Chapter 2: The First Day

Mr. Cullen – or Edward – as he insisted I call him, sent me on my way with a new laptop, Blackberry, and instructions for the next couple hours.

I clearly had my work cut out for me.

The brunette walked up to me just as I finished setting up at my new desk.

"Hi."

I looked up at her, another fake smile on my face. "Hello."

"I'm Bella Swan," she said. "And you better stay away from Edward."

I just looked at her, momentarily taken aback. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard me," she hissed, and I was reminded of a snake charmer I'd once seen in India. "Stay away from him, little blondie. He's mine, and only mine."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought he was single." In fact, I knew for certain that Mr. Cullen was unattached. Alec had really drilled me on everything I need to know here.

"He is, but he'll be mine soon. And I'm not having some arrogant new PA get in the way of that."

I simply smirked at her, and made a mental note to tell my father to fire this Bella Swan. "It was so nice to meet you, Bella. I just know we'll be great friends."

She glared at me – I honestly couldn't care less – and stalked back over to her side of the room. I looked back to Edward's office door, and surprisingly, caught a flash of blond hair through the frosted glass. And I just knew that he'd been listening to the entire conversation.

~*FRtR*~

Harvard's business and financing course had paid off majorly here. Thanks to my wonderful-yet-eccentric professor, I'd been able to complete the work without asking Bella for help. I wasn't really eager to talk to her at all, since the whole 'Edward is mine' thing. I just gathered that she was a little bit loopy.

To speak of the devil, Bella walked in from her lunch break, scowling and muttering to herself under her breath. I smiled to myself at the thought of something annoying her.

The landline phone on my desk began ringing, alerting me to its presence for the first time. I recognized the room number – Mr. Cullen was calling me.

"Hello?" No need for office formalities with the boss, right?

"Jane, could you please step into my office for a moment."

"Sure, just give me a second to wrap this up."

"Of course."

I hung up on him, not knowing if I should wait for a goodbye or not. Stupid office protocol. Why he couldn't just walk the twelve-foot distance out to my desk stumped me. Pretentious office people, I tell you.

I knocked on his office door and opened it, stepping inside. "You wanted to see me."

"Ah, yes, Jane. I need a favor from you."

I restrained from raising an eyebrow at his vagueness. 'A favor' could mean a variety of things…including those illicit acts that would surely ignite the wrath of Bella Swan. I couldn't help the evil smile that crossed my face at the thought of her ire.

"…copies of the papers I need, you should be able to find the copy room quite easily, it's just down the hall." I only caught the last part of Edward's sentence, but it was enough to know what I had to do.

"Are they already there?" I asked, afraid that I may, in the off chance, have missed something.

"Yes. Please retrieve them as soon as possible." A quick smile, and I was dismissed from the presence of the great Mr. Cullen. I now knew what Alec had meant when he said I wouldn't last a day in the real world. I couldn't deal with people not giving me the time of day, not acknowledging me for who I was. I doubted there had been a day in my life where I'd had to work for something I wanted.

So I departed from the office of His Majesty, with a glare from Bella as a parting gift.

The copy room wasn't difficult to find; it was at the end of the executive hallway. All the other higher-ups were located here – CFO, CIO, etc. All except for my dad – he had a floor of his own.

As Edward said, the papers were all ready and waiting for me on top of the copier. They didn't look like important papers, just memos of meetings and such. This same space also seemed to serve as a supply room, so I took a moment to familiarize myself with everything in here, in case Edward needed me to fetch something.

I shuddered. Fetch something. It sounded so menial and…unlike me. I sighed, wondering for the millionth time today why I'd taken Alec up on this stupid bet. The only pro was that I'd have a business track in Harvard too, as back up in case Fashion and Artistic Design fell through.

I was just finishing up when I heard a low whistle from behind me. I smiled, thinking Alec must have dropped in to see me and poke fun at me, but the man standing in the doorway was not Alec.

