Don’t Let Me Break by Linda Verji

 

 

CHAPTER 2

 

Sebastian’s first day at work should’ve been a breeze. It was not.

Between introducing himself to the core members of About It and familiarizing himself with the company’s operations, he was swamped with work. By seven in the evening, most offices in the building had emptied, but he still wasn’t done.

“Damn!” He stretched and rolled his neck to ease some of the soreness and exhaustion, but it didn’t help. Maybe a cup of coffee would do the trick.

If it was any other time, he would’ve called his assistant and asked for the coffee, but she’d already signed off for the day. With a sigh, he stood and strolled to the door.

Given that all the executives apart from him had already left work, their floor was practically a graveyard. As Sebastian took the stairs down, he noted that the lower level was just as deserted. There was no person in sight and only a few lights dimly lit the large space. All the computers were off…

No, wait! Not all the computers were off. One of them still seemed to be in use. However, no one was seated behind the desk that held that computer. His first thought was that someone had forgotten to turn off their computer. However, after noting that the desk had its own light on and there was a denim jacket hanging on the swivel chair behind the desk, he changed his mind. Obviously, he wasn’t the only one working late.

It therefore came as no surprise when he walked to the break-room and found a woman there. She didn’t notice his entrance because she had her back turned to him and was wearing red headphones. So he got a chance to observe her.

At first glance, there was really nothing eye-catching about the woman. She was about five-four, not slender but not fat either, dark chocolate skin, and wearing a black t-shirt, black pants and black sneakers. Her hair was in neat box-braids that were tied in a ponytail.

However, the way she was dancing as she waited for her coffee to fill up caught Sebastian’s attention. There must have been some great music playing in those headphones of hers because she was swaying from side to side, clicking her fingers, and humming along to its beat. There was just something so joyous and rhythmic about her movements, that despite himself, he smiled.

He could’ve interrupted her, but he kind of liked watching her dance, so he stood at the door and let her dance on for awhile. However, when she stopped to get her now full cup of coffee, he moved forward and tapped her on the shoulder.

That was a mistake.

Startled by the sudden touch, she turned around abruptly, and some of the hot coffee in her cup came flying straight at him.

Fortunately, he had great reflexes. He stepped back quickly so that most of the spilled coffee landed on the floor between them. But some still ended up on his jacket. If he were wearing black, the stain wouldn’t have been so bad. However, his light-gray jacket absorbed the black liquid like a sponge.

“Oh no!” The woman exclaimed as her wide-eyed gaze swept from the ugly stain up to his face. It was obvious that she recognized him because her brown eyes widened even further and her lips parted in a soundless gasp.

The woman was pretty in an understated way. Nice eyes with long eyelashes, button nose, lush lips coated with a light sheen of gloss, pretty small white teeth that clashed perfectly with her dark skin.

Sebastian had seen more gorgeous, traffic-stopping women, even dated a few of them. This woman shouldn’t have been able to move him. But she did. For some strange reason, his heart jumped a little as he took her in. Instead of getting angry at her for ruining his very, very expensive suit, he found himself smiling and reassuring, “It’s okay.”

‘Huh?’ she mimed.

“It’s-” He stopped speaking when he realized that she was still wearing the headphones.

He moved to take the headphones off her ear. However, when he took a step forward, she backed away hastily like a skittish doe. It almost seemed as if she thought he was going to hit her or something. So instead, he pointed to her headphones and mimed, ‘Take them off.’

It took a while for her to get what he was saying, but when she did, she jerkily lowered them to her neck with her free hand. As she did so, she stuttered, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean- I didn’t mean to- I’m sorry-”

“It’s okay,” he cut her off.

“Your jacket-” Her eyes lowered to the stain again. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” he reassured as he took off the jacket. “I shouldn’t have come up behind you and scared you like that.”

“Give- give it to me.” She set her cup on the counter behind her. “I’ll remove the stain.”

