4 Devil's Advocate

OH MY GOD.

OH MY GOD.

OH MY GOD.

What had I done?

I paced back and forth on the sidewalk just outside the office building.

The incident that had taken place a few minutes ago played through my brain on loop.

The hot Manhattan sun was just overhead and I could feel the beads of sweat trickling down my temples. Although, that could have been the result of the pacing back and forth.

I finally stopped at a point and breathed. Absent-mindedly, I reached for my phone and pressed a few buttons on the screen before pressing it to my ear.

A few moments later she picked it up.

"Hello?"

"I screwed up," I announced.

"Sky? What's wrong?" Maddy asked.

"I screwed up, Maddy. I screwed up big time!"

"I don't understand—"

"I mean, I know why I did it but I don't know why I had to it," I ran a hand through my sweat-laden forehead.

"What did you have to? What did you do?" she asked.

"I could have just walked away... I didn't have to... But then he held my hand and—"

"Skylar, you're not making any sense."

"I slapped Jordan Parker," I finally said. My stomach twisted and turned on itself.

"Sky, I think there's a problem with the network because I don't think I heard you right..." she said.

"You heard me right, Maddy. I slapped Jordan Parker," I repeated.

"You did WHAT?" she screamed, "Why would you—"

"I don't know!!" I whined.

"What do you mean you don't know?" she asked.

"I.. he... Rose and Rosemary and whatnot and I flipped!"

"Skylar, use more words. And complete sentences are preferred," she said.

"I was already so angry with him name-calling and being a jerk and I just lost it when he grabbed my hand and—"

"Wait," she interrupted. "What do you mean grabbed your hand? Just, hold on a sec," I heard some distant voices from the other end of the call. I heard her say '5 minutes' and 'urgent' to someone before she returned. "I'm back," she said. "Start from the top, Sky."

I recited the entire incident to her. From walking into his office to running out of it like a cartoon character.

"Well, that was well deserved," she said when I finished talking.

"I don't know, Maddy. I am freaking out about Jeremy. I might have put his career in jeopardy along with mine," I worried at my lips thinking about the possible consequences of that act.

"Sky, the man was being a freaking prick, and disrespectful! Just because he's hot and rich he doesn't get a pass for behaving that way with you."

"I know that! But how will I tell this to Jeremy? You know how his bosses have been riding him about this," I said.

I heard Maddy sigh. "I can talk to him for you," she suggested.

"NO," I blurted. "I know it should be me. But I don't know what I'm going to say to him. He was counting on me, Maddy." I felt as though my heart was being crumpled under a boulder.

I felt too guilty.

"You do not have to feel guilty about doing what you did, Sky," Maddy comforted me. "Had I been there, there would have been some serious septum damage to that guy. He would have needed a stretcher to carry him out of those doors."

"I feel awful. Not for what I did but because I might have compromised Jeremy's job. I just hope he understands." I turned around in my spot and stood facing the huge glass windows of Parker Enterprises.

I watched my worried expression in the window. Creases formed over my forehead and I felt sick.

Maddy went on about how it wasn't my fault and I did what anyone should do.

I agree with her.

When a stranger grabs your hand after being so rude and vile, you push them off you. And I did the same thing but that could cost me my job and Jeremy's job.

Ever since that incident a few years ago, I have been warier of people than I ever was and I never let anyone treat me the way Jordan Parker just did.

But right now, it was not about me. It was about a promise to a friend and it was going to be my last writing assignment. I blew it.

"Sky? Are you listening? Skylar??" I snapped out of my thoughts as Maddy continued to scream in my ear.

"Yeah, I'm listening," I said.

"Sky, just hail a cab and come—"

"Ms. Rose!" The sound of my name distracted me from hearing the rest of Maddy's words.

I turned a little to the left and spotted Alec walking in my direction.

"I gotta go, Maddy," I spoke into the phone.

"What? where?" she questioned.

"Jordan Parker's manager just found me. I'll call you, bye." I disconnected the call just as Alec reached in front of me.

"Ms. Rose," he began, "I just wanted to say—"

"Mr. Brody, I'm sorry but—"

"Oh, no. No! Please, you have nothing to apologize for," he said.

"Oh." I breathed. This was unexpected.

"He... Jordan's just a bit complex," He started.

"A bit complexed?" I repeated. "Oh, I think he's not complex at all, Mr. Brody. I saw how he is and I found many words to fit his personality."

"I am so sorry, Ms. Rose. I hope that wasn't your lawyer you were talking to," He chuckled nervously.

"I was about to. That was my boss, in fact," I lied.

"Ms. Rose, I apologize to you. Jordan isn't like that often. I implore you to not file a harassment case against him," Alec pleaded.

Worry was lined on his forehead. It was creasing as his eyebrows were raised in a plea.

Wow. This is an unexpected turn of events. I hadn't thought of how this could be traced back to Jordan Parker and turned into my favor.

*Play it cool, Sky.*

"Mr. Brody, he was way out of the line," I said.

"That won't happen again, I assure you."

"I... I don't know."

Alec sighed, his shoulders fell in defeat. "Look, Skylar... Can I call you Skylar?" He asked.

I nodded.

"Skylar, the thing is, this magazine you're writing is very important for the company. Jordan might kill me if he found out I'm making this public knowledge but there aren't many balls in my court," He shifted uncomfortably on his feet.

"Whatever do you mean?" I asked, feeling intrigued.

"If you could follow me to my office we could talk more before you decide on anything. Normally, I'm never in such a position to plead but I'm afraid Jordan did cross the line this time."

I stare at his face for a few seconds as I contemplate inside my head.

