Her Warm Welcome Home

Misunderstood

Jane:

It had been two weeks since Christine had went on maternity leave and everything had been running smoothly. Bryan had came to check on my progress a few times but had always been satisfied with the results, he even told me he’d report my great work back to Elian who was his manager! I had been staying till seven each night which wasn’t so bad as Bryan didn’t leave until eight so I wasn’t alone and since I had no social life and no one to go home to, I felt it helped show my dedication to excel!

Today had been a little bit rough though, it had been pouring all day and the internet was being spotty because of the weather, making it harder for the computers to run the reports smoothly. I was trying to pull the six o’clock report Christine had told me had to run exactly at that time when my system crashed and the lights went out! “No no no” I whispered to myself, the generators came on not a second later and I started my system up again. As soon as I was signed back into everything I went and immediately tried to pull that report but my computer read, Error- No Data Found.

“f**k!” I breathed out. I dialed Bryan who picked up on the second ring

“What’s up Stormie?” His voice rang out over the speaker

“The lights went out while I was running the six o’clock report and now it’s telling me no data is found” I rushed out nervous that I would get in trouble somehow.

He laughed “No problem! Come up to my office and I’ll show you how to pull it manually!” I sighed with relief

“Thanks Bryan! I’ll be there in a second!” I grabbed my phone and practically ran there.

Once I got to his office door I knocked and waited for his “Come in!”

I sheepishly walked in and said “Thanks for the help Bryan I really appreciate it.”

“No problem at all!” He announced giving me a big grin.

“Come over here and sit down and I’ll show you how to pull it.” He said as he stepped out of his office chair.

I plopped down and went to where he directed me on the screen. The report ran and I sighed. “See not so bad.” Bryan said as he put his hand on my back and I stiffened. I don’t like being touched anyway but as his hand started to move back and forth against my back I tried not to shutter.

“You really know your stuff Stormie, even for new hire.” He said casually keeping his hand moving slowly across.

“I think, with my help you could really go far here.” He continued. His hand going a little further down as he spoke.

“I- I’m sure.” I stumbled out hoping he wouldn’t look at my face and see the disgust written all over it. I needed to get out of here fast. Even though he hadn’t really done anything yet I didn’t like the way this felt. His hand stilled on the middle of my back then he moved, giving me some space. I loosed the breath I had been holding and stood out of the chair and turned toward him.

“You know what? I’ll talk to Elian tomorrow. I’ve been looking for a personal assistant and I think you’ll be a great fit.” He smiled and winked at me.

I gave a polite smile and said a small “Thank you” as I didn’t want to screw this job up. “ I should get back to my desk and finish those reports” I said trying to find a way to get out of here.

“Yes of course! I’ll see you in the morning Stormie.” And with that I was out the door and bolting to my desk.

I finished up my reports and was out of there lightening fast, missing the safety of my home. It was still pouring but I didn’t care as I ran to my uber that was waiting outside. Once I was in my apartment and had locked the door I took a deep breath and slid to the floor. As I replayed the events in my mind I tried to think of an answer logically, “He’s married Jane, of course him touching you couldn’t be about that.” I chastised myself “Some people are just unaware of other’s personal space, he was just being friendly.” Right? “Ugh” I groaned. I needed a shower, I could still feel his touch seeping through my clothes making me shutter. Picking myself off the floor I waded into the bathroom and stripped. Looking at my discarded clothes on the floor, I debated burning them, feeling as if they were the reason for my shitty day. Scrubbing my hands over my face I hoped in the shower and let it burn the day off my skin. Once I was dry and had thrown some clothes to sleep in on I called my mom. One ring and I heard her voice come through,

“Hey sweetie! How was work today?”

I bit my bottom lip and lied “Hey mom. It was great, I even got told by my manager that he wanted me as his personal assistant because of my work.”

“Wow! That’s great honey! Why don’t you sound more excited?” Leave it to her to tell when I wasn’t myself completely.

“Oh you know just a long day and I think the hours of extra work are starting to get to me.” I worried my bottom lip some more hoping she bought that.

“I understood sweetheart, you have been working a lot lately but it looks like it’s paying off already!” She said full of hope.

I sighed inwardly before saying, “True, how are you though? How’s Roger?” Even though my mom was still married to my father, after Roger helped us flee they became really close, they hadn’t done anything romantic with each other but that was because mom felt guilty. But you could tell they loved each other and I let him know before I left for college that I was okay with them being together if that’s what they wanted. My mom deserved to be happy and Roger did that for her.

“Oh we’re great sweetheart!”- “Hi Jane” I heard Roger yell in the background making me laugh,

“Hi Roger!”

“Oof popcorns ready” I heard him say in the background again.

“Popcorn?” I questioned.

“We were about to start a movie before you called.” My mom added whimsically letting me know she was now focusing on Roger take care of her. I smiled thinking about that love I knew shined in her eyes now.

“Oh well let me let y’all go and enjoy the movie mom.”

“Okay sweetie, call me tomorrow?” I smiled

“Of course mom, I love you.”

“I love you too sweetheart.” With that hung up the phone. Laying down in my bed I closed my eyes, tomorrow would be better I told myself and slept.

Mitch: I stared down at the employee file I had in my hand with a picture of a smiling blonde with blue grey eyes and sipped my whiskey. Jane Storm, or Stormie Ashriver as she was pretending to be now. Of course we knew it was her the minute the new hire form had come across our desks. How could we not? We’d been obsessed with our girl since we were five years old and watched that asshat Jake push her down. We’d known for years that she hadn’t actually died in a car crash all those years ago. We’d hacked the traffic cam and saw some bloke named Roger Mull in the FBI stage the accident. We destroyed that footage of course in case her waste of space father found out too. That was only the conclusion we could come up with as to why her mom and her left like that. That they were running from him.

I took another sip of my whiskey as Ayden ripped the file from my hand making me glare at him. He stared down at the picture of our girl and drawled,

“So when do we get to punish our little storm for leaving us behind?”

I smirked “Soon”

Ayden smiled back then he downed the rest of his glass. She had been here for almost two months and didn’t know we knew who she was, but she’d find out soon enough and when she did, I knew our girl would be begging for more.