Reveal

Chapter 1

CalJac's.

Sage looked up at the sign and knew this was the place, having looked up directions on MapQuest. She'd been selected for an interview after applying for a secretarial position within the company, excited when she got the call. The economy was rough these days and Sage had applied to countless companies for all different type of positions, though she preferred the administrative field.

She heard of CalJac's and heard from a few of her friends that it was a tailor store, but they also sold jewelry and different accessories – all for men only. Sage rubbed her temples and looked down at her interview outfit, hoping it wasn't too casual. It was a simple pair of khaki pants with a short sleeved black dress shirt that had a hoop neckline, black pumps on her feet.

Her long strawberry blonde hair was pulled back in a tight French braid, a few curly strands framing her face. Her hair was naturally curly and went down to her waist, though Sage rarely left it down. Her stunning sapphire blue eyes were outlined in thin black eyeliner with dark pink gloss on her lips, making them shimmer. No foundation was needed to cover up blemishes because Sage had been blessed with natural beauty and hardly any acne, leaving her skin clear.

"Well here goes nothing." Sage took a deep breath and had her resume in hand before heading inside, a gentle bell dinging above her head as soon as she entered.

A woman looked up from behind the counter as soon as she heard the bell ding throughout the shop and smiled warmly, knowing this was probably Mr. Calaway's three o'clock interview. "Hello, welcome to CalJac's, how may I help you?" She greeted, the nametag on her silk blue shirt reading Katherine.

"Hi, I'm Sage Evans and have an interview schedule with Mr. Calaway. I'm a little early…" It was a quarter to three, which was perfect timing for an interview, so Sage was actually right on time.

"No problem, Ms. Evans. Please have a seat and I'll inform Mr. Calaway you've arrived." Katherine picked up the phone and pressed a few buttons, waiting patiently for the recipient to answer. "Mr. Calaway, your three o'clock is here." She hung up and turned to face Sage. "Please head straight to the back. There's a door that says his name on it and just knock before entering."

Sage nodded and flashed the woman a warm smile of her own. "Thank you." She walked past the desk and headed to the back as instructed, making sure none of the corners were crumpled and it looked professional. 'Breathe, just breathe a little.' Sage coached herself, wondering why she was so nervous and froze outside of Mr. Calaway's office door.

Mark looked up when he heard a knock. "Come in." He rumbled loud enough to where Ms. Evans could hear him, watching the door open as a stunning woman stepped inside. He stood up, wearing a simple pair of black jeans with a black short sleeved shirt that hugged his muscular frame perfectly, extending his hand. "Ms. Evans, Mark Calaway. Nice to meet you."

This man was huge and towered over her small five foot six frame, though Sage knew she couldn't be intimidated. Maybe on the inside, but on the outside she was a fierce predator, ready to do whatever it took to get this job. He stood at least seven feet tall and looked like he could crush skulls with one blow. Not to mention he was absolutely gorgeous, his dark auburn hair pulled back in a low tail, but that's not what caught Sage's attention.

Mark Calaway had the most incredible emerald green eyes she ever seen on a man.

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Calaway." Sage shook his hand, keeping eye contact, and released it after a few seconds before taking a seat.

"Call me Mark, please." Mark requested with a small smile, also sitting down. "I hate formality."

"Only if you call me Sage since I'm the same way."

"Fair enough." Mark chuckled, already liking her and took the resume she handed over, already having a copy of it. "So Sage, I'm not the type of man who doesn't like repeatin' what the job involves because everything you applied for you should already know about from reading the ad in the paper. It's a nine to five, Monday through Friday desk job with a lot of computer skill needed. You'll be inputtin' the orders from customers from our website and also taking orders over the phone. Also, we have an inventory that needs to be updated daily in order for us to keep track of what items and supplies need to be ordered and when. Also, whenever Kathy or Lucy need help at the front desk, you will have to help them out when required. Tyler and Kyle work strictly with the tailoring and right now it's wedding season," Mark sounded annoyed when he said that, causing Sage to bite back chuckling. "So it's been incredibly busy in that department. If you're asked to help out in any of the departments, please do it. I think that's it, do you have any questions?"

