Chapter 15

The rest of the week was busy, but quiet. That is if you don't consider the basilisk that broke out of the sewers.

Although it was huge, the basilisk was only a minor inconvenience and was dealt with quickly. This creature's gaze wasn't deadly, instead, those who accidentally made eye contact with it, felt deeply judged and became increasingly insecure. Therapists became fully booked up soon after and there was a conspiratorial rumour that these professionals got together to release the creature for financial gain.

Archer had to fly back to his previous place of residency to finalize the sale of his house, and wouldn't be back until next week. He and Grace thought it was a good idea to use his trip to touch base with his contacts and see if he could further their reach with their PR campaign. They were already hitting barriers with some networks not wanting to run their ads, assuming it was all satire.

She enjoyed the quiet and solitude.

"I miss him," Scarlett said, bursting into Grace's office and dramatically plopping into the chair opposite her desk.

"Who do we miss?" Grace asked, only half listening while she scrolled through her emails.

"Lucas, who else?"

"But he rarely talks to you," Grace reminded her.

"I know, it drives me so wild," Scarlett admitted, curling he r hair around her fingers. "There is so much sexual tension between us, you can cut it with a knife."

"If you say so," Grace snickered.

"What about you? Don't you miss him?"

"Lucas? No, no, I don't."

"Not him, his boss," Scarlett said, rolling her eyes.

"Archer? No, why would I miss him?" Grace asked defensively.

"Wait, does he let you call him by his first name?"

"Yeah…" Grace said, tone suggesting that it was no big deal.

"That's interesting. And he uses your first name too?"

"Yeah…"

"Interesting," Scarlett said suggestively.

"Stop that. We're working together on the same project, it would be weird to keep it so formal."

"Or hot. I keep calling him ‘Sir' here and there on purpose, and he hasn't corrected me, yet. I'm hoping to turn it into a kink. Oh, what if he's already a Dom? That would be too perfect. Even though Lucas is practically begging to have sex with me, I'm still not giving up on Boss Man."

"Did you need something? Do I have any messages or anything?"

"Nothing," she said, still fidgeting with her hair, looking bored.

"Have the cops not returned my call or emailed back? I've called every day this week for an update."

"Nothing," she sighed, then stood up to leave. "Oh, I gave Archer your personal number."

"What? Why? Why would you do that?" Grace's questions were rapid, and her voice a few octaves above normal.

"He asked Lucas to ask me if you bring your work cell home with you at night. He's three hours behind and wanted to make sure he could reach you with anything urgent. I said I didn't know and gave Lucas your number to give him. I didn't think it was a big deal," she shrugged.

"No, I guess that's okay, but please check in with me first before you give it out next time."

"Done," Scarlett said before leaving.

When Grace was alone, she took a steadying breath. Her heart fluttered with anxiety.

Or was it excitement, knowing Archer had her cell number?

Perhaps she did miss him.

No! she thought. You stop this right now! You can't have a crush on your boss.

Grace stayed late at the office Friday night. With nothing else planned, working simply gave her something to do. Her empty, quiet home didn't appeal to her like it usually did. It was nights like this that she felt a twinge of regret about having put more effort and attention into her career, while forgetting to get a life.

She used to have fun and had many friends, but one can only hear "no" so many times when they invited her out before they stopped calling. When everyone her age was hitting clubs, travelling, falling in and out of love, and being financially irresponsible, she was prioritizing advancements and her professional reputation.

This is why she kept Scarlett around, though she would never admit it. As terrible as she was at her job, and as incompetent and flighty as she could be, she offered a sense of friendship that Grace so desperately needed.

But it was just Grace and the eveni ng cleaners that night. She had sent Scarlett home, who actually had plans, a date, which she would no doubt hear about in excruciating details Monday morning.

She was trying to work, but her focus was elsewhere. She hadn't heard from her mystery, six-pack, hairy-chested, treasure-trailing man in almost two days. She had reread their last conversation too many times, trying to figure out if she said something wrong, or if he gave any indication that he was on the verge of ghosting her. It was a very fun, playful, flirty chat, and she couldn't find anything that stuck out. She had sent the last message, reading "Sounds good. Message me next time you can chat."

"Was that too clingy?" she asked aloud while staring at the chat on her phone. "He initiated the conversation, which meant he wanted to talk to me, right?"

Since her last message left initiating their next chat up to him, she had waited for him to do just that. She had not heard anything from him that day or the day before. She was hoping for a flirty Friday night chat with a glass of wine or two, but the radio silence was deafening, so she stayed at work instead.

"You know what? Screw it. I'm going to message him, and if he doesn't like it, that's fine, I'll ghost him right back," Grace stated, as she angrily typed out a message.

She typed and deleted a few messages, some angrier than others before she simply sent:

Grace

Hey. I hope the rest of your week has gone ok ??

