Lucas: The Hunter Brothers Series (3 page)

As
I opened the front door I could hear the TV was on. Oh dear, this wasn’t good. It
was too early, even for Chas. I poked my head around the door tentatively, just
to check what I was in for...tears, ranting, or God forbid, ice-cream. It was
none of them and she looked surprisingly happy.

“You’re
back early, how did you get on?” I asked, slightly puzzled as she poured me a
glass of wine. She was smiling and shaking her head.

“I
left him in the restaurant. He got the numbers of three women before we’d even
ordered. He was blatant about it too. The guy’s an idiot, Jess. If you’re on a
date you show manners, that’s the point of a date. Always put your best side
forward and if that’s his best side, I’m certainly not interested in the rest
of him. He could have gone and got blown the minute he’d dropped me off if he
wanted and I wouldn’t have cared, but not while we’re actually on the date. That’s
rude and crass. Of course I knew he was that way, but I thought he might have
better standards tonight. The man isn’t good enough for me,” she stated
matter-of-factly and I had to agree.

 
“I know you think my list of necessary
attributes is ridiculous, Jess, but manners are actually at the top of the pile,”
she said as I drank my wine.

“Higher than hotness?”
I quizzed. I didn’t believe for one minute that manners were that high up for
Chas. “Higher than everything. Hotness is second, loaded is next, personality
probably fourth, although I could go for boring if there were other qualities,”
she giggled.

At
this point in time, I doubted I would ever truly understand my sister and her
strange relationship lists, even if I understood what was at the root of it. It
had happened to my mother, it had happened to me and there was
no way
it was going to happen to her.
‘Poverty’ and ‘pregnant’ were two words that would never be associated with
Chastity Evangelista if she had her way.

“How
was it, did you manage to stay upright?” she laughed as my cheeks blazed,
giving the game away. “Oh no, Jess, you didn’t,” she grinned and I nodded,
rolling my eyes.

“I
did, but the weirdest thing happened,” I smiled, remembering the beautiful
stranger who had come to my rescue and I could tell from the way she was
looking at me intently that she was all ears.

“It
wasn’t really my fault, my shoe got stuck in the deck outside and I almost lost
it.
 
As quick as a flash, this cute guy grabbed
the tray before it dropped so I could pull my heel out. I was obviously a bit
flustered by this point. I took the tray back and steadied it and turned
straight into the chest of someone who was walking up behind me and the whole
thing went flying. Oh God, it was mortifying,” I said and she was laughing
hard.

“Shut
up, you haven’t heard the best bit yet. I couldn’t look up for ages because I
thought he’d be furious. I was knelt down in those ridiculous hot pants,
picking up glass, and I wasn’t sure I could cope with a load of abuse at that
point. Eventually I summoned the courage and when I saw him, Chas, I swear my
heart stopped beating. He was just incredible.” I blew out a huge breath, wide
eyed as she stared at me.

“Was
he mad?”

“No,
that’s the funny thing. He smiled at me, I mean actually smiled, and then he
bent to help me, staring at me with these amazing blue eyes. I forgot about the
glass, I forgot about the people laughing at me and I forgot that I was worried
my hot pants might split. I have honestly never felt that way when I looked at
a man. It was like the world stopped spinning for a second,” I said dreamily as
she rolled her eyes.

“It
sounds like you’re trying to tell me it was love at first sight, and you know I
don’t buy into all that thunderbolts and instant reaction shit, Jess. He was
hot and he was kind in what sounds like the perfect storm of humiliation. He
was a momentary hero and you’re mistaking that for something else entirely.
It’s a side effect from too much Disney with Dex and not having sex for five
years in the most fertile period of your life,” she said and she was probably
right.

“So
what happened then, did you get his name and number?” she asked and I shook my
head.

“Why the hell not?”

I
knew she wouldn’t like my answer, but I was always honest with my sister, even
when I knew what was coming. She was my hotline to reality.

“Because
I kind of think that’s his job. I couldn’t chase after someone, I just couldn’t
do it,” I said as she took a deep breath. I prepared myself for the lecture
that was coming whether I liked it or not.

“You’re
Jessica Evangelista, not Jane fucking Eyre. It’s the twenty first century, not
nineteen hundred. If you like a guy, you at least need to get a name, and
that’s not considered ‘
chasing’
. That
way you can cyber stalk him anonymously and check he’s not a raving psycho
before you decide to proceed. This is basic stuff, Sis, I’ve told you a million
times,” she scoffed.

