Sick Like Me (Sick Like #1)

Chapter 17

SEVENTEEN

I sat at my desk with my head in my hands and my eyes closed. Over a week had passed since the work event, and since I had agreed to the Kings that I would take on the project they so desperately wanted me on for some unknown reason. No one had spoken about it since, save for Casey the Monday morning after when she asked if Stefan and I had really joined.

The team was short on staff, what with annual leave and the rise of pollen in the air making those who suffered with allergies unable to stomach the day ahead. I had picked up the work of three of my other coworkers, and I was up to my eyeballs in emails and stress.

The gentle sound of a plastic bottle hitting the desk beside mine pulled my attention up. I looked to the desk beside me as I did so, and was met by the soft smile of Stefan. He had sunglasses sitting on top of his head, and his skin was lightly tanned from his week away.

“You ready to go over the showroom butt?” He asked, to which I let out a sigh and nodded my head.

“I wish we didn’t have to go there,” I mumbled, wishing I could get on with my work. The sooner I got it done, the sooner my stress would ease up. Or so I liked to believe.

“Well I think we’re going to be there for the rest of the day, so at least you get a break from emails,” Stefan tried to look at the silver lining, but I was in no mood to try to be positive with him.

I read before the email I had typed out for one final time before I moved my mouse to press the send button, then I pressed the button on my keyboard to lock my computer from prying eyes.

I grabbed my keys from my drawers once I ensured they were locked. Once everything was secure, I picked up the bottle of cold coke Stefan bought for me from the nearby vending machine and held it tight in my hand. I knew they would likely have things we could buy in the showroom to drink, but on the off chance I decided it would be a good idea to bring something.

Especially since I heard last week the showroom’s air conditioning broke and in the offices, I heard it could get pretty sticky and warm. A cold drink wasn’t going to do much to help that, but it was something at least.

Stefan and I walked by Casey’s desk who looked up over the edge of glasses that sat low on her nose. She flashed us a smile, but she looked exhausted. “The Kings are in one of the meeting rooms on the second floor, just go upstairs and you should find them right away.”

Stefan nodded, while I remained silent and exhausted. I followed after Stefan as he pushed the door open, and then we traversed the hallways of our building before we reached the freedom of the front door.

“Do we have to go? Can’t we just sneak off for a drive and then finish early?” I mumbled, using one of my hands to cover my mouth as a yawn ripped through me.

“Sadly,” Stefan began as we walked side by side towards the showroom. “We have a job to do. You should go to sleep early tonight, and give yourself a lie in tomorrow morning. It’s stupid that you wake up at half past five every morning when you don’t need to.”

“It’s called routine and discipline, learn it,” I joked as I nudged Stefan gently.

We made our way through the car park that separated our building from the main road, then we checked the main road before we crossed—I was pretty sure Mr and Mrs King wanted their employees alive. We then reached the showroom’s car park and walked through it slowly.

The showroom clearly earned more money than us, Stefan and I noted as we looked around us and found new plate vehicles everywhere. They ranged from Audis, to Mercedes, to even a Porsche SUV which I had no doubt belong to the King couple.

Their car surely put my old second-second- second hand Mini to shame. But she was my baby regardless, even if she looked old and worn out compared to the shining beauties in the showroom car park.

We got to the front doors of the showroom, a large glass roof hanging out over them. We made our way through the large and open glass doors, then we were met by the receptionists.

“Good morning,” The woman nearest us, a short, grey haired woman, welcomed us.

“We’re not customers, we’re just here for a meeting from the offices across the road,” Stefan waved his hand dismissively, and at the news the woman sat back down and slouched against her chair, paying us no further attention.

“What a warm welcome,” I whispered to Stefan which was accompanied by an eye roll. “At least now we know how they make their sales, but pouncing on anyone who steps foot through those doors.”

Stefan gave a half arsed nod before we made our way through the foyer to the showroom. The metal stairs that led to the second floor sat on the far right, and had a sign that the area was just for staff so no customers would go wandering and get lost.

Stefan stepped aside and threw his arm in the direction of the steps, offering me to go up first. I smiled, but only out of courtesy. I fucking hated the metal stairs in the showroom. There felt like there was no support, and I worried I would slip and fall to my death on them.

