Chapter Three

Samantha

“Please stop! Don’t hurt me! I’m sorry!”  My eyes fly open. I take a quick scan of my surroundings only to find that I’m in my bedroom. It’s a little unnerving to wake in my bed when I last remember being in the living room. When I sit up, I find that my clothes are clinging to me. The realization hits me that sweat is pouring from my body. My pulse is racing. The light from my bathroom catches my attention. I keep it on for times like this when I wake from a nightmare, not sure where I am. After calming myself down and getting my breathing under control, I climb out of bed. There’s still a part of me that is panicking. My steps are tentative as I leave my room. I peek my head around every corner before entering the next room to make sure that no one is there. Once I see the coast is clear, I make sure the door is secure by pulling on the knob to check the lock.

Walking back to my bedroom, I breathe easier knowing that everything is the same as I left it. I sit on my bed near the headboard and look at the clock on the nightstand, which reads nine a.m. Still feeling tired, I lay back down on my bed, looking at the ceiling, wondering when this will ever end. Will I ever be normal again, or will my past always haunt me? As I slip further into my thoughts, I hear my ringtone from my cell phone begin to play. I pick up the phone and check the screen to see who is calling. Maxwell Publishing flashes across the screen.

            “Hello,” I say. Then I hear the voice that sends shivers throughout my body.

            “Hello. Is this Ms. Clarkson?” He asks.

            “Yes, it is.”

            “Ms. Clarkson, this is Charles Maxwell, and I am calling you to inform you that you have the position if you want it.”

            I stay silent for a moment.

            “Hello.” He says.

            “Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Maxwell. Of course, I would love the job.”

            ‘Good then. Since today is Friday, you can start on Monday morning. The work day does not start until nine, but I would prefer for you to be here at eight thirty so we could get you settled if you don’t mind.”

            “That would be great. I will see you at eight thirty on Monday morning. Have a nice weekend.”

            “You too, Ms. Clarkson.” With that, the call ended.

            I am so happy I don’t know what to do with myself. Looking at the clock once more, I see that it is five after nine. Maybe Jackie hasn’t gone to work yet. I change out of my sweat-soaked t-shirt, replacing it with a new one. Then grab a pair of blue jeans to put on and run out the door straight to Jackie’s.

           

            “Jackie, it’s me,” I yell while knocking on the door. I hear high heels clicking against the marble floor as she walks towards the door. I hear the pop that the lock makes as it is being unlocked. Jackie opens the door, and I walk past her as I enter the apartment and turn to make sure she locks the door. Once I was satisfied, I took a seat at the breakfast bar.

            “I only have a couple of minutes,” Jackie says as she takes a seat next to me. “So, what’s up?” She asks.

            “I got the job at Maxwell Publishing.”

            “That means you’re going to take the job with Mr. White God?” Jackie asks with a mischievous smile.

            I give her a stern look. I know I shouldn’t have told her how handsome I thought Mr. Maxwell was.

            “That is why I went to the interview,” I answer her.

            “So, when you do, you start?”

            “I start Monday morning. I’m going in a little bit early to get settled in.”

            Jackie stands up and leans over to give me a huge. “I am so happy for you.” She releases me, and we begin to walk towards the front door. “We’re going to have to go out to celebrate, but it’s going to have to be next weekend because the museum has a big showing this upcoming week, so we have to work this weekend.”

            “That’s fine, Jackie. We don’t need to go out.”

            We reach the door, and Jackie looks out the peephole to make sure no one is out there before she opens it. “You know I am not listening to you, right? You need to get out, and we need to celebrate the start of your new job. This is a big deal.” She says as she opens the front door. Before leaving, she gives me another huge. “I will call you later.”

           

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            It is now Monday, and I’m walking into the Maxwell building smiling. Excitement coursing through my veins. Walking straight to the front desk, I notice the receptionist in her usual spot.

            “Hello, my name is Samantha Clarkson. I am a new employee at Maxwell Publishing.”

            The receptionist turns to her computer and starts typing. “You were here last week?” She asks without facing me.

            “Yes, I was.”

            She holds out her hand. “May I please have your I.D?”

            I reach into my briefcase and hand it to her. “What’s your name if you don’t mind me asking?”

She glances up at me with a shocked expression on her face. From the looks of it, no one has ever asked her name. “Ella’s my name.” She states, then returns her attention to her computer. A second later, she hands me a blue badge similar to the one I received last week, except that the one I had last week was red.

           

            “Thank you," I say before walking off to the metal detectors.

