She resisted the urge to shut her eyes as the piercing cries of the red faced baby in front of her continued to stab her eardrums. Her doe eyes merely squinted as the couple looked around the house, talking to each other about the paint colour as their child flailed wildly in the father's arms. Mercedes Jones rubbed her right temple with her free hand as the other clutched the clipboard in her hand. "Um…I'll let you two have a moment to talk this out and I'll be right down in the kitchen if you need me." She gritted through her teeth as cheerfully as she possibly could while a bone crushing migraine pounded in the back of her skull. The couple paused and gave her a look of slight annoyance.
"This room colour is red…..who would ever want to have a red room?" The husband scoffed, "Looks like someone had a nose bleed and just sneezed all over everyth—"
"You know what, this might take awhile. We'll come and get you once this is sorted out thanks." The wife cut her husband off and grabbed the baby from the man beside her. The infant immediately quieted down in his mother's embrace. Mercedes simply nodded and turned quickly on her heels away from the slightly difficult family. She stepped into the kitchen and poured herself a tall glass of the champagne they had out for the clients of the open house. The cool glass of the flute pressed to her crimson lips before she paused, sighed, and set it down. It probably would make more sense to drink a glass of water instead, especially if she wanted to pop an Advil. She sadly eyed the drink before she walked over to her purse and grabbed her pill bottle. "Well bottoms up." She mumbled tiredly before she tossed back the pill, slightly lodging it in her throat. She moved quickly to grab one of the flutes, coughing as the tiny item remained lodged, and attempted to fill the glass with water. Before she could even get the liquid in the cup a strong pair of arms wrapped around her middle and hoisted her off of the ground. She gasped in surprise, promptly swallowing the intrusive pill.
"There we are, I think I about saved your life right there." A booming deep voice sounded behind her. Mercedes turned around quickly to stare up at a tall dirty blonde haired man.
She rubbed at her throat and narrowed her eyes, "I wasn't choking, it was just a little stuck." She rasped out, "If anything you almost killed me." She coughed a bit and wiped at her leaking eyes.
The taller man shrugged, "Not what it looked like to me." He gave her a small grin, "You're welcome anyway."
Mercedes rolled her eyes and pointed a short finger in his direction, "If anything you should be thankful that I don't sue you buddy."
"Well that's not a very nice thing to do to someone who just saved you from croaking." His green eyes widened in offense. "You're setting a bad precedent for future people who could be choking. I might not help them anymore if they have this kind of attitude."
Mercedes shook her head, "Good, then they might avoid a death grip around their torsos!" Her headache was still paining her and being hoisted in the air and squeezed to death hadn't made her feel any better. If anything her ribs were now aching as well.
The blonde scoffed and furrowed his brow in frustration before he chuckled and shook his head. "You looked a lot friendlier on the sign outside."
"Well yea. It's probably because I wasn't being manhandled while taking that photo." She placed a hand on her hip. "Now may I help you with something?"
"Well I wanted to introduce myself, but…"He looked at her for a moment as she stared back at him silently. He gave her a small smile, "You're a tough cookie huh?"
"No, I'm a tired woman." She frowned and finally grabbed herself a glass of water. She let it soothe her throat before she chose to speak. "Mr….."
"Evans" The man offered.
"Mr. Evans, are you here to buy this house or simply here to make life difficult?"
He rubbed at his brownish beard for a moment and raised an inquisitive brow, "Sometimes difficult can be fun, right?"
She frowned and sighed, why couldn't today just be an easy day for her, "Um…." Just as she was about to answer, the small family came downstairs and looked absolutely exhausted. Both Mercedes and the gentleman beside her, stared at them.
"We've decided to take the house." The husband said almost solemnly.
"Really?" The blonde asked. Mercedes glanced at him. "A family your size should definitely look at the house just down the block from here. Same amount of square feet at half the cost." The shorter woman's mouth dropped. "A new family such as you could save thousands at another listing." He grinned and dragged his long fingers through his hair. "Lucky for you, I'm the kind of real estate agent who can get you in. Or as the kids say, hook you up."
The couple looked at each other for a moment and then nodded slowly. The wife shrugged, "Money…was definitely an issue…..but we hadn't heard about anything better." She glanced at Mercedes who continued to stand there stunned as her sale slipped out of her grasp.
"This is an amazing listing with great renovations! This is the home that you would like your son to grow up in." Mercedes interjected quickly and glared at the blonde beside her. "This man knows nothing about what he's talking about."
"The house I'm thinking of already has the perfect space for a nursery and adjoining rooms for easy access to your handsome boy there." He beamed a perfect smile and glanced at Mercedes, "The previous owners just built a Jacuzzi in the master bedroom as well. You can use them for those wind down days that you two might need once in awhile." He laughed, "Am I right?"
The husband quickly looked at his wife and smiled, "Yea, you're right. It's been tough." Mercedes grabbed the blonde man's arm, noticing the firm muscle beneath the fabric, and began pulling him away.
"Excuse us for a moment." She smiled and dragged him outside. Once they were out of earshot she growled, "What the HELL do you think you're doing?" He laughed, "This is not a laughing matter Mr. Evans, I should call the police right now for harassment."
"My name is Sam." He smiled and her right eye began to twitch.
"I don't care whoever the hell you are, stop bothering my clients."
He shrugged and leaned towards her, forcing her to step back, "I believe they're my clients now." He whispered and then stood at his full height. "Ah, I see you've come to join us." He boomed out. Mercedes turned to see that the small family had come outside.
The wife seemed a bit happier than before, "We would like to see the house you were speaking about Mr…."
"Mr. Evans, but no need for formalities," He smiled that damn boyish smile, "Just call me Sam." He stretched out his hand and shook the husband's firmly. "Now if you lovely folks wouldn't mind following me, I can take you to your new family home right away." He clapped his hands together and looked over at Mercedes. "I've been in the real estate business for ten years now and I can always tell what my clients need and deserve." He shrugged, "Unfortunately, my competition isn't always so…." He cleared his throat, "Talented."
"Mr. Evans, these are my clients and I am pretty sure that what you're doing is illegal!" Mercedes shouted as they walked away. Sam paused for a moment and looked at the couple.
"Well Mr and Mrs…" He began.
"Just call us Rick and Christine."
"Amazing names for amazing people." He joked. Mercedes resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Would you like to put an offer down for this house or…."
The couple looked at Mercedes apologetically, "We are so thankful Ms. Jones, but we think Sam might understand us a bit more. We'll make all arrangements tomorrow to terminate our partnership." Mercedes bit her bottom lip in frustration and simply nodded.
"Well then, the people have spoken." Sam smiled and cocked his head to the side before approaching Mercedes. He stretched his hand out. "No hard feelings?" She looked over his shoulder and saw the couple looking at them. Smiling, she took his hand in her own and dug her nails into the rough flesh.
"I'm going to squash you like a bug Evans…..like a dirty cockroach beneath my shoe."
He grimaced and then smiled, "Mmm I can't wait." He pulled his hand away from hers, "That just means I get to see you again." He said quietly enough for only her to hear him. Her eyes widened in slight shock, but then quickly narrowed as he left with her clients. He might have won the battle, but she was damn sure she was going to win the war.
A/N: Just needed a quick stress release, thankfully my course is done tomorrow so I can update Silent Noise soon! Thanks to anyone who has been patient. I realised that I have some readers on FF who don't have Tumblr and I know they've been waiting a lonnnng time for an update on Silent Noise as well. So sorry for that.