Friday morning Lucian entered his office, his eyes flickering to the empty desk belonging to Scarlett. It was her first day off, she deserved it after dealing with his family. He could manage on his own perfectly fine but he did miss her presence.
Her teasing smiles and suggestive comments, he grew fond of them.
Yet it was also a blessing that Scarlett wasn’t around. It gave him privacy he needed when meeting up with his cousin. Michael contacted him, letting him know that he found a few things which he’d be interested in.
He didn’t think Michael would actually find something, but he was proven wrong.
Then again Scarlett did show up out of thin air. His previous assistant hired the Goddess of teasing without consulting him. That was unlike Lara which raised a tons of questions. All questions he had about the woman he had an infatuation with would soon be answered.
He hoped.
Closing his office door behind him he made his way to his desk and sat down. He started up his laptop and got some work done before Michael would arrive. He was in the zone, answering almost every email in his inbox when his cousin walked into his office.
Michael greeted him with a massive grin, “Good afternoon dear cousin.”
“Time flew by.” Lucian muttered, watching Michael settle in.
Michael handed him a flash drive and nodded at his laptop, “Fire it up, I found a thing or two about Miss Archer.” Michael was excited about this but at the same time he saw something darker in his cousin’s eyes, something he didn’t dare to explore yet he had to.
He was doing this behind Scarlett’s back but he needed to do it to protect her.
He checked the file on Michael’s flash drive known as Scarlett Archer. The first thing he noticed was Scarlett’s connection to Lara. Michael leaned forward in his chair and did his thing like he’d normally do. Explain everything and share his thoughts on the subject. He was usually right too.
“Scarlett and Lara went to the same high school together.” Michael went through the photos of the women, showing him just how close the women were a few years ago, “They were best friends in high school as you can see from the pictures but apparently lost contact when they went to college.”
“So I can assume Lara more or less gave this job to Scarlett.”
Michael shrugged, he probably didn’t want to state it but was also thinking it.
“I mean it feels that way, doesn’t it? Somehow I doubt Lara would just hire Scarlett because you were swamped. She could have mentioned something. Emailed you, called you or whatever. Yet she didn’t. She made the decision on her own and then left without a word.”
Lucian rolled his eyes. His cousin was always quite dramatic, it didn’t exactly happen like that but it was close to it.
“I mean I did see her off and gave her a generous bonus, but I do understand what you’re trying to say.”
Michael flickered his eyes to him, his eyes narrowed dangerously on him, “If you get what I’m saying why are you still trying to defy me then?”
Lucian’s lips twitched, he couldn’t laugh at his cousin even though his choice of words were hilarious to him. He didn’t try to defy his cousin as Michael stated. He just wanted to make clear that Lara wasn’t all that horrible as a person. He was sure the woman had her reasons for more or less giving the job to Scarlett.
They just needed to figure out what that reason was.
“What else do you have for me?”
Michael’s gaze softened as he focused back on the laptop. He flipped through some pictures and landed on a Social Media page.
“This guy is her ex-boyfriend.” Michael stated, “Elliot Fall. He is the cliché type of guy, you know. Ex-football player who also made it big in the company life, well not as big as you considering you’re an CEO but big enough for someone who you’d assume would not make it far in life.”
“Are you kidding me? Guys like that always make it big since they have the connections.”
Michael shrugged, his cousin clearly disagreed but they left it at that.
“There are tons of pictures together of them on Elliot’s page but when you look at Miss Scarlett’s page you see none of that. She most likely deleted all of them, what’s even more interesting is that she also no longer posts anything on her page when I assume some point of her life she was just as active on it as him.”
“Bad blood?” Lucian asked.
Michael nodded, “That’s what I thought so I might have done something I cannot admit out loud to ensure neither one of us get in trouble but let’s say I somehow got my hands on her private messages-”
Lucian smirked, that’s why he asked his cousin for help but it was saver to pretend nothing illegal happened at all. It was definitely better for both of their sakes.
Michael clicked through Scarlett’s private messages he obtained. As he read the messages she received from Elliot he had to clench his fists in order to keep his anger in. Elliot was one mean asshole who didn’t deserve to be called her ex-boyfriend.
“He’s threatening her?” He asked, asking for clarification of his cousin since he couldn’t think straight when his blood was boiling with anger.
Michael sighed, “It looks like it. You said that she was frightened when she saw this guy at her apartment building?” He asked.
Lucian nodded, not being able to speak because he needed to compose himself. He needed to get rid of the anger, he wasn’t supposed to know about this part of her life. He promised Scarlett he’d wait for her, letting her decide when it was time to talk about it.
If he showed any sign of knowing about her dark past there would be no trust between them. He couldn’t protect her from that asshole when she’d no longer turn to him. He needed to pretend not knowing a thing.
That would be fucking hard to do when all he wanted to do was track this guy down and make perfectly clear that he needed to stay the fuck away from Scarlett.
“Do you think Scarlett would be so frightened of him if his threats were empty?” Michael asked, “Because I think that Elliot Fall might just have hurt her. My theory is that she ran away from this guy, turned to Lara who was her best friend in high school and found a sweet job to pay the rent for an upscale apartment which provided excellent security.”
“You might be right about that.” Lucian exhaled deeply and met the gaze of his cousin.
