Page 1 of Doubly Bound

Prologue

“I quit.”

The words spilled from Sage’s lips before she had time to think it through. But this was the last straw. Matthew, that rat, had taken credit for her work again. This was it. She could not take this kind of blatant abuse and disrespect at work.

If Mr. Jacobs couldn’t see that his sniveling nephew was incapable of the brainpower necessary to produce reports like the ones he was currently grinning over, then she no longer needed to work for Jacobs & Co.

It wasn’t like they recognized her worth. Hell. She’d been slaving away for the company in basically the same position ever since she graduated from NYU. Even with her dual MS in Mathematics and Accounting, working for the large firm was never her end goal. Once upon a time, she dreamed about starting her own business. But she’d grown complacent. Dependent on her fat paycheck. Now, she was stuck.

Well.She was stuck.

As of two minutes ago, Sage was officially unemployed. She stalked down the tiled hallway, straightened her required facemask, and ignored the sound of her name being called.

“Wait up, baby doll.” Matthew tugged her elbow, spinning her around, “Come on. My uncle needs you here, doll face, you know he does.” He tried grinning at her through his snug cloth mask.

Idiot must have forgotten his face was covered, but she could still tell from the crinkles on the sides of his eyes. Whatever.

That straight, white-toothed smile was what got her in trouble to begin with. Sage was always a sucker for a good-looking man, but no more. Unfortunately for him, she was disillusioned. After two lousy dates, and one unsatisfying romp that barely qualified as sex, Sage saw him for what he was. A creep with nicely capped teeth that were now gratefully hidden by his face mask. She wouldn’t be able to resist slapping him if she had to see that stupid smile of his.

“Matthew, please move. You are supposed to be six feet away from me. Health and safety, first,” she growled, but still, his slimy hand grasped her.

“Come on, doll, we’ve been closer than this. You know I dig fluffy chicks.”

“And I have been trying to forget it ever since. Now, I am warning you, take your hands off me,” she tried again, but the idiot held firm, shaking his head.

“Look, sweet cakes, we’ll go tell Uncle Dan you were just joking. We can say it’s PMS or something. It’ll be fine, I’ll smooth it all over, doll face.” He pulled on her elbow again, but Sage wasn’t budging.

One benefit from being a fluffychick, Sage thought wickedly, was she was hardly easy to move. Gritting her teeth behind her own stylish paisley mask, Sage shook her head. She even counted to three.

“Matthew, I am warning you. 1, 2, 3...” She sighed loudly, and then…pow!

***

Ten minutes later…

“Look, I told him to let go. I even counted a warning,” Sage explained to the grim-faced security officers who were babysitting her as she packed up her desk.

“Is that yours?” One man pointed to the stapler she’d placed in her box, and she rolled her eyes.

“Yes, this is mine. And really, I should file assault charges,” she commented as they stood there with their judgy little faces as they watched her clear out her office.

“Is she gone yet?” Matthew’s nasally voice sounded from the doorway, and she whipped around to level him with her hard stare.

Dumb fucker had to take off his mask to apply ice and gauze to his still dripping nose. Great. Now, she was being exposed to whatever else he carried. Thank fuck stupidity wasn’t contagious. At least, she didn’t think it was. Sigh.

“No, she is not gone yet, sir,” guard one said, and moved to block her view.

But not before she snapped a quick photo of Matthew holding his bloody hanky. She narrowed her eyes at the louse. Asshole deserved it.

“Hey, she can’t do that!” he whined.

“Sir, we have to ask you to leave the area.” Guard one, her new hero, moved closer with his arms spread to discourage Matthew from trying to run into her office.

Not that he would. The weasel. Wait, that was insulting to weasels. Oh well, she’d have to come up with something better later. Right then, she was tempted to blow a raspberry at him but restrained herself. Barely. The company was not filing charges, and for that she was grateful, and willing to comply with their fifteen-minutes-to-pack-up-and-get-out deal.

Not that they would’ve gotten far. Sage was smarter than that. She’d hit record on her smart phone’s video app right before the ‘incident’ occurred. It was the only reason she hadn’t been arrested. The video clearly showed Matthew with his hands on her. Her voice was crisp, easily discernable, and she had asked him to remove them. Sadly, for him, he did not. Then and only then had she punched him.

Ah, the satisfying crunch of his nose breaking beneath his cloth mask under the force of her fist was forever immortalized in her new smartphone. She couldn’t wait to play it for her sisters. In fact, she might make that sound her new ringtone.

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