The Primus Daughter

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Selene jerked away and a soft scream followed. She quickly realized she had fallen to the ground and was resting on her wounded side. She rolled into her other side immediately but it was too late and she had to lay in that position for a little while as she waited for the pain of falling on her wound to subside.

After a couple of moments, she lifted her body from the ground and rested her back against the couch. She stretched her hand and picked her phone and nearly choked at the time.

"Eleven twenty," she screamed, the look of surprise on her face showed exactly how she felt.

She squinted, she could not even remember when she had fallen asleep. One minute she was watching a new show after a long period of interval eating and another minute she was falling on her injury.

She jumped to her feet, well, it was more like crawling than actual jumping. She did not have any time to waste. She had to bathe and drive to the venue but it would take her at least twenty minutes to get there, would she be ready in time?

She swore as she tried to run to the bathroom, wishing she had picked out an outfit the day before, that would have definitely saved her some time. She quickly made her way to the shower, not bothering to turn on the heater as she bathed as fast as he could.

She was out of the bathroom in less than fifteen minutes and quickly got dressed. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no time to apply makeup and she had just gone with a simple lipstick and brushed her hair.

The outfit she chose was a pair of trousers, a blue satin round neck shirt she tucked in, and a jacket. She could not afford to wear a tight-fitting shirt because of the open wound.

As she was dressing, she knew she had to find a way to cover it up because she was going out in public but there was no time to figure that out and she made a mental note to pick up some bandages on her way back.

She started the car and for a split second, she almost did not want to drive. Most of the blood had gone in her clothes so there were just a couple dried up stains in the car. Was it in a good state to drive out? Absolutely not but she did not have a lot of options right now.

She closed her eyes tightly and opened the garage. Almost immediately, she drove out before she lost the balls to complete it. As soon as the garage closed, she stepped on it and sped her way to the restaurant, managing to cut the trip by about two minutes.

She parked and locked her car before literally skipping into the restaurant, she found Mr. Bennett as soon as she stepped. A waiter quickly walked up to her to ask what she wanted but she brushed them away.

"I am so sorry I am late," she muttered, gasping a little as she sat with a loud thud, shaking the contents of the table.

She had seen the look of relief that had passed across his face as soon as he saw her. She was surprised he had not called her before she arrived but she figured he was still hopeful and did not plan to call until it was too late.

"It is no problem, I am just glad you're here." He finished with a soft smile.

This was not really a meeting, it was just a eat and greet and she was glad for the eating part because heaven knew she was starving. The healing was taking its toll on her more than she could handle. She could also feel the headache which meant she had to take a serum as soon as she got home.

"You know there is no way I would not have made it here, Mr. Bennett. I just lost track of time. I apologize again." She said softly, feeling herself calm down at the fact that she was settled.

"Just Jim is fine Miss Valak." Mr. Bennett muttered with a smile and Selene almost chuckled at the irony.

It was not that she was not friendly enough with Mr. Bennett to call him by his first name, however, she did not think that was a bridge she was ready to cross just yet, and calling him by his surname was the perfect arm length.

She wondered if he also called her by her last name because of this reason or simply because she called him by his. She smiled and was about to reply when their guests walked in. She immediately adjusted. They were early, she had assumed they would be at least five minutes late, and then when they finally showed up they would say that cocky phrase, "We are sorry we are late."

Though their arrival on time wasn't bad because it meant they would finish this up earlier. However, it had given her less time to prepare and that was annoying in more ways than one.

With her best smile ever she turned to look at the new members at the table. One sat next to her, from where he sat she could only see the side of his face and she could already tell she was not impressed at all.

He was the younger of the two and it did not take her long to realize that she had never met any of them before now. The younger of the two stretched out his hand and said, "Fredrick Jefferson."

It took everything for Selene not to cringe as she touched hands with him. His name was very familiar and it only took her a millisecond to make the connection, even though his surname only was more than enough to know who he was.

He was the son of the head of the Jefferson's Enterprise and from rumors that had been going around, he was definitely the next head and was already heading most of the responsibilities of the Enterprise.

She was not surprised that he was one of the people who showed up for the lunch; however, she had not given the attendants much thought beforehand, she had just wanted to get this over with.

"Selene Valak," she returned. Her smile froze in place and not even reached her eyes a little.

He tightened his grip and smirked. "It is nice to finally meet you."

Selene's smile started to fall but she held it. It was taking a lot not to return the favor but she was certain this meeting would instantly be canceled because of broken bones. The idea was slightly amusing and she chuckled a little.

She tried to tug her hand and he did not let her go. He also has a creepy look that she wanted more than anything to smack away. Luckily for him the rest of the table's introductions caused him to let go of her hand.

She accepted it pretty happily like she was just given back her long-lost limbs. As soon as the introductions were over, a waiter immediately appeared by their sides as if he had been looking and waiting for the exact moment.

Orders were given and the waiter set to go get the meals. Selene made sure to keep her gaze on Mr. Bennett and the other guest at the table that she realized she could not remember his name. She was not too worried about that, if he was important she would find out eventually.

She could feel Mr. Jefferson's stare on her and the longer it stayed on her the more annoyed she was getting. The small talk was also driving her crazy but even if at all they would discuss business it would be after the meal.

The waiter returned a little too slowly in her opinion and placed their dishes on the table. There was a bit of silence as they got served and nobody dug in until the waiter was well away. Not much conversation ensued during the course of the meal.

Barely a couple of minutes into the lunch and she knew she could not wait to leave. Fredrick kept brushing his legs against her but he was doing it in a way she could not complain about it but it was happening too often for it to be an accident.

It was taking everything for her not to stab him with the knife she held. She was almost certain she would do it with a wide smile across her face. Of course, this automatically meant they would lose the contract but she was sure they would not be that badly affected. However, her father would definitely scold her and she wanted to avoid that considering she did say she would handle it so she sat still with a huge smile on her face as they ate.