Claimed by my Best Friend's Brother

Chapter Five

Noah’s POV

I sit in the reception area of Cadell Security, looking around the clean, minimalistic area, wondering what the hell I’m doing here. Honestly, when Eden said about coming for an interview I didn’t actually expect anything to happen. I sent in my resume just to appease her, fully expecting her miserable fiancé to shred it whilst cackling, maybe even post the remains back to me as confetti. What I had not expected was Elijah to call me to set up an interview the day after I emailed.

‘Noah’ Harrison’s gruff, no nonsense tone cuts through the silence as I look up to find the oldest Cadell brother waiting by the stairs for me.

Standing up, I head toward him, glancing at Elijah who gives me a double thumbs up.

‘Don’t let him rile you’ he calls out to me, in encouragement.

‘Don’t worry, he won’t’ I reply, giving the receptionist a grin that oozes confidence that I don’t actually feel because Harrison Cadell and I in the same room together never goes well.

‘Be nice’ Elijah growls, raising an eyebrow at his boss who rolls his eyes but doesn’t argue.

I meet the Marine at the bottom of the steps, the two of us eyeing each other before I reluctantly hold out my hand to him.

He doesn’t take it, d.ick, instead he turns around, leading the way upstairs and down the corridor before pushing open the door to the conference room.

I recognise a power move when I see one, the man wants me uncomfortable, I doubt anyone else on the payroll was interviewed in here. Fine, if he wants to play who has the bigger d.ick, I’m up for it.

I don’t say anything as we enter, just follow behind him, moving around the huge table, and taking the seat on the right hand side when Harrison gestures toward it.

Taking a seat across from me, the imposing Marine makes a show of straightening the paperwork in front of him, the top piece obviously my resume which has a few red notes on it, like I said . . . d.ick.

‘I Appreciate you coming in’ he states finally, lifting his gaze to mine, his expression giving off completely different vibes to his words, I’d bet my right nut that he’d rather bathe in acid than be here right now.

‘Well, I heard you were hiring’ I reply stoically, refusing to let the asshole across from me have the satisfaction of me breaking this competition that seems to be going on between us over who can be the most forcibly cordial.

Harrison eyes me for a moment before he nods, ‘true, we do have an opening’ he agrees, ‘after Zara left, we’ve had a few men try to fill her shoes, they’ve all been . . . unsuccessful.’

‘She was a force to be reckoned with’ I return, ‘I’m not sure you can ever find someone to take her place.’

Harrison watches me intently as I hold his gaze, keeping my expression neutral. I’m not going to beg for a damn job if that’s what he expects, I’m here because Eden asked me to come.

‘So, you don’t think you are up to the job then?’ he asks coldly.

I fight the urge to roll my eyes, ‘I said I didn’t think that anyone could fill Zara’s shoes’ I retort, ‘which has no bearing on whether I can do this job of not. Zara was a one of a kind woman, there is no-one out there like her, so looking for her doppelganger is pretty futile.’ I bite back adding, that it’s damn stupid to even try and find someone like her, I am after all, interviewing for a job, so even I’m not going to poke him . . too much.

‘That doesn’t answer the question Waycott’ Harrison snaps, scowling.

‘There is no think about it, I know I could do the job’ I huff out, the man is already getting under my skin despite me telling myself only moments ago that I wouldn’t let him.

‘C.ocky much?’ the Marine mutters.

‘It’s not c.ockiness, when it’s true’ I snap back sharply.

‘We all think we’re more capable than we are’ Harrison snarls.

‘Hey, don’t push your feelings of inadequacy onto me man, if you feel less than, I’d take that up with your therapist.’

My tolerance of the d.ick across from me is dangerously close to being completely severed now. I don’t like him or his f.ucking b.ullshit attitude, and I’m seriously wondering why the f.uck I’m even here.

We continue to glare at each other for a few minutes, palpable dislike pulsing between us beforehe voices my own thoughts as a question.

‘Why are you here?’ Harrison demands, breaking the silence.

‘You invited me’ I reply curtly.

I take grim satisfaction watching the Marine’s jaw tighten in annoyance.

‘Yes, because you applied to work for me’ he grits back, ‘but why did you apply?’

