Emmett Cullen was late. And not just a bit late. It was eleven am and he still hadn't arrived at the office. Now this didn't surprise me on a personal level: Emmett didn't seem responsible. But when it was my job to tell the clients that he wouldn't be able to meet with them today, and watch them demand an excuse that I couldn't give them, it was fucking irritating that he was late. I'd realised then that I had it easy the first day. Emmett had behaved; he had at least tried to listen to the phone calls, he had given the illusion of being hard-working. That was a dream in comparison to having to cover for a man who was MIA.
I ran around the office, calling him every half an hour or so (I wanted to call him every five minutes but I restrained myself so I didn't come across as a complete lunatic control freak) and generally working myself into a temper. It didn't help either that Emmett had no schedule, which I reminded myself to sort out immediately. It would be moderately less stressful if I knew when his appointments were 'supposed' to be because at least then I could pretend to be on my lunch break when they arrived. I'm kidding. Kind of. I hated being looked at like I was the incompetent one just because I had to make excuses for Emmett's lousy ass. I wasn't surprised he hadn't had a PA in a while if this was how blasé he acted about his job commitment. If I was on his salary at this company I'd at least play my fucking part.
On that note, I made a mental memo to ask Emmett about the name of the company. It seemed like such an odd irrelevant name, Ape Mud Technologies, I don't know where they came up with it. Especially since I know the company was created as a fucking fabrication to hide their dodgy dealings, I know it was recent and made by the family. It shocks me that they didn't pick something egotistical like The Cullen Corporation. It seems like an Edward trait to want to put his name on everything, to claim the city as his own personal kingdom.
I looked at the clock again. 11:27am. It was almost fucking lunch time and still a no-show. Damn you, Emmett. I paced back into the main office floor, determined not to obsessively look at my phone every second.
"He still not here?" Kate asked me, holding the phone to her chest.
"No," I seethed, pouting angrily.
"I feel your pain. I've been on hold for about an hour now," Kate sighed, glaring down at the phone.
"Elevator music?" I asked, smiling slightly in sympathy.
"Argh, like you wouldn't believe," She groaned. I laughed a little, which felt nice after the morning of stress. I rubbed my temples to try and off-set my impending headache.
"Does he do this often?" I inquired.
"Who- Mr Cullen?" Kate questioned. I nodded. "Well yeah, I mean, he has disappeared for a few days at a time before."
I made an aggravated noise, "Are you serious?"
She nodded, "Without notice, too. It drove the last PA bonkers, so she quit."
"Oh great," I grumbled. It wasn't like I could quit. I'd have to deal with it.
"You could always talk to the other Mr Cullen, he seemed to know where his brother was in the past," Kate suggested, trying to be helpful.
"What, Edward?" I clarified, dreading the answer.
"Yeah," Kate replied, and the look on her face was sympathetic. She had heard our exchange at the elevator yesterday, she knew we didn't exactly get on.
But Kate's suggestion had given me an idea. I could talk to the other Mr Cullen about it. But not Edward: Jasper. He might know and he was far less of an ass.
"I think I'll pass on that one. Do you have the number for Jasper Cullen?" I asked Kate, before I'd properly thought it through.
She looked at me surprised and a little suspiciously, "How do you know of Jasper? He doesn't work here. I've worked here for years and I've only met the guy once."
Fuck. Nice one, Swan. You can't exactly tell her he kidnapped you along with your mother. Not your average meet-cute, is it? How am I going to explain this one?"
"I, uh - I'm friends with Alice?" I tried, not really sounding convincing. I was pretty sure I had her name right and that was the only way I could actually explain my connection to the family.
Kate didn't seem too suspicious now though, after all - why would I lie? She nodded, considering my words, "His wife? Edward Cullen's sister?"
"Uh, yeah, I've known her for a while," I responded vaguely.
Kate nodded again and smiled a little, "I see. That kind of explains it."
I looked at her confused then. "Explains what exactly?"
She looked at me a little sheepishly, "Well I get the impression this is your first PA job, no offence. So to land a PA job like this off the bat, you must have some family connection, right?"
