Obsessions (11 page)

* * * *

Before she knew what was happening, London stirred
to awareness when her body was picked up. She wanted to move closer to the
heat. It felt so warm, as she snuggled closer to the source. It was strange, as
she felt the chill to her back as her body was shifted.

London’s eyes slowly opened, as she was placed
lightly on a bed. Looking around, she realized she was in her bedroom. She
heard the shower turn on in the bathroom and watched as Ryder walked toward
her.

“How do you feel?” Ryder bent down in front of her.
She could see actual concern in his eyes, and she had to look away before she
did something she would regret. The man was nothing more than eye candy and
only being nice to her because of Zoey. “Better. Thank you for what you have
done for me. I feel like a fool.” The words slipped out before she could stop
her blabbering. She felt a tear escape as she wiped it away quickly.

“Everyone has a bad day,” Ryder said softly.

London snorted. “Bad day. Yeah, I guess you could
call it that. I…” Ryder looked toward the door just before London heard the
front door slam. Zoey and Donnie were back from the restaurant.

“I’ll hold them off while you get in the shower.”

London nodded her agreement, but before she could
stand up, Ryder pulled her chin up toward him. “It will be okay, London. I
promise everything will work out. These things happen for a reason.” She watched
as he walked out of her bedroom closing the door behind him.

Leaning against the shower wall, London breathed in
as she let the hot water bash onto her sore muscles. The water felt good as it
warmed her skin, but she didn’t have the energy to do much. She took a quick
shower, but had to get out when her vision became cloudy, and she struggled to
hold her body up.  Exhaustion from this week’s event was weighing heavy on her
mind and body.  She needed to rest before she fell down.

She grabbed hold of her necklace and talked to it.
London didn’t know if it could hear her, and she knew she was crazy talking to
a necklace, but the Tree of Life seemed to help her. She hoped that today it
would give her strength and bring her peace. Tomorrow, she would need a level
head if she were going to find a job.

She took in a deep breath, wrapping the towel around
her naked body and walking into her bedroom to lie down. She meant to turn the
light off, but finding the comfort of her bed nothing more existed.

When London’s eyes opened later, she blinked trying
to clear the sleep from her head. Gradually becoming aware of what she had done
the day before. The pain of quitting her job and losing her career crept back
in.

Rolling over onto her back the sheet that covered
her body slid down past her stomach. Glancing down she noticed that her
nightgown was on. Odd she thought. She didn’t remember putting it on last
night. Lifting her head up, London looked around her bedroom. Nothing was out
of place as she urged her body to get up. Swinging her legs down to the floor,
she groaned knowing that today she would need to put out some feelers to the
Head Hunters group.

The group would put out information on her as she
tried to find a new job. They would also cost her a fortune and she didn’t have
that much money saved. Living in New York was expensive and saving money on a
first line programmer’s salary wasn’t cutting it. She had hoped that she was
going to move up soon along with her pay. That reality was dead in the water
now. She shivered from the reality of the battle that was coming.

Head Hunters were a necessity, without them it would
be hard to find a job after only lasting ten months at her last one. They would
want to know why she left the Landon Company so soon, and Tracy and Roxie would
most likely destroy any good references she had made for herself. She would be
lucky if she got a job selling video games instead of working for a Computer
Company.

Lying in bed dwelling on it wasn’t getting her
another job. London was about to get up and take a shower when she heard people
laughing in her kitchen. Then it hit her, what happened in the park and then
later in her bedroom. The sexual tension between her and Ryder, blew her away.

The control she had to use so she didn’t make a fool
of herself boggled her mind. She wanted the man even though he irritated her
every time he opened his mouth. London knew she had to control that hunger she
felt for him. It was getting harder and harder each time he was around. But,
today she needed to focus on getting her career back on track. Hiding in her
room wasn’t going to find her a job or face her friends.

* * * *

Closing her eyes she prayed for strength, before
blowing out her breath and making herself open the door. She was embarrassed at
how she acted yesterday. An apology was the first order of business.

London’s face turned red when her friends stopped
talking as she entered the room.

“Hey sweetie, how do you feel?” Zoey asked slowly
approaching her. Donnie and Ryder were sitting at the table watching. Why were
they looking at her like she was going to break in two? She must have really
freaked them out yesterday.

“Better.” London rasped out trying to show Zoey that
she was okay. “Zoey, I…” Zoey lifted her hand to interrupt, but London shook
her head, “No, Zoey let me get this out first. I need to apologize for
yesterday. I kind of flipped out and took it out on you guys, but I’m better
now. I don’t want you to worry about me. I always land on my feet, and I know I
will find another job. You don’t have to worry about me.”

Zoey looked shocked. “Is that what you think?” she
asked pulling London over to the bar. “I know you can get another job, but you
will never find one where you can call the shots. I need you. I’m not a
programmer and I wouldn’t trust just anyone to come into my business. No one
except you, London.”

Ryder’s comment yesterday about Zoey needing her
came into focus, and she wondered if something was wrong and Zoey really did
need her help.

“I trust you with my life. Now, I’ve been practicing
this forever, and my speech was going to get you to quit your job and go into
business with me. Ryder has contacts that can get us in the door to these
companies, but it will be our product, that will get us the accounts. You make
the programs, I will sell them, and together we will conduct the business side
of it. This way you will be the one who controls the product. You won’t have to
worry about anyone stealing your work. I have to admit that when you said you
were resigning, I jumped for joy.” London arched her brow at Zoey’s statement.
Wow,
how am I supposed to take that?

