Vicious Romance

Chapter 13

I strut down the hallway, avoiding eye contact with the people around me. Even though the Thanksgiving incident took place last week, I wasn't sure if I was still considered a disgrace in this place- and I didn't want to take any chances. I wasn't in the mood to be glared at, today. 

I continue my route to Doug's office, hoping that today he's in a better mood than he was last week. I don't need a guy with anger issues on my back. Not now.

I stop in front of Room 412 and take in a deep breath before I firmly knock on the door.

"Come in," the voice inside calls out.

I open the door slowly, and Doug is in his beige blazer, typing up a storm on his computer. However, he doesn't look that pissed today. 

Correction- he doesn't look pissed until our eyes meet.

"Oh, it's you," he says as he rolls his eyes.

I scoff. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed, today.

"You wanted to talk to me... so I'm here. What's up?" I ask him, making sure that my voice comes out with little to no attitude.

Doug groans at me, as I take a seat in front of his desk. He spins around in his seat several times, before responding to me.

"How's the Whole Foods guy? Where's the report on him?" he asks, impatiently.

Frick. Frick. Frick.

I forgot to do that.

I chuckle nervously.

"Well... I did meet up with Noah. Twice actually. Sort of. We had dinner together, last night. But, the report is something that I don't have... because, funny thing, someone tried to kill me last night," I finish off, with a fake smile.

Doug doesn't buy any of it. He swipes everything off his desk in one swipe, with frustration. He lets out a loud growl.

I can't help but shudder.

"I gave you the easiest assignment in the entire world, and you can't do something simple as filling out a report?!" Doug scream shouts. I try to intervene, but he continues. "And please, if you can go out to dinner with some bagger boy, you can fill out a thirty-minute report. And what were you doing anyway, eating with him?"

I clear my throat, suddenly annoyed at his behavior.

"First of all, Yes, I went to dinner with him, because I bumped into him at Whole Foods, and he threw himself at me. Then he threw himself at me, again, when I got stood up for a date last night. Since he was already interested, I let him eat with me- and that was it. But, for the sake of professionalism, I won't go out with him again. I don't even want to, in all honesty. Second of all, I was going to fill out that damn report last night, but in case if you didn't get the memo, someone was hired to kill me last night. And they almost succeeded. I got shot, and I had to heal myself while taking care of this... assassin's body. It's been a rough weekend, as you can see," I say in ultimate frustration.

This attitude isn't winning me points with Doug.

He sighs, trying to calm himself down, before replying.

"Okay. Okay. First, I'm sorry for blowing up on you. Anita's still missing- so I'm a bit stressed. Second, now that I think about it, going out with him might be beneficial to this case. You'll get close to him, and he'll start trusting you... you'll go on another date with him, and soon. Next, this isn't the first assassination attempt you've had. Who was it this time?"

Completely ignoring the majority of what Doug said, I can't help but burst out, "You want me to go out with him? Again?! I barely got through last night, and now you want me to date him on the regular? That's impossible. I'm sorry, but that's impossible. No can do, buddy."

I chuckle to myself lightly, fiddling with my ponytail. This is a terrible idea. I was on an emotional rollercoaster last night, what's going to happen next time? I can't do this. I can't do this if I want to stay sane.

Doug, completely ignoring my objection continues.

"You will go out with him. You will date him. It's not up for discussion. We have a task to complete, and this is the most effective way. If you don't like it, leave your badge and gun here, and you can walk out the door. Now, let me ask again, who tried to kill you?"

I let out a huge heave before taking out the artifacts from last night. I hand Doug the note and the attacker's ID. He begins to observe both, keeping the room quiet.

After several minutes of silence, he finally speaks up.

"Well, he was assigned to kill you, and if he failed, that means that more people will come after you. It's only a matter of time. You be careful...focus on your assignment, and I'll look into this," he reassures.

I sigh, slowly relaxing into my chair, slightly relieved that this was something I didn't have to take care of, on my own.

Frick. I still need to find Anita. Or try to.

"Any news on Anita?" I ask, to feed my curiosity.

He shakes his head.

"The Bureau went through all the bodies that they found at the attack site, and hers wasn't there."

I nod my head.

"That's good then, that means that she isn't dead. Not definitely. She's still somewhere," I assure him.

"But where? Where could she be? If she was alright, she would have called, left a note, or something. But there's no track of her," he says in sorrow.

I drum my fingers along the armrests of my chair, thinking. Where could she be?

"I'll go by her apartment later today, and see if there's a sign or something of where she might be."

He nods at me.

"Okay, okay, that sounds good. It would be good to have a set of fresh eyes," he thanks.

"Yeah, of course," I respond.

We both nod at each other in awkwardness, until finally, I get up.

"I guess this is my cue to leave, see you around," I call out as I leave through the door.

"Yeah, have a good day," Doug replies, as he begins to pick up the mess he created, from the floor.

As I walk out of Doug's office to the elevators, panic can't help but flow through me. There's so much to do.

I have to:

A) Somehow, start dating a guy that made me nervous as heck. And figure out if he was the bad guy in this situation.

B) Find my best friend who might, or might not be dead.

C) Find out which group of people were trying to kill me.

Well, this should be fun.

A/N: Don't you love a protagonist with a crazy long agenda :)

Comment some of your favorite protagonists

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