Her Salvation (Cadance and Rayne) (2 page)

She had went to school for four years to get a
Bachelor’s degree in liberal arts.  No one had told her that liberal arts was just a stepping stone for something else.  Not having the money to go on for a master’s degree, and not wanting to, she'd quickly found an entry-level position.

She had been there for six months now and was only getting to move into the new
position temporarily.  The girl that had it before as on maternity leave.  Cadance knew that she would be coming back in a few months but, anything was better than what she had been doing.

The two
continued shopping for several hours, finally stopping to get a quick snack at one of the vendor carts on the street.  Eating their cinnamon pretzels they walked, packages in one hand, to the next shopping plaza.

Passing a group of guys
around their age, they moved over to let them by.  Glancing at the group Cadance began to blush.  She had caught the eye of one of them.  She remembered him, he had been one of her mistakes from several months before.

Recognizing
her he turned to his friends and started talking low.  As they continued passed Cadance and Jacie, they erupted in laughter.  Shame engulfed Cadance, making her lose her breathe.

Trying to breathe in through her nose and out her mouth, she
continued walking.

"Hey", Jacie said
tossing the rest of pretzel in the trash, she put her arm around Cadance's shoulders.  "Forget about them, they’re jerks."

Not saying anything Cadance
continued walking.

Jacie was the only one that Cadance
had ever told about her past.  Her parents knew some of it but, not all. Jacie knew all the horrible things Cadance had to live through as a child and why she had ended up the way she did.  Cadance knew that she could trust Jacie with her secrets.  She would never tell anyone else.

Concentrating on her breathing, she continued to walk.  Soon they came to a small boutique and went inside.  Losing herself in the fun of shopping again, Cadance was soon able to make herself forget about the guys from the street.

They continued shopping, going to several more shops.  After another few hours Cadance decided that she'd had enough.  She was pleased with her purchases.  On her limited budget she felt that she had been able to buy enough nice stuff to supplement the things she already had at home.

"
You ready to get home?"  She asked Jacie after paying for the new heels that she had found on clearance.

"Yes"
, Jacie said nodding. "I'm beat."

"
Me too", cadence said as she stepped outside.

Following her out the door, Jacie moved up to walk
alongside her.

Reaching their apartment, they carried they're bags up to the second floor.  Coming to the door of their apartment, Jacie knocked for Max to let them in. 

After a few seconds, he opened the door.

"
How’d shopping go?" he asked taking the bags from Jacie's hands.  Leaning over he kissed her lightly.

"
Great.  I think", she said smiling.

Turning to the couch he placed the
bags there.  He knew that the girls would take care of them.

"What do you want for dinner?"  Jacie asked. 
She started walking towards the kitchen.

Cadance carried her packages towards her room.  As she did,
she heard the couple talking behind.

"I thought we'd
order a pizza or something, babe.  You've been out all day.  Standing and walking. You need a break I think", he told her as he walked to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"
Oh, that’s sweet", she said and kissed him.

The two walked over to the couch and sat down. 

Cadance, reaching her room, dropped her packages on the floor just inside her door.  Looking at the bed she let out a deep sigh.  The covers were rumpled and lay in disarray all over the bed.  Walking to the edge of the bed, she grabbed the bottom corner and pulled the sheet up.  Pulling all the cover off in one pile, she turned and placed it on the floor beside her packages.

Going to her small closet, she grabbed
another set of sheets from the rack above her clothes.  She put the new covers on the bed and collapsed back on the bed.  Lying on her back she stared up at the ceiling.

She
could hear the low murmur of Jacie and Max in the other room.  The sounds of the TV sometimes drowning out their voices.  Cadance lay in bed for a while, until she heard the sound of someone knocking on the door.

Pizza, she thought. 
She was actually really hungry now and pizza sounded wonderful. 

Rising
from the bed she went to the living room and joined Max and Jacie there.  Sitting in the recliner at the end of the couch she grabbed a piece of pizza from the box on the coffee table.

The group sat watching TV in silence, eating their pizza.  After watching a movie, Jacie and
Max decided to go to their room.  Cadance thought of it as their room, even though Max had his own apartment he never stayed there.  She expected a proposal to come any day.  The couple had been together for four years already.

Tired of watching TV, Cadance went to the bathroom, brushed her teeth, and changed into a t-shirt for bed.  Lying in bed she attempted to go to sleep. She was finally able to
after lying in bed for several hours.

Chapter 3

"Crap, crap, crap", Candace said as she spotted the run going up the side of her pantyhose.  She had planned to get to work early today but nothing seemed to be working out.

She'd dropped her lipstick on the white blouse she'd first put on, smearing it all the way down the front of it. 
Changing into the pale blue blouse she'd pulled her hair out of the knot she'd finally managed to get it up into.  After she'd fixed her hair she'd tried to grab a cup of coffee and had dropped the clear glass sugar canister in the process.  It had shattered all over the floor, waking Jacie up.

Jacie,
seeing her distress, had shooed her out of the kitchen and cleaned the mess up.  Now, just as she was about to walk out the door, she'd found the run.  Growling n frustration, she walked inside the door of her room and yanked off the pantyhose, using her hand against the wall to hold herself up.