Once I got to the top, I turned off the steps onto solid floor and let out a breath I hadn’t known I was holding. Then Stefan stepped off, close behind me. I looked up and down the tiny exposed hallway, hoping they were in one of the main meeting rooms and not in one in the back of the building where I had no doubt we would get lost.

And sure enough, inside a room just two doors away, Mrs King sat head at the table while her husband stood behind her, massaging her shoulders with a loving smile on his face. I watched as a group of people stepped out of the office, all wearing suits and dressed in much fancier clothes than Stefan and I—who just wore the work uniform colours, mostly formal clothing in black and white.

Stefan wore a white informal shirt that had the top few buttons undone, and some black trousers which looked luxe but secretly were from some summer range in M&S on sale. I wore black formal trousers, and just like Stefan, an informal white shirt. But I accompanied by outfit with a black cardigan cropped at my waist where the trousers sat.

I kept my eyes on the small group of people, noticing Owen amongst them. I smiled at him, parting my lips to call for his attention when he seemed too lost in conversation. But then right behind him, I finally noticed Kota Vernon, his green eyes locked in on me in such an intense stare that I felt as if he was trying to curse me or something.

My lips closed instantly and my smile dropped. Not because I wasn’t happy to see him, but because it felt unreal seeing him before me. I was used to seeing him as a photo on my screen, so much so that I had convinced myself he wasn’t really real and the memory of the work party was just some twisted dream.

The small group of people passed us, and I felt Stefan tense up from behind us when he seemed to noticed just who was in the group before us. He leant closer to me, as if that would cause the abnormally tall and very fit Kota to back off.

Kota gave no attention to Stefan as his eyes remained on me, and he even turned his neck slightly once he had passed me. But finally he snapped his head forward and continued to walk once again with such elegance and pose I was in awe.

Knowing he was in the same building as me was going to effect me for the foreseeable hours until I was allowed the freedom to go home, but he seemed to not even be bothered by the fact he had just walked past me, a touch away.

But I guess that summed us up. I was some obsessed, addicted fool and he just couldn’t give two fucks about my existence. I was some obedient dog that barked when he told me to.

“I thought we agreed you weren’t going to go there,” Stefan asked, coming to stand beside me. After the work event weekend, Stefan had called me during his morning jog and ranted to me that I deserved better and that I should cut the man off, focusing only on Owen.

He had taken my half arsed hums as agreement, which wasn’t my fault. I never agreed to anything, Dakota Vernon was very much still in my life and would be for as long as he wished to be.

I said nothing as I shrugged my shoulder nearest to him, then I began the walk to the meeting room where the King couple sat awaiting us.

Mrs King looked radiant, wearing a colour palette of pale green and pink which added some pops of colour to the mostly white room. Mr King retired from massaging his wife as we entered, a wide smile on his face. He wore a similar pale green to his wife, but in suit form.

That was the third time I had seen them, and had noted it was the second time I had seen them matching when it came to their clothing and colour choices.

“Ashton, Stefan, welcome. Please take a seat,” Mr King extended his hand to the multiple free seats in the room. “We’re sorry it’s so cluttered in here, we haven’t planned how we want the new office to look so we kept it as the unofficial meeting room for the time being.”

I smiled, taking a seat not too close to the head of the table, but close enough so that I didn’t look like I was trying to put too much distance between us. Stefan made his way around the other side of the table, sitting down beside Mr King who took up a seat beside his wife. We all sat so we could look at one another freely.

Somehow, the couple were much less intimidating than they had been at the work event. They looked carefree and happy there, yet here they looked professional and ready to get down to business while also keeping a happy aura about them. Maybe the breakfast we shared had opened me up to them, made them trust us that little bit and drop the walls they may have held tall against all others that were not part of their inner trusted circle.

“Thank you both for coming,” Mrs King spoke up, picking up a stack of papers beside her laptop. She bounced the papers on the table, then she picked up a stapler from the other side of her laptop before she punched the metal into the corner. The papers came to stick together, and then she reached across her husband to place the paper before Stefan.

