• dedicated to frenchtoastss for supporting this story to the end and for all your love •

[ 07 ]

I took back my words. Working for Ethan Black was not okay. It was the furthest thing from okay. It was absolutely hell on earth.

He was the most exasperating client I ever had - and that was saying a lot. I provided temporary security for Justin Bieber once.

"Otter!" Ethan shouted for the forty-third time in the span of one hour.

I ambled to where he was, taking my time. When he first did this, I rushed to his side, worried that he was in danger or that something had happened. But it turned out that he just wanted me to help him reach for the television remote control that was less than five centimetres away from him.

"But Otter," he had said. "I just got into the right position. If I get up to reach for the remote, I might not be this comfortable again."

It took all of my training to effectively restrain myself from strangling him.

I was sure this time was no different, but one could always hope.

"What do you want?" I asked Ethan in a bored tone when I reached, folding my arms as I waited.

He produced a smile so bright and dazzling I felt that I needed sunglasses. "I need your help."

I stared at him blankly. "No."

"Please," he pouted.

"No."

"I need you to be my eyes and hands, Otter."

"No."

Ethan's face crunched up into a scowl. "Isn't that your job anyway? To be my eyes and hands. And my human body shield."

"Ethan, the last time you asked me to be your eyes and hands, I went to get your lazy ass a beer from the fridge."

"That was one time. Is that all it takes to lose your trust?"

"No, it takes forty three times. And this is your last chance."

"Why you gotta be so rude?"

"You landed me in jail."

His eyes widened in disbelief. "I thought we had an unspoken agreement to never talk about that again. And besides, it was your fault."

"My fault?" It felt like we were at the police station all over again. "If you didn't ask me to teach you, I would've been out of there before the cops came."

"If you hadn't been vandalising on public property in the first place, this wouldn't have happened."

I gaped at him. "Well, you vandalised on public property too!"

"Because you tempted me!"

"I did no such thing!" My arms were crossed as I marvelled at how good he was at pushing the blame. "You were the one who came up to me and-"

"Anyway," he cut in. "What's past is past. Get me my beer."

My response spluttered into nothing and only a choked sound left me. Was he serious?

At my lack of response, Ethan grinned. "I'm your boss."

"Technically, your father is my boss," I countered.

"Technically, I'm your client."

Damn it.

"Now, will you please get me my beer?"

Clenching my fists tightly, I forced myself to take in a deep breath. Money. The promotion. Being top three.

Walking to the fridge, I jerked the door open and fished out a can of beer, resisting the urge to spit in it before passing it to His Highness.

"Thank you," Ethan said distractedly, his eyes glued to whatever was happening on the television.

My teeth grinded in an effort to not let a single word slip out. Instead, I forced a smile at him and went back to where I was standing. Think about the promotion, Jade. Think about the promotion.

"Otter!" Ethan called again.

I groaned. This was going to be a long day.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

The doorbell rang, and Ethan seemed fully unaware of it as he continued to lay there, sprawled on the sofa like a lazy brat. His lovely help, Vivienna was in the kitchen, cooking lunch for him.

The sound rang through the apartment once again.

Vivienna poked her head out. "Is that the door?" she asked, her words tinged with a Filipino accent.

A genuine smile graced my lips. "I'll get it, Vivienna. You can continue with what you're doing."

She gave me a toothy grin. "Oh! Thank you, Miss."

"It's Jade," I told her, repeating myself for the billionth time. She smiled once more and disappeared into the kitchen.

Walking to where the door was, I couldn't stop myself from shooting dirty glances at Ethan, who was still busy being utterly useless. When I opened the door, I found myself face-to-face with a very familiar blond male.

My mind raced as I tried to place where I'd seen him and images of the club appeared. An image of him in bed flashed through my mind and I could feel my cheeks heat up.

Oh God, I thought frantically. He was my one-night-stand.

