Going Up - Now On Amazon

Chapter Ten

I spun around in my chair, shocked that Nick had actually brought me half of his sandwich.

“Um” was all I was able to say, and it sounded pathetic. Nick grinned, and continued to hold the sandwich in front of me. Reluctantly I took it. He wouldn’t stop until I did.

“Thank you” I whispered “Although it really wasn’t necessary. I could have grabbed food at home”

“After 5pm? Sar, I need my staff to be alert, and if you don’t eat properly, you won’t be”

I looked down at the sandwich. He kept brushing the things he did for me as things he would normally do for his workers, but I didn’t buy it. My intuition may have been clouded for many years, but it was becoming clearer every moment I was free and right now it was telling me, Nick has secrets of his own.

“Why are you so dead set on being my protector” I whispered, I avoided looking up, getting the words out was difficult enough without those piercing blue eyes drilling in to me.

“I’m not” He replied, his voice defensive, and abnormally high pitched. He was lying and this time we both knew it was obvious that “all this” wasn’t what he normally did for his staff.

“I can’t talk about this with you. I’m engaged, and I should be talking about this stuff with my fiancée” Nick said His voice was fraught with an innocence I’d not really heard from him. He usually commanded so much authority and control. Right now however, he sounded kind of broken.

I put the sandwich down on the desk and looked up at Nick. He looked as shell shocked as he sounded. It was clear to me at least, that he was on the verge of sharing something he probably had never shared, something personal, something incredibly dark.

“I don’t think it’s abnormal for survivors of abuse to look for others who’ve lived similar hells and feel drawn to them” I said, taking a leap of faith, putting my intuition in to words.

Nick screwed up his face and blinked hard, I’d certainly touched upon something, but instead of softening his eyes narrowed and he looked down at me, his mouth in a thin line.

“I’m not a survivor of anything.” He said simply as he walked out of my cubicle and back down the corridor.

In the afternoon I received and email from Janie. At lunchtime she’d been called about a sudden death in the family and needed to head home for a week. She’d put my name forward as her stand in. I didn’t worry too much about it though, the chances of Nick saying yes to me as an acceptable stand in for PA to the CEO were so slim that I probably had more chance at becoming the tooth fairy.

That was until I received and email from Nick summoning me to his office.

I headed down there, and let myself in. Janie had left soon after sending me the email, so I knew that she wouldn’t answer the door. I walked over to the big wooden doors of Nicks office and pressed down on the intercom button.

“It’s Me. Sarah”

“Come in”

I walked through the doors. Nick sat at his desk perusing endless forms.

“I’m sure Janie has let you know she’s had to rush away for the week”

“yes”

“Well then, you’ll also know I’m in need of a stand in PA” He replied, placing the form in his hand down on the desk. He looked up at me and leant back in his chair.