Tall, dirty blond hair tied back in a greasy ponytail, and icy blue eyes. Definitely not Alec. Somehow, his face reminded me of Edward's face structure. I shook the thought away.

I frowned. "Can I help you with something?" Like…to get your eyes away from my cleavage, asshole, I thought.

Blondie shook his head. "Nope. Just admiring the view."

I raised an eyebrow. No one had ever been that forward with me – always treading cautiously around the Volturi princess.

"Well, don't let me get in your way. Enjoy the scenic view of the copier," I quipped.

Blondie laughed, one that sounded eviler than my father's laugh. And believe me, that was hard to achieve. "Oh, no, sweetheart. I meant my view of your lovely body." He began advancing towards me, trapping me in the small room.

And that was crossing the line. "Excuse me, asshole. You seem to have confused me with the hookers down the street. Would you like me to kick your ass there?"

He laughed again, stalking towards me like a predator to prey. I felt my muscles tense on instinct, anticipating the fight-or-flight reaction. "Ooo, feisty. I like."

I edged my way out past him, only to be stopped by his progressing body.

"Don't be like that, sweetcheeks," he cajoled, trapping me against the copy machine.

I gritted my teeth, anger fueling my actions. I swung my knee up in a high arc, aiming for that painful place that would bring even the strongest man down to his knees. I heard the resounding thwack of the painful impact, and the two seconds before his cry of pain seemed like the longest of my life. I planted my high heel firmly in the middle of his chest, sending him staggering away from me.

Blondie sounded like a fucking dying animal. I covered my ears, the noise harsh and grating. Not a millisecond later, Edward came barreling through the door. Seeing Blondie on the floor, clutching his nuts, made him stop dead in the doorway.

"Jane?" he said questioningly.

"Yeah, that's my name," I remarked dryly. "Here are your papers." I handed over the papers, still warm from the copier and my adrenaline-spiked body.

"Umm, did he…"

"Corner me? Act inappropriately? Scare the living daylights out of me? Check, check, and triple check." Apparently adrenaline also dissipated my verbal filter.

Edward winced, running a hand through his already ruffled hair. "Sorry about that. I knew something was wrong when you were gone for more than two minutes."

I just looked at him, silently daring him to question me further. However, Edward's mouth began opening and closing like a fish, with absolutely no sound coming out. I simply nudged Blondie's leg away from my foot and walked out of the room.

I was situated at my desk and restarting my work when Edward meandered through the doorway again. I pretended not to notice that he was standing right in front of my desk until he cleared his throat.

I looked up, a small smile masking the smirk that wanted to show. "Can I help you, Edward?"

"Are you okay, Jane? I'm sorry I couldn't get there in time."

I rolled my eyes. "I didn't need your help anyway. No offense meant, but I handled it pretty well. I'm not some damsel in distress."

His brow furrowed for a millisecond before straightening out again. I could feel my heart start racing again – something about him looking down at me like that just did things to me.

"Alright, then. If James bothers you again, just let me know."

James. His name was James. "What's his last name?" I asked, an idea forming in my head. A devilish, malicious idea…Blondie's face structure had been so similar to Edwards…

Edward flinched noticeably, and my smile widened, my suspicions half confirmed. "Does it matter, Jane?"

I nodded slowly, soundlessly challenging him to evade my question.

"Cullen," he forced out. "He's my cousin." A look of distaste followed the words, like he'd just tasted something bitter.

However, a triumphant smile made its way onto my own face, but I squashed it quickly. "Thank you, Edward. I'll be sure to let you know if he bothers me again."

Edward stomped back to his own office, obviously irked by my question. This time, I couldn't stop the evil grin from appearing.

"What was that all about?"

I was jerked out of my reverie by Bella's voice – I'd almost forgotten that she was in the room.

"Huh?"

"I said, what was that all about?" she looked annoyed at having to repeat herself. Good.

"Oh, nothing," I said breezily, knowing that the denial of information would anger her.

She glared at me, something that seemed to be her specialty. "Just remember, bitch. He's mine."

I simply smiled right back at her.