I had never kept in contact with any of my hookups - unlike Madison, who became frriends with several of them. With the exception of Titan and my ex, I'd never had a proper friendship or relationship with anyone I was sleeping with.

The blond-haired guy seemed to recognise me as well, because his eyes widened the second I opened the door. "Hey, it's you."

I smiled, not knowing what to do. What was the etiquette for greeting a one-night-stand? A hug? A kiss? A handshake?

"What are you doing here?" I blurted out instead. Real smooth, Jade.

"I live here," he said, his lips tilting up slightly in amusement.

"Oh." No wonder the apartment seemed familiar before. Damn, I was becoming really slow these days.

"Yeah, so if you don't mind, can I come in?" the man asked, humour lacing his tone.

I blinked. "Oh right! Shit, sorry. I was, uh-I don't know what I was thinking. Of course, come on in." The moment those words left me, I wanted to smack myself. Did I just invite him into his own house?

"Thanks," he commented dryly as he took off his shoes before coming in.

"Oh hey, Carter. You're back," Ethan said as we walked into the living room.

I blinked, suddenly remembering that I was at Ethan's place. "Wait, what's going on?"

Both guys turned to look at me. Ethan spoke up first. "What?"

"You two are roommates?" I asked, feeling stupid.

"Yes," Carter said, his head tilting to one side as he gazed at me.

"But-but... That wasn't part of the plan!" I spluttered. I did all my research on Ethan Black, and not a single article bothered to mention his roommate?

"What plan?" Carter asked, his eyes darting between me and Ethan.

"Yeah, what plan?" Ethan prodded.

I struggled to explain what I meant, but it was futile. "I just... I don't like unexpected things happening. And this is unexpected. So I don't like it."

Two pairs of eyes blinked back at me, one blue one green. I groaned in mortification. "Never mind. Pretend I never spoke."

"I always do," Ethan quipped.

My arms crossed. "Excuse me? How rude."

"Yeah, Ethan," Carter joined in. "How rude. You didn't even bother with introductions."

I wanted to say that wasn't necessary since Carter and I were already adequately acquainted with each other already, but Ethan spoke before I could.

"Carter, meet Otter. Otter, Carter," he drawled in a bored tone. "Happy?"

I rolled my eyes. "No."

"Too bad."

"What's with the hostility, my friends?" Carter intervened. "Did last night do nothing for you guys?"

"Ew." The word slipped out before I could help myself.

Ethan glared at me. "My exact sentiments."

"I would be letting down my ancestors if I did anything with you."

"I have already let down my ancestors by sharing air with you."

I snorted. "Have some originality, please."

"I have plenty of originality, you little-"

"Ladies!" Carter shouted.

Ethan glared at him while my mouth was curled into a scowl. Somehow, watching how Ethan and Carter interacted, I felt at ease to be myself, despite the fact that Carter and I were almost strangers.

But we were strangers who'd seen each other naked before.

"As fascinating as your conversation is, is no one going to ask me about where I was and what I did?" Carter said.

We both stared at him for a second before looking away.

"Lunch?" I asked Ethan.

"Lunch."

Nodding my head, I walked off to the kitchen to help out Vivienna.

"Oh, fuck you guys," I heard Carter say in the living room.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"Hey. How long have you guys been working for Ethan?" I asked out loud.

I was in the security room with the rest of the team. It's been a few weeks since I've started on this case, but I'd barely had time to really talk to the team, about stuff that didn't involve security.

Besides, the silence among us was getting too much to bear for me, so I tried to break the ice even though I already knew their answers to my question.

"Oh, about three years," Trevor replied.

Xander and Riley shrugged. "A couple months ago?" Riley estimated.

It was actually eight months to be precise, but I didn't say that out loud.

"And what do you think of him?"

"Hot," Riley said immediately. When the three of us gave her a look, she shrugged. "What? Sue me for having eyes."

I giggled. "Well, I mean, you're not wrong there."

