Acclayne Book 1: The Game Begins

“Therapy?”

“Oh don’t look at me like that Alaina.” Jeremy; my boss, apparently nonplussed by the death glare I was giving him, was sitting behind his desk, swivelling around on his chair. “It’s the new fad these days.”

“Well I’m not buying into it Jeremy.”

“No one asked you to, I just want you to go along to a few sessions. It’ll help with the article.” He stopped his swivelling and started clicking his pen instead. There was nothing I could find about Jeremy that wasn’t infuriating. From the smug look on his face, to his unnaturally stiff, perfectly quaffed hair. “You might even find you like it.” I arched an eyebrow; or at least tried to, at his implication.

“I don’t need someone who doesn’t know the first thing about me telling me about my own issues.” I folded my arms. “It’s a load of crap if you ask me.”

“As a matter of fact, I wasn’t. I’m telling you Alaina. Go to a few sessions and write up what you find.” I sighed; no point in fighting him. Since he’d gotten this promotion he’d been on a massive power trip, and I’d seen a significant influx of stupid article topics assigned to me.

“Whatever.” I shrugged and turned to leave the room. I could only imagine the stupid grin on his face over his little victory.

“Oh and Al,” I grimaced, the use of the abbreviation felt like sandpaper against my skin whenever he used it. “less of the attitude please.” I stalked off without turning back, kicking his glass door shut behind me. How dare he suggest that I have an attitude. My heels clicked ferociously as I stormed down the corridor; the sound echoed loudly off the walls. Even if I did have an “attitude” it was his own fault. He didn’t have to be so smug about his damned promotion. I mean, I didn’t care that I didn’t get it, but why did it have to be him. Smarmy git. He’d breezed in two years after I’d started here. I’d worked hard to be where I was, I’d interned at this paper- made my fair share of coffee, while he waltzed in and was immediately everyone’s go-to guy. I didn’t need a shrink to tell me why I had a problem with him. I was the only one who could see him for what he was- a total pain in the ass.

I almost fell onto my chair and it scooted back a little with the impact. I put my feet up onto one of the desk supports, put my elbow on my knee with my chin in my hand. To say I was fed up may have been an under-statement.

“So it wasn’t good news then?” The chirpy voice came from my right; Lisa was unfailingly cheerful, even in the face of all the dull-as-dishwater articles Jeremy gave her.

“You could say that.”

“Oh come on,” she swung round on her chair, “I’m sure it’s not all that bad aye?”

“He wants me to go to Therapy.”

“That’s a bit harsh.”

“No, not personally; for an article. Though I am beginning to wonder…” I sighed; she knew what I meant. He had it in for me- everyone could see that. Lisa and I wondered sometimes if his sole purpose was to drive me mad. I just didn’t get it.

“Ah, it’s probably nothing.” She beamed at me, I grimaced back; starting to feel the infectious effects of her persistent positivity. “So, are we still on for tonight?”

“Sure, why not?”

“You said that last time and then you cancelled.” Her smile dissolved.

“Okay fine, I promise I’ll come this time. Geez. Way to make a girl feel bad.” Lisa was always trying to get me to come with her on a night out. I’d been a couple of times and we’d always had fun. Things didn’t always end well; sometimes they were just plain messy. Memorable though, always memorable. Lately, with all the tedious articles I had to write, I hadn’t felt much like going out. It was clear from the look on her face that she was starting to feel neglected and that made me feel worse than Jeremy ever could. She was like a little sister and even though she had lots of other friends they weren’t as close as we were.

“Yay! It’s going to be a good one, I can tell.”

“Oh God.” I rolled my eyes at her and laughed as she sulkily scooted back to her desk. The last time she’d said that was the night she’d been caught in the toilets with one of the temps. He was young and things got very awkward in the office for the following few weeks. He was instantly enamoured with her and had flowers sent to her desk every other day- when it wasn’t flowers there’d be lovesick post-its stuck to her coffee, covered in little doodled hearts. I had never seen her so uncomfortable. She’d sworn off the temps since then but another group had been hired last week, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that was why she was so excited to organise another night out.

I logged onto my computer and checked my email inbox; it was filled mainly with junk emails. There were couple of joke emails doing the rounds- as usual, and one mass email about tonight. I groaned inwardly as I read the recipients names. It was certainly going to be a big night out if nothing else. Oh and fabulous; Jeremy was coming as well. I shot a glare over at Lisa who wasn’t looking; she was far too pre-occupied by the new intern who was now leaning casually against her desk. She was giggling enthusiastically at something he’d said. Instead of letting my glare go to waste I turned it in the direction of Jeremy’s office, not expecting to see him looking in my direction I could feel the intensity falter as he smirked at me and gave me a little wave. I angrily turned back to my computer.

