Stiles,

Thank you so much for writing! It really means a lot, knowing that my books can change people's lives for the better. You don't sound silly at all. A lot of people think books like this aren't important, but we all need escapist fantasies sometimes. Your boss sounds like a piece of work. Not that this makes it any better, but I'm sure he doesn't mean to hurt you. He was probably just raised in a billion-dollar bubble, and he doesn't know how to interact with other humans. It's actually a pretty common affliction. Dirk was based on a real guy, who, believes it or not, sous a lot like your boss. I just softened him around the edges, made him a little more tolerable. Artistic license, you know ?

I can't help feeling disappointing that Rick isn't real, somewhere. Nope, just men like Mr. Hale. Thank you, I've seen enough assholes in my life, I'm gonna pass. I can still hope I will meet a Rick, one day, maybe he will be a lot like Mr. Hale but with a conscience and a heart which I'm pretty sure my boss loses in the river Styx.

However, I'm really glad by her answer, she's really a good person, as I excepted. I know that in my mail I sound totally crazy and I don't even try to read it again, what I remember is clearly enough.

She continues with :

I hope you'll write back. A lot of people never answer my emails, like they think I'm too busy or they're bothering me, or something - but I want to hear how things go with your boss. I think you should try going a whole day without answering his taunts. Just to see what happens, you know ? Remember what Rick said to Adam - one of the reasons he tease him was because he would always deal it back, and he loved having someone in his life who'd actually talk to him that way. When you dish it back to your boss, you're just doing exactly what he wants by popping his billion-dollar bubble. And if it doesn't work, well, you'll have a whole day to think of new insults.

Regards,

Laura

I snort. I don't know if I will be able to bite my tongue around him, it's just how things work between us. Maybe that will work with Rick, but Mr. Hale is not him. Unfortunately. This idiot's been throwing knives at my back since I first saw him. Or not ?

Maybe she's right, after all. He starts showing his claws when I started to play that game.

Well, I will try but it will physically hurt me to stay quiet. I need to find something to put in my mouth. Oh, that sounds dirty. I like it. I stand up from my desk and go to the break room to see if there anything, some snacks maybe…

Isaac Lahey is here, texting and drinking his hot coffee, as usual. This beautiful young man is one of my best friends here, in New York. I met him the day I started, he was the one who have to showed me around, to explained me how the firm worked from the inside which means : who liked who, who hated who and who fucked who. Oddly, he seemed to be the one who knew everything about everyone and I should have been avoided him but Isaac is truly too cute to be avoided. That man has the face of an angel and the mind of Lucifer. But, I know I can trust him deeply.

Isaac works at the advertising part of this company with Scott McCall, another good friend of mine, and when you put the two of them in the same room, you create a monster of energy, full of ideas that will crushs all the ennemies. It's kind of scary the first time you saw it but you get used to it. They are an incredible team together, they're actually the best. I heard Mr. Hale congratulated them often, and although I'm so proud of them, I can't help but feeling a bit jealous. Mr. Hale never says anything kind, I'm not asking much, just a thank you. Damn him.

Isaac smileys at me as he caught me daydreaming about my boss.

"Hi there! The devil in Armani suits lets you take a break ?" He smirks.

"What he doesn't know, doesn't kill him," I smiles. "Oh, maybe I should tell him, after all."

Isaac chuckles at my joke. He knows all about my hate and desperate attraction to our boss. But he never judges me, that why I love him.

"Wanna grab some lunch with Scott today ?" Isaac asks.

"Sure. why not ?"

It's always easy with that guy and I wander why I can't be attract to his puppy face instead of the big alpha douchebag. Speaking of which, I have some work to do. I reach for the counter and try to find something eatable and fail miserably.

"What are you looking for ?" Isaac asks.

"Anything with sugar, I suppose." With my lack of sleep, I will need glucose to stop me for killing my boss.

"Not afraid to climb the walls ?" I notice his grin.

"I'm not a child anymore, Isaac…" I look at him as he reaches for his pocket and raises his hand victoriously.

"I've got a cherry lollipop."

Damn him.

I finish copying the files Mr Hale wanted with the lollipop in my mouth. Nobody is gonna see me anyway, because they are all afraid of the sexy dragon. All of them, except me.

"Back from the hunt so soon ?" Mr Hale asks, suddenly beside me. His timing is impeccable as always."Did you accidentally stumble into direct sunlight ?"

My tongue swirls on the candy, my lips suck on the tip as I feel it going too far in my throat, making me gag. Dear lord, please, don't let this happen. Please don't let a lolipop kill me while Satan himself looks on. I reach for the stick and let the candy out as I see his green eyes widen, his lips part like he wants to say something.

Fuck me.

I wait a second for his punch-line but nothing comes. I clear my throat.

"The files are on your desk, sir."

"Oh, I like it when you call me that." He's grinning, but I just look at him mildly, playing the innocent, ordinary, businesslike secretary.

"I'll keep that in mind, sir. Is there anything else I can do for you at the moment ?"