"Oh, for the love of God," Xander muttered to himself. Riley elbowed him in the arm.

The dynamic that Riley and Xander had was interesting. They joined the team at the same time and behaved as if they were siblings, but my research told me they didn't share a drop of blood.

"What do you guys know about him that can't be found on Google?" I asked, trying to figure Ethan out and to bond with my new teammates.

They frowned for a second as they looked at me in silence.

"I'm just trying to get to know him better," I quickly explained, hoping to ease their worries of telling me any confidential information. "Won't I be able to protect him better if I understand him more?"

It wasn't technically a lie. I would be able to be a better bodyguard if I understood my clients more.

Trevor was the first to speak. "Right, okay. Here's one tip that will save your ass: never speak of his mother. As long as we're concerned, she doesn't exist."

My eyebrows furrowed. "Miranda?"

"No, Ivanka," Riley said in a conspirational whisper.

I widened my eyes. "Ivanka? What about her?" I wasn't able to dig out much about her because Ivanka stayed out of the limelight when she was alive and married to Harvey Black.

"Nothing," Trevor said quickly. "You don't have to know. Just don't bring her up in front of Ethan."

My eyes narrowed at him but I didn't say anything. Be nice, I warned myself. Trevor had been with Ethan for about two years now, maybe he just felt protective of him and didn't want to expose his secrets.

"Alright," I conceded finally, breaking the tensed silence. "No Ivanka. Got it. Any other tips?"

"Don't mention anything about his girlfriend either," Riley added.

"Kira?" I checked.

Trevor looked at me. "You know about Kira?" His tone was almost accusatory and I found myself stumbling over my words.

"Yeah, uh, she came over. When I was here. In Ethan's apartment."

"Was she pretty?" Riley asked.

"Yes," I answered without hesitation. "Very."

"Ri, please stop," Xander said, finally speaking up in our discussion.

Riley just laughed. "Okay, fine."

I found myself smiling. "It's okay, Riley. I feel you."

"It's so good to have another woman on the team," Riley winked conspirationally.

I laughed, leaning back against the chair. "And have you seen those abs of his?"

Riley's eyes widened and I heard both men groan simultaneously as she prepared to go on a spiel once again.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

A few days after the talk with the team, I found myself growing curious about the women in Ethan's life. Ivanka, Miranda and Kira.

And so I wasn't ashamed to find myself eavesdropping outside Ethan's room one afternoon. It wasn't my fault this assignment was so boring that I had to stoop to eavesdropping to get some excitement in my life.

"Stop it. We agreed to never talk about it," Ethan said, authority implicit in his tone.

I knew he was talking to his father, I'd been listening to him for long enough to figure that out. Yet he sounded as if he was talking to an employee or someone lower than him.

"I was a kid, Dad!" Ethan exploded. "You were supposed to protect me. But you didn't, because your business kept you away and pushed me into her clutches."

There was silence for a beat before he spoke up again. "Not enough," he said decisively, malice underlining his words. Then, there was the sound of something hitting something hard.

I figured he threw his phone on the table.

Slipping away before he came out and found me, I ran back to my own room, my heart thudding as I replayed what I just heard. Who was the her he was talking about? What did he mean by being in her clutches? And why did Ethan seem to blame his father for that?

Questions swirled my mind and I found myself growing more curious by the second. I was determined to find out everything about him and since nothing was happening on this case, I figured I could spare the time investigating the secrets that Ethan was hiding.

Combined with what Trevor and Riley had told me, I became even more determined to find out about his birth mother, and this mysterious her that Ethan was talking about.

He was like an incomplete puzzle and I was hell-bent on finding the missing pieces to complete the picture.

Ethan Black was the epitome of mysterious, and who didn't like a little mystery?

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

woop woop. im so excited for you guys to get to know ethan hahaha. please vote and comment if you enjoyed this chapter! c:

until next time,
fleur xoxo