Chapter 3

"That man is–"

"Gorgeous," Scarlett interjected.

"No, he–"

"He's sexy as fuck? I know. The way he talked down to you had me rubbing my thighs together. Do you think he's into choking? It's my life's mission to get him to say ‘good girl,' at least once," Scarlett said, with a distant look in her eyes.

"What? Stop that. No, dick!"

"I bet it's hu–"

"He is one. Jesus Scarlett, that man is a fucking dick."

"I mean, you were late, and he hates tardiness," Scarlett reminded her.

"I…I can't with you right now. I need to prep for tomorrow's meeting."

"If you need me, I'll be at my desk," Scarlett said as she left Grace's office.

"You mean, where you should be?" Grace mumbled.

Grace spent the rest of the afternoon gathering up contracts, approved and pending ads, and all files and correspondence for the meeting the next day. All work she should have been able to lean on her assistant for, but she didn't want to take any chances. After Grace worked tirelessly for hours, Scarlett returned.

"So, Mr. Kennedy brought his tall, black-haired, blue-eyed, tight-ass—in more ways than one—assistant from his old firm. I don't like him, even if he is stylish and gorgeous. He just dropped off these files, told me to give them to you and just walked away. He didn't even attempt to flirt with me. He's mid-twenties like me and I didn't see a ring. Maybe he's shy? I'll break him. He can't resist ‘the girls' forever," Scarlett stated.

"Let me see them," Scarlett said, hand outstretched.

"You want to see the girls? I mean, sure, if you want, but didn't you see them at the Christmas party?"

"No, I don't want to see your boobs. The files, let me see the files."

"Right right," Scarlett giggled. "You did see them at the party though, right?"

"I did, and they're lovely, and no one in their right mind could resist them. The files please," Grace asked again, her hand shaking with impatience.

"I brought these in right away, I promise. I didn't even get a chance to snoop."

"Thanks, Scarlett, I appreciate that," Grace said as she opened the file. "What the f–"

"What is it?"

Grace took a few minutes to read the proposal sitting on top before answering. Her disbelief had her reading it a second time before Scarlett impatiently asked what was wrong again.

"I don't fucking believe this," Grace barked, ignoring her assistant. With the paper clutched in her fist, she marched out of her office straight to Mr. Kennedy's. His door was open, so she stormed in.

"What the hell is this?" Grace asked, waving the paper in the air.

"Please, do come in Ms. Walker. Have a seat," Mr. Kennedy said calmly without looking up from his work.

"I thought the goal was to attract tourists and new residents, not scare them away," Grace ranted.

"Can I get you a coffee? Water?"

"This will undo everything I've worked so hard on over the past ten months," she fumed.

"I'm settling in okay, thanks for asking."

"There's no coming back from this. No amount of damage control will ever be enough if we proceed with this proposal and it fails," Grace said, her voice almost shouting.

She stood in front of his desk, trying to catch her breath, waiting for his response.

"Oh, am I allowed to speak now?"

"Explain."

"I will, tomorrow, when we have our scheduled meeting," he said calmly, as he leaned back into his chair. "I gave you the folder as a courtesy, so you wouldn't be blindsided tomorrow."

"But it's okay to completely blindside me right now?"

"I don't know how to answer that. I was hired to make changes, and that's what I'm doing. It's nothing personal, Ms. Walker."

"When you give up your life for almost a year to work on something just to have it thrown out, you'd take it personally too, Mr. Kennedy," she seethed.

He said nothing as he sat back in his chair, watching her work herself up, which pissed her off even more. His eyes slowly took her in, travelling from the top of her head, down to her feet, before returning to her angry glare.

What the hell was that? She thought. I'm fighting for my work and he's pulling these bullshit power moves .

On any other day, she would have called him out, but she was so angry that her vision had tunneled, and she wasn't sure she had even seen what she thought she saw.

"This isn't over," she warned him.

"I agree, and propose we hatch it out tomorrow, at 9 a.m. in the conference room," he grinned.

"This is ridiculous," Grace said in a huff and turned to leave.

"I'll bring the coffee," she heard him say after her.

Jake

How was work?

Grace

Honestly, it was the worst

Everything ok?

New boss is an asshole

I'm sorry

Thanks

Want to video call and have a drink with me? I would ask to have one in person but, you know

Oh yeah, it's Tuesday, I almost forgot

If I were a killer demonic clown, I would pick a more fun night to terrorize a city

Agreed. You aren't really ruining anyone's night by keeping them locked in on a Tuesday

I would rather ruin someone's weekend

So? Up for a video call? Have a drink to destress?

Yes, I would love that. Just give me a few minutes to pour a drink

Butterflies flew throughout Grace's stomach as she quickly changed out of her pajamas, and threw on the dress she had worn that day. She cleaned up her face, thanking her lazy self for not washing off her makeup yet, and poured a glass of red wine. It was actually her second glass for the night. Her first glass had been poured immediately when she got home.

Ready when you are. I'll let you initiate the call when you're ready

Jake called her as soon as her text was marked as "read."

Their conversation was light and easy. Grace observed that there were no awkward moments, and during the few moments of silence they had, neither felt the need to fill them. It felt good. Right.

Jake seemed more laid back than he was earlier that morning. She was sure the drinks helped them both. He was cute, especially with his blond hair looking a bit more unruly. But more importantly, he was nice and after dealing with Mr. Kennedy that afternoon, she was reminded that she wanted nice, needed nice.