I quickly bashed out an email to Lisa which asked if I really had to come. I saw her look up at me as she quickly read the message and smile as she replied. The email said only: “You promised” with a little smiley face. I wondered if underneath that cute exterior there wasn’t a little bit of a sadist.

So far the evening had gone without a hitch- but I hadn’t stepped out of the taxi yet so that wasn’t really saying much. I’d opted for my favourite little black dress; it was just above the knee and the top was quite bodice-like. There was very little detail aside from the structured boning and that was one of the reasons that I favoured it; aside from being extremely flattering it went with pretty much everything. There wasn’t much give or movement in it but on a night out you don’t dress for comfort; you dress to kill. I’m not a terrific fan of my legs by any means but the dress I was wearing was one of my more modest dresses. I daren’t show my legs during the day time but there’s something about alcohol, a dimly lit room and loud music that gives me the urge to show them off. I’m over six feet tall you see, so I’m usually a little conscious of my colossal pins, but clad them in tights and a little skirt and I’m good to go- provided there’s a disco ball somewhere in the vicinity. My hair was loosely pinned up with a few tendrils left hanging to frame my face. As if my height wasn’t enough to draw attention to myself, I had been ‘blessed’ with vibrant red hair. My father insisted that I was strawberry blonde, but no amount of fruity description could disguise the fact that I’m ginger. But ginger and proud I hasten to add.

So I was all set, glammed up and ready to walk tall, get completely pissed and totally ignore Jeremy. Lisa was sitting next to me in the taxi, squashed between me and some girl who works two floors down. I’d met her a few times and I always felt bad that I could never remember her name. It had gotten past the stage where I could casually ask her for it because I should have been able to remember it by now. Greeting at work had become awkward as I’d have to give her a tentative “hey…you!” in the corridor. It was ridiculous. Lisa refused to give me her name because she found it so funny. The strange thing was, was that she was by no means forgettable. She had one of the most beautiful faces I had ever seen, she was all peaches and cream with full lips and a dainty nose. Her eyes were huge and dark and her black hair fell in ringlets past her shoulders. Hell of a wall flower though- a real shame, though I suppose it allowed the likes of me to get in the game a little. Not that there was very much game in Joe’s. I should clarify- Joe’s is our local nightclub, it’s extremely cheesy, it even has a light up floor. There are hardly ever any fit guys but we love it anyway. You can really let loose; as we’ve done on many occasions. I say we but mainly I mean Lisa.

The taxi jerked to a halt outside, we’d made good time- we were early by our standards and there wasn’t much of a queue. Just one or two people ahead of us. The little black haired beauty paid the driver and he sped off, swerving around the corner at the bottom of the street.

“That was the last of my change.” Her voice was quiet and soft. “I just need to get some cash from the machine.”

“Oh yeah, I completely forgot change! Al will you wait in the queue and save us a spot, we will literally be like two minutes. You’re okay for cash aren’t you?” I smiled, Lisa never came out with change. I always remembered mine.

“Sure thing, don’t worry I won't go in without you.”

“You better not, we don’t stand a chance next to you gorgeous girl.” I laughed at her.

“Whatever, see you in a sec.” I turned and tottered towards the queue while the girls headed in the opposite direction. Waiting by the door, under the canopy, I could see a few faces I recognised from previous nights out- and one face that I recognised from a few hours ago. Standing on his own at the back of the queue was Jeremy.

I pointedly looked away from him so that he wouldn’t be able to catch my eye; that way I could make out that I hadn’t seen him as an excuse not to go over. I wrapped my arms around myself as the evening breeze began to produce goose-bumps on my arms. I wished I’d brought a coat but as Lisa always pointed out- by the end of the night I’d have a ’beer jacket’ on and probably wouldn’t even notice if it started snowing. Besides, I’d have probably lost my coat by the end of the night anyway.

“Cold?” A man’s voice came from behind me. I turned around sharply, fully expecting to see Jeremy; his smug face ready with some insulting comment about my outfit, so I was quite surprised when I came face to face, or rather face to chest with an exceedingly tall man that I had never met before.

“Um…yes? I mean no, I mean… I’m fine.” I looked up at his face. He must have been pushing seven feet, at least. His hair was a mess of dark waves, tousled like he had just gotten out of bed- but stylishly so. His eyes were dark as well and held my gaze for longer than is usually comfortable between two strangers.

“You seem unsure.” I noticed that his eyes crinkled as he smiled, but I barely noticed the inappropriate way he placed his hands on my arms. “You feel almost freezing to me.” I couldn’t place his accent but his voice was velvet soft and his breath was hot and sweet on my face. He had a wide, comforting smile. A cough from beside me broke the sudden tension.

