Read The Line That Binds Series Box Set Online
Authors: J. M. Miller
“Sure,” she replied, busying her little hands by shuffling the papers on her desk. “I apologize that it’s been so long since we’ve talked. Lloyd and Ben both say that you’ve picked up the grounds work very well. They’ve had no complaints so I figured there wasn’t much to talk about.” She was being more courteous than I expected.
I pinched the Co-op paperwork in both hands to hide my nerves. I wasn’t afraid to talk to her, but I was worried what she’d say. Thinking about the topics, I decided which would be the better lead-in. “Well, I wanted to discuss the possibility of working the Co-op program from school.” Before she had a chance to process I added, “I’ll work the same amount of hours, just earlier.”
Her eyes tipped toward the ceiling in contemplation and she leaned back a fraction in her chair. She was wearing her hair longer now, down to her shoulders. Today it held a wavy look, like she’d stepped off the beach. It was a complete contradiction to her business suit, but it looked cute.
“I’m okay with that,” she stated simply after a moment. She motioned for the papers and I handed them to her in shock.
I let out a relieved breath and grinned stupidly. “Really?”
“Yeah,” she said, looking over the papers and filling them out. “Did your father okay this?”
I scrunched my face at the thought. “I’m going to tell him later. He’s at work.”
“This other paper is for him to sign, not me.”
“Oh, sorry.”
She slid both papers across her desk. “As soon as it’s authorized, let me know so I can update the schedule. And I’ll let Lloyd know to expect you earlier.”
“Actually, that’s the other thing I wanted to talk about,” I blurted before I could change my mind. She looked at me, blank-faced, waiting. “Ben told me about the Halloween party that you normally have—”
“The decorations have already been brought out of storage. They are outside for you guys to start on today,” she stated matter-of-factly.
“Okay, but,” I said, pushing past her interruption, “after he told me about the party, I realized that I’ve learned a fair amount about the grounds, yet I don’t really know much about this place. I don’t know the customs or anything business related, and I’d really like to start learning.”
Her eyes widened reflexively and she took a deep breath through her nose. Ben had told me she wanted to buy the estate so I knew this would be a sore subject. Maybe she never intended to let me learn, that way I’d be more willing to sell. After she silently evaluated me for a moment, she said, “Okay.”
“Okay? I mean, all right.” She caught me off-guard again.
“When you’re approved for the Co-op program, you can start working in the office with me.”
“Sounds good,” I said enthusiastically, with a large smile. Possibly too enthusiastically because she eyed me again.
“Don’t think it’s going to be a cakewalk. It’s a good deal of work.”
“No, of course not. I’m sure I have a lot to learn,” I admitted and pinched my lips together tightly, fighting to contain the smile.
She nodded then moved more papers around her desk. “If that’s all, some clients will be here soon. I suggest you go help Ben start the decorations.”
I stood in a hurry, partly afraid she’d change her mind and partly excited because the meeting had gone way better than I’d expected. I moved to the door and said, “Thanks.”
She glanced up, her face stoic with no reply.
I floated down the hall, happily confused with what had happened. She agreed to it all. Whatever the cause, it was all right with me. There was no reason to dwell.
When I got to the top of the stairs, Emily was starting to climb them. She worked only two or three days a week now. I didn’t care enough to know her new schedule. Apparently, I would have to pay more attention now.
Her body stiffened at the sight of me. “LJ,” she said with a sneer, continuing up the steps.
“Emily,” I replied calmly, not wanting to fight. I was on a high from talking to Simone and I wouldn’t let her ruin that. Besides, this was my house. Not hers. She should have enough sense to consider repercussions before starting anything here.
The curved staircase was wide enough to fit us with room to spare, though we were still too close when we reached the same level. I leaned forward for my next step, but her foot shot out and clipped mine, tripping me. Unable to catch myself, I dove head first. The Co-op papers spilled to the floor when I pushed my hands out in front of my face. I still kissed the lip of a stair when I hit. My body slid over the rounded edges of the remaining stairs, only stopping when my palms touched the floor.
Her laugh traveled up the high walls and echoed throughout the silent mansion. “Oops. You should be more careful.”
Without thinking, I rolled to my feet and bounded up toward her before her shocked eyes had a chance to blink. She turned and ran. I was two steps behind her when someone opened one of the front doors. “I think this place is exactly what you’re looking for,” someone said, stopping both of us in our tracks.
Breathing heavily, I looked down to the base of the stairs. Three people stared up at Emily and me. If I had to guess, one was a wedding planner and the other two were the clients Simone had mentioned. I glanced back over my shoulder, meeting Emily’s smirk.
“Uh-oh. Can’t very well attack me in front of clients, can you?” she whispered, backing up the last stair.
I glared at her and pressed my lips tight, feeling a slight sting in their soft skin. “You obviously don’t care about your job.”
She smiled brighter. “You’re right, but it’s not like you can fire me yet.”
“No, but I think there’ll be other things you can look forward to since you’re so eager to stick around,” I said with a smirk of my own. If she wanted to play, we’d play.
The amusement washed from her face as she considered my statement.
I might not be able to touch her in school or in front of clients, but she’d be dumb to think I’d let her get away with something like this again. I tried to stay away from these situations when I’d moved, though I knew I’d inevitably have to face them in some facet. The plan was to be a better person, to rise above the pettiness, to walk away. But that didn’t mean I’d sit still while someone took shots at me.
I ignored the people traveling the stairs behind me and stared at Emily until she retreated down the hall. When I finally turned to leave, I pressed myself to the wall so the people could pass. “Hi,” I uttered, trying to hurry past.
“Are these your papers? Oh, dear. Your lip is bleeding,” a tall, red-haired lady with a briefcase said. She had to be the planner.
