Sweet Spot by Stella Rhys
20
LUKAS
“You? Here on a Saturday?” I got a belly laugh from Jack, the weekend desk guy at Hoult Tower who Julian nicknamed Creepy Uncle. “You must have another lady friend up there,” Jack winked.
“Actually, no,” I said. The last time he’d seen me, it was late and I was coming from a bar. The girl on my arm was already unzipping her dress so it was safe to say Jack made assumptions. Probably the right ones, too.
“So, you’re telling me you got real business to do?” Jack asked skeptically. “Seventy-five degrees on a Saturday, all the pretty girls in little skirts by the piers and Lukas Hendricks is working?”
“Believe it or not, yes. I played the hooky the other day so I have to make up for it now.”
“Well, I hope you did something fun ‘cause it’s not worth it otherwise. Not on a perfect day like this!”
“Trust me, it was worth it,” I smirked, heading for the elevators.
“Well, she must’ve been a very special lady!” Jack called after me.
“Very,” I called back, grinning when I heard his belly laugh again, echoing with my footsteps in the empty marble lobby. Hoult Tower was usually busy every day of the week, Saturdays and Sundays included. But it was oddly empty today. Forty-six floors in the building and it honestly felt like Jack and I were the only souls inside.
Though in all likelihood, there was at least one other poor bastard in the building. Riding the elevator up the quiet floors, I sent him a text.
ME:You here?
The response shot back fast.
JULIAN: If by here you mean the office then yes.
ME:You’ll be proud to know that I too am working on the weekend
JULIAN: I’ll believe it when I see it.
I snorted, slipping my phone back into my pocket as the doors opened onto my floor. The walk toward the glass doors was eerie without the lights on. Thankfully, I kept a few lights on in the office at all times but still, something felt off as I walked toward the doors.
Pressing my key card against the lock, I pushed through and immediately heard the sound of scurrying heels. I frowned when I saw who’d just run to reception from the back.
“Noelle. What’s going on?” I asked. It wasn’t uncommon for her to work on weekends but today she looked uncharacteristically haphazard, in just a ragged T-shirt, cotton shorts and flip-flops. It was alarming, if only because she was usually so proud about looking and dressing a certain way at the office. I’d seen the woman go through entire boxes of Band-Aids just to avoid taking off a pair of painful heels.
My concern jumped up a notch as she stood staring at me, tears starting to well in her eyes.
“Noelle?” I stepped toward her but before I could ask again what was wrong, I saw another figure appear from the back of the dark office.
I went numb the second I recognized Cam. Like a light, the emotion in my eyes flicked off and my stare went blank as he walked in front of Noelle to give me an easy grin.
“Working on a Saturday, dude?” he asked incredulously. I ignored him to look at Noelle.
“How’d he get you to do this?” I asked. For all the issues between us, I still knew with certainty that Noelle wouldn’t betray me out of bitterness. Not with Cam. Her mouth trembled open and she stuttered the start of several sentences before I held a hand up gently. “It’s okay. Come here,” I said, eyes still on Cam as I held my hand out to get her the hell away from him. The second she touched me, I heard her burst into tears and whisper “sorry” but now that I had her shielded behind me, my attention was a hundred percent on him. “What do you want? There’s nothing for you to take here. You want a computer? Take one. Take two.”
“Fuck off, Hendricks,” Cam spat, tugging on the collar of his blue button-down. “I was just here to… look around for something I dropped awhile ago,” he laughed since we both knew he was lying. “But since I have you here now, I should tell you straight up that I’m going to ruin your life if you don’t legally void the contract. I will,” he nodded earnestly. “You seem to forget who gave you your connections in the first place. You forget the fact that my family is royalty in the world of pro sports. I mean it when I say I’m going to bring this company to its fucking knees by the end of the year and while that’s happening, you should know that I’ll be keeping a close eye on you. Anything you do, anything you say. I can smear your reputation fast.”
“Can you?” I wasn’t even faking my boredom. “Well, I look forward to seeing you try.”
“Hey. We all know you’ve slept with your fair share of women. Had to have been someone barely legal in there,” Cam smirked.
“Do your best,” I ground out as I took my phone out to call the cops. “But you won’t put a single dent in this company. It’s been here too long and in case you don’t realize, no one’s trusted you for years. You never did anything on the business end, so why would they? My network outgrew yours a long time ago, Cam, and I know you know that,” I said calmly, putting the phone to my ear. “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be so fucking insecure as to try and get to me through Tess,” I muttered just as someone picked up. “Hi, I’d like to report a break-in on the thirty-first floor of Hoult Tower. The address is seven twenty-one – ”
I cut off to shove Cam away from me. With a handful of his shirt, I held him away from my body as he swiped again at my phone. Were I not so pissed off I’d have laughed in his face. He had nothing on me. In size or smarts. It had been like that from the start but throughout college, Cam didn’t care. After all, I was poor, the son of addicts. He was from money, the eldest child of a notable family. He was used to having so much more than me, to being my savior and looking comfortably down on me. I should have known things would change when I started out-earning him, in regards to both money and respect. He had always been the type to feel easily threatened.
