Broken (Breaking the Rules) (11 page)

When the door opened, I quickly glanced at my reflection in the mirror. Deciding that I looked presentable, I held my head high and walked up to the front desk. The receptionist looked about ten years older than me and had a nametag that read “Margie” on it.

“Hi there, Margie. I’m Andi, er, Miranda Dalton, here for my first day,” I informed her, still breathing a little heavily from this morning’s events.

She looked up and smiled. “You’re late,” she admonished, winking. My own smile faltered as panic set in. “Honey, I’m teasing. Mr. Compton was on a call this morning, so he’s not even ready for you yet anyway. You looked like you were about to throw up,” she giggled.

Realizing she was a fun person, I smiled back at her. “Sorry, it was a hectic morning with traffic and all. I’ll have to make sure to allow myself more time in the mornings,” I told her honestly.

“No worries, Miss Dalton. Everyone is really laid back here for the most part, especially Jordan. You’ll enjoy working for him. It’s his brother that’s difficult. Be thankful you don’t have to work for him,” she whispered.

Before she could divulge any more office gossip, Mr. Compton called me from his office. Smiling at Margie, I quickly walked into the office where the voice had come from. Mr. Compton was a nice-looking young man. Even though he was several years older than I was from what I could tell, he still looked too young to own such a successful company.

Looking up from his desk, he smiled at me. He had one of those familiar faces and I couldn’t help but return his smile. “Please, Miss Dalton, have a seat,” he greeted, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk.

Taking my seat, I sat up straight, waiting for my instructions.

“Today will be just you getting to know the ropes and other employees. I’d hoped my brother, who’s my partner, would be sitting in on the meeting, but he’s running late. I know originally I said you would be assisting me but I’ll actually need you to help us both out. I’m in the middle of a pretty big company issue that will require a lot of my time with my lawyers. That will leave my brother having to run things. We’ll need you to take our calls when you can, set up meetings with our clients, and make appearances at some events. We have people to actually handle busy work, but as our assistant, you’ll learn how to actually interact with the clients more so than the work itself. It’s probably one of the most critical aspects of our job that they certainly don’t teach you in school.” He paused to wait for any input that I might have.

“Okay. That sounds like something I can handle, Mr. Compton,” I assured him confidently even though I was nervous from Margie’s warning about his brother.

“Please, Miss Dalton, call me Jordan. We’re informal here. My dad was Mr. Compton. You’ll make me feel old if you keep calling me that,” he winked at me. “Anyway, we set up a desk between our two offices out front. I’ll have Margie show you how to work your phone. We already gave you access to both my and my brother’s calendars and emails so that you can help us manage our appointments. In an hour, I’ll be out for a meeting but I’m sure you’ll figure things out easily enough. Oh, and tomorrow, a junior architect will be joining the firm. Since I’ve been pulled into more of the handling of the company, we’ve needed some more help in that area. He won’t have much activity in the beginning so I want you to assist him as well. Once he gets a lot busier, we’ll get him his own assistant. And remember, you do this job well, there could be a junior architect position waiting for you as well. We like to promote from within whenever possible. That’s what happened to my last assistant.” He stopped talking and looked behind me.

“Miranda Dalton, please meet my brother and co-owner of the firm, Jackson Compton,” he introduced, gesturing to the door. My body tensed up at the name and I whipped around to see the face of
my weekend Jackson
. Shit!

When his eyes met mine, we both mirrored shocked looks. He walked over to my chair and extended his hand. His shocked look fell and was replaced by a glare. I shakily took his hand and shook it, squirming under his fierce look. “Please, call me Andi,” I said breathlessly. I was in some serious trouble.

“Excuse me, I have work to do,” he scowled, turning on his heel and stalking out.

“I’m sorry I didn’t warn you,” Jordan apologized. Turning back to him, I frowned. “He’s a bit of an ass. He’ll be your biggest challenge working here. He’s my brother and I love him, but he can be a bear.” He shook his head. I just nodded my own nervously. This seriously sucked. Pepper was going to freak when I told her my luck.

Jordan stood so I did as well. He came around the desk and placed his hand on the small of my back, guiding me out to my desk. With his hand still on my back, I glanced up at Jackson’s office. He was glaring at me from his desk, momentarily glancing at Jordan’s hand on my back. Quickly standing from his desk, he stalked over to his door and slammed it shut. My first day and I was already wanting to quit.
What have I done?

A DARK TWO WEEKS…

My life is flashing by in pictures like slides on my phone. A picture of me and Brayden kissing at a game. Pepper and me getting a pedicure for my birthday. Me smiling as a kid with a frowning family in the background. A skinny me accepting my diploma. Brayden down on one knee in Central Park. Me and Jeanie at the café. Me, Connie, and Brayden at Christmas one year.