“You good?” Michael asked.
“I’m good.” He clarified, “You need to get rid of this, this never happened. When the time is right Scarlett will come to me. Only then we can make a move.”
Michael deleted the files and took his flash drive back. His cousin didn’t seem happy about his decision but they both knew it was what would keep Scarlett safe right now. If she decided to run away again because her trust was broken, they couldn’t do anything at all.
“I hate it.” Michael admitted, “But she’s safe for now. If he makes his move at her building the staff will call the cops on that guy. His sweet career will be over then.”
“In the meantime I’ll make sure to stay close to her.”
Michael got to his feet and straightened his clothes, “Let me know if you need help. Anything to keep this fucking jerk away from her.”
It made him smile to see how much his cousin also cared for Scarlett. Without her knowing his family already accepted her. Well, at least the people he saw quite often. His mother would probably warm up to Scarlett eventually.
He hoped.
When Michael left the office he grabbed his phone to call Scarlett. It was her day off but he knew she wouldn’t mind his call. She answered at the second ring and sounded so excited to hear from him. Without trying to look desperate he casually asked if she wanted to go watch a movie with him.
He hadn’t done that in ages.
She agreed immediately and suggested they’d eat out at a restaurant close to the theatres. She wanted pizza and he agreed. Pizza and beer did sound good. She didn’t sound suspicious of him at all which was good. She didn’t even question him when he told her he’d come over at her place to pick her up. It would have been more efficient to meet up at the restaurant but he didn’t want her to be alone.
She sounded so excited to see him that it just made him smile, listening to her talk about the pizza she wanted to try. He let her ramble on while he focused back on work, listening to her and occasionally giving his opinion about her food choices.
***
Scarlett narrowed her eyes on him, holding her menu up as a shield to defend herself. From what she tried to defend herself he had no idea. He didn’t try to question her. She was odd at times, reminding him of his cousin Michael.
“Let’s order a tuna pizza with red onions.” She suggested.
He lowered his menu, closed it and leaned back in his seat, “Sounds good to me.”
That caught her off guard. The surprise in her eyes nearly made her look comical. He pressed his lips together to make sure he wouldn’t laugh at her.
“Really?”
“I do like it spicy though, so if you order chilli pepper with it I’m good.”
She lowered her menu as well, “I’m okay with that too. Wine?” She asked, hesitation clear in her quiet voice.
She didn’t sound that quiet when they talked over the phone earlier. She was loud and very talkative then. Like she had been waiting to hear from him.
It was cute.
The fact that he agreed with her without throwing in some pizza options of his own caused her to be off her game. He realized that she held her menu up like that in case they’d argue about the pizza. He was mostly good with any type of pizza though. He even liked pineapple on his pizza.
She’d probably faint when she heard that, he’d keep it to himself. He didn’t want to ruin their night out together.
It was kind of a date even though neither one of them mentioned it. Dinner and a movie did sound like a date to him. He never did that with the women he had casual relationships with. He didn’t kick the women out of his apartment the morning after but he didn’t plan dates with them either.
Dawn had been the exception but the minute Scarlett walked into his life he forgot all about the cute woman who had been so considerate of him.
He did wonder how she was doing, he assumed she got the message when he no longer contacted her after he declined all of her invitations to eat out or have coffee together.
He did felt like a jerk for that.
“I’m in the mood for some beer but you can order wine if you want.”
She closed her menu and tried to catch the attention of the waiter. Once the young male came over Scarlett gave their order, ordering beer for the both of them. She grinned at him when the waiter walked away to hand in their order to the kitchen.
“Beer sounds amazing.” She grinned.
The mood between them was good. He didn’t know how he could ensure she’d be safe over the weekend but tonight they were together and were having a great time like usual. This thing between them felt natural. It was why he enjoyed being with her.
“What are you doing over the weekend?” He asked.
She was folding her napkin, occupied with that as she casually answered him, “Getting a haircut on Saturday and meeting up with a friend on Sunday. You know, a busy schedule like usual.”
He was glad her weekend was packed. That way he didn’t have to worry too much about her.
“What are you doing this weekend?” She asked, looking up at him with a teasing smile spread across her mischievous looking face, “Big plans?” She asked trying to be casual about it yet failing miserably. He could tell she was very curious about it.
“Keeping track of the preparations for the party on Monday and probably also getting my hair done.” He smirked at her, “I need to look good for the pictures after all.”
She looked relieved to hear his plans. Maybe she assumed he’d go out with some other lady but he had no intention to do so. It was only Scarlett now. He thought she was aware of that but obviously she was still hesitant, not sure if he felt the same way about her.
He’d reassure her right away.
“I already have a lady who keeps me occupied most of the time, I wouldn’t find the time to meet someone else. And if I did I’m sure they wouldn’t be as interesting as her. She’s quite the handful, you know.”
Her face lit up. She looked happy to hear that even though she tried to act all subtle about her cheerfulness. He grinned at her, letting her know she was showing everything to him. She shrugged and grinned back.
“She sounds like an amazing lady, you should keep seeing her.”
He chuckled, shaking his head at her, “I’ll be sure to do that.”
It sounded like things were more or less official between them then, yet neither one of them said it out loud. They just knew they were only seeing each other.
To him that was good enough for now.