I blushed, "Uh, yeah, something like that."
"Plus it explains your relationship with Mr Cullen," Kate continued while chewing her lip in thought, "Sisters tend to find their brothers annoying so it makes sense for you guys to be a bit sour with each other."
I smiled at her, trying to confirm her reasoning. It was easier to allow her to think she had worked me out then to correct any of it.
"Oh! I'm sorry, you wanted Jasper's number?" She asked me, back to business. That's part of what I liked about Kate, she wasn't too nosey, she didn't pry beyond what was appropriate.
"Yeah, if you've got it?"
"I think I do somewhere. Give me a second," she said, typing on her computer.
"Sure yeah, it's not like I've got any work to do with Emmett AWOL."
"Here it is!"
Kate grabbed a pen and a post-it from her desk and wrote down a number from the computer screen.
"Thanks, Kate, I owe you." I said, giving her a grateful smile.
"Nah you don't! It was no problem. And you stopped me having to listen to this awful music."
I laughed as I walked back to my desk with more purpose.
Before reaching for the desk phone, I rechecked my emails and my phone. No messages, no response. I was going to have to ring Jasper. I was dreading it a little, I didn't know how he would react to me calling him, but at the same time, the prospect of a phone call with him was incredibly preferable to his brother-in-law.
I dialed the number. He picked up almost instantly.
"Hello?"
"Jasper? It's Isabella Swan?" I asked, uncertain.
"Bella? What is it? What's wrong?" Jasper questioned, more confused than worried. I could almost hear the frown in his voice, as he tried to psycho-analyse my reasons for calling.
"Do you know where Emmett is? He hasn't turned up to work so far and I don't know what I'm supposed to do," I relayed, feeling more than a little stupid and helpless.
"Uh yeah. He was, um, called away on business." Jasper told me hesitantly.
"He didn't tell me he had a meeting. I need to made him a schedule before I go mad. Why isn't he picking up his phone?" I asked with desperation.
"It's not the kind of business that can be interrupted." Jasper said with meaning.
I understood. This wasn't Ape Mud business, as it's not exactly like Emmett cares enough about that to go anywhere. This was mafia business. I shuddered at the thought of what that meant. Would he be in danger? Why did I care anyway?
"When will he be back?" I asked pragmatically.
"I'm not sure. Not today though," Jasper confirmed.
"What am I supposed to do? And why didn't he fucking tell me he was leaving so I could change these appointments?" I angrily thought out loud.
"It was probably last minute. It usually is. And as for what you're supposed to do, why don't you ask the Boss?" Jasper suggested.
I sighed dramatically, "Why does everyone keep telling me to talk to him today?"
Jasper snorted. "Come on, Bella, surely he's not that bad."
I raised an eyebrow and just didn't respond.
Jasper understood my pointed silence and just laughed. "Really though, Bella, he's the only one that actually knows how long exactly this job will take, and the only one who can tell you what to do in the meantime. He's the boss for a reason."
I muttered something rude under my breath before saying, "Fine. I'll just have to endure him."
Jasper laughed before saying seriously, "Go easy on him, Bella. I know he's a bit prickly, but he's a good guy deep down."
"Prickly is an understatement."
**TLoU**
I walked into the elevator and went up one floor, guessing that must have been where his office was if he was going there this morning. I stepped out into a similar office format to the floor below, almost identical floor plan but different personnel. I walked over to the front desk and asked where Edward Cullen's office was, and was pointed to the back of the office with by a distracted blonde on the phone.
Walking in the direction of the point, I eventually found a massive office with the name plaque 'Edward Cullen, Acting CEO' on the door. Even his name plaque seemed pretentious, I thought. The main difference between Edward's office and the rest of the offices in the building, is that his glass walls had blinds: which were shut. I guess Mr Cullen valued his privacy and his secrets more than being perceived well.
I looked to the PA's desk, not wanting to interrupt Edward in a meeting and give him more reason to dislike me, and found a pretty woman of about my age speaking to a younger teen (an intern from the looks of it).
"-and your job is to make copies, coffee and fetch things for Edward and I." The older woman spoke, saying Edward's name like he was an old friend, saying their names together like they were a couple.
