Page 18 of Not In The Contract

It wasn’t just my work anymore.

6. Testing Time

Alex

Tickticktick!

I read and reread the same sentence, until the words slid together and blurred across the page.

Tick tick tick!

I dragged in a breath, willing my focus to sharpen. There were too many things to be done, and the seconds forged on.

Tick tick tick!

“Focus, Alex,” I murmured to myself, the bridge of my nose pinched tight between my thumb and index finger. I rolled my neck and squeezed my eyes shut to fend off the oncoming headache.

The gentle knock on my door drew my attention instead, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Come in.”

The frosted glass swung open to reveal Katya, my newest assistant. Her long black hair sat in two neat Dutch Braids atop her head, the plaits like liquid onyx on her gray suit jacket. Her dark eyes glittered, lined with midnight liner. It did nothing to hide the mirth in her depthless eyes.

“I’ve just received the finalized site plans for the orphanage,” she announced happily. She walked over to my desk, her heels clicking on the emerald of the marble floor. “All it needs is your signature of approval and we can get started.”

“That’s the best bit of news I’ve had in a long time,” I said with a tight smile.

She handed me the thick folder and a thumb drive.

I wasted no time, plugging the thumb drive in and flipping open the folder. Months of labor stared back at me, the culmination of a passion project that I’d personally funded.

“Let me know when you’d like to schedule a meeting with the architects,” Katya said. “We’ve already scheduled Brannagh’s team to begin construction.”

“That’s perfect, thank you, Katya,” I said, albeit distracted, as I scrolled through the scaled plans for the orphanage.

“I’ll be on call if you need,” she said before leaving me alone with my thoughts.

I’d wanted to build shelters and homes for those who needed it most for many years, but there were always more pressing matters to tend to. Matters that wouldn’t allow me the time I needed to see things through. But after years of hard work, I could finally start.

The wide, open halls of the orphanage were exactly as I’d designed, made to let in as much light and air as possible. And safely. There were enough rooms to house twice the typical number of children found in other city-funded orphanages, and the gardens would cater to just about every child’s wildest fantasies.

I’d make sure of it.

I worked through the prints, signing off each copy with its correlating plan on the thumbdrive. I was happy to lose myself to the tedium of it, even if it would be short lived. Not having to think through a hundred possibilities at every turn left my mind strangely free.

Free enough to wonder to the student, Devon, who’d be living with me soon.

A giddy kind of anxiety fluttered in the grooves of my ribs, nestling into the space between my lungs. It had been years since I’d lived with someone. Years since I’d been forced to share my space with another person.

I’d protected my own bubble so much in the time since then that I wasn’t sure I knewhowto live with another person again. I reached the end of the folder and stared at the blank page. I was struck by the very real possibility that the student might find me…

Boring.

Hayden’s lighthearted jabs and Reid’s playful teasing rang in my ears. I was by no means anuninteresting person. I wasn’t stupid enough to dismiss my work. But outside of it, outside of my office, I lived to step back into it the very next day.

I didn’t go out unless my friends coerced me, nor would I be caught dead initiating such a thing. I was happy in my own world. Content in my space.

My door crashed open and I jumped in fright.