"Grace, I really like talking to you," Jake said after a laughing fit about the end-of-days kitten infestation a young witch cast on the city.

The story came out that she had tried to infest the city with dog-sized, human-eating rats, but she got her spell wrong. Instead of fearing for their lives, the public had to deal with the inconvenience of adorable fluffy kittens playing with their shoelaces on their walk to work.

"I like talking to you too, Jake. I'm glad you swiped up on my profile," she boldly said, the wine providing her with liquid courage.

"How could I not? You're gorgeous," he replied.

"Oh please."

"I mean it. Your green eyes were the first thing I noticed. They're so captivating. And then, well, I saw the rest," he said, with a smirk.

"I like your hands," Grace blurted out. "I mean, I think you're very good-looking, but your hands drew me in, after your face, of course. Sorry, I'm terrible at this," she said, feeling her cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"You like my hands?" he entertained. "What about them?"

"They're big. They just look like they're very capable. I like how they make my hands look small. I don't know, I guess they look like they would provide safety. I'm sorry, that's stupid, isn't it?"

"No, not at all. I've never had my hands complimented before. Thank you. I'll admit, my hands are capable of a lot of things, and I hope one day I‘ll get the chance to show you."

"I think…I think I'd like that very much. And I hope one day I'll get the chance to show you even more of me," she replied.

Fuck I'm bad at this , she thought. Why are you so awkward?

"Grace, I swear, if we weren't under curfew for killer clowns, I would bike to your place right now."

Grace coughed on a sip of wine, Jake's confession surprising her .

"Seriously? I haven't scared you away with my awful flirting?" she laughed.

"You have the opposite effect, I promise."

"So, say you came over. What…" she giggled. "What would you…we…do?"

"Well, since we've been talking for hours, I wouldn't waste any more time doing that, and would kiss you as soon as you opened your door."

"I like it, go on."

"I think I'd continue kissing you for a while, because besides your eyes, I find your pouty mouth so captivating, and I'd need time to properly explore it."

Jesus.

"Then my hands would start moving from your face and hair, down your body, and at this point, I'd have to tell you ‘Grace, if I continue, I don't think I'll be able to stop. Tell me when to stop.'"

"And I'd say, ‘Don't stop.'"

"Shit Grace. If only you could see what you're doing to me already."

"Do you want to show me?" she asked, hoping she wasn't taking this too far too soon.

"Are we really doing this?" he asked, wide-eyed.

"I mean, sure, let's just see where this goes," she said, shrugging suggestively, allowing one strap of her dress to fall off her shoulder.

He noticed, and she instantly saw the desire in his gaze. He was paralyzed with want as he stared at her bare shoulder.

If he's this turned on by a shoulder… she thought to herself.

"You had something you wanted to show me?" Grace reminded him, bringing him back to her.

In response, he shook his head, flashed her a goofy smile, and then stood up and backed away from his camera so his full body could fit into the frame. Much to her delight, Jake was wearing grey sweatpants.

"This," he said, angling his body so his erection was on full display. "This is what you're doing to me," he said before walking closer to his phone, giving her a close-up of his bulge, and then sitting back down to show his face again.

Grace swallowed.

Holy shit, I hit the cute nerdy jackpot , she thought.

"Please, say something," Jake pleaded.

Grace realized she was staring into her phone, stunned into silence.

"I'm…ahem…impressed," she said, blood rushing to her cheeks, and other areas of her body.

"I thought I went too far for a second," Jake chuckled nervously.

"No, I promise, I'm very into this. Just let me…" She kept eye contact with him, while she reached behind her and unzipped her dress. She let it fall to her waist, revealing her black lace strapless bra, which she was now thankful she had worn that day.

"Grace, wow. You're so perfect."

"I can't see your hand," she said, as she ran her fingers overtop of her cleavage.

"Because it's rubbing my cock over my pants out of view. Do you want to see?"

"Pull it out for me," Grace said, biting her lip.

He flashed her a devious smile, then placed his phone further away from him so that Grace could see what he was doing. This granted her a broader view of the room and Grace noticed a slight movement to his left in the background.

"You're home alone, right?" Grace asked, horrified by the thought of a roommate seeing what they were doing.

"Yes babe, I live alone. It's just me and you," he said reassuringly as he rubbed himself over his pants .

After a few strokes, he reached in and started to rub himself under his pants, teasing Grace before he pulled it out. She saw a flicker of movement again but to his right.

"Jake?"

"Ready?" he replied, mistaking her question for a plead.

As he pushed down his pants, revealing himself to her, a shadowy figure emerged behind him, silently stalking closer.

With every fist pump, the intruder got closer, and Grace watched paralyzed with fear.

"Do you like what you see?" he moaned as he worked himself.

"No! Stop!" Grace yelled. But Jake misheard it as "Don't stop," because he was moaning when she spoke.

"I won't babe, I won't."

"No, Jake! Behind–"

Before she could finish, the figure attacked Jake from behind, ripping out his throat with its teeth. Blood splashed on the screen, and Grace watched in horror as the life in Jake's eyes slowly faded away until they stared lifelessly into the phone.

Jake's phone was picked up, and monstrous red eyes took up the screen. Grace ended the call and threw her phone away.

She stood there for a minute, frozen in disbelief, her chest heaving from her laboured breath. After a few minutes, she collected herself and picked up her phone.

"Goddammit," she said as she dialed and placed the phone to her ear.

"Hi, I'd like to report a vampire attack."