"I've got to go," he said, cutting of Alaric's speech as to why he should continue to do what he did.
Pulling up Nora's contact details, he dialed her number, and waited.
"Hello," she said, and he could tell that she was out walking the streets.
"You left," he said.
"I know, and don't worry, when Frank called me I just told him I was ill so no worries. Did he leave you alone?" she asked.
"No, he didn't. Will you come back in?" he asked.
There was a pause. "I can't right now, I've got an … appointment. Everything you needed me to do is in that file I handed you. I've got to go, sorry, Rex, bye."
For the first time in his life, he was hung up on. He stared at the phone, and gritted his teeth.
Fuck!
Today was not his fucking day. Flicking through the file, he noticed certain points were highlighted with a yellow pen. There were a few notes, and he frowned, recalling the same kind of file in the past. He'd always found it a really good attention to detail, and he didn't have a clue as to why it had started to annoy him.
He didn't like being treated like a child, and being forced to take on a woman he didn't ask for, had pissed him off.
Getting to his feet, he made his way toward the reference section where he saw Carl, one of the lawyers who had a bit of bad luck losing several cases that dealt with business law.
"Hey, Carl," he said, slapping him on the back.
"Hey." Carl pushed his glasses up his nose.
"How have you been?" He was trying to make conversation.
"Good. You?"
"Nora has been driving me crazy," Rex said, being honest.
"If you want to pass her off to someone else, I'd take her in a heartbeat. I could use the good luck. It's what we think of her, you know?"
"What?" Rex asked, completely confused.
"She's our good luck charm. Every person who has her as a PA, they're guaranteed to win." The envious look on Carl's face was not hard to miss.
"Well, I won't be getting rid of her any time soon." He slapped his back, and left the room.
Chapter Two
Calling in sick wasn't normal for her, and Nora hated it. She hated the lies, and pretending that she had a cough when she really didn't was draining on her. After four interviews, she was more than exhausted, but what was even more crazy, each company had phoned her back within an hour of her interview, and they wanted her to work for them.
The temptation was so strong, and she didn't know why she wasn't jumping up and down with joy at the prospect of moving on, and moving away from the likes of Rex.
She was tired, and wanted a change of pace. Never had she envisioned her life being inside a law office, highlighting important texts, typing up letters, faxing, and dealing with clients. The job was wonderful, and she did enjoy it. The problem was her. She didn't want to do it anymore.
"Stupid. A first grader could do this."
"Did you shop in a thrift store? We have an image to project."
"There's no chance of you having a date, right? I can count on you."
"Seriously, Nora, get a life. No one wants to eat the shit you've baked. You're better off going to the bakery."
All of those comments had been said to her in the past six months of working for Rex. She remembered how he handed her a bunch of notes and told her to go to the bakery. Instead of going to the bakery, she had put his money in a charity box, and given him a wrapped pastry that she made. He didn't criticize and asked for her to stop by whatever bakery she went to every day.
She probably shouldn't have done what she did, but she loved cooking, and besides, it was no hardship changing up his pretend order. She had felt guilty about it all day long, but he had loved her baking. He simply thought it was someone else's. He thought the worst of her about everything else.
Sending him to the wrong appointments had been a screw-up. Even though he was a horrible person, she loved being the best at her job. It had taken her days to get a new computer, set everything up, and then calling all his clients to reset all of his appointments. He'd gone to a couple of wrong timed appointments, and he thought she did it on purpose!
Going to Frank, she had expected to be fired. When she explained what had happened, he had said that he wasn't going to fire her. She had done whatever she could to get Rex to the places he needed to be on time.
Blasted notebooks.
Blasted computers.
They were a waste of time.
The following Monday, with her stomach turning, she made her way toward her desk, feeling even sicker. So far she hadn't encountered anyone, and she was happy about that. Her hands were clammy from lying. Firing up her computer, she glanced through the mail that had been left in her tray.
"Are you okay?" Lorna asked, making Nora gasp.
She spun around, and pressed a hand to her heart. "You startled me."
"Sorry, sweetie. We were all worried about you."
Her cheeks were heating. She could feel them start to bloom, and it drove her crazy. "It's nothing." Please leave. I don't like lying. How was she going to face Rex? She couldn't lie to him.
She had never been very good at it.
Lorna stared at her, and folded her arms. "Why do you look guilty?"
"No reason."
Damn! She was her own worst enemy. Lorna raised a brow, and she blew out a breath.
"Fine, fine, I may have done something that I'm not sure about."
"What?"
She looked left and right to make sure no one was around. "I may have, erm, sent out a few applications."
"Applications?"
"For work. I'm thinking of having a change of pace."
"Really. You can't do that. Is this about Rex? I can tell Frank and he'll move you on."
She held her hand out. "It's nothing to do with Rex." Liar. "I want to move on, you know? I didn't expect to be here, and I'm twenty-six in a few months, and this is not what I wanted. Not that I'm not ungrateful."
"Where are you going to go?" Lorna asked.
"I don't know. I'll figure it out, I'm sure I will. I won't give up. You know me. I have to do my own thing." She nodded, hoping that she could convince herself as much as she could Lorna.
"Excellent, Nora, you're here, finally. I need you in my office," Rex said, coming out of his, surprising her.
She hoped to hell that he hadn't heard her. He'd probably phone the companies she had gone to, and give her a bad reference.
"We'll do lunch," Lorna said.
"Sure. I'll see you there."
Putting her bag by her chair, she grabbed her notebook, and rushed into his office. He was stood by his desk, and he looked deep in thought. "I trust that you are much better now."
"Much better?"
"You were ill?"
"Oh, yes, I'm much, much better." She smiled and once again her cheeks were going red, and she hated it. "Let's get down to work."
She noticed a change in Rex's behavior. It was so subtle. There were no jibes about her prime clothing, or about her hair, or even about the fact that she'd taken a few days off. She made notes about some of his clients, and references to other cases. Rex also handed her a folder that had all the necessary updates for her to get up to speed.
Flicking through the file, she saw that he'd been given Carl's latest clients.
"How come you have Carl's case?" she asked.
"Richmond is a friend of Frank's, and his current wife is trying to take him to the cleaners. Carl's having a string of bad luck, and Richmond doesn't want to lose any more of his fortune. His first ex-wife has a chunk of it. This is his third, and if Carl's not careful, it could see most of the fortune go," Rex said.
"How?"
"Richmond has a problem with keeping it in his pants. Whenever a new wife comes along, he makes a pre-nup to say how he's going to remain faithful, blah blah. He cheats, and then has to try and get out of the contract. So far, it has left a huge dent in his finances. It's our job to keep that from happening."
"Or he should keep it in his pants." She shrugged.
He smiled. "We've told him that, but the moment a pretty girl walks past, you know the drill."
She didn't but nodded because she had seen it more than one time. "I'll look through this stuff."
"If you can find anything on the wife as well, that would be great."
"Will do." She stood ready to leave.
"Wait," he said, holding his hand up in front of her.
She wrapped her arms around the folder, keeping it close to her chest, and forced herself to look at Rex, waiting for whatever he was about to say. "What is it?" she asked.
"About last week, and about everything else. I've been a complete asshole to you."
"It's okay."
"It's not, and I'm sorry. I want you to know that, and I won't continue to be an asshole."
She nodded, not really believing him. This man turned lying into a fine art form. "Is that everything?"