"Please." The look on his face makes me feel sad for him. Whatever this is, it must be really important to him. Jordan Parker might have been an asshole to me but Alec has been nothing but sweet since the moment I met him.

Whatever it was that he wanted me to know, I wanted to hear.

"Alright," I said and he sighed as though a big rock had been lifted off his heart.

A few minutes later I was seated inside Alec's office cabin.

Unlike Jordan's cabin, Alec didn't have a separate lounge area in his office. Although, the windows were still huge and the entire city could be seen from here as well.

Alec shifted uncomfortably in his chair and I turned my attention to him.

"Well, Skylar, what I'm about to tell you is completely off the record. Parker Enterprises has had a solid PR in the past few years of its uprise. But, what no one knows is how much losses we've been facing at the backhand," he said.

"But, your company is on the top," I said, recalling the previous article I had read.

I had done my thorough research about this enterprise. Whatever there was to know on the internet, I knew it.

"Well, we put on a good show," he shrugged.

"What does this have to with me?" I frowned.

"If you charge him with a case... things could go sideways for us. I mean, we're doing our best to get back up and preferably before it becomes public knowledge but with this... we could lose a lot. Jordan's been under pressure because of various reasons and he's had a stick up his ass. He's just going through something and I just want you to know that what he did was not justified in any manner. If you want to file a case against him, you have the right to do so but I implore you to not do that."

I stared at the open palms resting on my thighs for a few seconds as silence occupied the air around us.

"I wasn't going to charge you— him, I mean," I finally spoke. "To be honest, I thought I had lost the contract for the magazine. I never thought I could file a case and probably get a large sum of settlement money," I clicked my tongue and Alec laughed.

"You could. If you choose to that," he said.

"If that had crossed my mind, I would have chosen the public humiliation over the settlement," I said. "Just a heads up for the future." I smiled.

Alec gave a half-suppressed laugh. "Noted."

"You're pretty calm for someone who might get their ass sued," I leaned back in my chair.

"First of all, it won't be my ass," I laughed. "And second of all, you seem like someone who would understand... Although I might be too quick to judge," he added.

I laughed. "I won't. I'm just going to be uncomfortable around your friend because he's basically a douche."

"That he is. He's just a little complicated. Going through some things in his life. He's not always an asshole," he said.

"Aren't you the devil's advocate?"

"Meh," he chuckled.

Suddenly the door to his cabin flew open and I turned in my seat to see who it was.

"Where the hell did you go?" Jordan Parker sauntered into the room but stopped mid-way when his eyes landed on me.

My eyes narrowed in on his face and a scowl formed on my lips.

"Jordan, don't you think you should tell her what we discussed," Alec said as he approached the boss.

Jordan's green eyes darted from me to him, "You mean what you said I should do and I showed utter disinterest in doing so?"

"Jordan," Alec clenched his jaw.

Jordan turned his attention back to me, "You're very audacious. Aren't you?" He scowled.

I stood up. "I had no intention of seeing your face again. It was he," I pointed towards Alec, "who pleaded me to come back."

He raised his hand and pointed his index at me, "You—" he started but Alec caught at his hand and placed himself between us.

"You won't screw this up, Jordan. Emily will kill you."

Emily?

Emily Parker? Jordan's mother? What does she have to do with anything?

"Jordan, you should apologize," Alec said.

Jordan turned his face to his friend, "Did you not hear me? She hit me!" Looking back at me he sneered, "She's fired!"

"You refused to call me by my name and disrespected me and grabbed my hand forcefully! You're not supposed to do that to strangers!" I yelled.

"You were walking out without your stuff! Which you still do not have because it's still in my office," he pointed out and it hit me.

I looked around for my laptop bag but didn't see it. I recalled if I had walked out with it, but I couldn't remember.

So he grabbed my hand to stop me?

"What? Speechless, are we? Realized what a big blunder you've made, huh? Ms. Rose?"

I flicked my eyes to look at him, "You could have used words."

Jordan removed his eyes from me and looked at his friend, "She has to go," he said.

"No, she doesn't," Alec warned, locking eyes with Jordan.

The boys stood face-to-face, locked in, what looked like an intense eye-stare competition. There wasn't much of a difference in their heights. Jordan was just half an inch taller than Alec. While Alec had a medium built, Jordan was lean in the middle with a well-defined set of muscular arms. I noticed he had removed his blazer. His white shirt stuck out against his dark hair.

"You are going to complete this and Skylar will be our writer. We need The Spectator, Jordan." Alec said.

"I don't need anyone, Alexander," Jordan growled and stepped back.

"Just apologize to her, Jordan." Alec pleaded.

"It's fine, Alec," I spoke and their heads turned to me. I zoomed in on Jordan's face, a scowl resting on mine, "I don't need his apology. I've signed a contract and I will uphold my end of it."

Jordan glared back at me.

"That is great, Skylar. Thank you so much," Alec sighed in relief.

I looked at him and smiled, "Just doing my job. I'll grab my stuff and we can start tomorrow," I said.

"You aren't—" Jordan started but Alec slammed a hand against his chest and glared at him. That action seemed to shut him up.

"That'll be great, Skylar. See you, then." Alec smiled in my direction.

I returned his smile.

Giving one last glance to the arrogant replica of Christian Gray, I stalked out of Alec's cabin and headed towards Jordan's to grab my stuff.

Upon reaching there, I saw my stuff sitting on the couch in the waiting area just outside Jordan's cabin.

"Fucking prick. Just left it for the wolves," I mumbled to myself as I grabbed a hold of my bag which contained a moderately heavy laptop.

I quickly ushered myself out of the building and hailed a cab back home.