The Temp (3 page)

4

Oh you stupid, stupid girl.

Eve knew she was in trouble the second she left the office.

Her heart lurched with every footfall, if she could just put one foot in front of the other and get out of here. She realised what she’d done was bad; the idea had given her hope. She’d acted against her nature, against her better judgement.

It had been a spur of the moment idea, a chance hope.  She’d gotten coffee for her and Trigger and spilled it all down his lap,
by accident
. It wasn’t as hard as she thought; her hands still trembled from her conversation with Trigger. Then she’d gone and spilled her own coffee on her keyboard, prompting her to waste a half hour cleaning it up. She didn’t stop there. Eve was terrible on purpose, to the point she hoped it would get her fired; losing files, printing off the wrong documents. Even if it meant the temping agency would drop her. Some things had to be sacrificed. For all intense and purposes she would at least see whether it sparked a reaction from her blackmailer, after all she wasn’t sure what kind of danger she was in. She needed to establish the boundaries fast. They’d threatened to expose her, was it all a bluff? How far were
they
willing to go?

And Trigger? He took it all in its stride.

The clock showed five thirty and she headed to the elevator.  It hadn’t been established what time she should leave, Eve normally would have asked.
Normally.

Her hands trembled all the way. She clutched her handbag tight to cease the motions. Her attention fixed on the steel doors for dear life. As if she knew just how much trouble she was in.

DING.

The doors opened archaically slow. Eve shuffled in. Suits shuffled in behind her.  Then the doors-

There was a thud and a hand braced parting the elevator doors. She almost jumped out of her skin.
That
hand, those silver cufflinks.

For a second it looked like the doors wouldn’t open.
A second.

Then         they              opened.

Trigger Raines stepped in.

Eve stood right at the back, a mouse among lions. She was sure it was him; his golden haired halo peeked out between shoulders and above heads.

Eve ducked down, praying Trigger Raines didn’t know she was in the same elevator. For all she knew it was a coincidence, those happened all the time.

The elevator descended down a few floors.

DING. The doors opened. Suits shuffled out. Others shuffled back further in.

Eve rose on her tiptoes for a glimpse, hoping the man had gotten out. Her mouth dried. His halo was further back now, closer to her, only one man apart. Sweat prickled her forehead. Her hands were hot and moist.

DING. More suits shuffled out. The occupants rearranged again. The halo disappeared. It was gone. Gone.

Her shoulders slumped like puppet strings cut.

A hard shoulder pressed against her side.

DING. The suits rearranged again.

Trigger Raines swivelled              and anchored himself right in front of her. His gaze locked down on hers, his jaw clenched.

She swallowed, knowing what was coming.

Those eyes, that unspoken accusation.
I know what you did,
they said. He shuffled in next to her again, shoulder to shoulder, breathing in the same air.

There were eight people in the elevator, it was a tight fit and Eve felt him hard against her side.

Unrelenting. Her knees fought to slacken, she fought to stay upright. There was a sickening churning in her gut. The air was thick, unyielding and unbreathable. Her chest heaved. The space grew smaller.

The elevator descended.

Five floors.

Ten floors.

So much heat in this little box. Sweat beaded down her neck, down her blouse. When finally the doors opened. She was one of the first ones falling out shoving passed others, into the lobby, catching herself at last minute and bolting. She skidded on the marble floors. So close to the exit.

There. Freedom. Finally. 

“Not so fast,” Trigger caught her elbow. He steered her out of the building and down an alleyway to the left. His touch was hard and hot against her blazer.

Eve didn’t know what was happening. Panic flared. What was happening? For a fleeting moment she’d smelled freedom, tasted New York’s polluted air and exhaust fumes on her tongue. Her heart jolted in her steps and suddenly they were in an alleyway, a narrow slit between two buildings and she was pressed up against a wall.

He thrust himself up against her. And it looked.
Oh.
She gasped. He stepped back. “Eve,” the way he said her name, breathed it out like a secret between them, a crime they were committing together. Her stomach muscles tensed. No one had ever said her name like that before. “Let’s not make this difficult on each other.”

Eve flushed, it sounded like a preposition and suddenly she remembered where she was and with whom. “Difficult?” she pushed off the wall finally finding some traction in her thoughts.

“You’re blackmailing me,” she hissed looking around in case someone heard. “How can it not be difficult? Was it you on the phone?”

Trigger studied her, exhaled and ran a hand through his hair; making him look years younger, almost innocent.
Almost.

“You’ve got it all wrong,” he smiled eliciting a hollow laugh. Eve did not smile, nor laugh. She stood her ground. “I’m not with them,” he said. “I’m in the same boat as you.”

Her eyebrows shot up, she didn’t know what to make of it and frankly she wasn’t sure what he was saying. “I’m here against my will.” He held her stare, imploring. The way he said it was so confessional. So-

Eve did not move.

“You didn’t think you were the only one did you?”

Did she?
No.
Her shoulders slackened a little, her stance faltered. “You’ve been at the company a while,” she said as if it should be reason enough. 

“I know, they like digging up dirt and they’re using what they have against me.”

“What do they have?”

