Page 38 of Power
“Finn.” His desperate tone soothes the rampaging beast that is my soul. He cares about me. I just wish I could show him what Bailey's acceptance means to me, and then he doesn’t have to be worried about either one of us.
“I will be back at work tomorrow,” I say instead. “I want to see her.”
He leans forward and kisses my forehead before he steps back. “She wore flat shoes today.”
It takes a moment for his words to register. “Did she?” I murmur, curious as to why he mentioned this. But then remember that he saw us in the elevator. He knows I wanted to see her in her natural state. I dislike all the trimmings. She doesn’t need them. Only her naked form, stripped bare, is acceptable to me.
“I will call you later to check on you,” Archer murmurs and backs away.
“About Laura,” I call out. “She isn’t going to be a problem anymore.”
“Why not?” he asks, his voice going hard.
“I found her.”
“Dead or alive?”
“Dead. She was behind the dumpster at the back of the parking lot at the end of the road from work.”
The only sound he makes is a low growl. I don’t hear him leave as I return my concentration to the portrait. As I sweep the brush under the swell of her left breast, I feel a stirring in my cock that would normally take me carving into human flesh to achieve. I try to ignore the sensation as it grows and sticks out in front of me, but I like how it looks. For a brief, fleeting moment, I want to see it nestled between the folds of Bailey’s most intimate place, an image that I will capture in my eidetic memory and take with me when I’m dragged down to hell to suffer endless torment for my blackened soul.
ChapterTwenty-Four
Bailey
After the briefencounter with Ethan Jackson, founding partner, and Archer and Owen’s dad, I don’t see anyone for the next few hours. I can hear the shouts coming from the floor where they’re trading and can hear the chatter and photocopiers around me, but not a single person comes by. I don’t even see Ethan leave Owen’s office.
At eleven thirty, I decide to go down to the cafeteria for lunch. I’m buying today, seeing as I was a bit too hungover to make anything before I left. Hopefully, that won’t become a regular thing.
As I stand in line, I root through my bag for more paracetamol, and when I get to the front, I order the lasagna, heeding Joel’s advice from my first day. Two days ago. Man, this week feels like it’s been an eternity. With a sigh, I pay and make my way to what I now call ‘my table’, seeing as no one else is sitting there.
I crack open my bottle of water and take a gulp, swallowing the tablets to ease the lingering headache.
I look up when a man approaches and smiles.
“Hey,” Joel says, sliding his tray on the table. “Mind if I join you?”
“No, go ahead. How’s things?” He is easy to talk to, so I don’t get shy and awkward around him. He has a presence that fills a room, but not in a seductive, sexual way like Archer. More that he loves being the center of attention and thrives in the spotlight.
“I’mfine. What about you? Trish said you’d been moved back to Archer’s office yesterday. I mean, what? Am I right? It’s like back and forth over here.”
“Yeah, I have no idea,” I shrug, in case he is a mole looking for me to gossip and report back to Archer that I’m not loyal. “As long as I get paid, who cares, right?”
“I hear you, girl. Just be careful.” His face goes serious.
“What do you know?” I ask, opening my water again and placing it to my lips nonchalantly.
He looks around. “Look, you didn’t hear it from me. I’ve got to work with her, yeah, but Trish is a bit…” He twirls his fingers at the side of his head to indicate a bit of the cray-cray.
That doesn’t surprise me, but I say nothing, only nod sagely like I know what he’s talking about.
He leans forward, eager to share. “She’sthe one who drives all of Archer’s assistants away. Not Archer. She issojealous. She wants him so bad; it’s pretty sad, really. He rejected her ages ago, but she keeps trying. Every single time a noob comes into that job, they’ve gone within the week, and it’s all down to Trish. Then she applies for the job, inevitably doesn’t get it, and we start all over again. The last, before you, lasted three months. She was livid. I meanli-vid.She was a nightmare to work with.” He throws his hands up and shakes his head, sitting back. “Just watch your back, ‘kay, babes?”
I nod thoughtfully. “Thanks. I’ve already pegged her as someone out to get me.” As dramatic as that sounds, he nods in agreement, pursing his lips as if that reinforces that I’m right.
“Anyway, enough about the viper. Tell me about you,” he says, tapping me lightly on the arm before he dives into his lasagna.
“Not much to tell. Boring story of this is my first job after uni, and well, that’s it really.”