It was simple, yet let him know she was thinking about him, and available to chat. At least, that is what she hoped it came across like.

"Ugh, why am I so bad at this?" she murmured when her phone vibrated .

"Or maybe I'm not so terrible at this after all," she chuckled as she looked at her phone.

It wasn't a message from her hard-bodied mystery waiting for her, but from an unknown number.

"At least the spammers want to talk to me tonight," she laughed. She moved to delete and block the sender but froze when she read the message.

Unknown number

Great news! Morning show is a go!

Grace

Archer?

Grace?

Just making sure it was you. You came up as an unknown number

Archer

Do you have a lot of people texting you about morning shows?

So many …

No shit? We got it?

When she pressed send, she cursed herself for being so casual. She may be texting on her personal cell, but he was still her boss.

I shit you not

When??

That part is even better. Whenever we are ready to launch

I showed them what we were trying to do and how. They're willing to wait and will fit us in. We just have to promise we start the campaign with them. They're very interested in showing footage of everyday people fighting monsters and want to be the first to report it before we run the ads

That's incredible! They get amazing ratings!

I just left that meeting, couldn't wait to tell you the good news

…sorry if I interrupted your evening

No worries

I'm still at work

Grace, it's 8 Go home

I thought you might be out with your new guy. Why do you think I've stayed away for so long?

Grace's breath caught in her throat.

Does he not want me to date?

it's a lot safer over here ??

Right, there it is, she thought rolling her eyes. Get a grip.

Oh Ha. Ha. Ha. Hilarious ??

Don't worry, the world is safe for now. I think he's ghosting me, anyway

So he ended up being a ghost, not Bigfoot?

I'm so glad that my tragic dating life and non-existent love life are so amusing to you . Just because I have to rely on batteries, while you can easily get whatever woman you want and probably have a different woman every night…

"Too far Grace," she said as she went to delete the last half of the message. Only her thumb pressed send instead of delete.

"Fuck! Oh fuck! Shit! No! Why are my thumbs so fat, and why the hell is the delete button right beside the send," she cried out.

She threw her phone on the desk, jumped up and started to pace her office in panic. Breathing became difficult.

"I'm done. That's it. I crossed a line and now I'm fired," she worried out loud, as she struggled to take a proper breath.

A loud tremble reverberated throughout the room, causing her to jump. Her phone's vibration was amplified by the desk's hard surface.

He texted back.

She couldn't look.

She was already writing her resume in her head when the phone vibrated again. She watched as the phone shifted in place from the notification. She was planning how to pack up her office when her phone vibrated again, still too horrified to face the consequences of her stupidity.

Large, grotesque tentacle monsters she could handle. Everyday normal human interactions, she apparently could not.

When her cell vibrated again. She contemplated running out of her office, leaving everything behind and living off the grid, where no one could find her and make her face her embarrassment. Maybe she would find and date Bigfoot after all.

In her mind, she was naming her third hairy big-footed baby when her office phone rang.

Habit and muscle memory took over as she sprang f rom her frozen state to answer the call.

"Grace Walker."

"Hello Grace," said a deep rich velvety voice.

"Ah," Grace screamed before she slammed down the receiver.

The phone rang again.

"Shit shit shit shit shit," she said before finally answering.

"I didn't mean to hang up, and I really didn't mean to send that text. I'm sorry, I can be out of the office by the time you're back, whenever that is," she said quickly.

Laughter met her from the other end of the line. Gut-wrenching laughter. She said nothing as she waited for him to finish. Her face, which was warm from embarrassment, became hot with anger.

He had better pick his next words carefully , she thought.

"I'm sorry Grace. I don't mean to laugh," he said, trying to catch his breath. "But do me a favour?"

"I'm scared to ask…" she hesitantly replied.

"If you didn't mean to send your last text, could you maybe not read the last few I sent," he said with a chuckle. "And I'm cutting my trip short, so I expect to see you Monday morning, office intact."

Archer hung up without giving Grace a chance to reply, or without saying goodbye. She sat there, stunned, mouth opened, the receiver still pressed against her ear. It took her a second to process what he had just said, and when it finally clicked, she dropped the handset, letting it land wherever it fell, and scrambled to pick up her discarded phone.

With shaky fingers, she unlocked her phone and found four new messages.

...no new woman every night

I'm working it old school, no batteries, just manual…

Why am I suddenly jealous of a ghost…

Even if he's a fool

"Oh!" she said, reading his texts a second, third time.

You read them!

…read receipts ??

Did you really think I wouldn't?

I had a strong feeling you would do the opposite of what I asked

…but I guess a part of me was hoping you would

…I don't know what to say, how to respond to this

Then don't say anything

Go home Grace. I'll see you Monday