“I
know, but it’s just not me. I’m not as forward as you,” I sighed, half
laughing. I didn’t know anyone as forward as Chas.

“It’s
not about being forward, it’s about being practical. If I’d have been hit by
that blue eyed thunderbolt, do you know what I’d have done?”

She
was telling me anyway.

“While
I’m picking up the glass I say, ‘I’m so sorry’. Then I pause and gesture
subtly, waiting for his name, which incidentally he would have offered because
that’s a perfectly normal social interaction. So he says ‘Brian Dooley’...”

“He
didn’t look like a Brian,” I interrupted as she huffed impatiently.

“Not
the point, Jess, go with it. OK, so I say, ‘thank you, Brian’ as he bends to
help me, flashing a fabulous smile. No need to do anything else. That’s the
beauty of Google, Twitter, FaceBook, and Wikipedia, need I go on? I’d be
sitting here now, finding out everything I could about Brian Dooley and executing
a way to
accidentally
bump into him
again,” she stated.

“That’s
still chasing in my book, Chas,” I said as she shook her head in exasperation.

“No,
Jess, it’s called maximising your opportunities. At least my way you have a
name. What’s the point in being hit by the thunderbolt if you’re never going to
see him again?” she asked and I could see she was starting to lose it.

“I
believe in fate that way. I think if something’s meant to be then it’s meant to
be,” I smiled as she hit me with her fiercest stare.

“That’s
because you spend every night reading the Bronte’s. That’s not life, Jess, at
least not life today. We don’t live in a little village where you’ll wind up
marrying the Lord of the Manor. This is a sprawling metropolis with millions of
people, all looking for the same thing you are.”

“Love?”
I smiled.

“No.
Needle in a haystack....hot guy who is helpful in a crisis and believe me, the
twenty other women who swooned over him tonight will know his name and be
Googling him as we speak. You are putting yourself at a major disadvantage,
that’s all I’m saying. And if he’s really hot you can make that twenty five.
So, on average Brian Dooley has one hundred and seventy five women a week to
choose from; women who know his name. Multiply that up and you can see where
I’m coming from,” she said, her face softening ever so slightly having made her
point.

We
would never see eye to eye on this.

“It’s
just not the way I expect to meet someone, Chas. I trust in fate,” I smiled as she
shook her head.

“Screw
fate, you have to make this shit work for you, Sis. You’ve got Cinderella
syndrome, that’s your problem,” she laughed, throwing a cushion at me. She was
probably right, so I took myself off to bed with an Agatha Christie and internal
promises to wean myself off the Bronte’s and stop secretly wishing I’d been
born one hundred years earlier.

CHAPTER 2

“Hopefully
this is about the Christmas bonus,” Ruby smiled at me as she sent the email to
everyone in the building alerting them to a meeting in the main boardroom at two.
Bonus?
This was news to me. It was unlikely I’d be
entitled anyway, I d only been here eight weeks.

I
smiled across at her. “It’s a bit unusual though. Mr Turnbull normally goes
through the building department by department, thanking people individually for
the work they’ve done. He must be too busy. He’s been locked in there for days,”
she said in a hushed whisper.

I’d
thought the same, but with little experience I hadn’t been entirely sure that
it wasn’t normal if he was working on something important. I’d barely seen him;
aside from the two minutes he called me into his office this morning and asked
me to re-sign my contract, mumbling something about an extra day’s holiday that
HR hadn’t included. I hadn’t argued as he slid it across the desk. I signed it
and slid it straight back, making him a coffee and returning to my reports.

“He
looked tired this morning, Ruby. Do you think he’s okay?” I asked, thinking
that the wrinkles around his eyes had looked a little deeper than usual. I
liked Mr Turnbull. He was a good man who was giving me a chance and I had a lot
to thank him for.

“I
don’t know, Jess, but whatever it is, it looks like we’ll find out at two,” she
said, calling me over and showing me a new Excel system that would make
formatting and filing my work a lot more efficient. I made notes. I was
learning quickly but there was still so much to take in. Ruby wanted me to have
all the key things covered by the time she retired next month and with four
years waitressing skills and absolutely no office experience, it was proving to
be a baptism of fire.