I finally do roll my eyes, ‘because your future wife asked me to’ I retort, the obviously, floating unsaid between us but from the tick in his jaw, he knows it’s there. We both know that I wouldn’t have wasted the internet speed to send my resume over if Eden hadn’t have asked me to.

‘Do you always blindly follow the requests of my fiancée?’ he asks bitterly.

‘Don’t you?’ I fire back, Harrison’s eyes narrowing as I smirk victoriously. ‘We both know I wouldn’t even have gotten a phone call if Eden hadn’t have asked you to interview me’ I continue. ‘You couldn’t tell her no, so we’re both stuck here, doing this ridiculous f.ucking dance, wasting each other’s time to make her happy.’

I push back my chair, reaching over and snatching my resume from between his hands as his eyes widen.

‘Let’s just make this easy on ourselves shall we?’ I mutter, folding the paper and sliding it into my back pocket. ‘Tell Eden, I came, you interviewed me and unfortunately, we couldn’t agree on pay. That way she won’t be pissed at you for not wanting me here, or at me for throwing away what she seems to think is a stellar opportunity for me. We can go back to hating each other in peace and Eden feels like she didn’t royally f.uck up with her idea.’

Harrison stares at me mutely, something flickering in his gaze as I frown.

‘How much?’ he suddenly asks me gruffly.

‘How much for what?’ I reply.

‘How much would you be looking for as a starting wage?’ the Marine questions, still looking at me oddly.

I shrug, ‘no idea’ I say honestly, ‘I hadn’t given it any thought.’

Harrison snorts out a laugh, ‘you came to an interview with no thought on what you want to earn?’

I glower at him, ‘I wasn’t really going to get the job Harrison, we both know that, so what was the point?’

‘Well think now’ he orders, ‘how much?’

I throw my hands up in the air in exasperation, ‘I don’t know . . . a hundred grand . . ‘ I pluck out of the air randomly.

Harrison nods, pushing back his own chair and standing up, holding his hand out to me.

‘Done’ he states as I stare at him, ‘Eden says you have a couple of jobs to finish up so can you start Monday?’

My mouth falls open in shock, ‘you . . your hiring me?’ I manage to force out.

The Marine nods, ‘I may not like you’ he replies, ‘but I don’t hire people just because I find them aesthetically pleasing. I hire anyone I think will be good at the job, and Eden is right, you would be good in this line of work.’

He eyes me expectantly, hand still out, ‘do you want the job or not Noah?’ he growls when I don’t move.

Slowly, I reach out, gripping his hand tightly and shaking it, ‘I can start Monday’ I mutter.

Releasing me, Harrison collects up the rest of his papers, ‘good, be here at seven, Hallick will take you down to the range and assess you, then Elijah will walk you through the paperwork.’

I nod automatically, feeling a little unsettled, my feet automatically walking to the door behind the Marine and out into the hallway.

‘Can you find your own way back?’ Harrison asks me, checking his watch, ‘I have a call from a dignitary in four minutes regarding his security at the airport and he’s a pain in the ass if I ignore him.

‘Ye . . yeah, uh . . I’m fine’ I manage to stutter, watching as the other man lifts his chin to me before disappearing into the office next door.

Turning on my heel, I head back to the stairs, walking down them as Elijah looks up expectantly.

‘So how did it go with big, buff and b.itchy?’ he asks curiously.

‘I . . . got the job’ I mumble confusedly.

Elijah clasps his hands together glancing to the ceiling, ‘praise the rainbow Gods! The cantankerous ass has finally made a good call with regards to a new hire!’

I shake my head as I continue toward the door, stepping out into the warm morning air and heading toward my truck. Sliding in behind the wheel, I start the engine, the air conditioning kicking in as I reach into my back pocket and pull out my resume.

Opening it up, I flatten it against my thigh before picking it up and scanning the red comments written all over it.

Good work ethic, voluntary work shows passion for people’s welfare, Jenkins states work’s seven days when needed, fitness levels exceed requirements, gun permit already issued, football coach attests to his cool head under pressure . . . each comment is a positive affirmation about my character written in the scrawling cursive of Harrison Cadell’s handwriting.

I swallow hard as I read each one, testimonies from prior teachers, my clients as a handyman, even one of the old ladies at the nursing home I visit once a week to read too. I glance back at the building beside me in confusion, what kind of man does research into someone they never intended to hire?