The younger woman lapped it up, eyes like saucers, "And what do you do here?"
The older woman looked a little affronted, but quickly recovered to give her a conspiratorial look, "I do whatever else Edward needs me to do. You know, important stuff, scheduling his meetings and keeping him in check."
The younger girl giggled, "So how long have you known him?"
"Oh, Edward?" She asked, in a fake nonchalant way, "I've known Edward for a while. I wouldn't get your hopes up. He's absolutely gorgeous of course, but he doesn't date."
I stifled a laugh as I wondered when he had turned her down. I must have made some sort of noise though because she turned to look at me. She gave me a once over and must have decided I wasn't threatening to her 'Queen Bee' status or something because she nodded to herself, seemingly satisfied with some aspect of my appearance.
"Can I help you, Miss-?" She asked me.
"Bella is fine," I told her. "I need to talk to Edward."
She narrowed her eyes at me, looking at me again, "You need to see Mr Cullen?"
"Yes."
She shook her head, "I'm sorry, that won't be possible. He's in and out of meetings all day and he can't just see any random person that asks."
"I'm Emmett Cullen's PA, if that helps."
"Oh you're that Bella. So you work here now?"
I nodded. That seemed to make her happy, I didn't break up her little fantasy with Edward by being his new girlfriend.
"If you work for Emmett you must realise how busy the Cullens are, you can't just turn up here."
I chuckled at that, imagining the idea of Emmett being too busy to do anything hilarious. He'd probably never been busy in his life. Unfortunately, this woman didn't seem to like me laughing much and didn't give me a chance to share the joke. I could see she wanted to snap at me, but instead she gave me an Irina-like smile.
"Look, I'm busy showing the new girl around, so if you'd like to make an appointment for later in the week I can see-"
"Don't worry, I'll just leave it. I didn't even want to see him much in the first place," I told her, holding my hands up. I wasn't going to twist her arm in order to see Edward. It was convenient he was busy anyway, I was only here because I was told to me.
"Do you want me to show you out?" She asked.
I shook my head and was about to tell her I knew the way, when the door beside me opened and a tired looking Edward stood in the doorway. He looked to the desk first, not seeing me. My breath caught slightly, taking in his appearance. I wish he didn't dazzle me, but I guess his good looks just gave me another reason to resent his existence.
"What is going on out here, Miss Stanley? Some kind of mother's meeting? I'm trying to work." Edward asked in a frustrated voice, his hand going up to his abused hair.
At that point, Miss Stanley re-positioned herself, leaning against the desk and sticking out her chest a little. She laughed that silly teenage girl laugh that you see in the movies and never think anyone actually does.
"Oh no, Mr Cullen," she simpered, "As I was explaining to-"
"I don't really care what you were doing, just keep it down. Some people have more important things to do than chat." He repeated, dismissively.
"Of course, sir. I know you have a lot to do. I was just showing Miss Swan out," She told him, gesturing to me in an attempt to pass over the blame for the noise. Oh, yay. And here I thought I could skulk away to my wondrous day of relentless email refreshing. No such luck.
At my name Edward's head whipped round and his eyes met mine. He analysed my bored expression and asked quickly, "What do you want?"
I crossed my arms, trying to convey that I didn't want me here either. "Sorry to bother you, sir, but your brother is not at work today and I was advised to ask you how to proceed."
His eyes flashed with recognition. He definitely knew where his brother was.
"I see. I think you should come in."
I walked towards the door as Miss Stanley spoke up.
"But Mr Cullen, your 12 o'clock will be here in a few minutes!" She whined.
"This is nothing, it'll only take a second so it shouldn't be a problem." Edward said rudely. I'd be offended if I wasn't reassured at the relatively small amount of time I'd have to endure his company for.
He stalked back into his office, and I followed, catching an unpleasant look from Miss Stanley as I passed. More enemies, hooray!
I gasped as I walked in, taking in the mess of his office. There was a paper trail of documents scattered around the floor, looking like a bomb went off.
"We're taking over a smaller company and the merger documents are hell," he explained.