“No.” Sebastian now held the jacket in his hand. “I can get it dry-cleaned.”

“It will- it will dry up before then, and be- be harder to remove.” Avoiding his gaze, she moved forward and tugged the garment from his hold. “Just give me a second.”

His jacket in hand, she shuffled over to the sink at the corner of the room. As soon as she had the water running, she began to clean the garment. Curious to see how she was doing, Sebastian moved towards the sink. Though she didn’t look his way, her shoulders stiffened when she felt him coming her way. Instinctively, he could tell that she didn’t like him being too close, so he stopped a few steps away from her.

“Is it coming off,” he asked.

She nodded but kept her eyes on the garment.

He watched her for a second then asked, “You know who I am, right?”

This time she snuck a look at him then nodded. “Y- yes.”

“Great, so I don’t have to introduce myself.” He asked, “What about you? What’s your name?”

“Mar- Marley Carter,” she returned quietly even as she poured another dollop of liquid soap on the stained area of his coat.

“Marley Carter.” He smiled. “That’s a nice name.”

That got no response from her.

“So, Marley Carter,” he continued, “what do you do here at About It?”

“Video editor.” Her answer was short and precise.

Sebastian wasn’t offended by the curt answer. He was intrigued. Normally when introducing themselves to him, employees fawned, flirted or spoke way too much. They wanted to make an impression so that he would promote them, in certain cases date them, or at the very least not fire them. It was refreshing to find someone who wasn’t playing that game.

“Aah… video editor.” His back against the counter and his arms folded over his chest, he asked, “How do you like working here?”

Marley didn’t even look at him as she dispassionately answered, “It’s great.”

He laughed. “That was the most unenthusiastic ‘it’s great’ I’ve ever heard in my life.”

Immediately, she glanced at him. And in her eyes, he saw nervousness. “I’m- I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I really like working here.”

Her nervousness sparked an unexpected protectiveness in him. He rushed to say, “No, you don’t need to be sorry. I was just teasing you.”

“Oh, okay!” Clearly relieved, she turned her attention back to his jacket.

Sebastian watched her for a long while before saying, “Isn’t it really late for you to still be here?”

“I had- I had something to do.”

“It must be something really urgent if you’re working this late.”

“It is,” she returned but didn’t provide any more details.

“What kind of project?”

“Just a tour- a tour of Olly Harrelson’s house.”

“You got Olly Harrelson to show you around his place?” Sebastian was impressed. “He’s a very private person.”

An employee trying to boost their reputation with the boss would’ve immediately accepted the compliment then followed up with more of their achievements. But Marley only said, “It wasn’t- it wasn’t me who got him. I’m just editing the video.”

An immediate smile crooked Sebastian’s lips. She was definitely not your standard shark-like employee.

A sudden thought struck him. Frowning, he asked, “If the video is so urgent, why isn’t anyone else from your team here helping you edit it?”

She shrugged. “I work better alone.”

He couldn’t tell if she actually meant that or if she was covering for her teammates. However, before he could ask any more questions, she turned to him with his jacket in her hands.

“The stain is gone, but it’s- it’s still wet.” She pointed to the now clean spot on the jacket. “You’ll have to wait for it to dry before you put it on.”

“That’s no problem.” He took the garment from her. “Thank you for cleaning it.”

“I’m sorry again,” she apologized, then before he could say anything more, she swept past him.

Her exit was so abrupt that all he could do was silently watch her go. It was only when he was alone in the break-room that he realized she’d left without her coffee. With a half laugh, he grabbed two cups from the cupboard and set about pouring out coffee for both of them.

Since he couldn’t carry his jacket and both cups of coffee, he put on his jacket despite the huge wet spot. Marley was at her desk when he emerged from the break-room with their coffees. He was sure that she saw and heard him. However, she didn’t look away from her computer screen. It was only when he got really, really close to her desk that she looked up.

“You forgot your coffee,” he said as he closed in on her.

