Take Me Back | ✔️

2. THE JOB

THE SECOND I REMOVED my coat and hanged it by the rack on the office, the predictable knock finally came and I couldn't help but smile as I turned around and faced Henry Wills, a man with obnoxiously huge glasses that framed his square shaped jaw, hair slicked back like the way Alex's styling it now, and that suffocating strong cologne he always wears, who has a huge crush on me.

Please let this be a small conversation. I can't have HR or Ruvée up my ass again for punching a coworker.

He came closer, handing me one of the cup of coffees in his hands. "Black, no sugar, just how you like it. I asked Alex and he said that you like these kinds of stuff."

My brows furrowed, deciding on whether accepting the coffee that Alex said I would like which I do absolutely do not or just blatantly refusing it. My hands decided to make the choice and took the coffee away from his hands. "Um, thanks. Listen, I have to talk to Ruvée and Alex, so—"

His eyes widened in realization. "Oh, I was called in too. I guess this is finally our chance to work on the same case. I've been begging Ruvée for a chance to work with you and I guess she finally let us."

Oh-kay. That's not creepy at all.

With my spider senses tingling, I walked past him and past other agents and walked up to the small, sound-proof, and no cameras meeting room. One that's used for clients and secret assignments, which I am always a part of.

Henry, who was once right behind me, had made sure to walk faster than I did just so he could open the door for me and gave me that bright, disturbing smile he always had. Without thanking him, I brushed past him, seeing Alex sitting on the opposite side where I stood with Edward Lee and Polly Peters, and in front of him was Ruvée who nodded at me in acknowledgement.

He stood up immediately, hands on my arms and turning me around. "Um, hey, I think you should wait—"

Before he could move me further, the door situated at the opposite side of the room, which is used as a safety precaution where clients wouldn't be seen when they go through there, opened. Revealing the potential client that we were going to discuss Jason Stein with.

Everything stops when I hear the simple sentence that came out of Ruvée's lips. "Mr. Mason! Glad you've arrived safely. These the best employees, Agent Wills, Agent Lee, Agent Peters, and you know two of the top agents here, Agent Ferris and Agent Alexander."

I couldn't help but only stare at Alex when I faced their direction. Alex shook his head, completely answering the untold question between us which was whether or not he knew before I came that he was going to be here. "Mom didn't tell me until she saw you at the CCTV walking up to your office. She had me inside here, kept an eye on me, making sure I had no way of telling you."

I know I should've been thinking about the job, how this was a simple job and I should treat it like that but somehow, when I saw him approaching us and I finally faced the man who left me all these years, I couldn't help but breathe heavily, trying to contain the boiling anger inside me as I took in on how he looked.

He looked the same. Only that his chocolate brown disheveled hair was cut shorter, stood up (possibly the gel on his hair), he had a subtle forming along his chiseled jaw, and his bright gray eyes had small dark bags under them, possibly from running a multi-million company he took over from his parents. "A hostile takeover", they said on the news.

Gone was the Travis I used to know and was replaced with the person whom I hated with every fiber in my body. And now, Ruvée wanted me to work for him.