AllFreeNovel
Share Us
This time, while decorating the Christmas tree I’d set up in the corner of my office, I dispensed with the gimmicky questions and just got right to it.
Me: Are you okay?
Ella: I’ll be fine.
Not shewasfine. Shewould be. Future tense.
I stared at the fat red bulbs on the tree. That meant something was wrong—and I was dying to know what it was. How could I know through sparse text conversations and dry-as-bones responses? What could I do to get her to open up to me?
EIGHT
ella
I couldn’t getHawk’s last text off my mind. He was worried about me. How could I respond to that?
He’d asked me how I was at the worst possible moment. My stepmother had just reminded me in her inadvertently threatening way just how long I had to work for her to get the educational stipend she owed me, and I wasn’t in the best frame of mind at the time.
I dumped the smaller garbage can into the larger one I’d wheeled into Hawk’s office. Tidbits of paper and a package of staples tumbled from one black bag to the other. A Christmas tree had been set up in the corner since last weekend. It was decorated with festive bulbs in shades of red and green.
Cleaning had to be done before Ever After Sweet Shoppe’s business hours blinked awake, before consultants and marketing gurus, accountants, and who knew who else worked here decided to scuff more dirt on the carpet for meto take care of the next day.
I didn’t mind the early morning hours. Just as long as I didn’t run into the company’s handsome owner—especially not when I was smack in the middle of his space.
I could just picture the interaction now. His face would light up. He would ask me truth or dare and give me a hard time for not picking dare. The flutter I felt every time I saw his name on my phone would turn into a full-blown storm inside of me, and I’d have to work that much harder to remind myself why I wanted nothing to do with him.
Hawk crept into my thoughts more often than I would ever admit aloud. Cleaning his suite on the top level of his corporate office building didn’t help.
More than once I’d considered asking him Truth or Dare. He would, of course, choose Dare. I would then tell him to come to his office early when I’d be cleaning it, not telling him why—and I’d take him completely by surprise.
I’d squashed those thoughts quicker than an unwelcome spider. Distance was better. I was still leaving.
His office on the top level was more like a hotel suite than a stuffy workplace. My entire apartment could fit in here. Yet another reason I told myself distance was better. His world and mine just didn’t go together.
I rested my hands on the side of the wheeled garbage can and gazed around the room at the black leather seats positioned around a round, glass table on a tastefully bland rug in the center. A desk was positioned twenty feet from the chairs, and its surface was as clean as usual.
I was pretty sure no one needed thismuch space to sit and stare at a computer screen. What else did Hawk do up here?
He and I hadn’t talked much about his work at all. Maybe that would be different if I ever reciprocated his questions, but I couldn’t let myself do that. I couldn’t let myself care about him.
Another room was adjoined to this one; it was complete with a futon and a closet stuffed with clothes. I was sure he slept there sometimes, since Stina, my stepmother and owner of Malus Custodial Management, occasionally forbade any of us from intruding on Mr. Danielson’s—Hawk’s—personal space while he was still in his office.
At least Stina was considerate ofsomeone.
I sang in time to “Blue Christmas”as Michael Bublé crooned into my earbuds. I didn’t care about being overheard, not at such an early hour.
I dipped my mop into the sudsy water, then pulled the handle on the yellow bucket’s squeegee, and wrung out the extra water. Just as I was ready to swab the already sparklingly clean bathroom tile, my earbud was plucked unceremoniously from my ear.
I spun, losing my grip on the mop handle. Its wood smacked against the mirror, and I jerked. Perfect. That was all I needed, to break the billionaire’s mirror.
I had to stay off his radar. I was leaving for New York in just two more weeks.
My stepsister’s appearance had all the effect of a dozen Red Bulls on my concentration.
“Clumsy, aren’t we?” Pris said, tossing the loose earbudin my direction. It hit my cheek. I tried catching it before it fell to the floor—or worse, the soapy water.
Too late, it tinkled to the tile. I bent for it and clutched it in my fist.
“What was that for?”