Mrs King repeated the action three more times, placing one set of papers before her husband, then myself, then she kept the final stack in her own hand for herself. “I printed off a booklet for us to look through. It shows photos of our holiday home and the decorations, and then it shows how our new house looks and each room which is obviously bare for the time being as works are being done to the structure.”

Mr King, who remained mostly silent and observant of his wife, spoke up as she finished her piece. “We likely won’t be able to move in for over a year, so we have some time to consider making custom furniture pieces in the mean time.”

“I want you guys to keep this booklet as your bible for the coming weeks,” Mrs King continued after she picked up her cup of coffee and took a mouthful. She cringed as she placed the cup back down, to which Mr King rushed to stand and grabbed the mug.

“Shall I go make us all a fresh brew?” He offered, pointing his hands out to me and Stefan as he called for our attention momentarily. We both nodded and asked for tea, and within no time, the very rich and very powerful businessman rushed out of the room to make us all a cup of tea.

I was shocked to find the main company owner, a tall and buff businessman with a hard aura about him, was the secret tea boy for not just his wife, but her meetings also. It was almost comical for me to imagine. I had seen Mr King many times in our company newsletters, but he was nothing how I expected him to.

I half began to suspect that while Malcolm King’s name was the one registered as the main leader of the company, it was secretly his wife behind the scenes who pulled all the strings that led them to success.

“I’m leading this project as everything to do with our house is where I hold all control,” Mrs King excused when asked Stefan had asked if we should wait for her husband. “Whatever I say, goes. He won’t argue it, so don’t you worry about Malcolm.”

I opened the paper before me, my fingers ghosting over the photos as I tried to come up with creative ways to keep her an airy feel to her home while maximising storage, something she said she needed a lot of.

I found her holiday home consisted of pieces made from pale wood colours, white soft fabrics, and the odd splash of colour here and there mostly in blue. The bedrooms were all colourful and separate entities, which I knew was why Stefan was brought on to the job. He loved colour, and I loved the elegant minimalistic colour style.

“I know Casey probably told you both,” Mrs King spoke up after a few moments of silence as she allowed Stefan and I to asses the papers before us. “But I wanted you to hear it from myself also. Of course as you know we have a home in Monaco, and now we have a home back here too.”

We both nodded in understanding, placing the papers down to ensure we gave the woman full attention each time she spoke. Mrs King was friendly and bright, but despite that she held as much power as her husband. Her power wasn’t in the way she held herself or how she walked. Her power was silent, but felt in the air of the room.

“We want to pay for a trip in a few months time for you both to attend our Monaco home. It likely won’t be until May next year when the weather is it’s best, but we felt like if you could see the actual spaces we live in and want to bring here, it would help you understand our wants better. Photos can only show you so much,” She smiled towards the end of her words when she noticed our shocked expressions.

Sure, Casey had noted the potential of us going to the King former family home, but we never expected it was true. I half expected Casey had said it just to pull me onto the team in a failed attempt at seduction, but it turned out it wasn’t just flowery words.

“Do you have a problem with that?” Mrs King asked as she quirked a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. She was beautiful, and anyone could tell that. I was envious of how perfect she looked, how amazing her personality had seemed to be, and how loved she was by her husband.

They were all things I would never get. But it wasn’t the time to wallow in that. I had to focus on the task at hand. I had a job to do, and I would be fucking damned if I didn’t do it to the best of my fucking abilities. I was good at my job, and I was going to give the King family project my all.

I could use it as a distraction from my addiction to Kota, and from my lessening feelings for Owen the more the former man existed in my life.

My love life was becoming a joke, but at least work was always there for me.

“That’s during Formula 1 season, isn’t it?” Stefan asked as we finally walked back through the front doors of the showroom back to freedom.

“What is?” I asked with a quirked eyebrow as I turned to look at him. I noticed the car park was much emptier than it had been the few hours earlier when we had first entered the building.

“Monaco. Monte Carlo. May. God Ashton, you need to get a fucking hobby,” Stefan let out a laugh to show he was joking.

“I have one, thanks,” I stated, pushing my hair off my shoulder.

