Vice

54: Cameron's Office

Days pass in a blur. 

Natara feels like a robot going through the motions. Sleep, eat, work, and repeat. 

Nothing eventful happens. Jace doesn't even stop by her office to say hello like he used to. 

Natara feels bored, alienated, stressed, and lonely and it bothers her that Jace doesn't stop in anymore. She supposes she should be used to the lack of romantic attention because her ex boyfriend was fairly distant, too, but for some reason she feels unhappier than she did even when she was with him.

A few days later Mr. Vice returns to work. 

Natara doesn't see him right away but she knows he's arrived because she sees his morning coffee order on her to-do list again. 

She wonders if he told Jaquie that she didn't need to visit him in the hospital anymore. Maybe he was mad at her. Maybe she was still mad at him. Or maybe he'd just given up. Maybe he didn't care at all. 

Mr. Vice was an enigma and Natara felt nervous just by his mere presence back in the office. 

Hopefully she wouldn't end up seeing him again. Hopefully there weren't any more work related parties that she'd be requested to go to with him. She certainly wouldn't be knocking on or opening his office door again. Natara assumes that chances are quite good for her not seeing him again if she just delivers his coffee and leaves. Maybe she won't knock at all.

As much as she doesn't want to admit it to herself, her heart is attached to Mr. Vice. If it wasn't, his return to the office wouldn't send flutters through her stomach. Her heart wouldn't stir up into a pounding frenzy when she heard his name around Vicetech. 

Mr. Vice had gotten much closer to her than she'd wanted. He was a soft spot for Natara, always coaxing her closer to him with his sad eyes and drawing her beside him with his soft touch. 

Of course, that was before. Before she found out he was engaged. Before she realized he could never be with her unless he wanted disowned. Before they fought and before Natara agreed to be in a relationship with Jace.

All these thoughts race through Natara's mind as she brews Mr. Vice's coffee. She finds herself so distracted that she ends up pouring the wrong creamer in his cup and has to start all over. 

A few other employees walk into the room with her, see her, and then immediately walk back out. She wonders why they leave so abruptly but assumes they were hoping to talk privately with each other so they went somewhere else. 

Today when she swirls the whipped cream on Mr. Vice's coffee it comes out perfectly. She smiles. It's a small accomplishment, but still a nice one. She feels like she could use a little bit of pride after everything that's happened.

She grabs the coffee and takes it upstairs to his office. As always, she opens the delivery slot and places the drink inside. As soon as she closes the slot she hurries down the hallway, hoping to get away from Mr. Vice's office as quickly as possible. 

She makes it a third of the way down the hall and then she hears a click behind her. She turns around, curious about the sound, and the door to Mr. Vice's office opens.

She freezes mid-step, eyes wide. Should she run? 

Her head flicks around, looking for plants to hide behind, corners to pass around, or open doors to sneak into, but all of the office doors are closed, the hallway is long, and there are no big plants to hide behind. 

And how terrible would it look for her if she was caught literally running away from her boss? Could she get fired for that? 

She stares down at her feet, tapping her fingertips nervously against her thighs. Maybe she didn't see what she thought she saw. After all, things have been crazy lately for her. Maybe she'd just lost it and had begun imagining things. Perhaps the door never opened at all. She hopes it never opened at all, because what would she do or say if it did?

"Natara." His voice startles a jump out of her, its smooth depth breaking through the rolling waves of her frenzied thoughts. Her eyes snap up to meet his and she wishes she hadn't looked up at him. 

Those sad green eyes. He'd been away for long enough that she'd forgotten their pull. 

She tears her gaze away. She should run. She needs to leave, right now, before things go downhill. 

"Come here," he pleads.

When she doesn't move, Mr. Vice steps past his office door and into the hallway. 

Natara's eyes trace the black suit concealing his figure, the warm body she'd pressed herself up against more than once now, and her resolve weakens. He strides toward her, snaps his hand around her wrist, and sighs.

He tugs her back down the hall toward his office. Part of her screams internally for her to not go along with him but the area of her brain controlling her body doesn't cooperate. She willingly trails behind him down the hall and across the threshold. 

Mr. Vice locks the office door behind her and releases her wrist. Her anxiety spikes, like a pull in the center of her chest, as she stares up at Mr. Vice. 

She shouldn't be here. Why did she let herself get pulled into this? And why does he look so particularly handsome today? His blonde hair is neatly styled, his red tie perfectly in place, and he smells like fresh aftershave. 

She wonders if he got cleaned up for work today because he's decided to follow his father's commands from now on. Maybe he's even accepted the marriage. 

If so, why would he call her into his office? Why isn't he stepping a few feet back from her? And why is he looking down at her lips like that?