“Hi Al.” I could tell without looking it was Jeremy. “You look…nice. Who’s your friend? I don’t recognise you from the office.” I glanced at Jeremy and noticed he was looking up at my mystery man. His hand held out for a handshake that he didn’t receive. He stood close enough to me that I could feel the heat radiating from him. A total invasion of personal space. His stance was one of a man defending his territory. If Jeremy was going to be like this then it was going to be a very long night.

“No you do not recognise me at all.” My mystery man said; his voice had taken on a slight edge but I noticed he did not look away from me. “I was just going to tell her that she should bring a coat. You do not know what kind of situations you could get into.”

“Right.” Jeremy said shortly. “But it is July, how cold could it get?”

“It is not warm everywhere.” And with that he took his hands off my arms; they tingled where he had been touching them. “You really should take a coat Alaina.”

“Okay! We’re back and ready to show the guys from work how it’s done!” Lisa announced her arrival with enthusiasm from beside me, distracting me long enough to lose my mystery man in the crowd that had started to gather outside. I hadn’t even noticed anyone arrive. “What did we miss? Oh hi Jeremy.” She looked between the two of us trying to assess the situation. His stance was still on the defensive but he had taken a step away from me.

“You haven’t missed anything,” He laughed at her confused expression. “just some guy telling this one she should wear a coat. It’s July for god sakes.”

“Okay weird.” She said pulling a face and laughing, the pretty girl just stood next to her and pursed her lips. “Shall we go in then?” And just like that the tension I had felt barely a moment ago subsided and instead I was left with a nagging urge to go and find a decent parka.

The next couple of hours went by, as they are prone to do, with no excitement on my part. Tall mystery man was nowhere to be seen once we had gotten inside Joe’s, but we did find a handful of the new temps sitting in the corner looking thoroughly out of their depth. Lisa made a beeline for them under the guise of cheering them up. Within twenty minutes she was on someone’s lap and he seemed a lot…perkier. Jeremy had strategically sat between myself and the dark haired girl who I came to learn, again, was called Juney. He tried, unsuccessfully, at some flirtatious small talk with me before turning his attention fully toward Juney, who it seemed was too timid to tell him where to go. She sat awkwardly; left leg folded over the right. Her foot was bouncing in what appeared to be irritation. It was clear to me from my vantage point that she was barely listening to him at all- instead she let her eyes drift over the crowd of people on the dance floor.

Jeremy, on the other hand, was so ‘into’ her it was almost painful to watch. I think that if he could have gotten away with humping her leg then he would have. He fidgeted in his seat and didn’t know what to do with his hands. I’d have felt embarrassed for him if I didn’t dislike him so much. Then without warning Juney sat forward and fixed me with a meaningful stare;

“Shall we go and dance?” I could see that she desperately wanted to get away from Jeremy but I don’t really do dancing and I told her as much.

“I can dance if you-” Jeremy interrupted from between us.

“Now come on Alaina, there’s nothing to it.” She smiled sweetly at me, appearing to not have heard Jeremy at all.

“Okay fine.” I stood, pulling my dress down. I didn’t need people staring at my underwear as well as my dodgy dancing skills. Juney giggled;

“It’s okay, you can’t see anything. Shame really.” she winked at me and sauntered over to the dance floor, her gait had an almost feline quality, Jeremy had noticed too.

“I’ll come with you shall I?” He looked up at me briefly from his seat then fixed his eyes on Juney’s back.

“Er, I think it’s best that you stay here actually. Someone needs to keep an eye on Lisa with those temps. She’ll have them for breakfast.” I nodded over at her; she was downing shots as quickly as any of the guys she was with.

“I suppose it wouldn’t look too good if I left her alone with them.”

“Exactly, and I mean if word got around that you did…”

“Yes, yes, quite right. Though, if you do need a rest tell Juney I’ll come and dance with her.”

“Sure.” I turned and shook my head, he was so gullible. Lisa was more than capable of handling herself, especially this early on in the night. It was only when she had decided on one particular temp that she’d need watching and at the minute she had her hands full.

I found Juney in the middle of the dance floor, already surrounded by men. She didn’t seem to notice. The way she wiggled and swayed was so enticing that I even caught myself staring a little too long. Oblivious to her male attention she smiled when I joined her.

“I was beginning to think someone had kidnapped you.” she shouted in my ear over the loud music and laughed. Her eyes scanned the crowd over my shoulder as I bent down to listen to her.

“Ah, it was just Jeremy, he fancies the hell out of you.”

“I hadn’t noticed.” She shrugged her dainty shoulders. I laughed at her, I had thought wall flowers were supposed to be able to notice the things going on around them but it seemed that it wasn’t the case with Juney. “Oh, so why did you want to come and dance so bad?”

