Chapter 1
1039 Words
CLAIRE
"To the callback," Rachel says, and clinks her glass against mine hard enough to slosh vodka onto the bar. "Strain Pharmaceuticals. First round tomorrow at ten in the morning.”
"To the callback that means nothing if I bomb the interview."
"You're not going to bomb it. You're going to walk in there, be terrifyingly competent like you always are, and get the job."
She waves down the bartender for another round.
"Tonight we celebrate. Tomorrow you can panic."
"I could start panicking now. Save time."
"Absolutely not. Drink." Rachel laughs.
The bar's loud enough that I don't hear the door, but Rachel does.
Her eyes go somewhere over my shoulder and stay there.
"Do not turn around," she says.
I turn around anyway.
Three men in the doorway, shaking off the cold, and I only really see one of them.
Dark hair with a jaw like it was built with a ruler. He makes a crowded room feel like it's rearranging itself around him without his permission.
He catches me looking before I can stop it. He doesn't smile but doesn't look away either, until his friends pull him toward the bar and the moment breaks.
"Okay," Rachel says. "Who was that?"
"No idea."
"He looked at you like you've met."
"He looked at me for two seconds. I've never met him, Rachel."
"Hmm."
I make it maybe ten minutes before I catch him doing the same thing. Glancing over, catching my eye, looking away.
His friends notice before he does. The taller one elbows him, says something low. The other one grins like Christmas came early.
"They're talking about you," Rachel says.
"How do you even know that? You have hearing superpowers now?"
"I just know. I can feel these things."
"Your feelings told you the guy from the gym liked me. He was married, Rachel."
"One miss in a long career."
I roll my eyes at her.
The taller friend claps him on the shoulder, says something that makes his jaw go tight, and he's up.
"He's coming over here for you," Rachel says, entirely too pleased with herself.
I ignore her and take a sip of my drink. I almost choke when I feel him stop beside me.
"This is going to sound like a bad line," he says, "but my friends bet me twenty dollars I wouldn't come over here."
"Did you take the bet or lose it?"
"Neither. I just decided the twenty dollars wasn't the point."
He glances at my friend then back to me.
"I'm Kane."
"Claire." I don't offer a hand. "This is Rachel."
"Hi, Kane. We're celebrating," Rachel says, before I can stop her. "Would you like to join us?"
"Depends what you're celebrating." He sits down beside me like he was invited.
"Don't listen to Rachel—"
"Claire has an interview tomorrow. Her first one with this company. We're drinking tonight to loosen her nerves."
"Great way to prepare for an initial interview."
He nods toward his friends, both of them very obviously watching.
"They didn't think I'd walk over."
"And now that you have?"
"Now I'm hoping you say yes so I don't have to walk back and tell them I struck out."
Rachel kicks me under the table, subtle as a wrecking ball.
"One drink," I say.
One drink becomes three.
His friends, Derek and Wes, peel off eventually.
Rachel leaves an hour after that, phone in hand, already texting me “have fun, use protection, tell me everything” before she's out the door.
Kane laughs when I read it out loud.
"You have a good friend."
"Right now it's debatable."
"I like her already."
"She'll be thrilled." I turn my glass in a slow circle on the bar. "You never said what you actually do."
"Family business."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I've got tonight." He watches me a second too long. "Can I walk you somewhere?"
"Depends where you're offering to walk me."
"I know a place."
***
I wake up before he does.
His arm is heavy across my waist. His face is unguarded in a way it probably never is when he's awake. I lie there a full minute deciding whether to stay. I shook my head.
I'm dressed and gone before he stirs, because I have an interview in four hours.
I have no last name to give him even if he'd asked for one. Because whatever last night was, it isn't something that's going to turn into anything else.
A one-night stand. That's all there is to it.
Rachel's waiting when I get back to the apartment. The coffee was already made and her eyebrows already raised.
"You didn't come home last night."
"I need coffee." I head to the kitchen and pour myself a cup.
Black, no creamer, no sugar.
"I was going to ask for details, but judging by how little sleep you got, I already know it was a good night." She's grinning. "I'll let you have your coffee in peace. Go shower. Get ready for your interview. Spill later." She disappears into her room before I can argue.
I finish my coffee, shower, put on the black blazer, pull my hair back, put in my fake pearl earrings. I get to Strain Pharmaceuticals twenty minutes early, and the receptionist leads me to the same room as last time.
Erika Strain is already there, alone with a folder open in front of her.
"Ms. Clayborne. Have a seat. We're just waiting on one more."
"For the interview?"
"For the initial round, yes. He's usually punctual." She checks her watch then glances at the door. "Ah. There he is."
The door opens.
“Good morning.”
I know the voice before I turn around. I know it in my chest before my eyes even find him standing there. His hand still on the door handle, staring at me like the floor just moved under him.
"Kane," Erika says, oblivious, sliding a folder across the table, "this is our candidate, Claire Clayborne."
Neither of us says a word. The tension is loud enough to fill the whole room.
"You two know each other?"
Erika's eyes move between us, sharp now, missing nothing.
"Kane?"
- Writer