I nodded. "Is this a helpful way of displaying the information?" I joked.
He glared at me, before sweeping his eyes over the mess. "I was looking for a particular page in the contract. There was a clause that I wanted my lawyers to adjust."
"Did you find it?" I asked.
"Yes," he responded tersely, pointing to a page on his desk covered in pen and highlighting.
I nodded again, and started collecting up the bits of paper from the floor, kneeling in the piles of documents. Most of them were numbered and in a vague order, so it was fairly simple to collate them again.
"What are you doing?"
I turned to look at Edward and saw him looking down at me with a mixture of anger, confusion and something else.
"You have a 12 o'clock. Do you want your clients to come in and not be able to move because there's paper everywhere?" I questioned.
"So you're helping me? Why?" Edward seemed even more confused.
"I have a mutual interest in this company since I'm working here for a while. So technically, I'm helping me not you. I don't want the CEO looking like an idiot. Think of it as protecting my Christmas bonus." I said as I stacked.
Edward chuckled darkly, and crouched down a few feet away and starting collecting up the paper too. Even that level of proximity was starting to make me feel weird. I think my body repelled away from him.
"When will Emmett be back?" I asked bluntly, putting a pile on his desk before moving back to the floor.
"Tomorrow," he replied lowly.
"Next time, you or Emmett need to give me warning." I commanded, my voice steady.
"What? You're making demands of me now?" The anger in his voice returning.
"If you tell him to leave on a job, then you can spend ten seconds asking your PA to warn me," I reasoned, my own voice raising a little.
Edward went silent for a while. I looked over to him to find him a bit closer than I was comfortable with; his eyes boring into me, studying me.
"What makes you think you're worth ten seconds of my time?" He said, watching me intensely.
I was taken aback. I couldn't decide whether he was purposefully trying to be cruel, or whether he was genuinely confused. I decided it was irrelevant, his opinion of my worth shouldn't bother me.
"It's not a complicated request," I said, my eyes still locked in his in a fierce battle of wills.
Edward gave me a mean smile, "You're right. It's not."
I dropped my eyes and went to pick up the last piece of paper and he did. Our hands touched, and a jolt of something went through me as we glanced up at each other again. He darted his hand away immediately as if burnt. Ouch. I'm not fucking diseased.
"I'm sure you can manage the last of the tidying," I told him as I stood.
He sneered at me as he stood, "I don't know, it's not really my area of expertise. I have staff for that."
"Do you have staff to be nice to your clients too? Because that doesn't seem to be your area of expertise either."
His eyes widened.
"I can be nice. When it matters," he sniffed. I was happy that apparently had wounded him a little bit.
"I'd like to see that," I muttered under my breath. I gave his office a little once over, it was at least presentable now, "So, will you warn me next time?"
Edward seemed to think for a moment. "If I remember, sure. I'm pretty busy."
I snorted, and rolled my eyes. "Don't worry, I wouldn't want to impeach on your valuable time. Maybe you can try to remember your manners next time, too."
He looked at me then with such rage, that I was a little worried for the shade of his face.
"I'll see myself out." I told him, cutting off any reply he was aiming to give me.
I paced quickly to the door, walked out and breathed out as it closed behind me. As I walked to the elevator a crashing sound made me jump and I turned round to see Miss Stanley looking at the office door in concern. Ha, I thought. I'd made him fucking break something. I was proud that I could have that effect on the mighty Mr Cullen, but I probably ought to chill my sass a tad. I needed this job, I reminded myself. Four months, Swan.
TLoU
I stayed the full day, twiddling my thumbs mainly and creating a rough framework for Emmett's schedule. I'd need him to fill in the blanks when he came in tomorrow but at least I could start to get on top of it. Kate had left a little early and as I left the building seemed pretty empty.
I hopped in my truck and started the drive back.
I was tired; I'd been up from four in the morning and I was feeling myself fall asleep at the wheel. It didn't help that I kept looking at the wing mirror, still convinced someone was following me. I couldn't see the blue car, but that didn't mean someone wasn't there, watching my moves. I hadn't noticed that I was coming up to flow path onto the highway, and cars were flowing into the lanes around me.
