Chapter
Eight
With lack of sleep, I made my way to the elevator from the underground parking garage ready to start my new job. A sure sign a panic attack was looming was how my hands shook as I pressed the button and waited for the door to open to then take me to the twentieth floor. Where Vice Salvatore would be.
The man hadn’t even asked if I could do assistant work. For all he knew about me, I was only good at selling sex toys. What would I have to do as his assistant? I could make a mean cup of coffee, and answering phones was simple enough. Did I have to file? Would I be any good at it? Then again, it couldn’t be any harder than when I took care of John’s bookkeeping.
Right?
My breaths came faster and faster as the bell chimed for the arrival of the elevator and the doors slid open. This is it. Doom day. Disaster day. Death day. Any of those I was sure would be appropriate.
Stepping into the elevator, I pressed the number. My legs shook, and since my hands were still dancing their own jig, I tucked them under my armpits. My bag slipped from my shoulder, but I left it and closed my eyes breathing deeply through my nose and then out my mouth.
I needed to calm down or I would have sweat stains on my white blouse. Molly had said I looked great when I sent her a photo of myself dressed that morning. I again glanced down at my dark knee-length pencil skirt and second-guessed my choice. Not only were the clothes a little restricting, but I wore heels. Heels and I weren’t friends because they always seemed to trip me up.
Mom had been giddy with the news of me getting out of the adult store. In fact, I was sure she was half in love with Vice already, and she hadn’t even met him. She also assured me I looked amazing for my first day. Then she suggested I undo more buttons on my blouse to give the girls breathing room. Which was when I told her for the millionth time Vice Salvatore was annoying, bossy, my boss, plus Molly’s brother. In other words, he was off limits.
The doors opened, and I had the sudden urge to vomit as I stepped out and into a room full of hustle and bustle.
“Hi, welcome to Tore Corporation. My name’s Kylie, how can I help you?” a woman in her twenties asked at the front desk, just outside the elevator doors.
Walking up, I smiled. I knew it was a shaky one. “Yes, hi. I’m Adalyn Wallis and—”
“Ah, you’re Mr. Salvatore’s assistant.” Her eyes ran over my body, and I saw the nasty smirk before she stood. “Follow me, please.” She walked around her long desk and then ducked behind the divider to the rest of the room. I quickly moved to catch up with her.
She swayed her hips as she moved throughout the room, saying hello to people as she went, and I saw those people give me a once-over. I was the new meat. I hated being new in any place because it felt like I had to prove myself. Oh well, if they liked me or didn’t I wouldn’t care. I was over caring about anyone unless they were close to me already, and then I would move mountains to make them happy.
“This will be your desk. That’s Mr. Salvatore’s office. He’s in a phone meeting with a client right now so he won’t want to be disturbed. Make yourself comfortable and go over the list Maggie created of things that will need to be done during each day. She left it in the top drawer.” She turned, with a flick of her hair over her shoulder, only to spin back with a frown on her face. She asked, “You do know how to use a computer, right?”
“How old do you think I am?” I blurted.
She laughed. “About my mom’s age.”
The rude little…. “I’m only thirty-seven.”
“Yes, well.” She smiled and walked off.
What I would’ve liked to do was teach her some manners, but since it was my first day, I ignored her jeer and went around my desk, sitting down on the swivel chair.
I took hold of the handle of the drawer Kylie had pointed to; however, when I pulled, it only opened an inch. It seemed like it was stuck on something. I pushed it back in and then out again quickly. Again, it stopped. With my fingers, I felt in the small opening to see if I could find what was stopping the drawer to open but couldn’t find anything.
Strange. Was there a trick to it?
I tried wiggling it, shifting it from side to side and still it wouldn’t come all the way open. “You piece of poop. Open all the way,” I grumbled and glared down at it.
Great, my first day and I couldn’t even open a drawer. No, I wouldn’t let some wood beat me. I grabbed the handle in a tight grip, banged my fist on the top of the desk and then with a big yank, I pulled it open. It came flying my way. I leaned back only way too far and, with the drawer still in my hand, it and I went shooting to the floor. Everything in the drawer tipped out all over me and my bruised butt.
“Shit,” I snapped.
Of course, with the commotion, the office door behind me came open. I glanced there and saw Vice standing in the doorway looking down at me. His eyes widened, his lips twitched.
“Having fun?” he asked.
Nodding, I pushed things off me and said, “Grand time.”
A few other people, who had desks close by, come over. A woman in her fifties asked, “You all right, dear?”
“Yes, thank you. Sorry to disturb everyone. The drawer was stuck.”
A man, maybe in his forties, stepped up and held a hand out to me. “Let me help you. Maggie always had a hissy fit over the drawer, so don’t worry about it. Boss was supposed to replace it.” I took his hand in mine, and with ease and strength, he helped me to my feet again.
“Thank you…”
“Henley.”
“Thanks, Henley. I’m Adalyn.”
“Do you think we can all get back to work?” Vice snapped with his low growly tone.