Stefan quirked an eyebrow, shaking his head. “Stalking a man on LinkedIn to see when he was on his phone last to prove if he if or is not ignoring you is not a hobby Ashton, it’s the start of a potential arrest warrant.”

I shrugged, about to part my lips to defend myself from his half-truth, half-joke before a smooth voice from behind us spoke up. The voice was deep, and caused a chill to run up my spine. I knew who it was before even turning to look .

I had only heard his voice twice, once in a three second voice note three years ago and once face to face some weeks ago, but it still seemed to haunt me. His voice had been engraved into my mind, and I half suspected I would never forget it. It would be a haunting melody to put me to sleep.

The voice wasn’t directed at us, I soon realised. It seemed as if it was involved in a chat amongst other people when I heard some responses, and it took all my will not to turn around and look. And based on the glare Stefan shot over my shoulder, my suspicions were confirmed.

Dakota Vernon was behind us.

“Don’t you dare. Ashton, don’t you—” Stefan warned, his voice low and deep as he tried not to call for the attention from anyone else—for his attention. But I couldn’t stop myself as I snapped my body around, my hair whipping me in the face.

I rushed my hands up to claw my hair from my face, a gasp leaving my lips as I noticed the back of Kota walking towards a handful of cars parked together in the corner of the car park, some of the few cars still remaining.

“Ashton, let’s go,” Stefan warned from behind me, and I knew I should have followed him but I was locked in place.

I watched as the people in the small group separated into their own vehicles, some getting in together and some driving off alone.

I watched as Kota climbed into a white Range Rover, the plate revealing it was essentially brand new. Somehow, the vehicle suited him, I noted as Stefan came to stand beside me.

“Woah,” He let out breathily as he watched the scene before me also. “I have to get home, it’s already past our finishing time,” Stefan checked his watch, then turned to look at me. “Get home safe, and don’t get in a stranger’s Range Rover, got it?”

I nodded my head, biting my lip. I didn’t really listen to whatever warning Stefan gave me, but if it meant he would leave me be to admire beauty in silence, then I would take it .

Stefan walked away silently, but I paid him no attention. The cars from before me pulled off one by one, but for some reason the white Range Rover remained in place, not once moving. The lights came on to reveal the ignition had been turned on, but the car didn’t move. Not an inch.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, then my smart watch. I raised my left wrist to my face and read the message.

Kota: Get in then.

I was torn between walking away, because who the fuck does he think he is to demand me to get into his car. But another part of me wanted to comply. I wanted to get in and be near him, I wanted a chance to talk to him and hear more of his voice.

I looked behind me to the retreating back of Stefan. He heeded a warning, but he knew I wouldn’t listen to him. That was likely why he left me behind, because he knew I would end up leaving with Kota anyway.

I looked back to his car, only to see him looking down at his phone as he seemed to be typing away. I bit my lower lip, debating the choices. But the choice had been made for me the second he text me, I knew I wouldn’t reject his offer.

So I sucked in a breath and pushed the nerves aside the best I could as I made my way to the car. I was conscious of every step I made and wondered if I looked stupid—but he wasn’t watching me anyway, so what was the point of stressing?

I counted the steps to try to distract myself, then finally I got close enough I could reach out and touch the car. I seized my steps, staring at the door handle which begged for my touch, for me to throw the door open and be in the same space as him.

But I hesitated.

So he took control of the situation and reached across the car to pull the handle and pushed the door open from the inside. I looked up at him, my eyes wide and my hands feeling shaky.

“What are you doing? Get in,” He called to me, to which I rushed my way around the door and climbed in. I hoped no one—especially Owen—would see me.

I closed the door behind me with a soft thud, and then looked at my hands as my nails picked at my fingers. I was anxious being in the same building as him, bear in mind being confined to such a small space as him.

I could smell his intoxicating cologne. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it smelt like power and authority, and I felt the need to laugh at that. He had all the power over me he could ever want, and I wasn’t even sure if he knew that.

It was something I hated myself for, allowing a man I didn’t know to hold this power over me. It was a sick addiction, one that I knew was about to get worse at the fact that the man had been roped in to working close me, alongside living close to me.

We had all the opportunities in the world to meet up, I realised.

And God was I going to abuse that as much as he would let me.