The Territory

Chapter 3

                When I get home I immediately strip and kick off my heels, thankful to be free of them and throw myself on the couch, feeling down about my first day. I feel my phone buzz and I look to see a text from Liza. “Hey girl, hope you had an awesome first day. Damian is the best, and Vice and Tripp, his right-hand guys, are super-hot and great guys. I am positive you did amazing. I will try to call you tomorrow. Love you!” I text her back, “Look forward to chatting soon,” then throw my phone on the coffee table. I lay on the couch wallowing in self pity for what feels like hours, but when I get up it has only been about ten minutes. I decide I am going to take it easy and order in pizza. No reason to cook after the day I had… I deserve the break. I call in a pizza and pull out the blender. Thirty minutes later all is right with the world. My pizza has been delivered, I am on my second margarita, and I have music playing through the townhome’s sound system.

                I slowly dance to the music, swaying my hips, I am feeling myself right now. I feel so sassy and fun in this moment. I feel like I am too dressed and slowly pull my clothes off and toss them on the floor while continuing to dance around the front room in my black lace underwear. I finish my margarita and pour myself another, feeling the buzz. My cheeks are getting hot and I know I am going to feel this in the morning, but right now, I don’t care. I fling open the back door and step out into the cool evening air. Our back yard is fenced in on both sides and the back faces a large lake so no one can look in on our yard. Well, no one except our next-door neighborhood. But I doubt Mrs. Krasinski want to watch me dance around in my underwear. Plus, she is so hard of hearing that if her hearing aides are out you can scream all you want and she won’t be bothered. She won’t even hear it.

                I dance around barefoot on the cool cement and stare out at the lake and the wooded area behind it. The moon is bouncing across the water… It is beautiful. It almost makes me forget the stress of my day… Almost. I walk inside to grab another slice of pizza and I return to the patio, sitting on the and crossing my legs beneath me… I can’t help but think back to today… To how much of an ass Vice is… Stupid Vice… What did Casey say his last name was… hmm… Cruz! Vice Cruz… Ugh. Thinking about him just causes my blood to boil. What kind of asshole hates a girl he has never met, especially on her first day at work. Ugh! I hate him so much I just want to scream. “f**k YOU VICE CRUZ!!!” I scream as hard as I can out over the lake to the trees. The minute the words escape my mouth I feel a weight lift off of me, but at the same time… I feel bad. I shouldn’t let him change who I am. And I am a nice person.

                I finish my pizza and lay back on my arms and just sit in the moon light drinking my margarita. The breeze kisses my skin and I feel it prickle under the cold air, my n*****s hardening. I shiver and decide enough is enough. I climb off the table and go inside, closing the sliding door and laying down on the couch, covering myself with the throw blanket. My eyes start to get heavy and I feel myself start to fall when my voice starts to buzz loudly next to me pulling me out of my daze. I grab it and answer.

                “Hello?”

                “Emmie? Hey baby, how was your first day of work?”

                I smile. “Patrick! I don’t want to talk about it. How was work? Do you like your classes?

                “Babe, I am sorry you didn’t have a good day. But just think, in three years we will be in New York, working for our dream companies. It will be great. My classes were good. I have Kempinski for torts, and I think I am going to get the internship with Cramer.”

                “That is great baby. I am so happy for you. I knew you want Dr. K for torts, that is great.”

                “Thanks babe. I miss you. I can’t wait to visit.”

                “I miss you too, but I understand why you can’t come right away. Besides, I should probably focus on work and try to make the best of it.”

                “That is the attitude Emmie! Besides, it doesn’t take long for people to fall in love with you.”

                “Thanks. I needed to hear that.”

                “Alright babe, you sound tired. I will text you tomorrow. Okay?”

                “Okay, sounds good. Night Patty Daddy…”

                “Night Emmie bemmie. Love you.”

                “Love you too.”

