Page 28 of Bastard In A Suit

Chapter 12

I arriveat work ten minutes early, my plaid skirt pressed, make-up carefully applied, hair pulled into a professional up-do. I adjust my glasses, square my shoulders, and exhale before walking through the glass door. Once inside the lobby, I freeze. Breathe it all in.

A giant Kingston Industries sign hangs over the reception desk, where a petite blonde woman smiles in welcome. Forrest and Jake are seated in the lobby, each in a suit and tie.

Jake’s trousers hang from his thin frame and he looks somehow even worse than he did yesterday. His dark circles under his eyes have bags now, and his skin is pale and clammy looking.

He’s shaven, but it’s patchy, like he wasn’t paying much attention when he used the razor. He even has what looks like a small scab over by his jawline.

“Bout time,” Jakes says, frowning.

The receptionist stands. “You must be Hailey.” Without waiting for a response, she hands me a key card and an envelope. “Mr. Kingston would like me to show you to your offices.”

Offices. Damn, I like the sound of that.

My excitement is tampered only slightly by the fact that Duke isn’t there to welcome us on board. Obviously he has better things to do. It’s just, after last night’s texts, I wondered if things might be different between us.

More personal.

But no, this is still work, I remind myself firmly.

We follow the receptionist to the elevator, where we travel in silence to the third floor. Duke is more than a dozen floors above, in an office that makes me blush just to think about. We weave through a series of workstations, mostly cubicles, where a diverse collection of employees are hard at work. Phones ring, keyboards tap, soft music filters through the air. No one bothers to look up or acknowledge us. Huh.

Somehow I expected a warmer atmosphere.

We’re led to a small room at the back end of the third floor. At the door, we’re asked to sign in via thumbprint.

A hidden scanner whirs and clicks. Holy shit, the security in this place is state of the art.

Inside, three workstations have been set up to include a desk, phone, bookshelf, and file cabinet. Fancy, but not over the top like Duke’s office. A common seating area at the back of the room features a sofa, two chairs and a coffee station that is already set to brew. Two large windows overlook Lake Michigan and Navy Pier.

“You’ll want to pull the blinds midday,” the receptionist says. “It can get quite warm in here.”

She exits the room, leaving the three of us standing in the center, spinning around to take it all in. I slide into my chair and roll it up to my desk, running my hands over its smooth wooden surface. I find a Day-Timer, fancy pens, a calculator, and a new laptop.

I flip open the screen and follow the instructions on the Post-it note to log into to the company’s corporate computer network. It’s loaded with passwords and warnings and levels of access, most of which we won’t be able to reach. It doesn’t matter.

I. Am. Here.

At Kingston Industries.

And it’s my first day on the job.

I lift the phone receiver and listen for the dial tone. Punch in my mother’s cell. She answers on the first ring with a hesitant hello. “Mom?”

“Hailey?”

I’m her only daughter but I grant her a pass because the number’s probably blocked. “I’m at work,” I whisper.

“Work? Where?”

“At Kingston Industries.” Just saying the words makes me break out into a grin. Imagine what she would say if I told I’d already been intimate with the boss? “I make $100,000 a year, Mom.”

She half laughs, which tells me she doesn’t have a clue what Kingston Industries is, but she does appreciate the salary for someone so young. “Very impressive, dear. Shouldn’t you be getting to work?”

I say goodbye and hang up, still beaming. On my lunch break, I’ll call Dad. He’ll know of Kingston Industries, how impressive it is. I catch Jake and Forrest staring at me. “What?”

Forrest grins a little. “I didn’t know how much working here meant to you.”