Henley smiled down at me, since he was another tall man, and said, “Enjoy a great first day.”
“Thanks, I’ll try and not disturb anyone again.” I laughed.
“All good. We won’t mind at all,” he replied before dropping my hand and walking off. I noticed his desk was only a few away from mine. At least two people, including the older woman, were nice. The others gave me dark looks and went back to what they were doing before I’d made a ruckus.
Turning to Vice, I saw he had his usual evil stare going as he looked down at me. I offered him a hesitant smile. “Sorry about that.”
“Clean up the mess and get to work. I’m sure Kylie told you about Maggie’s list.”
“She did.”
“Good. I’ll have to call my client back now.”
I winced. God, he’d probably been on an important call, and I’d interrupted it. It was no wonder he was in a foul mood. Then again, at first when he came out, he didn’t seem too upset. He was confusing. And people said it was women who had mood swings.
* * * *
The rest of the day went smoother than the morning. Actually, I hardly saw Vice, so that helped. He kept to his office, or if he did come out, it was either to head to a meeting or bark at me about something I needed to do for him. I ate my lunch at my desk, which thankfully I brought in since I wasn’t sure there would be anywhere close to buy lunch from. Deidre, the older woman who was nice to me, later told me there was a cafeteria on the first floor. It was good to know, except I didn’t want to leave the phones, and besides, I was only there for five and a half hours. I didn’t mind eating as I worked if it meant I got more work done. I found the work to be easy and similar to what I had done for John, so at least Vice wouldn’t find what I did lacking.
I seriously had to stop with that word.
By the time I finished, he wasn’t anywhere in sight. I said my goodbye to those who were friendly with me that day on the way out. I even waved to Kylie, the front desk girl, who in turn ignored me. With a shrug, I got onto the elevator and headed to pick up Drew, happy with myself and the job I’d done for the day. Truly, I was looking forward to continuing working there. It was challenging in its own way, and it seemed as though I wouldn’t have to see too much of Vice.
The other great part about my new job, it was closer to Drew’s school and Mom’s house. When I worked in the adult store, I was usually five minutes late in picking up my son. That day I was early, so I parked in front and waited.
When the bell rang, my son took extra-long to come out the front. He probably thought I would be late. When he walked out with Rick at his side, he spotted me, said goodbye and ran to the car.
The back door opened. “Mom, you’re here already.”
“Sure am. From now on I’ll be on time to pick you up.”
“Sweet,” he cried as he dumped his school bag on the floor and then did up his seat belt.
I started the car and backed out. Usually, he would be talking a mile a minute, so when he was silent, I knew something was wrong. “How was your day?”
“Good.” I caught his smile in the rearview mirror.
“Okay, what’s up, kiddo?”
He sighed. “Are you going out to dinner with Rick’s dad?”
Bugger. I wasn’t sure if Drew was ready for me to date, even though he knew his dad had a girlfriend already. However, from the look of it, Drew knowing I was going out with Den didn’t sit well with my boy. “Yes. I hope that’s okay, and we’re going as friends, Drew.”
He rolled his eyes. “It’s okay, Mom. You can go to dinner with men.” He whispered the word men as if it sounded like a naughty word. My kid. “But I liked Mr. Vice. You should go to dinner with him as well.”
My head jerked back, and I swerved the car from the shock. “But… um, you only met both men once. Why do you say that?”
“He seemed cooler. Hey, do you know what Daniel sang today?”
Wait a second. I was still stuck on Mr. Vice being cooler than Den after just a short conversation with the man.
Still, I went with the flow; it was better for my sake anyway. “What did he sing?”
“Your momma, your momma, your momma sucks cock.” Another swerve of the car. “Mom, what does cock mean?”
What in the hell were Daniel’s parents teaching their child?
“Drew, I don’t want you to ever sing that song again, please. It’s disgusting.”
“How? What does cock mean?”
Dear Lord, give me strength. “It means doodle.”
He gasped. “Holy ship, that’s terrible.”
Of course, the one time I nearly said holy shit and instead changed it to ship was when Drew had been standing right next to me as I sliced my finger open.
“It is. In fact, maybe it might be best not to hang out with Daniel.”
“I think you’re right. He called you a loser for still living with Nana.”
What a little monster.
Just another reason I needed to pull my finger out and up my searching for a perfect place we’d both enjoy living in. “You know, Drew, it’s not going to be forever we’ll stay with Nana. As soon as we both find a house we love, we’ll move.”
“But she makes awesome cookies.”
Laughing, I shook my head and reassured him, “I’m sure she’ll still make them for you even if we don’t live with her.”
“Oh, cool then. Can we go shoot some hoops this afternoon?”
“Do you have any homework?”
He looked out the side window and bit his bottom lip. “Maybe.”
“Tell you what, Nana said she’d cook tonight. So when we get home, you can have a snack, get your homework done, and then, before dinner, I’ll take you to the public court for a little bit.”
Even though he sighed, like I’d just asked him to clean the whole house, he said, “Deal.”