“If I wanted you to know I’d tell everyone.” She turned away; it wasn’t really any of her business. Her lips held taut. She didn’t know what to say, how to respond. It had all been easier seconds before when she was sure of where she stood. It was easier to hate this man than to be confused about him.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“Eve, I’m being blackmailed,” Trigger glanced around and gripped her shoulders. The danger of his closeness never met her eyes. “You have no idea how freeing it feels to tell someone,” he smiled in such a disarming way. Her head tilted towards him.

“How long?” her voice was so small she wasn’t even sure she’d said it.

“A while. I haven’t given them much which is why I suspect they brought you on, I’m sure of it. This is all my fault. If I’d given them something concrete from the start”- his gaze trailed the ground, his hands went to his pockets.  “You wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for me.”

“Don’t say that,” she said. “You couldn’t have known they’d bring someone else in.” She shouldn’t be forgiving this guy, she shouldn’t, yet she couldn’t help it. There was something lonely and desperate in his voice. A mere stranger and Eve could see vulnerability akin to hers.

He let out a sigh in a whoosh and came in close. “I’m sorry they’re putting you through this.” He was close. Too close and her breath caught again. There was something so disarming about him and so…“I know I’m your handler but things will work better if we’re a team.” His eyes bored straight into hers and she couldn’t look away. “I need you Eve.” The way he said it trembled her knees. If she wasn’t up against the wall she would’ve slipped down into the gutter. “I need us to be a team. Besides, I know what it is you’re trying to do.” Eve blinked.  “Because I did it too. Trust me it didn’t work.”

He was talking of her attempts to ruin her job.

“It didn’t?” her voice faltered.

“They only tighten the noose,” his face was steely in the shadows and Eve swallowed. There was a threat he was talking of, something had happened and it didn’t feel right to ask. Though she couldn’t help wonder at what it was.

He pulled back and suddenly the distance left her cold.

“How did they find me?” she whispered.

“I don’t know their methods only that they have a lot of resources and I’m not the only one they have in the company.”

“What?” she blanched.

“There are others, so I wouldn’t go confessing to anyone or reaching out for help. I’m sure they’ll find a way to get someone close to you.”

“Like you?” her cheeks reddened ever so slightly.

“Like me. It’s only a few weeks, a small sacrifice to protect your secrets. You’re young, innocent, what is it they could possibly have on you?”

This woke her up, Trigger could be an ally, she needed one of them, except she didn’t need a friend. Eve pushed off the wall.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“So I’ll see you tomorrow?” she said deadpan and walked down the alley without looking back. It was just the sound of her deer like steps, so she knew she was alone stepping out into the street where she met the rush hour. She let herself dissolve in the fray, needing desperately to get away. Things were so much more complicated than they were moments before.

A few weeks. Just a few weeks.
Eve recited this all the way to the subway. And Trigger, he sparked all kinds of emotions in her, conflicting her thoughts, clouding her judgment. He’d warned her because he cared, but he’d warned her of himself. He was one of them and yet he wasn’t. Maybe he was in her corner after all.

The next few days were uneventful, a little too uneventful for someone supposedly being blackmailed. Eve did her work as best she could. Trigger was hardworking and polite. There was a tension between them she didn’t want to deal with. She tried not to dwell on it. Tried. Time passed in a blur. The blackmailers hadn’t called on their services yet. It was only a matter of time.

Eve could almost believe she was doing a normal temping job for a normal temping agency, in a normal albeit monster large company, if it wasn’t for Trigger Raines and Roman Pierce. It was that tension keeping her on her toes and waiting to be called upon. The wait only made it so much more agonising. Eve did her work and she was grateful for having a job to distract her, though she longed to get this over with. The office wasn’t exactly dull. It had Trigger and it had Roman a floor above. Both of them were handsome and heart throbbing. She could appreciate looks though seeing them day in and day out, was unbearable, like having chocolate she couldn’t eat. Not that Roman passed her way, ever. She saw bits of him. Never directly like the first time, like the enigma.  He would pass the office in quick succession, stopping to talk to others on his way. He never looked her way. Never.

Eve waited for the day they might meet again, it wasn’t happening anytime soon. For all she knew he didn’t know she worked here. She sighed. Besides, what would she do about it anyway? She wasn’t some sex kitten with claws she could readily dig into any man. She didn’t have the faintest clue about men. It just felt unfair to be exposed for prolonged periods if she couldn’t enjoy it.

On the fourth day, Roman Pierce finally noticed her.

5

Eve peeked over her cubicle wall as Roman Pierce walked passed.
Normally he’d make a beeline around her desk, his eye line never straying to her.  This time he walked passed her desk and into Trigger’s office. A glimmer of hope ran up her spine. A part of her wanted him to look her way. Her eyes burned into his back, willing him to.

He didn’t.

“Trigger how’s it going?” Roman pulled open the glass door. 

Eve’s neck craned round, her fingers pressing over the walls of her cubicle lifting her up. Until now Trigger had always gone upstairs to Roman’s office, not the other way around. If Roman’s office had called her phone it was always through his secretary, Eve never heard his voice on the telephone line.

He marched into the office. “Did you get the Blithe documents?” Roman said stepping in and sitting on the black leather lounge.

