Chapter 5 Lunch

Zoey…

I let out a sigh as I left the boardroom. My body was chilled from the invisible sweat glands oozing out of my pores, like I had come face-to-face with the sun god and he’d left his trademark on me. It was useless focusing on work for the rest of the day as my mind was clouded with thoughts of Ethan.

He barely looked at me, but his eyes were the sole galaxy of my mind. Damn! Zoey, you sure know how to look for trouble. I was so deep in thought that I barely realized I was biting my lip — a bad habit I’d picked up after letting go of my bad habit of chewing pen covers. It wasn’t until I heard a faint rap on my desk that I realized someone had walked into my office, and it was none other than Leo.

A frown covered my face instinctively. What the hell does he want? After everything he did, after the insults he hurled at me, he still had the audacity to show up at my office with that smirk on his face. Oh, how much I wanted to slap that smirk off him.

“Ah, erm!” He cleared his throat, tilting my face up to look at him with the edge of his fingers. A cold shiver ran down my spine, which made me upset immediately. Why was I still feeling this way after the embarrassment he caused me last night?

“Look, I don’t know whatever nonsense you’re concocting in that head of yours, but if it has something to do with me giving you the gift of a lifetime last night, I wouldn’t exactly want you to forget it. But I need you to shove it somewhere else. You heard my brother — we have work to do.”

I released myself from his fragile hold, mentally rolling my eyes. “What do you need me to do, sir?” I said through clenched teeth.

“Now that’s the spirit, babydoll,” he said as he pulled out the seat opposite my desk and perched on it in the most ungentle manner. Gosh! He was so different from his brother. How could an angel and a demon share the same womb?

I waited for him to speak, or at least wipe that smug look off his face, but he seemed to be enjoying taunting me. There was no doubt he was a player — one who doesn’t just mess with your body but your mind too. And I had ignorantly given my first time to this jerk. If this ever got to Mary and the other witches, not even the deepest valley on earth would be able to hide me from the shame I’d incur.

When it seemed like he was done playing mind games, he cleared his throat again. I hated how he made it a habit — like he wanted to make his claim to power obvious.

“Now, I don’t know what my brother and his puppet are up to,” he paused, eyeing me to see my reaction. I tried my best to hide it, remembering what Ethan had asked me to do. “But like it or not, you’re one of the few people in this company I can trust, and a few minutes of sloppy jockey shouldn’t change that.”

My face turned red with embarrassment, my nose flaring in anger. What?! Could he not find more condescending words to describe what was supposed to be one of the best moments of my life?

“Zoey,” he called, breaking my thoughts.

“Sir,” I replied in the same manner, after gathering some composure. “I intend to do my best to help the company. I promise I won’t let a few minutes of some not-so-good sex stop me from doing my job.”

For the first time since the boardroom incident, I felt him lose his composure for a bit. I had struck another nerve. It seemed Ethan’s influence was beginning to rub off.

Go, Zoey!

But like the devil he was, he didn’t let it affect him too much. It was almost as if the effect was a temporary sting from an injection needle.

He sprang to his feet, staring at me with the same condescending expression he’d had since this morning. “I’m glad you know your place,” he intoned. I kept staring with that blank expression.

“Now, I need you to get close to my brother,” he began, wearing a sadistic smile. “He seems to be drawn to your kind—” he paused.

I let out a shallow sigh. What exactly did he mean by my kind?

“—Damsels in distress,” he added like he read my mind. “I need you to get close to him and report to me everything he’s planning to do. Whatever he thinks he’s up to, I need to be ten steps ahead. Okay?” he asked, straightening his suit.

“What? You don’t trust your brother?” I mouthed before I could stop myself.

A smile immediately crept up his lips. “I trust him. That’s why I’m telling you to watch him.” And with that, he bolted out of my office.

I reached for my face napkin and wiped the bead of sweat that had covered my forehead. What had I gotten myself into? The two brothers were actually asking me to spy on each other, without either of them being aware.

How do I play this?

From a few minutes with Ethan, it was clear what kind of man he was — an honorable one.

“No!” I shook my head immediately. I had judged Leo too fast in that same manner, and it had backfired. I wasn’t about to make another costly mistake. It was then I decided that I would get to know Ethan better, and that would determine where my loyalty lay.

I shook my head again. “No! My loyalty lies with me and only me. I wasn’t about to insert myself into some family drama.”

The sound of the alarm ringing drew me away from my thoughts. It was lunchtime; I had spent so much time thinking that I’d forgotten to eat.

I immediately closed my system, gathered whatever courage I had left, and headed for the cafeteria, when I bumped into Ethan just outside my office door. “Have lunch with me, will you?” he said after staring at me for a few seconds, and walked away without waiting for my response.