It happened extremely quickly. Time didn't slow down like in the movies. The black van just swerved out in front of me, and I couldn't stomp the brake fast enough. The impact took all my breath out of me as I was pushed into the steering wheel, and the airbag exploded in my face making my head snap back. The seat belt sliced a little into my neck and I cried out, the truck skidding round into the hard shoulder. The back of it hit hard into the railing, jolting me again. It had stopped.
I kept my head in the airbag as it began to deflate, hyperventilating as the world settled back down around me. I tried to slow my breathing. Eventually, I felt a little more normal. I lifted my head, finding pain in my neck. I moved my limbs and they seemed fine, if a bit jelly-like from the shock.
Someone was knocking on my window. I turned my head, pain shooting up my spine and neck. Damn, I would probably have to get that checked out. I rolled down the window a little. It was a middle-aged woman, looking quite outraged and self-righteous.
"Are you alright, dear? I saw what happened there, I got his plates. He swerved out in front of you! I'll give you my number and you can contact me if you need a witness. I can't believe some people! He just drove off too! Men!" She ranted, bombarding me with information with her hand on her hip. I really didn't want to deal with her.
"Can you help me out of here?" I asked her steadily. I didn't really want her help but I needed to check the damage.
Her eyes widened and she nodded. Once she had helped me, I dismissed her as nicely as possible, taking her number and saying I'd let her know if there was anything she could do. I knew I wouldn't be pressing charges though. My life was complicated enough without a fucking lawsuit on top of it. I rang my car insurance company, then the breakdown people, and waited.
I tried to process what had just happened.
I'd just been in a car accident. Fuck. I mean, I'd sort of been in one when my friend Tyler hit me when his car slipped on black ice back in high school. But I'd never had an accident in this truck. It was my baby. I hoped they could fix it, Charlie would be upset if I lost it, I know he loved it too. It had been a gift from him. If I'd been any closer to Forks I'd get it towed to Jake, but I was barely out of Seattle and that would cost far more than I was willing to pay.
The breakdown company arrived, and began the process of taking my truck away. One of the men came up to me.
"Miss?" He asked.
"What- yes?" I replied, a little disorientated.
"Have you got someone you can call to take you to the hospital?"
"Uh, I'm sure I'll be fine." I told him.
"But Miss, your head is bleeding and you have a nasty whiplash mark coming up on your neck. You really ought to go." He said in a concerned voice. My hand reached up to my forehead and with a sinking feeling I felt he was right. The warm dampness seemed shallow, but I did need to go get checked out.
"Okay, yeah. I will."
"Okay, Miss," he nodded at me, giving me a reassuring smile. His eyes darted back to me as he walked away. I tried to smile back in a way that expressed 'I'll be fine'.
I sighed.
Who was I supposed to call?
Jake, Angela and Charlie wouldn't be here for hours, and what's more they would worry far too much. Emmett was nowhere. Kate lived far away too and would be mostly home by now. I groaned as I realised what conclusion I was coming to.
At least he wouldn't worry much.
Damn it, I groaned.
I punched in the number and raised my phone to my ear. One ring. Two rings. Thr-
"Isabella?" The voice was gruff, betraying no emotion.
"I wouldn't call you if I didn't have to. But I've been in a car accident and I need someone to take me to the hospital. You can get Ben to-"
"Where are you?" He demanded.
"Urm, the hard shoulder after the S Point flow onto the 104?" I explained.
"I'll be there in twenty minutes."
"Okay," I gave in, not wanting to argue when he was technically being nice and I did need the help.
"Are you alright?" He asked quickly.
"Uh, I'm not sure. I think so. I'm bleeding a bit and something about whiplash-?"
There was a pause as Edward breathed out hard.
"Fifteen minutes."
Then he hung up. Great. I had to be fucking rescued by Edward of all people, on only my second day of this fucking job. 'Bella Swan, Completely Incapable of Staying out of Trouble' should be my name plaque if I ever get one.
For now though, I wait for my unlikely knight.
**TLoU**