SWNOVELS Miss Belief: Chapter 1
My hangover mocked me for deciding to drink so much last night. And why the hell did my big toe ache too? Blurry visions of tripping over the coffee table while attempting a goofy dance move in my living room drifted back to me. Thank you, drunken archives, for the memory.
My roommate wasn’t faring much better from our two pitchers of regret.
Chloe gave me a wan smile as I helped her haul her suitcases outside our apartment building to the taxi waiting to take her to the Dubai airport. It was an ungodly hour, before sunrise. I would’ve driven her, but we’d traded our ability to operate a motor vehicle for vodka.
“I’ll miss you,” she murmured.
“I’ll miss you too. Let me know once you get settled in LA.” I wasn’t normally a hugger, but for my best friend, I’d make an exception.
She pulled back with a smirk. “Will do. Please tell me you’ll do what we talked about last night and finally make a move on Reid.”
Did we talk about my crush last night? Details were hazy.
“Not happening, Chloe Bear.” Even if I wasn’t a big old chicken about making the first move, I could think of at least a hundred reasons it was a bad idea. “In case you forgot, he’s now my boss.”
She sighed. “So what? He’s single, and it may be your last shot given that you’ll probably be leaving Dubai in a few months. You promised last night you were going to do something.”
“It was the vodka talking.” Despite the object of my secret obsession recently becoming single, he definitely wasn’t over his ex by evidence of the way he’d been insufferably moody ever since his breakup. Plus, the whole point of a crush was being infatuated with someone who wasn’t attainable. Breakup or not, Reid Maxwell was way out of my league. Nope. I was definitely not up for rejection. He would have to stay a harmless infatuation. “Safe travels, Chloe Bear.”
“Nice subject change. I’ll text you once I arrive.”
I gave Chloe one last hug before watching her climb into the back seat of the car, tears visible on her face. I may have stood there dry eyed, but on the inside I was a wreck. I’d never had a best friend before my soon-to-be-former roommate, and having her move seven thousand miles away to the other side of the world was doing weird things to me. Making me emotional and shit.
I was also happy for her. Chloe was pursuing her dream to go back to college despite her recent heartbreak. Her boyfriend, Aiden, evidently needed to chase his demons before he could commit to her.
As for me, I’d continue to stay in Dubai for at least a few more months to help my sister pay off the debt racked up by my niece’s cancer treatment. That was why I’d taken the contract job here with Delmont Security in the first place.
At least Penelope was now cancer-free. If you ever needed proof how life could suck, take the example of a four-year-old having to fight leukemia. It didn’t matter if I had to work two jobs on the other side of the world to help pay for her treatments. I’d do it ten times over if it meant my beautiful niece could live the life she deserved.
As I slowly traipsed back into the building and up the elevator to my floor, I was tempted to call in sick today. But if I did, it would mean sitting in my horribly empty apartment and feeling sorry for myself. Nope, I’d pull on my big-girl britches, tame my unruly red hair into a bun, wear black to reflect my mood, and tackle the day.
The day which included seeing my crush. My all-consuming, borderline-obsessive, definitely unhealthy crush.
My infatuation was inconvenient at best, and depressing at worst.
I recalled the first time I’d met Reid Maxwell. Of course I’d instantly thought he was handsome. Who wouldn’t think so with his dark hair, boyish face, and easy smile? He had dimples that did something to my stomach whenever he flashed them. But it was the way he’d been so damn polite and kind in our initial meeting which stuck out the most. I’d never been around a man my age who hadn’t objectified me in some way. Some men were subtle, others not so much, but Reid had never once stared at my chest, nor had he spoken down to me. He’d been part of the recruiting team at the time, and I remember his interview being my favorite as he’d put me right at ease. Unlike some of the other directors working for Delmont, Reid never put on airs or treated people like his title made him better than anyone else.
He was both a gentleman and sexy as hell, a combination responsible for instigating my infatuation. I’d known he had a girlfriend and then he’d gotten engaged, making him off-limits. But now, a year later, here I was working for him. And as of six weeks ago, he was quite single.
In theory, I should’ve loved the opportunity to have daily interaction with the man who’d fueled many a nighttime fantasy and, frankly, a few daytime ones too. But since his breakup, he’d been a mopey, miserable mess, which made daily interaction with him nothing short of torture.
Where was the old Reid?