He's just staring, trying to figure me out. Trying to read me, and gloriously failing. It feels good. His werewolf senses can't help him on this one as I stay calm and relaxed. Well, as relaxed as I could be after I chocked on a lollipop which gave him a demonstration of my gag reflex. Don't be aroused, Stiles, not in front of Satan.

Finally, he just brushes past me and retreats into his office, slamming the door behind him. I promise I'm getting to the thing with the ashtray.

So that's how it goes. I joined Isaac and Scott for lunch, they laughed so hard when I told them the lollipop incident. And for the rest of the day, I dont'even see him. It's like he's decided I'm not worth talking to, it I don't come up with a bunch of creative ways to call him a subhuman bloodsucking waste of space. And as satisfaying as the insults can sometimes be, I find I prefer this. He's not a child, for God's sake ! Does he really is pouting because I refused to play with him ? This is the richest werewolf of New York, who runs a billion worth company with a few millions of employees, ladies and gentlemen.

When I get home, I write Laura back right away, telling her that her advice worked. It's Friday, and by Saturday morning I haven't heard back. She probably doesn't answer fanmails on weekends.

Fanmail. Jesus. What kind of person have I turned into ?

In the end, I don't hear back from Laura for a couple of weeks. I finally stop thinking about it, and whithin a few days, Mr Hale pushes me to the breaking point and we're back to snarling at each other.

Finally, though, she writes back. She tells me how glad she is that things have worked out, and she's worry she's been too busy to answer. I guess there are people like that. Me, I can't imagine having the creative energy to do anything after I get home. she talks about her writing process and what a struggle it is sometimes to publish a book. She's been dealing with a lot of anxiety and stress about her latest book, so her email's been neglected. She hopes I understand.

I feel weirdly comfortable with her, so I find myself answering right away, telling her all about my family problems and the reasons why I think I put up with Mr Hale in the first place. I tell her that maybe, if I can ever manage to find my way out of this job, I might be able to use her books as a safe outlet for my obvious pathological need for irritating bad boys. Better in fiction than in real life.

As I write, I think of the other bad boys that I've known and dated. The first and the biggest asshole of all was Jackson Wittemore. Our relashionship was based on fighting and fucking. We were totally and completly opposites, we were out of space. No one understands why we were together, and honestly, me neither. But it was entertaining, and finally, he cheated on me with a girl, Lydia Martin who is currently, my Baby Girl, the only woman of my life. She came to me when Jackson cheated on her for a boy. And then, we became best friends.

Laura answers quickly, this time, and she's got me giggling. I even confess to her that Mr Hale is probably just as sexy as Rick, although I can't verifiy if he knows how to handle a man quite as well. I don't even know if he's gay.

That seems to amuse her :

Haha, really ?

I specifically created Rick with the idea in mind that NO real man could mesure up. I've got to meet this guy.

I shoot back a quick response.

Is he really that sexy ? Well, let's put it this way : when he walks into a room, this song plays.

LINK : Youtube - Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon

She answers almost immediately.

Oh my God, I died laughing. I don't know what I was expecting. This, maybe.

LINK : Youtube - Sex and Candy - Marcy Playground

I laugh for five minutes straight.

For a couple more weeks, we're emailing back and forth at a rapid pace. Mostly outside of work hours, although I find myself chuckling at things that happen throughout the day that I know I'll enjoy telling her about later.

"You've acting like you've got a crush on her." Lydia snaps, graciously sits on my couch, a beer in his perfectly manicured hand.

"You know I'm gay, Lyds, and I'm pretty sure she's married." I answer with a shrug.

"She's not."

"What ? How do you know that ?" Did she spies on her or something ? There was no hesitation in her voice.

"Well, she's a woman who writes gay romance novels."

"…And ?" I pause. "You mean a woman can't writes gay romance novels and be married ?"

"That is kind of awkward. And kinky, in a twisted kind of way."

"He's surely open-minded, I don't know." I shrug, I don't like to doubt about Laura, she was like a new friend, well kind of, and I'm that naive to think she's a perfect woman.

"Or she's gay too."

I groan. I know Lydia, and she will keep digging until she find a plausible option. But I know better.

"Or you saying bullshit because you couldn't find anything about her."

"AH! This is so frustrating, it's like she doesn't even exist, only her books does." She says angrily, as I grin.

"Nailed it."

"What's so funny ?"

I jump as Mr Satan sort me out of my reveries, I was thinking about last night.

But then I see his face, and everything flares up inside me. He's still cultivating that ridiculous two day's growth on his firm jawline, and he's walking in that particular way, like maybe he went and lifted weights on his lunch break. He certainly has a body that hints at some kind of regular strength werewol training. I'm rememberting the scene where Adam secretly watches Rick doind his bench presses and basically wins the hard-on of the century, and now I'm blushing. Great.

"Nothing," I mutter, quickly.

"Good," Mr Hale says, "I need you in my office."

When he disappears through the door and I don't immediately follow, he pops his head out a moment later.

"Now," he clarifies, with no hint of humour on his face.

Here we fucking go.