Out Of Place
The ride back to the office was not uneventful for Anders, as for the most part, he replayed the covers he had with Orleans outside JK’s building, counting the number of times he had to suppress the urge to hit him on the nose.
Orleans was with Veil just last night, and there was no getting that away from his mind. She had opened her door to him as if it wasn’t his first time coming around, and suddenly, Anders needed to break something to feel better.
He had suppressed this rage so much that it was threatening to spill out of him in a rush.
The driver looked at him through the overhead mirror, observing how Anders’ forehead was burrowed in concentration like he was trying to remember something or keep himself from remembering something.
“Is anything the matter, Sir?” He asked.
“Nothing is wrong,” Anders answered him curtly, ejecting every thought of the conversation continuing. He didn’t want to have to talk about how nothing made sense right, about how all of these were based on a one-time meeting at a club.
No one would understand, because Anders himself couldn’t.
When he reached the office, he found the mail he had requested from Veil sitting in his primary folder, and Anders felt no release. Instead, he wanted her to feel how he had felt the previous night watching Orleans walk inside her house, and a mere completion of tasks wasn’t going to do that.
Anders picked up the telephone and dialed the floor below.
“Tell my secretary to get me lunch and drop it at your desk. Bring it to me yourself.”
“Okay, sir.”
His lunch arrived in thirty minutes, but Anders couldn’t even eat it. Tossing it into a corner, he buried himself in work, going over all the files on his table one by one, even touching those of the startups that had left him proposals that he hadn’t even planned on considering in the first place.
A shy knock drew Anders away from the little he had left to do. He stared at the closed door, debating whether he was in any mood to talk to an employee. Deciding against it, he went back to work, assuming that whoever it was would take the cue and leave.
But when the knock sounded again, Anders sighed and dropped the papers in exasperation.
“Come in.”
Anders knew it was her from the moment the door opened and her scent wafted in. He would recognize it anywhere, as obnoxious as it felt. Veil stepped in and closed the door behind her. She took a few more steps that placed her in the center of the room before stopping.
“Speak.”
“I…uhm….” Veil swallowed and took a deep breath. “I wanted to know if I could go home since…”
“Ms. Hart,” Anders growled, annoyance flashing through his eyes. But he wasn’t even upset at Veil. Orleans was the one he wanted to beat into a pulp. “Haven’t we discussed this before?”
“I know you said I can’t go home until you do but …”
“But nothing, Ms. Hart. Go back to your office and stay there until you hear me leave for the day.”
Nodding, Veil turned to return, but halted suddenly, turning around again.
“Did I do something wrong?” She asked slowly, careful not to make Anders yell at her again like she had any control over that. “You ensured I didn’t come into your office when you were in all through the day and…”
“So you figured that out.” Anders watched her intently. “Then why the hell are you in here?”
“I…I just want to know what I did wrong. You didn’t even allow me to go with you to JK Corporations and now I don’t have the minutes and I’m clueless as to the conclusions made. How am I supposed to…”Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.
“Ms. Hart…”
“I’m rambling. I’m sorry. I’ve just been stuck in my office with nothing to do, and I couldn’t help but think that I did something wrong. Was it because I came in late?”
“Veil, nothing is wrong. Now, get out.”
“Mr. Rodriguez, I…”
“Why were you so particular about JK Corporations?” Anders asked suddenly, watching her reaction closely.
Veil stared back at him utterly confused. “I am your secretary and a part of my job description is to follow you for your meetings to take minutes. You said that yourself.”
“And I am the CEO. I should be able to make my own rules, shouldn’t I?” Anders hated that he was borrowing a line from that fucker.
“But…”
Taking Veil by surprise, Anders got out from behind his table and walked over to her.
“You want to know what you did? How about we start with how Simon was carrying your bag this morning when I met you both in the elevator? I don’t want to imagine what you were doing with him before it stopped.”
“What?” Veil looked at Anders with a pained expression, but he wasn’t even done yet. “He was just helping me…”
“Just like the man from the party, right? What was his name again? Orleans, yeah? He is quite the catch.”
Something suddenly snapped in Veil and right there, she decided that she had had enough.
“Yeah! Right! Just like the woman I met in here with your head in between her legs. Yet, you don’t see me getting angry about it or acting like I’ve got a stick stuck up in my ass,” Veil shot back. Almost immediately, she realized what she had just done and her eyes dropped in remorse.
“That was out of place. I’m really so…”
“Shut up!” Anders said in a low voice, taking another step closer to Veil. He could smell her perfume now, stronger than ever. It was the perfect blend of lavender and cocoa, making Anders stifle a moan. He could feel her breath fan his face, noting with glee that just one more step would bring him…
“I’d understand if…”
“Shut up, Veil Hart!”
Anders covered the last step, pressing his lips to hers suddenly, and the whole world suddenly blurred away.