Title: Forbidden Ch.
2
Rating: G (higher later)
Genre: Romance, AU
Pairings/
Characters: Edward/Bella, Jacob
Summary: iShe
was nervous as hell the day she started working. She tried to look
cool and relaxed but she managed to trip a few times on the way to
the office and, once inside, she dropped all the contents of her bag
on the floor. /i
Disclaimer:
Not mine, I'm poor.
She was nervous as hell the day she started working. She tried to look cool and relaxed but she managed to trip a few times on the way to the office and, once inside, she dropped all the contents of her bag on the floor.
"You need to relax," said Jacob, helping her pick up her things. She didn't say anything and punched him on the shoulder instead. "Hey!" he complained.
"It relaxes me," she informed. "What do we do now?"
"We wait."
"What for?"
"Someone's picking us up, we are going to Cullen Enterprises," he said, raising an eyebrow.
"What? We are not working here?" she asked, shaking invisible dirt off her clothes.
"No, these people have their offices elsewhere; we just came here to do the interviews and sign the contract. Something about taxes and labor laws, I'm not entirely sure. Honestly Bella, weren't you paying attention at all?"
"Well, no, not really," she said making a preoccupied pout. "I was busy fretting about getting the job, you know."
"Do you even know what we were hired for?" Jacob asked suspiciously.
"Erm, sure!" she said, not sounding very convinced. "The ad said something about imports and assisting and… Oh, ok, I have no idea, stop giving me that look and explain it to me already!"
"Honestly," he said, chuckling and shocking his head. "The company imports medical supplies and equipment from East Asia and they sell it at low prices to hospitals and pharmacies. It's like a social service. We are helping people," he assured, matter-of-factly.
"That's nice! But I knew that already," she said, glancing Jacob. "What are we supposed to do?"
"Oh, well, that much I don't know, they were really secretive about it. I think they are going to gather us today and explain everything we need to know."
"Oh, I wish they didn't take long!" she said, looking at her wrist watch.
"I don't think they will, they were very punctual in the meetings I had," said Jacob.
They only had to wait a few minutes before a tall, muscley man in a black suit entered the office.
"Good morning. I'm looking for," he glanced a sheet he had in his hand," Isabella Swan and Jacob Black. Follow me," he said when they identified themselves.
He walked fast out of the building and guided them to an alley next to it, where a black Blazer was waiting for them. They got inside and the big man drove them away.
For half an hour they stood in silence inside the car watching the city fade away. Just where the road turned into a huge highway, the car turned and entered an open road surrounded by woods and grass, where it rode for another half hour. Isabella thought her old pickup truck would be ruined if she forced it down that lane. The car entered through a porch hidden on the left of the road and stopped in front of a country house at the end of the way, probably the only one in miles. The driver gestured them to get out.
"They are waiting for you inside. Go!" he said, and they hurried out.
"How are we going to get here every day?" she whispered to Jacob. "This is the end of the world, no public transportation comes around here."
Jacob shrugged and continued his way towards the house.
Once inside, a young girl with long, blond and curly hair approached them and guided them to an empty room in the first floor of the house.
"Hi, my name is Abigail," she said happily. "I'm really glad you're here, we were having a little trouble with the bosses. You see, we were understaffed, that's why they hired you so fast.
"So… Isabella and Jacob. Do you know why you're here?" When they didn't answer, she continued. "This is a very good job if you know how to handle it, but if you don't get the grip of it, it'll eat you alive," she said in the same happy tone. "Each one of you will have a person on your charge. You'll have to do everything for them, like arrange meetings, keep their agenda, sometimes even travel with them. I have no idea who will pick each of you. Right now I alone am handling Carlisle and Edward, and Priscilla has Emmet and Esme, so we'll have to divide them.
"I'm gonna stick with Carlisle, he's been with me for years, but we'll have to wait and see what the others wants and who gets who. I really hope you don't get Edward, he's the crankiest boss I've ever had! Though Emmet is not a cup of tea, either, but he's more manageable. But Edward is just absurd! He's always in a bad mood! Anyway, they do travel a lot. In fact, I don't think they're even he– oh, here they come!"
Abigail's fast rant was silenced by the group that came inside the room. A young girl with red, long hair, who Isabella figured was Priscilla, made a strange face to Abigail and with her hand mimicked a gun and shot her head with it. Abigail could barely suppress the laughter. Behind her came a man with dark hair who barely looked more than 20 years old. After him came a small woman with a heart-shaped face and caramel hair, with a blond, handsome man by her side.