"What about benefits and the pay?" Sage asked promptly, having went over these interview questions in her head at least a hundred times.

"We do offer insurance after your ninety day probation period, but it's completely optional. The pay would start out at twelve dollars an hour." Mark thought that was reasonable and saw her eyes widen slightly, trying not to chuckle. "Does that sound good to you?"

Considering Sage had put down on her resume she wanted at least nine dollars an hour, twelve was golden. "Yes it does." She answered, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice because she hadn't gotten the job yet. "And so does the benefits. What about holiday pay?"

Mark sighed warily and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms behind his head. "You have to be here at least a year before holiday pay kicks in." He answered reluctantly, hoping that didn't turn her away from the job offer.

"Sounds good." Sage wasn't that worried about holiday pay, though she did have another question. "So, are the employees that don't get paid for the holidays allowed to make up for that time somehow?"

Mark eyed her for a moment, considering what she asked, finally nodding. "Sure, I'm sure we could work something out, maybe you could work Saturdays when we have one of the weekdays off. It's only major holidays, we still have to work on Martin Luther King JR's birthday and President's Day, the bullshit holidays."

Sage nodded, understanding fully. "Sounds fair." She appreciated this man's honesty and could tell the employees were happy working for him.

"Anything else, Sage?"

Her name rolled right off his tongue and Sage fought back a shiver, his voice definitely having an effect on her. "None that I can think of right now, but I'm sure once I leave something will pop into my head." She half-joked, flashing a soft smile and let him know silently she was still interested in the job.

"Usually how it goes." Mark chuckled, placing both her application and resume in a pile on his desk. "Well Sage, that's pretty much it. I will be making my decision tonight and contacting people first thing in the morning. There's only one position open for the secretary, but I'm also hirin' for retail positions that are only part-time. You put down you'd be interested in any of those categories, so I'll be contactin' you either way to let you know if you got the job or not."

Her stomach dropped a little, but Sage kept the smile on her face and nodded, standing up when Mark did to shake his hand. "Sounds good, thank you for the opportunity Mark and hopefully I'll be hearing from you sometime tomorrow." If not, it was back to square one, which was something Sage was quite frankly tired of doing.

"You sure will, have a good day Sage." He watched her walk out of his office and leaned back in his chair, immediately looking over her resume again.

She definitely was a top choice for the secretarial position.

"So what's the verdict?"

Sage rolled her eyes and tossed her pumps to the side where all the other shoes were, scowling a little. "Can't you even ask me how my day was before jumping to the damn gun, woman?" She demanded, walking into the kitchen to grab a glass of juice.

"Hi, how was your day? What's the verdict?" Marisol demanded sweetly, leaning over the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room, batting her chocolate brown eyes.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Sage contemplated hurling the bottle of juice at Marisol's head, still wondering what possessed her to get a two bedroom apartment with her best friend. "I'll get a call tomorrow telling me if I got it or not." She mumbled, coherent enough for Marisol to hear and grasp the concept of backing off. "He sounded interested so…"

"Ooo he?" Marisol walked fully into the kitchen and sat at the table, smiling. "Was he hot?"

"What about Randall?" Sage changed the subject, flat out refusing to call him anything else because the man was a complete scumbag in her eyes, arching an eyebrow at her best friend. "When are you going to finally call it quits with him and find someone better?"

"I really don't want to talk about this…again." Marisol grunted and stood up from the table, putting a headband on so her bangs didn't fall in her face. "I already told you it's easier said than done…"

"Oh yeah sure because he's awesome in bed?" Sage snorted, folding her arms in front of her chest while Marisol began doing dishes.

Marisol always started cleaning whenever Randy popped up in their conversations, which happened often because Sage wasn't going to stop until she got it through Marisol's head that she deserved better than an alcoholic drunk for a boyfriend. The woman was stubborn and bullheaded, always making excuses for him, even when she came home looking unhappy. That usually meant Randy had gone on a drinking binder the night before and got so plastered that Marisol had to clean him up.

