It’s where I grew up, learned to walk and read, had my first kiss, and my first job. This city, while cold and unforgiving to most, was my home.
Although I was born and raised here, I had moved away when I was only eighteen years old and enlisted in the Army. I had visited over the years, but hadn’t stayed long enough to truly appreciate the city for what it was.
Despite my years away, the skills I had learned growing up in the city had always stuck with me. I could navigate the subway systems as easily as breathing. I knew where to go to avoid tourists, and was still unfazed by the random rodents that passed me by on the streets. It was just another day in the city that never slept.
My skills with the subway came in handy with my current commute. I was back to living with my family in Morris Park, in the Bronx, while working in the financial district of Lower Manhattan. Most mornings, I took the opportunity to run part of the distance and hop on the subway for the second half of the commute… but today was not that kind of day.
My sister's car had refused to start, and I spent the better part of the morning troubleshooting the engine on that old Beetle. Why did Livia still insist on driving that hunk of metal? I wasn’t sure, but I was eventually able to get it up and running. The fix wouldn’t last long, but I was hoping it would survive until the weekend, when I could truly dive into the mechanics of the failing engine. I had a sneaking suspicion it would need to be fully replaced… a project that would cost more than the car itself.
I had managed to get Livia on the road on time so she would still make it to work… but I was running late.Verylate.
Well, by any normal person's standards, I was on time. By my boss’s standards, I was falling very behind schedule. If I wasn’t fifteen minutes early, I was late.
I changed from my workout gear—which hadn’t been used, but was covered in grease and oil— and into my work suit in the lobby of my boss’s apartment building. I gave the poor doorman quite the show, but he didn’t seem to mind too much. I could have sworn I saw him blush.
Bec wouldn’t care that I had changed; she had called my suits ‘off-the-rack junk’ a handful of times now. I thought they were perfectly fine, and they didn’t break the bank, which was an additional win. Especially since most of my paycheck went to my family.
“You’re late,” Bec clipped the moment the elevator doors opened, not sparing me a glance. She never walked anywhere without a purpose. She was dressed in her usual black dress with her dark brown hair flowing behind her. She was always dressed to the nines in outfits that were more expensive than my entire wardrobe combined. Her red-soled heels clicked on the marble floors, and I followed behind, dutifully as always.
When I agreed to take on this job, becoming Bec’s full-time bodyguard and head of personal security, I wasn’t prepared for the snark and eyerolls she’d throw my way.
It was my own fault. I had made it exactly two sentences before accidentally flirting with her during our first meeting. It wasn’t intentional; it was simply my typical form of communication. My best friend, Malachi, would always joke that I flirted with anything that had legs, and he wasn’t wrong. Hell, I had hit on him more times than I could count.
The flirting did, however, put me and Bec on very bad footing, and she had despised me ever since. Technically, she wasn’t my boss at the time… her brother was. Thank God for that, because Iwouldn’t have a job otherwise. She had the power to fire me now, though… but I chose not to broach that subject.
Better job security.
“It seems you’re running late, too,” I retorted as we made our way out of the door and into the waiting car.
She threw me a glare over her shoulder with those steel blue eyes of hers, before sliding into the car.
One of the perks of working for Bly Enterprises was that, while I was on the job, I was driven around in luxury cars everywhere. I had even managed to take one of the cars through a McDonald’s drive-through a couple of months back. Whoever said money couldn’t buy happiness was full of shit.
I was a whole lot happier eating my cheeseburgers in a car that cost more than my family’s home than in Livia’s beat-up Beetle.
Damn, I really needed to buy a new engine for that thing.
I took my seat next to Bec and handed her the coffee I always brought for her, as the driver pulled away and began our route through the city streets to Bly Enterprise’s headquarters. It was a massive skyscraper in the middle of the financial district, and Bec worked on the top floor… meaningIworked on the top floor. The view was incredible, but thank God I didn’t have a fear of heights. We were truly on top of the world up there.
“Anything new on the agenda for today that I need to know?” I asked, trying to break the current tension between the two of us. As usual… it didn’t work.
Bec flipped her sleek hair over her shoulder as she turned to me with a look of indifference. “Andi will give you my updated schedule. She’ll know if anything new has been added.”
I groaned, “Can you talk to her for me?”
Bec snickered softly, enjoying my pain as usual. I was convinced she was purposefully setting me up to be alone with Andi just to make me uncomfortable. “She isn’t that bad.”
“She can’t look me in the eyes without blushing like a tomato,” I complained. Andi was incredible at everything she did… until we were in the same room together. Which wasn’t ideal, seeing as she all but ran Bec’s life, and it was my job to spend nearly every waking hour with Bec. Andi’s crush was obvious, and it had gotten to the point where it made it difficult to work with her.
“Well… you could ask for a transfer,” Bec sing-songed.
I smirked, “You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried.”
“Oh trust me, I know. I’ve tried,” she mumbled as she pulled out her compact and began touching up her makeup. She was always perfect, but shehadto be. The moment she stepped out of the car to march into the office, all eyes would be on her constantly.
There were always a few members of the paparazzi waiting for us at the office entrance. Then you had Bec’s employees, and the members of the board who were often dropping in for a quick chat. They were trying to find her weakness, which I wasn’t so sure she had.
Bec was technically in a probationary period in her role for six more months. During these six months, she had to be perfect or she would be at risk of being removed as the CEO of Bly Enterprises. The extra eyes on her also made my job a bit harder.