“I
finished all the online training you suggested at the weekend. I’ve been
practising it endlessly, so if you see a file called Jessica’s Initiation,
that’s what it is,” I laughed as she smiled broadly back at me, pulling another
sheet from her desk.

“Here’s
phase two and you’re doing really well. Keep it up.”

I
took the paper from her, scanning the list. I’d already come so far and was really
enjoying it. I called into my boss’s office at ten to two, to see if he wanted
a cup of tea ahead of the meeting and he looked utterly exhausted.

“Are
you okay, Mr Turnbull?” I asked as he looked up, trying to force a half smile.
“I just wondered if you want your afternoon tea,” I smiled back, noticing the
bags under his eyes had darkened further since this morning. He shook his head,
holding up what looked like a tumbler of scotch and my heart sank. Even after
only two months, I knew that my boss didn’t drink hard liquor in the middle of
the day, but whatever was going on, it didn’t look like he was about to share
it with me now.

“No
thanks, Jess,” he said simply as I left the room and made my way downstairs
with Ruby to wait for him, along with the rest of Capitol Industries. The room
was awash with gossip and rumour. From the snatched rumblings I overheard, I
began to wonder if Ruby was wrong about the Christmas bonus. There was an
instant silence as he entered, but I felt slightly better, noticing he looked a
lot fresher than he had ten minutes earlier, confidently striding towards the
front of the gathered crowd in his well cut suit and standing tall.

My
spirits rose for a few moments and fell instantly as soon as his speech began.
Most of what he said went over my head, because as soon as I heard the words
“hostile takeover” and “at risk” my mind was spinning along with my stomach.

It
would soon be Christmas, this job was the best thing that had happened to me in
years and I needed it. I wasn’t stupid enough not to realise that with only eight
weeks service I‘d be one of the first people they’d cut. I’d worked really
hard, but it didn’t negate the fact that I didn’t have the qualifications
required and some things just came with experience, there was no getting away
from that.

Mr
Turnbull had told me that three months would be sufficiently long to verse me
in the necessary skills for his basic day to day activities and pick up when
Ruby retired in January.

He
was funding my online training, and every night when Dexter was in bed I’d
worked and worked to increase my competence. But there was lots I didn’t know,
things I still couldn’t do and I suddenly felt sick. With so little experience,
it wasn’t as if I would walk into another office job.
 
As I looked at Mr Turnbull’s face I felt
sicker still. He was putting on an act, feigning confidence and positivity for
the benefit of the gathered crowds. Beneath the bluster, his normally happy
green eyes were dull and sad, buried beneath the bags as he finished his
speech.

The
poor man had been forced from the company he had helped to create and worked so
hard for. I wasn’t surprised he was drinking scotch in the middle of the day. As
everyone filed out of the boardroom whispering nervously, I made my way to his
office and poured him another.

He’d
ordered everyone home. We’d meet our new owners tomorrow and he answered no
questions at all, leaving me to speculate anxiously and wonder whether I’d
still have a job at Christmas. It wasn’t looking promising.

I
filled Chas in on the events of the day, trying to keep Dexter out of earshot.
Chas was an optimist, but I could see the troubled glaze in her eyes as she
tried to perk me up.

“It’s
not a done deal, Jess. They’ll still need a PA and Ruby retires soon,” she
smiled kindly, pouring me a glass of wine.

“Yes,
a PA who knows what they’re doing and I can’t come back to Elite. Mrs Jones
can’t mind Dexter every night; it’s too much for her now. I won’t get another
office job and if I do day waitressing or shop work I won’t be able to pay my
way. There is no way I can face going back to that estate,” I said as the tears
began to well in my eyes.

“We’ll
figure it out, Jess. Stop worrying. You and Dex are going nowhere. I’m
practically running half the show down there now with Patrick. We still need
organisers and day staff. It’s not ideal but we’ll sort something out.”

My
sister was not one of life’s worriers. I never used to be, but I had Dexter. He
was my responsibility and it was up to me to provide for him. Chas had already
done so much more than I could ever have asked her for and I would never go
back to where we were. The thought terrified me. She never said it, but I knew
we couldn’t afford this place without my job. She could take in two lodgers and
live her life to the full, but she hadn’t. As it was, we muddled through,
largely thanks to the job she’d secured for me.

“Drink
this and see what tomorrow brings,” she chirped, handing me another glass as I
nodded and went to play with Dexter. It was the only way I’d get through
tonight.