Getting the pantyhose off, she put her shoes back on. 
She didn't want to waste any more time finding another pair.  She checked her black pencil skirt and pale blue, short-sleeved blouse in the mirror as she passed it in the hallway.

Here black 3 inch heels clicking on the bare floor in the entryway, she yelled bye to Jacie.  Jacie called back to here to have a good day, Cadance could smell the food Jacie had begun cooking and wished she had time
to eat.

Knowing she
didn’t she grabbed her house and hurried out the door.  Moving down the stairs as quickly as she could in her heels, she soon came to the door of the apartment building'.  Reaching the sidewalk she turned right and hurried towards the business section of town.

Reaching
the corner, she crossed against traffic, some of the drivers yelling at her.  Finally back on the sidewalk she continued the rest of the way to work.

Reaching the five story building she stopped to catch her breath.  Looking up at all
the shiny windows lining the building, she looked to the very top right side and read the name there.  Douglas International.

The company she worked for, Douglas International, was a family owned
company.  She had learned her first day there that three brothers had founded the company right out of college.  The company dealt in stocks, bonds, and other financial areas.  Cadance knew that the company had several other areas that they pursued also.

Her boss
was the middle son of one of the brothers.  He like her, she'd been told, had graduated college recently and had taken a job at the family business.  She hoped that he would be nice to work for. No one had really talked to his previous assistant.  She'd kept to herself mostly.

Finally
getting her breath, Cadance began walking to the building.  She approached the lobby doors and paused to let the man ahead of her go in.  Holding the door for her, he smiled at her.

Glancing
at him, she smiled and continued walking into the lobby.  There were people coming and going all over.  The four elevators had several people lined up in front of them, waiting to get on. Moving to the first group, she stood waiting with the others.

Pulling her black smart phone
from her purse, she texted Jacie. 

Well
I’m here.  Wish me luck.

Good luck she received the text
almost instantly, which told her Jacie had probably been waiting to hear form her.

Smiling she
turned her attention back to the elevators.  The first of the four finally opened.  Moving forward with the twenty or so others, she filled inside with the group.  It was a tight fit but they all managed.

"Four please?" 
She asked whoever could push the button.  Standing at the back of the group, she couldn’t tell if anyone had pushed the button.  The elevator began moving up. Stopping at the first three floor many of the others got off, leaving only her and three other people.  A short bald man, an older grey haired woman, and a chubby flushed faced, younger boy.

The young boy
looked her up and down, appreciatively.  His beady eyes, watching her from behind large glasses.  Turning her attention back to watching the lighted numbers above the doors, she tried to ignore him.

The
doors finally opened on the fourth floor.  Letting out a sigh of relief she moved to get off the elevator. 

"Looks like we're going to the same place", the younger guy said as he moved up
behind her.

Smiling
tightly, she tried to ignore him.  Walking toward the right side of the hallway, she began walking to the large office there.

The guy stayed right behind her, almost touching her with his arms as they walked.  Scooting over slightly, she was irritated when he followed.

"Sebastian", she heard a commanding voice say.

The
guy behind her stopped, his head jerking up to look at the man standing in the office door.

"Leave my new assistant alone.
Get to work."  The man told him, Cadance could see the anger on his face.

She watched as Sebastian gave the man a scathing look and walked passed him into the office.

"I'm sorry.  You'll have to excuse my cousin, he was dropped on his head as a baby."  Reaching his hand out he said, "Hi I am Rayne Douglas and you must be Cadance."

Nodding she shook the hand he held out to her.  She was speechless. 
She hadn't expected this.  The guy was gorgeous.  Nice tanned complexion, full lips, chiseled figure, and chocolate eyes.  The grey suit he wore fit him perfectly.

She
couldn’t stop staring.  His hand in hers finally pulled her from her stupor.

Embarrassed
now she cleared her throat, "Yes.  Yes I am Cadance, nice to meet you."

"Ok, he said walking into
the office.  She followed right behind him.  Leading her to a large cherry wood desk he stood aside so she could walk behind it.

"As you know you
don’t have an official title but, essentially you are my assistant.  Grace, the girl that you are replacing for the moment, did a little bit of everything.  Just try to keep up with things and you'll do fine."

Nodding her head, Cadance sat down at the desk he'd shown her to.  "
Ok", she finally managed still overwhelmed by his presence.

Sensing this he smiled and turned to walk away, "You know how the
phone system works.  Just never transfer a call to me without checking with me first. Ok?"

"Ok", she said, nodding again.  She was beginning to feel
like a bobble head she thought.

After he'd
walked into his own office and shut the door, she put her head on her arms on top of the desk.  How embarrassing, she thought.

"
Cadance?"  She heard through the intercom on her black desk phone.

Jerking her head up
her said "Yes?"

"Just turn your
computer on and breath, you'll do fine."

"Ok, Thanks", she said smiling.

Turning the computer on, she watched as the blue screen lit up.  Soon the home screen, showing the company name behind it, came on.

Looking at the screen, she began to familiarize herself with
everything there. 

"Cadance?" 
She heard through the intercom again.