            I step into the elevator, noticing there isn’t a crowd today. I like to be able to keep my eyes on everyone who’s around me. While standing there waiting to arrive at my floor, memories of my first elevator ride float through my mind. I remember how I couldn’t keep my eyes off the handsome man beside me. Of course, fate would be a cruel mistress and make him my boss. Doesn’t matter; the last thing I want or need is to have to deal with a man in my personal life. In fact, I have vowed never to be in a relationship again because my judgment seems lacking.

            The elevator makes a noise as it comes to a halt. Once the doors open, I step out. I arrive at Mr. Maxwell’s office. As I walk towards his door, I notice two empty desks. I continue to walk until I stop in front of the door and knock.

            “Come in,” says a velvet deep voice that belongs to Charles Maxwell.

I take a deep breath while slowly opening the door. Walking into the office, I stop when my eyes land on Charles Maxwell. He’s at his desk, dressed in a black suit with a dark purple shirt and a matching tie. After the door slams closed behind me, Mr. Maxwell looks up. His mouth forms a sexy smile.

“Have a seat,” he says as he gestures towards the chair in front of his desk.

I walk over to take my seat. I’m not sure, but I think I saw Mr. Maxwell’s eyes drift down towards my legs as I sit, which makes my skirt rise. Just in case I pull it down.

Mr. Maxwell pulls the side top desk drawer open and pulls out a cell phone, along with what looks like a covered iPad and a black credit card. He places them on the desk in front of me.

“Here is the cell phone you will use. As I mentioned before, I may need to get in touch with you after work hours, so please make sure your phone is on. I’m not sure, but I think I saw a gleam in his eye as he spoke.

I take the phone off the desk, leaving it in my hand.

Charles pushes forward the iPad.

“This is your personal iPad. You are already linked to our server. Sometimes we use these to go over contracts, and all invoices are on the servers, so you can access them with the iPad. You will need to have these with you at all times.”

I take the iPad off the desk and place it in my handbag, which I decided to bring with me today.

The only thing left was the black credit card. I waited for him to explain its use. He leans back in his chair while studying me from head to toe. The look made me uncomfortable, but also sent heat through my body.

Mr. Maxwell pushed the card forward. “This is your company card. It is to be used to buy new clothes, which include bras, underwear, socks, and garter belts. Anything of that nature.”

“Excuse me,” I say with a note of irritation in my voice.

“Listen, and please don’t take this the wrong way. This is a billion-dollar company, and I am the CEO. You are my PA, which means you represent the company and me. You have nice clothes, but they scream bargain store. When you dress in the best, then you can do your best.”

My gaze falls to the floor, while my mind begins to wonder if he’s trying to put me down. My irritation grows, making me angry.

 “I don’t need your money,” I say in a tone to let him know I don’t care for what he has to say.

“This is not about money, Ms. Clarkson. All the employees who work close to me receive a company card. Stella could not afford the clothes that she wears without it, and even if she could, I want her to look a certain way, so I pay for it.”

Charles leans back over the desk. “This is not about your taste in clothes or how much money you do or don’t have. This is about how I treat my employees. This is a perk of the job, and there are many others, so don’t worry.”

With his explanation, my anger subsides, but it’s replaced by fear of disappointing him and losing my job. “I’m not sure where to go shopping," I say in a light, scared voice that I hate so much.

“Okay, I have a personal shopper, and she will help you. She knows what I like.”

I cleared my throat and left my eyes to meet his. We stare at one another for a moment. Charles stands and immediately turns his back to button his suit jacket.

“How about I show you around.”

He walks toward the door and holds it open for me. Once out of the office, we run into the two empty desks with desktop computers sitting on them that I saw before. Mr. Maxwell points to the desk that sits closest to the back. “This will be your desk, and the desk in front of yours belongs to my executive assistant Stella. You met her during the interview. If you have any problems, ask her for help. If she can’t help you, then you can come to me.”

We begin walking again.

“I am going to take you to the coffee room. It’s a little far, so sorry about that. Stella normally gets my coffee most of the time since she knows how I like,”

He stops and turns to face me with a mischievous look on his face. “But she will show you how I like it, just in case she’s not here, since I am a man who likes things done a certain way.”

Heat rises in my cheeks. Something in me believes that the statement holds more to it than the obvious, but I don’t say a word.

Charles looks down at his watch.

“It’s almost nine, so everyone will be arriving soon, so let’s finish our walk to the coffee room.”

The rest of our walk was quiet. We arrived at the coffee room, which was more like a giant break room. It had a coffee maker, a tea maker, and an espresso machine. There was a large steel refrigerator sitting on the side against the wall. A long dinner table was in the middle of the room.

