Chapter 2

The elevators opened to Kaiba's personal office floor. His personal floor consisted of his secretary's desk out front, but otherwise the whole floor was his. He needed the space away from the rest of the morons that plagued his company.

He greeted Jessica, his secretary on his way past her. She was an older woman in her forties and his longest lasting secretary to date. She was on the phone with someone, telling them Kaiba was not available, just like he taught her. She gestured to him that she needed to speak to him, but he figured it could wait a minute while he settled in. He opened the door to his office only to be confronted by with the reason Jessica probably wanted to speak with him.

"Valentine," he greeted curtly.

The blonde bombshell nodded back. "Kaiba."

"We don't have a meeting, so I can't imagine why you are in my office."

Kaiba had hired Mai Valentine a few years back. She had been pro dueling for a while and then decided to move onto other things. She began working for Kaiba Corp. planning dueling events, helping public relations, and hosting Duel Monsters events at Kaiba Land. They had formed a cordial work relationship. He respected her opinion and enjoyed that she would stand her ground where most would crumble.

After she left Joey Wheeler, she had tried to make a move on Kaiba. Not to say he wasn't tempted, she was extremely attractive, but Kaiba had no interest in creating messy waters by fraternizing with an employee. He also had no interest in having the mutt's sloppy seconds.

"I came to talk about this." Mai held up a newspaper and thrust to Kaiba's chest.

Kaiba snatched the newspaper and saw a headline about a recent conviction regarding an armed robbery.

Kaiba stared back at her. "I'm loaded. Not sure why I would have any interest in robbing a bank."

Mai rolled her eyes and quipped, "The gossip section genius. Page 6"

Kaiba flipped to the gossip section to see a headline in bold print.

KAIBA CORP. PRESIDENT SEEN WITH RIVAL'S DANCER

Below was a picture of him helping Gardner to the car, supposedly clinging to each other. The photo made them look much cozier than what was actually Kaiba trying to get Gardner into the car before she passed out. The article went on about how Kaiba and Gardner "couldn't keep their hands off each other" and were seen "leaving the bar in a rush."

Kaiba mentally sighed. Damn press.

"You should know better than to believe the tabloids," Kaiba snapped, thrusting the paper back to Mai.

"I usually do, but that picture says otherwise."

"It's not what it looks like."

"They always say that."

"This time, it's true!" Kaiba snapped again. "Ask Gardner." Kaiba strode over to his desk and slammed his briefcase down with a little more force than necessary.

Mai's eyes narrowed. "I want to hear it from you."

"I don't need to explain myself to you."

"I want to make sure my friend wasn't taken advantage of."

Kaiba stiffened and glared at her hotly. "I know that you are not implying what I think you are."

"Then explain, now."

He rapped his knuckles on his desk, deciding that explaining would make her leave his office faster.

"I found her completely wasted at the bar. I had no idea where she was living. I suggested Yugi's but she freaked out. So, I took her back to the mansion to sleep off it off. Nothing happened. Mokuba was there when I got her home. You can check with him if you feel that strongly about it."

Mai's stance relaxed. "I believe you. I wasn't implying anything…nefarious. I just wanted to know your intentions towards Téa."

"I have no intentions," he replied coldly.

"If you say so."

"We're done here."

"Not quite."

"We have nothing left to discuss."

"I think there's plenty left."

"Valentine-" he growled.

"I didn't realize you and Téa are friends."

"We're not."

"Oh, so you always help strangers when they're too drunk at bars."

"I don't like what you're implying."

"I'm just saying that Téa must be special for you to literally take her into your home."

"Despite what the tabloids say, I'm not a monster. I wouldn't have left her there in that state."

Mai blinked at the omission. "Well, thank you. Téa is one of my closest friends. She can be naïve at times so I'm glad someone was there to help her."

"She isn't naïve. She was just upset. People make poor decisions when they're upset."

"Who are you and what have you done with Kaiba?"

He rolled his eyes at her but didn't respond.

"What was she upset about?" Mai asked after a beat.

"You're her friend. You should know."

"I haven't seen her since last week. She's been quiet since the whole debacle with Yugi. Is that what this was about?"

"It's not my place. Go talk to her and leave me alone. I'm done talking about this," he stated firmly.

"So, you did talk to her about it. That's interesting."

Kaiba was about to yell at Valentine to leave it be when another shout came from outside his office. Kaiba instantly detected his secretary's raised voice in response.

"What the fuck is going on?" Kaiba groused.

He strode over to his office door, glad to have a reprieve from Mai's insinuations. He jerked it open to find the other blonde member of the geek squad demanding to see Kaiba.

"Mutt, if you don't stop your yapping, I will have security escort you to the pound."

Joey Wheeler's head snapped to Kaiba, face beet red and a vein throbbing in his temple.

"Kaiba! You better explain yourself Rich Boy!" Wheeler screamed.

"That is enough." Kaiba's voice was deadly calm. His patience had reached his limit between Valentine and now her ex. He helps one of the geek squad and now they're all descending on him like flies. Last time he did something nice.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Kaiba." Jessica interjected. "I told him you were unavailable. Would you like me to call security?"

"That won't be necessary at the moment." Mai interjected as she strode out from Kaiba's office.

Joey barred his teeth at her. "Mai." Their breakup had not been amicable. Kaiba knew it had been a sore spot between them when Valentine took a job at Kaiba Corp., speeding along the demise of their relationship. "I'm not surprised you're here with him. Taking his side? Or are you sleeping with him too?"

"Even if we were, it wouldn't be any of your business," Mai snapped. "What the hell are you doing here, Joey?"

"Why-why am I here?" the blonde spluttered. "Did you not see the paper this morning? I've had fans asking for the scoop on Rich Boy and Téa's so-called relationship," he spat.

Joey spun towards Kaiba and pointed a finger at him. "You stay away from her! She's dating Yugi and you have no business sniffing around her!"

"We both know that's not true! Yugi and Téa were never even together!" Mai spats back. "If you really wanted to act like her friend, you would be supporting her rather than making these baseless accusations against Kaiba! He's acted more like a friend towards her than you have!"

"That's ridiculous! You saw that headline! He has an agenda. He's doing this to hurt Yugi. He's just using her!"

"I said, enough Wheeler. Do not make me repeat myself." Kaiba snarled. "Let me make this clear, if you do not leave right now, I will make you."

Joey's heavy breathing was the only sound in the foyer. Kaiba continued to hold his gaze steady waiting for the dog to heel. Joey may always be willing to fight for his friends, even against Kaiba, but Joey had no back up. And Kaiba was a strong opponent.

Jessica's hand hovered over the phone, glancing nervously between Kaiba and Joey, debating whether she should ignore Mai and call security anyway.

Joey turned and stormed down the emergency stairway. Kaiba smirked to himself as the phrase "with his tail between his legs" flitted through his thoughts.