Just not by me.
“They’re on their way,” I said to Noelle when I hung up the phone. With a shove, I released Cam and stared at him. “You’re free to walk out now if you want. Either that or stay and walk out in handcuffs. You choose.”
“I know everyone at every precinct, asshole,” Cam hissed. “They’ll literally drive me to the station, say sorry and let me go.”
“Whatever gets you out of my office,” I said with a carefree shrug I knew would piss him off. Like clockwork, he started to lose it. I knew the look he got when he had nothing left in his arsenal – it was a stupid, bug-eyed face. “Go for it, Cam. Let’s hear whatever low blow you’ve got for me now. Talk about Wyatt all you want. I don’t care. Just get it out.”
“I don’t give a shit about Wyatt. What can he possibly do for me now?” Cam sneered, snorting when my lip curled. “Honestly, I’d just like to know more about the pretty thing I saw you with at Tessie’s apartment,” he said, breaking into a big grin when he saw me take pause. “Don’t flatter yourself, I wasn’t following you. Just thought I’d drop off a note for when Tess got back and what do you know, you’re walking down the stairs looking awfully fucking cute with some chick. Serious question – since when did you hold hands and all that mushy shit?” Cam asked. “I mean that shit normally makes me sick but she did have a hell of a fucking rack on her.”
“Watch it.”
“Oh, I was watching it. Every last bounce of those big tits down to the very last step,” Cam taunted, giving a curious frown. “You know, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that tight body before. That’s little Tessie’s neighbor right? The one who lives on the second – ”
Noelle’s yelp pierced my ear as I grabbed Cam by the throat. “I don’t feel like doing this dance again,” I said, watching his stupid face smile despite going blood red in seconds. “You got me once with Tess but you’re not going to get me again. You try again and I’ll kill you this time. How’s that?”
“Peachy.” He tried to laugh – his go-to defense mechanism – but his lips struggled to move.
“Lukas!” Noelle whispered warningly. I meant to let go but I only locked my grip tighter, going numb again. I felt his Adam’s apple trembling under my palm and his face was getting to a reddish-purple I’d never seen a person before but I didn’t budge till I felt a grip on the back of my suit – one too strong to be Noelle’s.
“Enough,” Julian growled, yanking me back till I let go of Cam and watched him fall to a knee. “Are you fucking stupid? I said don’t give him anything to work with. Did I not?” Julian hissed under his breath before releasing me with a shove. “I got this. Take a breather in your office and take Noelle with you.”
I forced myself to go. The last time I felt this rage was when I found out about the shit Cam put Tess through and as willing as I was to put Cam in the ER again, I knew I wouldn’t get lucky twice and avoid jail again. So with a hand on Noelle’s back, I guided her into my office.
When I sat her down on my couch, she hugged her knees to her chest.
“How did he – ”
“He has pictures of me,” she muttered before I could finish my question. “I never fucked him or anything. He just has pictures from nights that he came to hang out with me and Tess. Back in Philly. We were eighteen, you were busy with summer classes and he bought us beer. I was young and stupid and drunk and I let him take pictures of me that I don’t want the world to see now. So I let him in the office the past two weekends. But only because I knew he wouldn’t find any dirt on you. You have no dirt to find.” She looked up at me with wet eyes. “On the outside, you’re perfect. All your dirt’s hidden inside you.”
I swallowed, hating that I understood what she meant. “I’m sorry he did this to you, Noelle.”
“Yeah,” she said softly. “You should be because it’s on you.”
I furrowed my brow. “Okay.”
“You don’t have to believe me, but it’s true. Look at how many lives you’ve ruined, Lukas.”
I looked up at her. “You’re going to do this to me right now?”
She ignored me. “Are you ever going to love me the way I love you?” she asked. She gave me several moments to answer but when I didn’t, she shook her head, laughing despite the tears that rolled down her cheeks. “Should’ve known,” she muttered tiredly to herself. “Anyone dumb enough to love or trust you gets burned. Wyatt. Tess. Stupid me for letting you poison my head with the same bullshit hope you gave them. I thought you were going to make my life better but you only made it worse. You fucked them up, you fucked me up and I hope you fuck up that stupid slut you’re with now, too.” She hugged her arms around herself as she got up off the couch. “I’m leaving before the police get here,” she sniffled before turning to face me. “And I quit, so have a nice life. I doubt you will with all the skeletons hanging all over you but you can always keep trying,” she said, leaving just a few minutes before the police arrived.