We walked back to his office, where my desk was. Charles was about to walk through his office door, but he stopped and turned to me. “The code to your phone and to your computer is in the top drawer of your desk. You can change the code, but you must make sure to give in to me as soon as you do. When you turn on the computer, it will already have my calendar attached. Oh, and one more thing. When you use, the company card you will need to send Stella and I a copy of the receipts. There is a company e-mail on your computer as well as on your phone, but my personal e-mail is synced to your phone.” And with that, Mr. Charles Maxwell disappeared into his office.

            I sit at my desk staring at Mr. Maxwell’s calendar on my computer. I want to make sure that I am on top of everything. As I study the calendar, I notice an older woman walking into the office. I recognize her from when I was having my interview. She places her purse in the bottom drawer of her desk. Then turns to me.

            “Well, hello, dear. I guess you would be Ms. Clarkson.”

            “Yes, I would, and I guess you would be Ms. Stella.”

            “That’s right, but my name is just Stella.”

            “You can call me Sam. Everyone else does.”

            She extends her hand; I take it and shake it. “Nice to meet you, Sam. Did Charles go over his schedule with you?”

            “No, not personally, but I am looking at his calendar right now.”

            “That’s good. Most of the time, Charles keeps up with his own schedule, but there are times when he is in a meeting, and you may need to remind him that he needs to be somewhere.”

            Stella walks over to the other end of my desk. “This white machine is a scanner. You will scan all documents that need to be stored on the network. Don’t worry, the machine does most of the work for you. You do know how to use a scanner, don’t you?

            I wasn’t sure whether she was joking. Who doesn’t know how to use a scanner? “Of course.”

            “That’s good to know. We had a temp here last week, and she couldn’t figure out how to work the darn thing.”

            I look at her in disbelief.

            “Let me tell you, this will be the easiest job you've ever had. Don’t get me wrong, you will work hard, but the perks are great, and Charles is a wonderful boss. He treats you like family. I should know. I have worked for him for years.”

            Somehow, her words help ease some tension that I didn’t even know I had.

            “Did he show you how he likes his coffee?”

            “Yes, he did.”

            “Good. Well, I’m going to get his morning coffee, and we can get started on some of the paperwork that needs to be filed. You also need to check the calendar to see if he needs to head out today. If he does, the car service number should be in your phone. Call them as soon as possible, let them know what time the car needs to be here. Make sure the car is here thirty minutes before Charles’ appointment. He likes to be on time, and you can never tell with traffic nowadays. Then call them again forty minutes before the appointment time to make sure the car is on its way.”

            “I’ll get right on that.”

            “Good, and if you need anything, make sure you ask. I’m here to help you, but I will be doing most of the office work until you get the hang of things. Then I will assign you things to do when you are not handling things for Charles. While I’m gone, can you please answer the phone? When I’m at my desk, I will do it, but when I’m gone, you will have to.

            Stella seems nice, but she needs to learn how to take a breath when she talks. I look over Mr. Maxwell’s schedule again and see he has two meetings that are outside the office. I scroll through my phone to find the car service number. I find the contact that says Wilson Car Service. I call them to let them know what times Mr. Maxwell will need pickup. I also set alarms on my phone to make sure I remember to call them again.

            By the time I’m finished, Stella is walking towards Mr. Maxwell’s office door with a full silver tray. I see her hands are full, so I stand up to walk over and help her, but before I can reach her, she has the door open with one hand while the tray is balanced on the other. She must have been a waitress before to pull that trick off. I see the door close as I sit back down in my seat.

            I wonder if she knows him well. She did say that she has worked for him for a long time, and she does call him by his first name. I stare at the door, wondering how long it will be before she reappears. It didn’t take long before my question was answered as I saw the door open. When it opens, I see Mr. Maxwell sitting at his desk. For a moment, our eyes met, and we seemed to be locked in a stare. The closing of the door breaks the stare.

            The day seems to be moving along without any problems. The car arrives on time for Mr. Maxwell’s meeting. Stella helps me learn the office system a little better. She shows what needs to be filed and where to save it. Then I see Maxwell returning to the office. I try not to look at him as he stops to say hello to Stella, but then he stops in front of my desk. I try to ignore him standing there, but he won’t move until I acknowledge him. I lift my head to meet his eyes.

            “Is everything going okay?’ He asks.

            “Yes, everything is going fine.”

            “Were you able to understand our system?’

            “Yes, sir, no problem.”

            “You don’t have to call me sir. You can call me Charles if you like.”

            “I think I will stick with Mr. Maxwell, if that’s okay with you?”

            “That’s fine. Remember, if Stella’s not around and you need something, let me know.”

            “I will.” With that, he returns to his office.