"I'm not talking about this." Marisol was steadfast and always shut down, not wanting to talk about her drunken boyfriend. "I love him, Sage. I know it may be hard for you to understand that because you've never been in love like this, but when you are, it's not easy to just walk away when things get a little hairy…"

"A little hairy?" Sage echoed in disbelief, already feeling her blue eyes narrow to slits. "A little hairy is not cleaning up after your boyfriend goes on a damn binder vomiting all over you and you coming home crying your eyes out. A little hairy is not him fucking every woman he comes across because you simply refuse to sleep with him when he's drunk, which is ninety nine percent of the damn time! A little hairy does NOT give him the right to treat you like garbage and call you every name in the book when you deny him sex or anything else the stupid little asshole wants!"

Marisol tossed the towel down on the counter and held her hands up, pursing her lips tightly together because she didn't want to say something she'd regret later. "Look, I know you care about me and everything, but what you're doing is pissing me off and not respecting my decision NOT to talk about my relationship. It's none of your business. You are my best friend, my sister, but there are just some things about my life that you don't need to know. I don't get after you every time you go out on a date, only to come home cracking open a bottle of wine because of how much it sucked. So please, please Sage, just stop bringing up Randy and let me handle him." With that said, she walked out of the kitchen, deciding they needed some distance and Marisol had to call her boyfriend to make sure they were still going out that night.

Growling in frustration, Sage was tempted to follow her friend and stopped, knowing it wouldn't do any good. Marisol was bound and determined to make it work with Randy, no matter what he ended up doing to her. She'd give him this much credit, he hadn't struck her friend yet and, if he ever did, Sage would be cutting off each and every one of his fingers individually.

He wasn't an abusive drunk, though Sage had a sinking feeling that Marisol kept a lot from her when it came to Randy's drunken states. Calling Marisol at three in the morning and demanding her to come over because he was bored did not constitute for a healthy relationship, which is what Marisol deserved. Hell, Marisol had come crying her heart out to Sage a few months ago, which is why they now lived together in a two bedroom apartment, because she couldn't stand living with Randy anymore.

Sage had lived with her mother, who popped pills constantly and spent her days sleeping her life away, only getting up late at night to go out to bars to try to find that special someone. Her father, Clifford, had died of lung cancer after smoking cigars and cigarettes most of his life, being buried at the young age of fifty three. After her father's death, Annie was never the same again and fell into a deep depression, her doctor prescribing her pills to help cope with the loss.

It'd been three years of drinking, popping pills and sleeping.

Sage's thoughts turned away from her parents to what Marisol said about the dates she went on, shivering at the awful memories. She did end up going out with a really nice guy named John, but he ended up being nothing more than a playboy. Marisol and Randy had set them up on a blind date and Sage had been against it, but after a lot of begging and pleading from her best friend, she reluctantly gave in.

The night was wonderful, dinner and a movie, ending with a walk through the park that was just down the street from the apartment. It happened shortly after Marisol and Sage moved in together and John was Randy's best friend, which automatically popped red flags in Sage's head. Somehow though, she believed his sweet words and even let him hold her hand, laughing harder than she had with any other man.

They ended up sleeping together that night, something Sage never did with her dates, but she honestly thought John was different. It was nothing more than a night of passionate dirty sex and, when Sage woke up the next morning, John had already left without so much as a note. That didn't set well with Sage, but she let it go and went on a few more dates with John that ended with nothing more than good night kisses.

Sage had explained to John that she didn't sleep with men she wasn't in love with and what they did on their first date was moving way too fast, wanting to take things a lot slower if they were going to have a relationship. John agreed and told her he understood perfectly, promising that they wouldn't have sex again until she was ready for it. Sage thought everything had been going good and, after two months of dating without sex, she finally decided it was time to stop being a prude.

She came to the realization she was in love with John and wanted to be with him in every way possible…or so she thought.