"What are you doing here? How do you even know where I live?" I jumped back, pulling Aydan with me as he began barking. Shane smiled cockily, although the gesture didn't quite reach his eyes when he looked down at Aydan's bared teeth.
"It's not hard to find out where someone lives." He frowned, shaking his head as if I'd asked a dumb, simple question. His tone was arrogant once again, and my grip on Aydan's collar tightened. Oh, how I wanted to let him go and watch Shane's whole attitude disappear.
"Oh my god, you're a stalker!" I cried, consenting myself to give Aydan a little more leash so he could get closer to Shane. I wished that all my neighbors weren't little old deaf ladies that spent their time knitting away their entire day, because I would've liked someone to overhear the commotion and call the police. I'd like to see the look on his face when they escorted him away from my apartment, preferably in handcuffs.
"Calm down, Mitchie." He rolled his eyes and hung his thumbs in his pockets, his shoulders slouched lazily as if I had no reason to be making a scene, "It's not a big deal. I was already on my way over here when I called you before you rudely hung up on me. I didn't realize you lived so close to our house. It's freezing, can you call off your beast and let me in?" I stared very hard at him, squinting, wondering if something wasn't quite right in his head. He seemed to think it was perfectly normal that someone you'd only met less than twelve hours ago, and under terrible circumstances, could show up at your house and ask to come in. Perhaps he was mentally ill; I frowned at him, studying his face, looking for some physical sign that hinted I had more problems on my hands then I'd even thought.
"Why would I let you in?" I tried to keep my voice calm so as not to aggravate him any further, just in case I was dealing with a nutcase. Something must be wrong with him, for him to be standing on my doorstep looking as if it was perfectly normal for a stranger to randomly show up at your house. He still looked annoyed though at my question.
"Let me explain it this way," He spoke slowly, as if I was stupid, "I'm Shane Gray, world famous, and the paparazzi are always looking to get the latest scoop on my life. I'm sure you wouldn't understand what that's like, but I think we can both agree that neither of us wants a magazine cover that says you're my new girlfriend. Just let me in, before they catch sight of us."
"You actually expect me to believe that? Like the paparazzi are just going to be lurking around out here. How convenient and unlike-" I cut myself short, my jaw dropping as I heard someone shout Shane's name, and was momentarily blinded by a flash of light. Skirting around Aydan, Shane grabbed my arm and yanked me back inside my apartment, slamming the door behind us. Trying to catch my breath and still hold Aydan back, I glared at Shane.
"Seriously?" I gasped, leaning over to rest my hands on my knees. "You couldn't have warned me earlier, or put on a disguise, or even better yet - stayed at your own house?" I snapped, and wanted to reach over and strangle him when he lazily leaned against the door frame, staring blankly at me.
"Disguises never work anyway." He shrugged, and I was so full of anger I was surprised I couldn't breathe fire all over him and make him melt away. "Oh well, I'll just have to stay here until they go away. And who knows how long that will be." He pushed aside a small corner of my curtain, glancing outside, and I shook my head.
"Oh no, that's not how it's going to be. You can't just barge over here at almost midnight and invite yourself in. You're not welcome to stay here, even if there wasn't paparazzi out there!" My breath had returned, and I straightened, wondering how long it would take before my eyes burned holes into his head. Who did he think he was, to randomly show up at my house?
"You saw them out there - it's too late now, we don't have a choice in the matter." He replied matter-of-factly, shrugging. Oh, no.
"I'm not sure who 'we' is, but I very much have a choice. It's not me their after." I cocked an eyebrow in his direction, tilting my head at him. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as I flung open the door and shoved him back outside before he'd even had a chance to register what I was doing. "See you tomorrow!" His lazy expression turned to one of surprise and horror, and I shoved the door closed before he could turn around and get back inside, locking it firmly in place. I couldn't hold back my laughter as I heard someone scream his name outside. Suddenly, my desire to walk away my stress melted away, and I realized how much better I already felt as I thought about Shane trying to outrun the paparazzi. Doubling over with laughter, I hurried back to the stove, finally able to finish cooking my dinner, even if it was already midnight.
I stared up at the huge mansion in front of me, reminded of how I'd initially felt when I first started working here. All the overwhelmed, intimidated feelings were creeping back up on me, and I bit my lip, hesitating at the gate. I had the code safely stored away in my memory, but I wasn't sure if I should just punch it in like I usually did or ring the bell so they would know I was here.
I finally decided to ring the bell, not wanting to be rude and just show up at their doorstep. I leaned closer and pressed the small button, wishing I could stall longer, but it was already 8:50, and I'd delayed as much as I could. There was no way I could wait any longer, even though I doubted Shane would even be awake at this time in the morning, especially after his late night run. I smirked inwardly to myself at the thought.