“Thanks,” I replied, taking the papers with one hand and wiping my lips with the other. As I jogged down the last steps, I glanced at the blood on my fingers. Once upon a time, the sight of my own blood, no matter the cause, might’ve been a concern. Not so much anymore.
Along with all the other event house decorations, the chicken wire displays had been shoved tightly into its cramped basement storage area, which turned them into tangled heaps of metal. I’d pulled most apart by the time I spotted LJ walking around the building. She folded some papers and shoved them into her back pocket with a blank expression.
“It’s about time,” I joked, hoping to lighten her mood since Simone had probably crushed all of her hopes and dreams. “I’m in need of a little help.” When she was a few feet away, I noticed a cut on her bottom lip. “What the…?” I asked, dropping the mass of wire and grabbing her face in my hands.
“I’m fine, Ben,” she said, grabbing my wrists, trying to pry my hands away.
“What the hell happened?” I let her pull my hands down, but I drew one back up and ran my thumb just below the cut.
Her eyes looked everywhere except at me and she sighed deeply. “Promise me you won’t get mad.”
What?
Why would she ask that? Unless… “Someone hit you.” I clenched my jaw and my hands, squeezing both until they numbed from the pressure. Emily’s car had pulled in the lot a few minutes ago and I thought nothing of it. I should’ve known better. “Dammit!” I yelled and pushed past LJ.
“No, Ben!” she yelled and grabbed my arm. “Don’t do this. I’m fine.” I kept walking. Her hands slipped down my arm, but cinched around my hand. She dug her heels into the ground and tried her hardest to slow my progress. “Ben, please. I handled it.”
Thoughts of Emily with a broken nose flashed in my mind and I couldn’t help but to smile. I stopped and turned. “You hit her back?”
She stepped closer and looped her arms around my back. “No, but she didn’t hit me either. She tripped me and I fell down the stairs. But—”
“She tripped you on the stairs?” My body shook as more adrenaline kicked in. I backed up and LJ’s arms instantly tightened in an attempt to restrain me.
“Ben, I said I handled it. You will not fight this for me!” she screamed, demanding my attention and snapping me out of the rage.
I let out a breath and relaxed my hands, though I was still far from calm. “What happened?” I asked, trying to listen over the pounding of my pulse in my ears.
When she felt my body relax, she dropped her arms. “Simone was upstairs in the office. No one else was around, but some clients walked in before I could retaliate. She bragged I couldn’t fire her yet, so I told her that there’d be stuff to look forward to since she’s so eager to stick around.” I reached up to her lips again, studying the thin cut. “I’m fine, Ben,” she assured me with a tiny smile.
I looked into her eyes and got caught there, taking in their tranquility. “Okay,” I said with a hesitant grin. “I’m sorry, about all of this. I wish…” I paused, tripping on the word, “there was a way for me to take it all away, so you can breathe,” I admitted. And it was true. I’d bear it all if it meant she wouldn’t have to.
She dipped her head for a moment and when she looked back she was blushing. “How do you always find the words to melt me completely? I’m the luckiest girl.”
I smiled and pushed my lips to hers tenderly, making sure I didn’t hurt her cut. I was glad I could make her feel that way, but I knew because of the curse, she was far from being the luckiest girl.
She deepened the kiss, pushing her tongue into my mouth and grabbing the back of my head. The urge to pick her up and carry her to my bed coursed through my fingertips as I gripped her hips, but that had to wait.
I pulled back, ending the kiss by nibbling the uninjured side of her bottom lip. “We’ll get back to that later. Simone might split us up if she catches us.”
LJ glanced over at the mound of chicken wire. “That’s already going to happen.”
“What?”
“She agreed to let me learn the business
and
she signed off on Co-op. I start both as soon as it’s approved through school.”
“Really? That’s… shocking, actually,” I said, picking up a mound of wire.
“I thought it was weird, too. She was almost pleasant, even after I interrupted a pretty flirtatious phone call.”
“She was flirting on the phone? That
is
weird. I don’t think she’s dated the entire time she’s worked here. Not that I know of, at least.”
“Yeah. She said something about keeping it quiet. So when she turned her chair around, I thought she’d yell at me for eavesdropping but she didn’t. We had a normal talk and she agreed to everything.”
“Well I’m happy for you. I am a little sad that you’ll be up in the office instead of out here with me, though. You’re going to miss all the fun winter jobs, like shoveling snow.”
She scrunched her face. “I wouldn’t say I’ll be
missing
that. But I will miss you,” she added with a frown.
“Thanks for trying, but there’s no way you can hide that smile.” At my words her lips tipped up, pushing her cheeks high under her sparkling eyes.
“What is this mess?” she asked, changing the subject and looking back to the wire. She pinched some between her fingers as she watched me pry more apart.
I lifted one of the bunches, propped it in front of her, and began reshaping the kinks. “They’re dresses and suits.”
LJ gasped. “It does look like a gown,” she said, splaying her hands over the wire as if it were material.
“We spray them with glow-in-the-dark paint and stake ‘em around the event house. It ends up looking like a ghost party.”
She giggled as she stared at the metal gown in front of her. “I can’t wait to see it all.”
“As soon as we get these molded back into shape, we’ll set them up then start on everything else. Most of the decorations are realistic, not gory.”
“So it’s creepy, not horror show. I like that,” she said, grabbing a few mesh pieces to separate.
“Pop and Randall will keep up with the usual work this week while you and I set up the rest of the decorations. We should have it done by Wednesday. We’ll have off for Halloween on Thursday, and Friday’s the party.”
“Long weekend?” she said, raising her brow and grabbing the suit figure where his junk would be. “That could be fun.”
I choked out a laugh. “Nice, but I can almost guarantee there’s a wedding reception Saturday night. That means we’ll work early Saturday to take all this stuff back down.”