“Now, before you take that the wrong way, let me
explain. I didn’t want it to happen the way it did, but I believe that you made
the right decision. That job would have slowly killed you London. It would have
stripped all the good out of you.” Tears began to slip down Zoey’s face, “I
wasn’t going to sit back and watch them do that to you. I’m fighting for you
London. You’re my best friend, and I’m offering you a business deal.
Fifty-fifty split and we make the decisions together.”

London could feel her heart pounding as Zoey made
her proposal. Could she leave her dream behind? All she ever wanted to do was
work for the Landon Company and live in New York. When she was sixteen years
old, she had read an article about Pierce Landon, explaining how he started his
company in his basement as a Programmer designing unheard of programs that
rocked the computer world. Sure people like Bill Gates were more famous, but
Pierce Landon designed his programs from a single idea to a billion dollar
business. She wanted to be like him. Now she had no job and no prospects of
getting one anytime soon.

Jerking her out of her thoughts, Ryder spoke,
“London, you will be competing with companies like Landon Computers. You will
be on a team with someone you can trust. Your overhead will be small then you
will grow. You wanted to be like Pierce? Well now, you can. Start over and
watch how well you will do. We all have faith in you. You have a lot of people
pulling for you. Hire the people you know who will support you and Zoey. Before
you know it, you will be the owners of a Fortune 500 company. That’s how good
you are, and I know my sister, and what she can do. She has helped pull some
pretty good deals out for me. She’s a great closer.”

London listened to the man who couldn’t stand her,
make the best closing argument she had ever heard. “I think she learned how to
close a big deal from her brother.”

She needed to think about this. It all sounded good
but could they do this together.
Can I give up my dream? Come on London, you
still have your dream. Now it will be just like Pierce Landon. He started in
his basement. You and Zoey will probably start in a small one-room office.
What’s the difference?
Everyone was watching her as she pondered it.

“Okay,” she whispered.

“What did you say?” Zoey asked looking at Ryder and
Donnie then back at her for confirmation.

“I’ll do it.”

The squeal from Zoey and Donnie was earth
shattering. Zoey grabbed her. They jumped up and down as her best friend
screamed in her ear. She couldn’t grab her ears quick enough before Zoey
released her. Then Donnie joined in and began jumping up and down with Zoey. He
was throwing his hands in the air dancing in the small room.

She grinned at the image of her two friends, Zoey
and Donnie, dancing around in her kitchen and prayed that she was making the
right decision. For some reason, it just felt right. The only one holding her
back was herself. Today was a new day and she planned to change her life. Today,
she would be leaving behind the pity party she was having in New York. If she
was going to move soon then she had some packing to do and some changes to make.

Ryder was over at the coffee pot pouring a cup of
coffee. She needed to at least thank him for giving her the advice and for
helping her out yesterday. She was embarrassed that he had seen her fall apart.
Maybe she had judged him wrong. She hoped that they could at least be friends.

Taking a deep breath she sat down on the stool.
“Ryder…I need to apologize to you for how I acted yesterday. I never meant for
you to see that. Hell, I never meant for it to happen. I just lost it and took
it out on you and for that I’m very sorry.”

Stifling a smile, Ryder pushed a cup of coffee
toward her.

“You have nothing to apologize for. I know what that
job meant to you and I know that you would have never hurt me. At least not on
purpose.”

Laughing at his comment, London put some sugar in
her coffee. “No I wouldn’t, not on purpose.”

She couldn’t help to smile back at the man. What
more could she ask for? She knew the exact moment that her heart opened a
little for the man she could never have.

Donnie came up and hugged her from behind. “I’m so
proud of you. I knew you would make the right decision. Only one thing is
wrong.”

“What?” London whispered.

“I need a job now too. Do you think you and Zoey
could hire another person? I’m a hard worker and know how you work, plus I’m
good for a good laugh or two.” She stared at Ryder as he paled at what Donnie
was asking for.

She stared at Ryder warily, knowing that Alpha City
was a shifter town and she knew the rules since Zoey had trusted her with her
secrets. However, Donnie didn’t and she knew that Ryder wouldn’t allow him to
move to Alpha City. What happened next had her baffled.

“I think that would be a great idea. Donnie already
knows how you work and like he said he’s helped you before. This way you don’t
have to train him.”

To say she was shocked was an understatement, as her
mouth flew open.
What was he doing?
Donnie wasn’t a shifter or a witch.
Why was he letting a complete stranger come into his secret world? The chance
he would be taking brought tears to her eyes. Was he doing this for her?

Ryder continued to smile as Zoey came and stood
beside her brother.

“I think that would be a great idea. I already like
Donnie and he would be a great addition to the business.”

“Um…okay,” she answered, uncertain on what to say
next.

“I have an appointment this afternoon, but I will
call the service we use for moving. They should have you both packed up and ready
to go by tomorrow. The trucks can deliver your things and you both can fly back
with us in the jet,” Ryder suggested.

Even though it was sweet of him to offer, it almost
felt like a command. She knew how dominant of a man Ryder could be, but why was
he doing this for her, someone who he could barely tolerate? Whatever the
reason she just needed to go with it, because leaving Donnie behind wasn’t happening.

London nodded, but she looked at Zoey for some type
of signal that Ryder was full of shit and the bomb was going to drop soon for
believing him. Donnie was so excited that he kissed her on the cheek saying he
needed to turn his resignation in and go pack his apartment up. The door
slammed as he left the apartment jarring her out of her thoughts.

“London, I need to go and make some calls. We will
need more computers and while I’m here in New York, I can get the best. I will
be back in an hour. Will you be okay while I’m gone?” Zoey asked but she looked
back toward her brother then to her.