"Hello?" A woman's voice came from the intercom - I assumed Mrs. Gray's - and broke into my evil thoughts.
"Umm..." I hesitated, unsure of what to say, but finally decided I had better go along with Shane's story. "It's Mitchie, Shane's... friend." Hopefully she didn't notice the disdain in my voice when I spoke the word 'friend', but she must not have, because a second later the gate started to creak open.
"Come in, dear!" She said warmly, and I frowned, wondering how such a lovely woman could end up with such an spoiled, clueless son. Taking a deep breath, I forced my feet to walk up to the door, knowing I didn't have a choice. Oh, how I was sure I was going to love working with Shane. I chuckled to myself at the thought, releasing some of the tension that had built up in my neck, and forced myself to knock.
A curly haired middle aged woman, whom I figured must be Mrs. Gray, pulled open the door and ushered me in.
"How nice to finally meet you, dear." She exclaimed warmly, reaching out to grasp my hand with a smile on her face before she pulled me into a hug. I returned the embrace; just because her son was a terrible human being didn't mean she was, and every time I'd spoken with her she'd sounded like a nice lady. "Come in and meet others, hon." She released me and I followed her into the living room, where presumably Mr. Gray and her three sons were lounging around on the couch.
I hadn't hardly stepped into the room before the tallest boy, Jason, had jumped up from his seat and enveloped me in a crushing hug. I gasped, unsure of what to do and certainly not expecting this kind of welcome, barely able to breathe past the extent of his hug. "My name's Jason, it's so nice to meet you." I would've replied, but I was too busy trying to get air into my lungs, and Mrs. Gray must've noticed, because she tapped on Jason's shoulder and told him to let me go. He turned his attention to Aydan instead, his face full of delight, and somehow Aydan seemed to know this boy wasn't a threat, because he only wagged his tail in response.
I coughed, grateful for her intervention, and offered him a smile.
"Mitchie," I said, "Nice to meet you too." He smiled at this, completely oblivious to the fact he'd nearly suffocated me, and sat back down. Nate stood, giving me a knowing glance before he extended his hand out.
"Nice to meet you, Mitchie." His voice was warm and friendly, so unlike Shane's had ever been, and I gratefully took his hand. So far he was my favorite of the three; Jason seemed straightforward and nice enough but didn't have the slightest clue about personal space, and Shane was, well, Shane.
"Hi." Speaking of the devil, he didn't even bother to look at me as he nodded in my direction, still sprawled out over the couch. He looked tired and unhappy, probably with me, even though it was 90% his fault we were even in this situation.
"Hi Shane!" I forced myself to sound overly cheery, and his eyes flashed up to meet mine, dark and narrow. I laughed silently and let my smile grow a little wider. At that, he sprang from the couch and grabbed onto my wrist, carefully avoiding Aydan, and forced me to follow him up the stairs before anyone else could even speak or I could protest. Once safely out of sight of the others, he pushed me into what I assumed was his room and shut the door, letting go of me and turning to glare in my direction, still keeping a safe distance from Aydan.
"What is wrong with you? Why in the world would you shove me outside, defenseless, into a mob of paparazzi and fan girls? I could've been killed!" He exclaimed, his voice oddly low and not matching his tone nor his words, but I figured he probably didn't want his whole family knowing he was a crazy stalker, either.
"What's wrong with me? I don't appreciate some random stranger - who's looking much like a stalker at this point, just fyi - showing up at my doorstep at nearly midnight!" I snapped, and Shane's eyes widened as he motioned for me to keep my voice down. I rolled my eyes at him, wondering if maybe I should let his family overhear me, but then decided against it. Shane was already determined to make my life miserable, and I didn't need to give him any more ammunition.
"You're going to pay for that, Mitchie Torres." Shane stepped closer, ignoring Aydan's soft growl, and narrowed his eyes at me. "In a normal situation, you'd be fired a million times by now, but I recognize that you'd be pleased with that, so I'm going to do the opposite. Your days as my maid are extended by another week, since I just found out my parents are staying in town an extra week anyway. So, instead of the original three weeks, it'll be four now." I couldn't keep my jaw from dropping down and I stared back at him in disbelief. As if three weeks wouldn't be more than enough torture for one minor incident...
"Stop staring with that stupid expression and get to work!" Shane hissed, and I snapped out of my shock, and I tried to shove down the anger that pushed it's way into my veins. I wasn't usually an angry person, but Shane certainly brought out the worse in me. "Now, maid, let's get started. I've decided you can start with my personal bathroom." He chuckled as he opened another door to reveal a huge, probably disgusting bathroom, and shoved me inside. "Have fun!"