                We hang up and I roll over, throwing my leg up on the back of the couch and getting comfortable. Before I know it, I am slowly falling to sleep. I wake up in the morning and I can definitely feel the twinge of pain in my head from last night’s drinking. I force myself up and walk around cleaning up after myself. My clothes and shoes are on the floor, the blender is dirty on the counter and the pizza box is still on the counter. After I have tidied up, I climb the stairs to shower. The water feels so good. It washes away the alcohol sweat, and I begin to feel normal. When I leave the shower, I look at the time on my phone. Crap. I don’t have time to do my hair. I throw it up in a bun, try to make it look as professional as I can, and then put on some eyeliner and mascara. It is minimal, but it is good enough. I run into my room and grab the second outfit that Liza set out for me. It is a flowy golden brown a line skirt, with a low cut white tank-top and a blue cardigan. She put out a pair of blue pumps, but my feet can’t do it today…

                I think back to what I saw the other woman wearing and I decide on a pair of nude sandal wedges that match the skirt. I can deal with wedges. I run out and jump in my car. If I don’t get stopped at the gate long, I should make it just in time to make Damian and coffee and get to my desk by eight. Thankfully they let me right in at the gate and I am able to pull up and park at the exact time I was hoping to get there. I jump out, grab my bag and head in. I am feeling more confident this morning. I know what I am doing, Damian is great, and I refuse to let anyone bring me down. I open the main door and step inside just to be face to face with the ass hole… a beautiful sexy asshole, but an asshole all the same. He is speaking to another man who is just slightly shorter than him, but just as buff. They both turn and look at me, the new man smiles, and Vice sneers. Vice says something to the new guy and then turns to walk away.

                “Hey, you must be Emileen. I am Tripp.” He comes towards me, hand out. I take it and shake. As our hands touch, I see Vice look over his right shoulder at us and make a strange sound. A guttural low noise, before turning and making his way to his office. Suddenly Tripp sticks his face between us, blocking my view of Vice as he walks away, pulling me back to the present. “Oh, I’m sorry. Yes, I am Emileen, I am Damian’s new assistant. It is nice to meet you Tripp. I have heard good things from my friend Liza.” He smiles and I am dazzled by how beautiful his smile is. “Ah, Mountbatten. Yea, she is a good one. We’ve been friends for a long time. Well I am glad you are with us. If you ever need anything let me know.” He smiles. “Well, there is something, but I don’t know if you can help me with it or not.” He smiles and again his teether are beautiful. “Shoot.” I smile, “Do you know how Damian takes his coffee?”

                I keep chatting with Tripp as we walk to the kitchen. Tripp is fair, with freckles splatter across his face and dark red hair. His bright green eyes glow from within and his teeth are perfectly straight and white. He shows me how to use the espresso machine and milk steamer, basically making Damian’s coffee for me. He grabs a scone from the box on the table and places it on a plate for me and gives me a thumbs up. “Thank you so much, you have been one of the nicest people I have met here so far. I really appreciate it.” I smile. “Don’t stress. You will be great. And if you are talking about Vice, he is just a prickly pear. Give him time. I will meet you here tomorrow morning, same time, to supervise so I know you have the whole coffee thing down. Don’t want you getting fired over a bad cappuccino.” I smile and roll my eyes at him and he smiles back before leaving the opposite way towards his office.

                I run to my desk and put my bag down and check my phone. It is seven fifty-eight, perfect timing. I walk up and nock on Damian’s door, but there is no answer. I turn and begin to walk to my desk when the main door opens and Damian comes walking in. Eight o’clock, right on the dot. “Good morning Damian. cappuccino and a raspberry scone?” I ask, gesturing to the items on my desk. Damian smiles, “Yes please. Follow me please.” He grabs the cappuccino and begin heading into his office. I grab my pen, notebook and scone and follow him in. I place the scone on his desk and sit in one of the chairs opposite him and open up my notebook and pen, ready to take notes. Damian takes a sip of his cappuccino and smiles. “Em, this drink is exactly how I like it! You are amazing!” I smile and I can feel a blush spread across my cheeks. “I can’t really take credit. I asked Tripp if he knew how you liked your coffee and he basically made the whole thing for me.”

                Damian smiles, “Had the chance to take the credit but were honest instead. You really are a gem Em. Gem Em, that’s funny. Tripp is great, I am luck to have him. And I am sure he will keep checking on you to make sure my morning drink it right. He is like that. He likes to make sure people have what they need. So, I understand that you don’t have a computer, so there isn’t much that you can do with the books right now. Instead I want you to do some housekeeping.” Housekeeping? Like vacuum and mop? That seems weird for a personal assistant. “I need you to go upstairs and see security. They will take your picture and issue you a badge that will open the gate when no one is there. I will be done by the end of the day. Then go down to see Delta, he is the one with keys to the filing room, he was supposed to make you a set last night, so pick those up. If he didn’t then remind him that I said I wanted them this morning and put some pressure on him to have them done by the end of the day also. Then, lastly, go see Miranda in payroll, make sure she has your information correct so you can get paid on time.”