“I’m- I’m sorry!” She shot to her feet. “I didn’t mean to make you bring it to me.”

“I don’t mind.” He set her cup on her desk. “I didn’t know how many sugars you take or if you even take sugar so I just put in one. I hope that’s okay.”

“That’s okay. Th-thank you.” She added, “I’m sorry for making you go out of your way.”

Watching her, he noted, “You know, you apologize a lot.”

“Oh, I’m so-” She stopped speaking when she realized that she was doing it again.

“You don’t need to be sorry about anything. We were both in the wrong.” Smiling, he added, “Don’t work too late.”

She murmured, “Okay.”

With that, he headed to his office.

About an hour later, he was ready to go home. However, a peek over the balcony revealed that Marley was at her desk, still working away. If it were any other employee, it wouldn’t have mattered, and he would’ve left anyway. But something about Marley made him sit back down and wait.

 

* * * * *

 

IT TOOK MORE time than expected to finish the editing.

By the time Marley finished, it was almost nine p.m.. She was just about to send the file to Xavier when her phone rang. It was her sister, Kennedy.

As soon as Marley put the phone to her ear, the sounds of partying filtered through; loud music, people cackling raucously, glasses clinking. But no Kenny.

“Hello, hello!” Marley spoke into the phone. “Kenny, Kenny, Kenny.”

It took a few seconds but finally, Kenny answered, “Hey, mama. Where are you?”

Immediately, Marley could tell that her sister was tipsy. It was in the excessive cheerfulness in her tone and the way she called her ‘mama’. Kenny only called Marley ‘mama’ when there was alcohol in the system. Marley’s heart sunk as disappointment overwhelmed her.

Trying not to let her disappointment leak into her voice, Marley returned, “I’m still at work.”

“Whaaaat?” Anger tinged Kenny’s tone. “It’s nine. Why are you still there? Are those bastards making you do overtime again?”

“No, no, no one’s making me do overtime,” Marley immediately rushed to say. “I just needed to finish something.”

Kenny was so protective of her that she went berserk at anyone who dared to look at Marley wrong. If Kenny heard that Vicky and her gang had cornered Marley into doing overtime, there was every chance that she’d show up at About It tomorrow and tear them a new one.

“Well, finish it fast. I don’t want you staying out late.” Kenny added, “I left you dinner in the microwave.”

Marley protested, “You didn’t have to do that.”

Her sister reassured, “I had some time to kill before coming to the club.”

The club had always been a part of Kenny’s adult life. She’d started working there as a bartender when she was nineteen. Over the years, she’d worked her way up to being the chief promoter for that club and all its subsidiaries. With what she’d earned from that club, Kenny fed, clothed and educated Marley. That club had done a lot for them.

But Marley still detested it. Oh, she hated it with an unspeakable passion.

If wasn’t for that club, Kenny wouldn’t be a borderline alcoholic. Marley hated the alcoholic smell that clung to Kenny every time she came home from that darned place. She hated the unfocused look that glazed her sister’s eyes every morning when she stumbled home. It reminded her of their father. Yeah, Kenny wasn’t quite as belligerent as Gary when she was drunk, but Marley still hated to see her sister like that.

If it was up to her, she’d burn that club to the ground then take Kenny someplace where no alcohol existed. But it wasn’t up to her. No matter how much Marley hated Kenny’s flirtation with alcoholism, she couldn’t scold her sister for it.

Kenny had practically raised Marley. After their father had died and their mother had been incarcerated for it, the girls had been shuttled off to their paternal grandmother. Cece Carter was well-meaning. However, she was seventy by the time they got to her and dealing with health problems.

As the big sister, Kenny had taken on the role of Marley’s parent. She’d thrown her own chances at college just so she could make sure that Marley was well taken care of. When Marley was having her mental issues, Kenny was the only one who’d never thought of her as weird and gotten her help. Regardless of her faults, Kenny had always been the unyielding rock between the world’s troubles and Marley.

