erik shouted to the group of surrounding men.
Their roar back was nearly deafening.
Lillian moved closer. She couldn’t really say what the hell was going on, but at the moment, she was more concerned with getting a better view of her amazingly sexy boss.
She stood directly behind a pillar just outside the circle and watched as Erik stepped inside. The men parted around him.
He flexed his muscles, but all she could focus on was the trail of hair that ran down his stomach. Lillian licked her lips. What she wouldn’t give to trace her tongue down that path.
She covered her mouth with a hand. Never in her life had she been one to ogle men. But with Erik, it was another thing. He was in a whole different league from most of the men she'd ever seen. It was very hard not to keep her eyes on him.
A younger man stepped into the center of the men with Erik. He was tall with very blond hair. Couldn't have been more than twenty. He wasn’t nearly as broad across the chest but still measured up well against Erik.
Leif stepped out from the sidelines between the two men. He held a hand in the air as he glanced at both sides. Each man nodded their agreement. His hand dropped, and he stepped back into the crowd. Her attention remained fixed on Erik.
He lunged forward and slammed his fist into the other man’s face so hard Lillian could hear the impact from where she stood. Her stomach rolled at the sound.
Several men standing nearby shouted, “Hit him back!”
Lillian furrowed her brow. Was this one of those underground fighting clubs? It seemed like something from a movie. Next thing she knew, they’d be chanting or something.
Still, she couldn’t take her eyes off the two men as they continued to pummel one another.
The other man got in a solid hit. It landed on Erik’s ribs. He let out a quiet grunt, but she could tell from his eyes that it hurt more than he wanted to admit.
The younger man’s upper-hand was short lived. Erik slammed a fist into his stomach and then followed up with a punch to his chin. Lillian winced.
The other man shook his head a few times, and if she didn’t know better, she would have sworn he growled at Erik.
“Hold off,” Erik shouted. “Wait until you can’t wait anymore.”
Lillian frowned. Was he training him? Those sounded like words of advice, but it didn’t make sense considering how they were fighting one another.
A massive hand landed on her shoulder. She jumped.
“What the hell are you doing here Ms. Cocoa?”