Afterwards: An "After" Fanfiction

Chapter 10: Back For You

On Wednesday morning, Tessa saw a familiar face in the office. "Everyone," Christian gathered all of the employees in the center of the room, a tight smile on his face. "I'd like to re-introduce you to our newest part-time employee."

Standing close to her boss with a look of defeat, was Hardin Scott. His hands were shoved into the pockets of his dress pants and his head was held low. It was a complete contrast to the first time Tessa had seen him in that exact position a few months ago. He caught her eye and quickly looked to the ground.

"Please do your best to utilize his help while he's working here every Tuesday and Thursday, starting tomorrow." Vance pat Hardin on the shoulder, but the latter shrugged away.

After the welcome parade died down, Tessa finally made her way to the middle of the room. Hardin still hadn't replied to a single one of her texts. "Can I speak to you in my office?"

Hardin didn't protest. He followed her silently all the way down the hallway and kept his eyes down.

"What the absolute fuck, Hardin?" Tessa got straight to the point. "You don't answer any of my messages, but the second I post a picture you don't like, you fly all the way back home? Why are you working here again, just to keep tabs on me?"

His brows instantly furrowed and he finally met her eyes. "What picture?"

Confused, Tessa narrowed her eyes. "The one of me and Luke?" When the other answered with a blank stare, it hit her that he hadn't seen the picture at all. "Oops."

"No, now I'm going to need to see this picture." Hardin pulled out his phone and scrolled furiously through Instagram as Tessa tried to pull the device away from him. "What the fuck is this, Theresa? Who is this geriatric jerk?"

"He's not that old!" The blonde shouted, struggling to remove Hardin's large hand from her face so she could swipe his phone. "I only did it to make you jealous after Steph showed me that post of you and Molly!"

Again, Hardin's brow creased. "What picture of me and Molly?"

"You've got to be kidding me!"

Back on Instagram, Hardin rolled his eyes. "I've had Molly blocked on here for months now. She's probably blocked me as well with what I said to her when I went."

"What did you say to her?" Tessa crossed her arms, intrigued.

Hardin sighed and sat down at one of the chairs in front of her desk. "I guess we have a lot of explaining to do."

Sitting down in her big leather chair, she nodded. "You can start with this." Luckily, the screenshot Steph had sent of Hardin's plane post also had Molly's post. "What's your excuse? Looks like you two were having a great time together, doesn't look like a breakup to me."

Nearly bursting into laughter, Hardin bit his lip. "Steph showed you this?" Tessa nodded. "I must've underestimated Molly. She's much more conniving than I thought. Tessa...this picture is from forever ago. Molly doesn't even have that dog anymore. She definitely posted it knowing Steph would see it and show you. I shouldn't have told her I fell for one of Steph's friends."

Now feeling like an idiot, Tessa shifted in her seat. "You told her that?"

"Sure did."

"Hmm." Tessa relaxed her shoulders. "Steph did say Molly was pretty manipulative...maybe that's what she was talking about."

"Sure is." Returning to his phone, Hardin tossed the device onto the desk. "So are you going to explain this?" The picture of Tessa and Luke glowed clearly on the screen.

"I told you, I only took this picture to make you jealous. He's just a guy who gave me a modeling contract. I haven't accepted yet, but I looked through the details and it looked pretty legitimate." She pulled up the email on her phone and set it next to Hardin's cell. "See? I even told him about you and he was really supportive. He would never try anything with me."

Out of curiosity, Hardin peeked at the contract. "That remains to be seen. But I guess that's pretty cool. You are gorgeous enough to be a model."

They smiled at each other for the first time that day. "What really happened with Molly?" Tessa questioned shortly after.

Hardin scrubbed a hand over his face. He looked exhausted. "I did exactly what I told you I would. I went there and told her that I met someone new and that, though I was sorry and still felt guilty for making her move out here for me, we can't be together again. No dog walking involved."

"And she just...agreed?"

"Well. Not exactly. She has it in her head still that I owe her. She put up a fight, of course and made up some fake shit to try and threaten me to stay. I told her it was over and she told me to leave, so I did. Was more than happy to."

Tessa was finding his story hard to believe. "Did you sleep with her?"

"No. I just told you that I might so I wouldn't look desperate and obsessed with you." Hardin stated matter of factly. "I would never do that to you...even if I'm not ready to date. Just understand, Tessa, I really do like you. Might even...never mind. I just need some time to get back to myself after officially ending things with Molly."

At those words, Tessa softened. "I understand that. Thank you for sharing that." She tucked her phone away and pushed his own lightly towards him. "So what are you doing back here at Vance Publishing? What about your working from home job?"

"This one is a little bit more complicated than I'm ready to get into right now." Hardin stiffened and looked towards the door. "Short story is...I actually owe him a couple hundred favors, and helping out between my other job is my way of making peace."

"Owe him what?"

Hardin shrugged. "I just said I'd help him out."

She felt as if she wasn't getting the whole story, but she wasn't complaining. At least she would be able to see Hardin more often. "So from all of this...I got that you like me a little more than you let on."

A smirk spread across his lips. "Perhaps." He became a little more serious before he continued. "I just hope you can understand I need some time. Not asking you to wait around for me of course. But maybe, if you want, we can just keep spending time together and see what happens?"

Tessa instinctively put a hand on Hardin's. "I'd like that."

Suddenly, Christian called to Tessa from the other side of the door. She jerked her hand away and told him to come in. "I see you're having a meeting with your mentor." The boss smiled at her, but kept his eyes trained on Hardin. "When you're ready I'd like to see you in my office."

Hardin stood swiftly, his face grave. "Yes sir. I'm ready now."

"Let's go." He waved his hand, gesturing to Hardin to hurry up. "Tessa, if you could have that new manuscript ready by this afternoon, that would be great." The two men left abruptly, but Christian forgot to close Tessa's door as he left, and the faint sounds of their conversation traveled into her office. "You really fucked up this time, kid. Hope you're ready to work off what you owe me."

She heard Hardin sigh. "Yes sir. Sorry sir. Maybe if I earn your trust you'll let me back in..." Though she strained her ears, she couldn't hear the rest.

Whatever Hardin was doing back at Vance Publishing, it had to do with a lot more than a simple part time job. Tessa knew Hardin had just gone through a lot of stress, so she wouldn't push him for answers yet. But as long as she worked alongside him, she vowed to figure out what exactly he was hiding.