                Oh! He meant housekeeping like doing tasks that must be done so things are tidy. Got it. “Sure thing. I am supposed to be leaving with Zeke at nine I guess…” Damian takes a sip and nods. “Yes, he is going to get you a new desktop and then I want you to pick a laptop that you think will be good to do work on when you have to travel away from the office, and also has enough power to do fun stuff like watch movies or play games, whatever it is you do. It will be your personal computer when you are not at work… Yours to keep.” I am shocked. “That is so generous Damian, you really don’t have to.” “I know I don’t, that is what makes it fun,” he smiles. His smile is so genuine that it causes me to pause and lose my train of though for a moment. “Oh, um. What I was going to ask was if you wanted me to order your lunch while I am out to have it delivered while I am gone.” He shakes his head, “No, don’t stress it. I will have Casey, Vice’s assistant, take care of it today. But you are so sweet to think about it.”

                I head out of Damian’s office and go about completing my tasks. I visit security and take a photo, the let me know that the badge will be on my desk by the end of the day. If I need to get in and no one is there I can simply just tap the badge to the black box and the gate will open. Then I head down to see Delta. He doesn’t have an assistant, just an office door. I knock and he calls me in. I enter and he lets me know he forgot last night, but he will go out at lunch to make them. They too will be on my desk by the end of the day. Lastly, I stop by Miranda and set up my direct deposit. We get paid weekly which will be nice. I get to my desk right at nine o’clock feeling very proud of myself that I have been so on time today. I am just sitting down when Zeke comes in.

                “You ready to go?” He asks, the excitement in his voice tangible. I nod and stand. I knock on Damian’s door, he calls me in. I open the door and step in to see Tripp and Vice sitting in the chairs in front of Damian’s desk. I freeze under Vice’s penetrating and hate filled gaze. “You heading out?” Damian asks. I open my mouth but can’t seem to find my voice. I nod instead. “Great, see you when you get back.” I nod and smile, then open the door and slide out, closing it behind me. “Let’s head out.” Zeke’s voice breaks me from my numbed state. I nod my head at him and grab my bag, following him out. Outside Zeke insists on driving. We walk to his car, a jeep with no doors, and climb in. Good thing I wore my hair up because it is about to get windy. We drive into town, chatting casually about things. I learn that he is engaged, but she lives back where they are from, just like me and Patrick. He also tells me he moved here because Damian was looking for someone with background in technology and security, which was right up Zeke’s ally. In fact, he designed the gates that they use.

                We stop at a café and have coffee and treats while we continue talking. “It is nice to have someone who gets it. Everyone there has a partner or is looking for one. No one else has someone but has to be away from them like us. Finally, I have someone that gets it. Someone I can come to and complain about how much I miss her.” I smile and nod. “I get it. It is so hard and I have only been away from him for a few days. I can’t imagine years. I feel for you.” I reach out and place my hand on his forearm encouragingly. His watch buzzes startling me. “What is that?” I ask him. He looks at his watch and then swipes it away. “My smartwatch is hooked up to my phone. And it is nothing, just work.” He shrugs. I nod. We finish our drinks and pastries and make our way towards the store. Inside Zeke is in heaven. He runs me around telling me all this techy stuff that I don’t understand, but we end up picking a desktop and a laptop that he ensures me will be the best things in my life.

                We leave the store and stroll the town. I haven’t really explored much, and Zeke tells me all the best spots for different things. He lives in The Territory, but he comes out to town a lot with friends. We walk and talk, Zeke giving me a tour enjoying himself. I smile seeing him having so much fun. I doubt he gets to be a tour guide very much considering I seem to be the only new person in ages. We finally settle on a place for lunch and enjoy each other’s company some more. I have the best grilled cheese of my life, it has mozzarella, basil and a balsamic reduction, and tomato soup. It is like a reimagined caprese salad. We laugh more than I have laughed in a long time and I decide that Zeke is my number one friend in town. On the way back we make plans to get together to watch this movie that Zeke insists that I have to see. He is going to come over tomorrow night after work and we are going to order Chinese food and watch the movie, maybe have a few beers.

                Things are finally looking up.