After all that, what right did Marley have to tell her what to do and what not to do?

“Make sure you eat, okay?” Kenny brought her back to reality. “I don’t want to find leftovers in the bin.”

“I only throw away the leftovers because you always serve me too much food.”

“That’s because you’re too skinny.” Kenny continued, “I’ll be home by six a.m., but just chain the door anyway. I’ll call you when I get there.”

“Okay, see you in the morning.”

“See you.” However, before they could end the call, Kenny came in with, “Oh, I forgot. On your way home, pick me up a bottle of wine.”

No way, Marley wanted to say, but she couldn’t bring herself to say the words. All she gave was a murmured, “Okay.”

“Good night.” Kenny hung up.

With a sad sigh, Marley turned back to her computer.

After shooting an email to Xavier with the attached video, she stood up, put on her coat and grabbed her purse from beneath her desk. A glance up at level two showed that Sebastian was still up there. For a second, she considered going up to apologize for the stained jacket again and to say goodnight, but her natural reticence sent her to the exit instead.

Out in the lobby, she gave the security guys a silent wave before heading out of the building. Instantly, ice cold air hit her. The breeze raising goosebumps on her arms had her pulling her coat tighter around her as she walked to the parking lot.

Though the street lights were on, there was something unsettling about the shadowy darkness and the eerie silence of the night. The few cars that were scattered around the parking lot only made Marley more scared because they sparked her admittedly crazy imagination. In her head, ghosts sat in those cars, silently watching her.

Her footsteps sounded abnormally loud as she walked past the line of cars and headed to her own. When she spotted the tail-end of her blue Volvo peeking out from behind a large truck, her pace quickened.

Her fingers shivering because of both cold and anxiousness, she fumbled around her purse for her keys. By the time she got to her door, she had her hands on the keys. However, when she yanked them out of her purse, her trembling fingers let them go and the keys clattered to the tarmac.

The fall of those keys must’ve been God working in mysterious ways.

Just as Marley bent to pick them up, she heard a rush of feet behind her and caught the shadowy flash of a human figure behind her through the car’s window. Before she could even process what she was seeing, the glint of a hammer raised then coming down followed. If she was standing, the hammer should’ve caught her right in the back of her head and smashed her brains into smithereens. But since she was in the process of stooping down, the weapon crashed into the window instead of hitting her.

The shatter of glass pierced the silent night. But it had nothing on the shrill scream that tore from Marley’s throat. Her dodging the hammer must have caught her attacker by surprise because he stumbled forward and slammed into Marley’s bent body from behind, bringing her to her knees.

Still screaming like a banshee, Marley shoved her body into her attacker’s. He staggered backwards, straight into the truck next to her car. His pained groan immediately followed, but Marley barely heard it. She was too busy screaming and scrambling to her feet.

Her intention was to run as far as she could. But the time it took her to rise was enough time for her attacker to recover. As she started to run, a hand grabbed her ponytail and yanked her back. Hard.

She wasn’t expecting that. She went flying backwards like a ragdoll as shards of pain seared through her scalp. In a second, she went from being on her feet to staring up at the starry sky as she fell. Her back hit the tarmac first, and pain like she’d never felt before eclipsed her senses and tore a fresh scream from her. That pain was enough to make her close her eyes for what felt like an eternity but was probably a second.

When she opened her eyes again, the sight that met her sent terror through her. Her attacker was standing over her. His description immediately registered in her brain. Dark hoodie covering his hair, black mask covering his mouth, black top and black pants to meld into the night. He was so covered up that she wasn’t even sure that he was a man.

However, all that didn’t matter now.

What mattered was the attacker’s eyes. They were filled with unfathomable malice. Hatred lit them up like a fire stoked in hell and bent on destruction. Meeting his eyes left Marley terrified beyond words. In that moment, she realized that she was about to take her last breath.

When the attacker bent over her, closed his fist around the neck of her t-shirt and raised his hammer again, she closed her eyes and prepared to die.