“Just wait until you officially start working with us and you have to go, too,” I say. “Having a drink with all of the people who know everything about your boyfriend’s business, that won’t be weird at all.”
Jase groans. “That is very much not necessary. I’m not an executive-type, they don’t want me around.”
“Company culture, man. You know you can’t skip out on getting drunk with your bosses if you want them to like you.” I’m only half kidding. He really is going to have to make an effort if he wants to stay in the good graces of the people who will not only be signing his checks, but are also essentially allowing him to stay in a relationship with Nikko.
“I’ll worry about that once I’m actually settled in. Right now I have other things to figure out first.” The sound of his voice changes like he just switched over to speakerphone. “Like how to find a place to live before you threaten to kick me and Noel out on the street.”
I look up to see Grace trying to get my attention from the doorway. “I’m not going to ask you to leave. You can stay as long as you need to. I have to go, but we’ll talk more when Iget home later. And feed your dog so she stops gnawing on my stuff.”
“Yeah. Okay. Sorry!”
Ending the conversation before he can keep apologizing, I turn back to Grace. “What’s up?”
“Someone wants you to sit in on a conference call,” she tells me, smiling almost maniacally because she knows how much I hate that.
I am certainly not the only fluent English speaker on the team, but I’m probably the most confident and least likely to be ruffled by the casually aggressive way that most Americans seem to handle their business. Which means I get pulled into more than my fair share of meetings that I don’t really need to attend, but everyone invites me anyway, just in case something comes up.
Sighing, I stand and brush off my shirt, checking the buttons like they might have gone askew in the brief time I was sitting down. “Is it with…”
“Yep,” Grace is nodding before I even have to say the name.
There’s one label, based in New York City, that rattles a lot of our very polite staff to the point that I’m surprised they haven’t just told me I’m their official contact here at Task Force. I don’t mind talking to them, and I’m unbothered by Dylan, a young executive who is always prone to going on tangents unrelated to anything we are trying to discuss. I usually find it pretty humorous; he kind of reminds me of Jase when he’s drunk, but less funny and more pretentious.
“On my way,” I grumble as she gives me a thumbs up when I walk past her desk. I really wish that coffee had been bigger.
?? ?
I’m surprised that it’s dark when I finally stepinto my apartment. The city lights are glowing through the picture windows, one of my favorite things about this place, but that’s it.
I think it’s the first time since Jase has been staying here that it’s been this quiet. I drop my keys and bag by the door and slip off my shoes, wandering over to my favorite chair to sit to relish the silence for a moment.
There’s no sound of nails clicking across the floor to sniff me out, which means that Jase is undoubtedly somewhere with Nikko or maybe the rest of RYSING, as Noel immediately became something of their honorary mascot upon her arrival.
I don’t think I even realized the kind of routine I’d slipped into until Jase was around again. It had been easy to get caught up in the work-socialize-work-random hook up-work spiral when my friends had been hired all across the city and we could only see each other on the weekends, usually at a bar trying to pick someone up for a no-strings-attached distraction from corporate life.
Traveling with the various idol groups had taken me all over the world but also kept me pretty isolated, still wrapped up in my job even though I was surrounded by beautiful people and celebrities everywhere we went.
But I was always coming home alone. Walking through the door into the dark and quiet, like it is now. It feels strange now that I’ve had a little taste of something else.
I know I’m gone way too much to have a dog. The idea of getting a cat has crossed my mind a few times. Maybe a fish tank. One of those giant aquariums that takes up a whole wall full of exotic fish in wild colors. Which sounds like a lot of maintenance now that I think about it.
Before I can further contemplate any future pets, the door bangs open and Noel charges across the room. She skids to a stop right in front of me and barks indignantly.
“You’re in her spot,” Jase tells me, kicking off his boots and putting her leash down beside them.
“Excuse me?Herspot? She’s got like five beds scattered around here andmychair isherspot?” My hands are all over in the air gesturing as I try to make sense of this and that seems to set her off even more, jumping into my lap to nip at the cuffs of my shirt. “Are you serious, you little monster?”
Jase looks around like he’s waiting for someone to burst into the room. “I half expect you to have summoned Nikko by talking about Noel that way,” he says, strolling into the kitchen. “You want anything?”
Noel circles a few times before stretching out across my thighs. I can’t help but start petting her, my fingers dragging through her wavy coat. I’m not sure if we like each other, but I guess we’re okay for the moment. “No, I’m good. I had a few at the bar.”
He grabs a soda from the refrigerator and comes back to sit down, smiling when he sees how Noel has made herself comfortable on me. “Did you have fun?”
“I’m not sure thatfunis really the objective of those events, but it was alright. I think we all got invited to the big boss’ new vacation home, so there’s that,” I joke, because I’m still not sure if all those pictures he showed us were to brag or actually to tempt us to visit the place. “I’m sure you had a good time with Nikko.”
Pulling his phone from his pocket, he shows me a picture of Nikko lying on the floor, nose to nose with Noel. “I swear they stayed that way for a solid 20 minutes. I literally left the room at one point and neither of them noticed.”
I laugh at his grouchy expression. “I notice when you’re gone. I may even miss you a little.”