They all sat down except for the blond man, who started talking as soon as everyone was accommodated. He had a sweet voice, Isabella thought, but it was firm, definitive.
"Welcome to Cullen Enterprises," he said, looking at Jacob and Isabella. "I hope you find your job here satisfying. You can consider this your home, and us, your family. I am Carlisle Cullen and this is my wife Esme," he said pointing to the small woman beside him. "My ancestors started this business a long time ago and every member of the Cullen family works here. This," he said, signaling the young man, "is my son Emmet. His brothers and sisters are not here at the moment but you'll meet them in time." The man named Emmet shrugged his head slightly but otherwise gave no sign of acknowledge to what his father was saying.
"Abigail, will you kindly tell us what the plans are for these two young new members?" he said, even though he looked almost as young as they did.
"Yes, Carlisle. We need to assign someone to Edward, Esme and Emmet. So, choose!" she said, talking more to Esme than anybody else.
"Esme, dear, what do you want to do?" Carlisle asked.
"Well, I'm happy with Priscilla, so if you don't mind, I'd love to stick with her," she said, smiling sweetly.
Priscilla let a relieved sigh but soon realized her indiscretion and put a poker face back.
"Ok, then. We need to decide who gets Edward and who gets Emmet. What do you think?" Carlisle asked Emmet.
"I don't mind either way," he said.
"I don't think Rosalie would like having a girl near his hubby," Abigail whispered to Priscilla, high enough for everyone else to hear.
"Ehem," grunted Carlisle trying to avoid Emmet killing Abigail. "Then it's settled. Jacob, you will be with Emmet from now on, and you, Isabella, you'll be with Edward."
Isabella felt her heart stop. She had been praying silently to get Esme or even Emmet, but not Edward. Jacob mouthed 'I'm sorry' before following Emmet out of the room. Esme left with Priscilla and Carlisle, leaving Abigail behind.
"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure you'll manage," she said, the encouragement never reaching her voice. "Like I suspected, he's not even here, so come with me, I'll show you what you have to do. I expect he'll be back in a few days when the new shipment arrives, but let me check and I'll tell you."
***
Isabella spent the next days organizing Edward's agenda and trying to learn as much as she could from Abigail. She asked her a lot of questions and Abigail answered them gladly, sometimes even telling her more than she'd asked.
She learnt Carlisle and Esme's other sons lived outside of the city and traveled in and out every few weeks. Each of the Cullens had a personal assistant that followed them everywhere. They had 3 drivers working around the clock and a few other employees running in and out of the country house.
The house they worked on was huge. It had three floors and many, many rooms. The first ground had three conference rooms that were daily used by different workers of C.E. and small offices for everybody to work on. The second floor was like an immense storage deposit full of boxes and trash. And the third floor was like a house on its own. Abigail told Isabella the Cullens lived there; even the ones that were constantly traveling had a room.
Every day at 9 am every worker of C.E. went to the back yard. There was a small adjacent house that had only a kitchen and a dining room inside and they had breakfast there with the other workers. The same routine was held at 1pm for lunch and Abigail told Isabella that the people who stayed late had dinner there too. Lunch hour was the only time Isabella saw Jacob that week and could talk to him freely. The Cullens, Abigail said, never ate with their workers.
The first week of work Isabella didn't have much to do. She arrived at a bus station at 8 am where a driver picked her, and other workers, up to take them to the house. At 5 pm a driver left her at the same bus station and she took a bus back home. She didn't see Jacob in any of those rides. On Thursday he told her Emmet had him working so much, he barely had time to eat.
"Enjoy this boss-less week while you can," he said, swallowing up his food, "because when Edward gets back, he's going to exploit you! And from what I've heard, he's the worst you could get."
Friday came and there was still no sight of this infamous Edward. Isabella was sitting in Edward's office in front of his computer checking the next week's agenda for the hundredth time when she heard the door open behind her.
"God, Abigail, you scared me!" she said turning around with her hands on her chest. But Abigail was not on the door. Instead, Isabella saw a tall, handsome man with light, untidy hair looking deeply at her.
She stood up as fast as she could and waited for the man to talk.
"You must be Isabella," he finally said after scrutinizing her from head to toes. "I'm Edward." He stretched his hand and shook hers lightly.
TBC