Am I in a car? I can feel bouncing, which is adding to my nausea. Blinking my eyes open breifly, I can see that I’m in an ambulance. An EMT is fussing over me. What grabs my attention is Bray hovering over me, tears running down his face. His two hands have one of mine and he is kissing it over and over. He keeps begging me to “hold on.” Hold on to what?

His shirt is covered in vomit. Is he sick? I try to squeeze his hand to comfort him. When I do, just barely, his red eyes dart to mine. Taking one hand away to stroke my hair, he brings his face close to mine.

“Please, Andi. Don’t die on me. I love you. I need you. The way I’ve hurt you sickens me. You have to believe me that I promise I’ll never do it again. Please, just stay alive for me,” he cries. I’m so confused. Why would I die?

The darkness creeps up again and I try to fight it because I just want to be here with Bray telling me how much he loves me. My eyes tear up as it closes up on my vision. Please, no! Bray, help me! His panicking eyes are the last thing I see before completely succumbing again to the dark.

The next hour went without incident as Margie showed me how to use the phone and helped me log into my computer so I could access my email and the guys’ calendars. Jackson still hadn’t surfaced from his office and Jordan had already left for his meeting. After Margie left me to go back to her reception area, I finally had a moment to myself.

I typed up an email to Pepper’s work email address.

Pepper,

This is my work email address. Things are not what I expected at the firm. It would appear that Jackson is one of my bosses. How do I get the luck of these things? Worse thing is, he is acting like he hates me. We seriously went thirty minutes without seeing each other. When I left him, he looked sad, almost like he wanted to chase after me. Then, when he arrived at work today, he looked like he wanted to kill me with the daggers he was shooting at me with his eyes. I don’t know what I am going to do. This is all so incredibly awkward.

Your friend who makes bad decisions,

Andi

My stomach was really growling now. It was almost lunchtime, but I wasn’t sure what time I should leave to grab some food. The idea of having to ask Jackson made me sick. The ping indicating a new email alerted me to my computer screen.

To the girl who makes the absolute worst decisions,

What the hell?! How in the world does this happen? You need to go in there and lay down the law, Andi. I am so pissed right now. If I see that asshole, I’ll personally tell him what I think. Just make it through today and we’ll grab dinner afterwards. We can meet at the café at 6. Hang in there, hon.

The girl who told you so,

Pepper

I responded with my confirmation to dinner and quickly looked up when Jackson’s door swung open. Before I could ask him about lunch, he stalked past me and out the front door. So he couldn’t even talk to me now. What an asshole!

Ignoring my stomach, I answered some calls and input the appointments on Jordan’s and Jackson’s calendars. I could smell microwaved meals being heated up by the other employees in the breakroom. My stomach growled again. I was screwed because I hadn’t seen any vending machines earlier when I’d taken the tour with Margie.

The front door opened back up about twenty minutes later and Jackson came back in. Not looking at me, he stalked past me with a sack of food back into his office, slamming the door behind him. Feeling a little sorry for myself, I felt a tear slip down my cheek. Realizing I was going to have to talk to him, I shakily stood up and walked over to his door.

When I knocked, he gruffly shouted, “Come in!”

I tried to calm myself as I walked to his desk. He still wouldn’t look at me. “Um, Jackson? I was wondering what time I could leave for lunch,” I meekly spoke.

My stomach growled loudly and his eyes met mine. They were full of heat and anger but he still didn’t say anything. I could feel another stupid tear fall. His gaze softened but his tone was still harsh. “Sit,” he commanded.

I sat down, trying to keep my shaking to a minimum. By this point, I was starving, and now I was in a battle of wills with Jackson. This day really sucked.

Pulling out two to-go containers from his sack, he sat one in front of me. I looked down at it, confused. “Eat,” he ordered. My eyes darting back to his, I frowned. He was opening his own container, avoiding my gaze. I started to stand, grabbing the box so I could eat in the lunchroom but his voice growled at me, stopping me in my tracks. “I said eat. Here,” he barked, glaring at me.

Margie wasn’t kidding. He was such an asshole! How had I not seen this over the weekend? This couldn’t be the same guy who had tenderly stroked my hair while we watched a movie. It couldn’t be the same guy who had laughed like a little boy when I tickled him. This man was cold. I didn’t like him at all.

Sitting back in my chair, I opened the box. It was sushi. I couldn’t help the grin that broke over my face. He remembered that I love sushi. Scooping up a roll with my chopsticks, I dipped it in my soy sauce and greedily dropped it into my mouth.