I drove into the office in my leased red Jeep Wrangler, already missing my roommate and our morning talks on the fifteen-minute drive into the office. Surveying the traffic, I took note of all the other SUVs on the road. In the city of Dubai, no one cared about gas prices as they were ridiculously low. My only requirement for a vehicle was air-conditioning. Of all things you couldn’t live without in the desert, AC was at the top of the list, even in early spring. Come summer, there’d be no living without it because of the horrible humidity, despite being the desert.
I didn’t bother to put my face on until after I arrived at the office, spending a few minutes in the ladies’ room to carefully apply my makeup. I could say the effort was because I wanted to hide the effects of my wicked hangover, but it was more about my boss and the sad fact I always wanted to look my best for him.
Pathetic, wasn’t it? Yet the minute he approached our little corner of the twentieth floor, walking past the rows of cubes, my breath caught in my throat. I was reminded yet again of how annoying it was to have a crush on my boss.
He gave me a slight nod as he started to walk by my desk, a bag in hand and a frown on his face.
Ugh, we’d gone from chatty Reid, who was always quick with a smile, to mopey Reid, who barely made eye contact, to now a “fuck you” head-nod Reid. As on most recent mornings, he appeared decidedly hungover with red eyes and a puffy face.
“Good morning, Reid. How was your night?” I tried each day to drag him into conversation. One he used to be interested in having.
“Fine. Thanks.” He stepped into his office and shut the door, letting it be known he didn’t give a shit to reciprocate any interest in my life.
“My evening was good too, but Chloe left this morning, and so I’m sad, which is an emotion I have a hard time with, but thanks for asking. Really appreciate it.”
Asshole. There was no heat to my internal thought as it wasn’t actually true. Or at least he’d never shown these asshole tendencies before the breakup. I shook my head, missing the considerate, funny, friendly Reid.
I contemplated many ways I could broach the subject of his attitude. But thoughtfulness in speaking was not a skill I possessed. In other words, I didn’t know how to tell him, with tact and grace, to get his shit together.
Hoping to get my mind off it all, I began perusing my email until someone approached.
“Teagan, right?”
The voice belonged to a handsome young guy with an easy smile. I thought I recognized him perhaps working in Technical Support? Was his name Ned or Ted? I couldn’t remember if we’d ever been officially introduced.
His eyes, which had zoned in on my breasts, finally wandered up to my face. There you go, buddy, my eyes are up here. In his defense, my perfect C cups were hard to ignore on my tall, thin frame. Guess I had one thing for which to thank my worthless mother.
Although boob-gazer blondie was cute with his big brown eyes, he wasn’t winning any points with his lack of eye contact. But at least he was blushing as though he hadn’t meant to ogle.
“Yes. I’m Teagan.”
“I’m Fred. I work in Tech Support, and have seen you around.”
I tended to stick out, being the only five-foot-ten, red-haired, pale-skinned girl in the entire building. And considering I lived in the company’s corporate housing, it made sense we’d probably seen each other at some point. “Yes, you look familiar, Fred. What can I help you with?”
“Um, I’m not quite sure how to say this.”
Was he about to ask me out? I was about to tell him I didn’t date people I work with when he surprised me.
“It’s about your boss.”
My brows shot up. “What about him?”
“Well, last night I was working the midnight-to-nine a.m. shift when Mr. Maxwell called because he couldn’t remember his password. No big deal except he couldn’t seem to follow instructions over the phone for resetting it, so I came up here to his office in order to help. I noticed the strong smell of alcohol on his breath. He seemed like he’d had a few too many.”
My lips flattened. I’d suspected Reid of drinking at night by his hungover appearance each morning, but this was beyond what was acceptable. Sure, I was hungover this morning too, but the alcohol was out of my system by the time I entered the building. “What time was this?”
“About two o’clock in the morning.”
Reid had no reason to be in the office at that hour. No international calls. No extra work I knew of. “Did you tell anyone else?”
Fred’s head was already shaking. “No. Mr. Maxwell has always been nice to me. Remembers my name when other directors don’t bother to recall anyone below the title of manager. Anyhow, I don’t know what’s going on with him, but I wanted to share it with you in case there’s something you could maybe do. I’d hate to see anything happen if it were to be another analyst who helps him next time.”
I was instantly grateful. “Thank you for your discretion. Yes. He’s, uh, going through some personal stuff.”
He sighed. “I figured. And hey, at least he didn’t drive drunk.”
Considering the strict laws in Dubai, I imagined the penalty for driving drunk would be severe. “Thanks for helping him. And for coming to me.”
“Sure. Take care.”
I sat there for a full minute after Fred left processing what he’d said. I couldn’t not say something to Reid now. This was it. It was the limit.
It was time for an intervention.