Eve spun in her swivel chair, half obscured by the half partition wall as she watched Trigger join him on the lounge. The glass door had not properly closed, snagging on the carpet an inch open, like it always did, you had to push it shut the whole way for extreme privacy. Thankfully, she could still hear what was going on inside.

“Roman what brings you down here? Doesn’t Melinda usually ask me for the documents?” Trigger folded one leg over the other as he assessed the man before him.

“Melinda’s on leave.”

“I thought that wasn’t for a few more weeks.”

“So did I,” Roman leaned back, one arm draped over the leather, one leg crossed at an angle over the other. His gaze went to the artwork above the mantle, a black and white photograph of a handgun. “Frankly I’m suffering without her. The temp they got me is terrible. I had to let her go.”

“You couldn’t wait until another came along?”

“No.”

Eve spun in her chair and hunched forward as if she’d never heard. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her. She shouldn’t eavesdrop, what was it to her anyway?

“I guess I lucked out then. Mine is quite good,” Trigger said. Her head bobbed up, Eve didn’t have to turn to know Trigger was speaking of her. Her heart started racing against her ribcage, a horse galloping for dear life. Her palms sweat and that prickling sensation tickled the back of her neck.

“You’re secretary is also away?” Roman said.

“Natalie retired. It was unfortunate at the time.”

Eve wanted to turn, felt those eyes on her. She swivelled round slowly. There he was, just as lovely as she remembered, even more so. She met his gaze head on. Roman’s eyes were darker than she remembered like the bottom of the ocean. He was decked out in a pinstripe dark suit and pants, his shirt a light cream. She watched him run a hand through his hair and wished she knew how that felt. Roman was…addictive to watch, entrancing her. And for a moment she forgot that he was absolutely watching her too. She gasped and spun round. She felt her heart skip a beat. Her eyes craned round to the side trying to catch a glimpse in her peripherals.

“
That
is my new secretary, Eve,” Trigger inclined his head towards Eve, an inflection in his voice, now she really was on display.

“Eve,” Roman breathed her name in a sigh and if Eve had been standing she would have fallen, instead her legs jellied further into her chair. Eve turned round as if it had never happened. She hunched forward and began typing on the keyboard, copying up some notes she’d been doing moments before. Her hands shook over the keys, it didn’t matter. As long as it didn’t look like she was eavesdropping. As long as-

“Can I have her?” Roman said.

Her head shot up, her hands stilled, she resisted turning round. It took her another second to cover up her reaction as she typed again, typing and typing. It sounded like a joke between frat boys. Who talks like that?
Can I have her?
Please. Roman Pierce, the man who could have anything and everything was asking for her.
Her,
like she was some property or fling to be passed around. It should infuriate her yet her heart was racing and her cheeks betrayed her. She wanted him even in his arrogance. If only she could be so bold.

For a moment Trigger didn’t say anything. There was a silence behind her that caused her to slow in her typing leaning back ever closer in case the voices lowered.

“Sure, she’s yours. I have to warn you, she’s not easy,” Trigger said. Her mouth dropped. Oh, how she could imagine him smiling at the thought and how she would love to slap that smile off his face, her fingers flexed. She continued to type as if her life depended on it.

For a minute there was just Eve and her keyboard.

Roman’s face popped over the partition wall.

Eve gasped.

“Did I scare you?” his eyes crinkled in amusement, his head tilting to the side and his elbows rested on the cubicle wall. She was solely in his sights for the first time in what felt like forever. “I didn’t know you worked here.”

Her brow knit together. “Didn’t you ask me if it was my first day when we first met?” She had him there, didn’t she?

“Indeed, someone has a good memory and so it is we meet again.” Eve swallowed, her cheeks turning hot fuchsia. “What are you working on?”

“Typing up notes,” she whispered.

His gaze mellowed. “Is that so?” his eyes strayed to her screen. “You weren’t eavesdropping on my and Trigger’s conversation?”

“That would be a violation of privacy,” Eve bit her lip, her hands falling into her lap.

“As his secretary there’s a fine line between what’s private and what isn’t.” She looked at the computer screen for the first time since she’d started writing.
Touch me touch me touch me touch me touch me. Oh god!
She hit delete and glanced up again.

“Autocorrect,” she didn’t dare look up. Damn, the lamest excuse known to man.

“It appears I have acquired you to my office,” Roman said.

Eve froze, meeting his onyx eyes, so indecipherable. “Sir?”

“Please, call me Roman.”

“Roman,” his name was so serene. He closed his eyes like he was inhaling the name whispering off her lips. “I already have a boss,” he opened them again. Eve turned to her desk. “And a position.”

“Now you have a new position, under me.” Her cheeks flushed again and she bit her lip staring down at her keyboard. “I need you Eve,” he looked straight at her as he said it. Her mouth dropped and her skin buzzed for his touch. She’d heard that before from Trigger and regardless it melted her insides. “I’ll meet you in my office after lunch, two pm, don’t be late.” Roman Pierce walked down the aisle with Eve gawking like a school girl.

In all her life Eve had never been summoned like that.

She had no idea how she felt about it.