“He’s so boring!” She giggled, “Besides, I never get to spend any time with just you. I’d like to get to know you better.” She was dancing really close to me now and it was beginning to attract attention. The smell of her perfume overwhelmed me. It was easy to see why Jeremy was instantly smitten. Everything about her was intoxicating. She leant in closer, her eyes sparkled in the bright lights and for a moment I thought she was going to try and kiss me. If I’m honest I probably would have been okay with it. More okay with it than I’d like to admit.

“And there’s someone that I’m trying to avoid.” I raised my eyebrows, I didn’t understand how anyone like Juney would feel the need to avoid anyone. “He’s been watching me.”

“Who?”

“The guy I’m trying to avoid.”

“My God! What? Like, a stalker?”

“I suppose you could call it that.” I looked around me; not that I had any idea what her stalker looked like, but it seemed like a good idea. I looked back down at Juney, she seemed unfazed by the situation.

“Shouldn’t we tell someone?” I danced closer to her, suddenly protective. She was to tiny that no one would notice if she was swept away by a man dancing nearby.

“It’s okay, I’m dealing with it.” her eyes locked on something or someone behind me. “Okay, he’s over there. No. Don’t look.” She pulled my arm as I went to turn around. Her grip around my wrist was surprisingly firm. “Come this way.” She pulled me across the dance floor. We weaved quickly between the swaying bodies, occasionally I encountered a rogue elbow or leg that slowed me down but Juney made her way through completely unnoticed. We emerged the other side of the dance floor just outside the toilets.

“I don’t think he saw us.”

“Oh, well that’s good right?”

“Yes, well, no. He shouldn’t see me with you.” She looked back across the dance floor. “It was bad enough that he got talking to you at the door.”

“Wait, what have I got to do with this, I don’t even know him I-” My mind rushed back to my handsome stranger from outside. What did he have to do with this? I was beginning to panic, and was a little offended. Well, I was just plain confused; I hadn’t drunk enough yet to deal with this.

“Look, it doesn’t matter. It just means that we have to leave now.” She sighed. “And you’re thoroughly unprepared…”

“No I’m not, I’ve got my bag here, we can go whenever. We should probably get Lisa, I mean if it’s not safe?”

“No. She’s not coming. Just us.” And with that she pulled me into the ladies toilets. Now I’m fairly open minded, and not adverse to brief encounters of lesbianism after a couple of drinks, but this was not the way I’d expected the night to turn out. She began checking the cubicles for occupants but did not release my wrist.

“Look, Juney, I don’t know if I’ve given you the er… wrong idea or something but I…I’m not-”

“He can’t get us in here Alaina.” she looked round at me a puzzled look on her face. Well colour me embarrassed.

“Okay, I get that he can’t get to us in here but we’re stuck now. There’s no through exit- unless you want us to go through a window and I don’t think I’ll fit through one of those things.” I pointed up at the tiny windows at the top of the room. I doubted that even Juney would fit through. Juney didn’t even look at me, instead she was rooting through her tiny handbag. I hadn’t even noticed it before but it was one of the most exquisite handbags I had ever seen; all black velvet and beautiful beading. In that moment of slightly drunken logic I concluded that if Juney were ever to be made into a handbag then she would probably look a lot like that one. I voiced this thought aloud.

“I don’t really understand but Thanks, I think. There it is.” In her hand was what looked like a small brass doorknob. “This is our through exit.”

“Really? Because it kind of just looks like a doorknob. It’s no good without a door…”

“Exactly.” In her other hand was an eye-liner pencil. I stood back and looked on in confusion as she drew a big rectangle on the wall. “Come on then.”

“Come on then where?!” I took a few steps back, edging towards the main door. I think I liked Juney better when she was quiet and potentially a lesbian- and not a raving lunatic.

“We’ve got to go. Now!”

What happened next, happened so quickly that I wasn’t even sure that it had happened at all. Juney took hold of my wrist and pulled me towards the wall with tremendous force. I was certain I was going to hit it head on but before I had a chance she slammed the brass doorknob into the right hand side of the rectangle. The wall gave way on impact and I found myself being pulled by a different force. It was magnetic and fast. I couldn’t turn around to see if Juney was behind me. I couldn’t do anything. I was moving yet I was entirely still. My surroundings all of a sudden became a bright white. Maybe I had had more to drink than I had realised. Maybe I was slipping into a drink induced coma. Maybe none of this was actually happening and I was safe in a hospital bed somewhere. I settled with this comfortable thought for a moment, and had come to the conclusion that it was all going to be okay when I was suddenly plunged into complete darkness.