The Prospector

Finally getting home from one of the weirdest shifts I’ve ever had, I found Nia on the couch.

“Nia, hey!” I said excitedly, closing the door to our apartment.

“Hey boo, how was work today?” she questioned as I walked over to the living room.

“Strange, actually. Don’t mind that part though. Did you want to go out with me tonight?” I asked as she stretched.

“Oh my goodness, yes!” she shrieked, obviously excited.

“Yay! Okay, someone’s coming to pick us up at nine-thirty, okay?” I asked, and she stood up, jumping and pulling me in for a hug.

“Thank you so much!” She ran to her room and began to get ready for wherever we were going.

The way the tension was with both of them in that room, I wonder if it’ll get worse or not. I’m scared for my life, honestly. I really hope that some drinks will make them less uptight. I’m also going out with my boss so I don’t know if I’m allowed to drink. It would be one lame night out if I couldn’t.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I stand from the couch with a big stretch and head to my room. I grabbed a towel and showered, shaved my legs, washed, and deep-conditioned my hair. With a towel wrapped around my body and another wrapped around my hair, I stepped into my room.

Rummaging through my entire closet, I finally found my blinged top with no back. Looking in the same place where I found the shirt, I found the matching mini-skirt that went with it. I got dressed and paired it with a black coat and some black heels. We’re in the middle of winter in New York, I was gonna be cold at some point. My curls bounced out of the towel as I took it off, thinking of what to do with it. I ended up going half-up, half-down with two curly strands out in the front. Grabbing my purse and shoes, and exiting my room, I get a call from Ace.

“Hey, are you outside?” I asked, putting him on speaker as I bent down to put on my heels.

“Yeah, I hope you dressed cute,” I can hear his smirk through the phone.

“Don’t I always?” I smugly reply and hang up on him.

Not long after, Nia walked out of her room in a black mini-dress and some silver heels. We were opposites! We chuckled seeing each other and made our way out.

Finally getting outside, a limo sat right in front of the entrance. A man seemed to be waiting for us because as soon as he saw us, he opened the door. We entered, and there we found Ace dressed in black pantsuit bottoms and a black button-up with the top three buttons undone, showing off his tattoos. Next to him was Mateo with a white button-up and the same black bottoms as Ace. Both of their hair was messily styled, and they smelled like Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue.

“You didn’t tell me it was with Ace,” Nia says, smacking my arm as the door shut behind me.

“I knew you wouldn’t come if I did,” I say, looking at her with nervousness in my eyes.

“Hey ladies,” Mateo says, very obviously under the influence.

“Hi,” Nia says shyly, smiling at him.

“Wow, you do clean up nice,” Ace says, looking me up and down with a smirk.

“Like I told you, I always do,” I say, blowing him a kiss, and he chuckles.

The ride there wasn’t as awkward as I thought it’d be. Nia quickly got loose and began to have fun. She was singing and dancing all the way to the club. The car door flew open with flashing lights blinding me for a second.

“Talk about a flashbang,” I say as I am helped out of the car by Ace himself.

“You’ll get used to it, love,” he replies as he places his arm around my waist and poses for the cameras.

“I didn’t know he was so famous,” I whisper to Nia as I admire Ace’s face shining in the flash of the cameras.

“Yeah, me neither,” she says, as shocked as I am.

We walk into the VIP section of the club, and waitresses immediately come to him with his drink. He throws himself down on the couch, grabs his drink, and takes a sip almost immediately.

Nia and I sat in a corner of the super big couch and chit-chatted. I felt like I was being watched the entire time. The hairs on my neck stood, feeling the presence of someone behind me.

“Can I have a dance?” a man appeared behind me so quickly I didn’t notice him until he spoke.

“No, thank you,” my face obviously showed that he scared me.

“Oh, come on, what if I buy you a drink,” he tries to convince me.

Uncomfortable, I shift in my seat and lean away from him and onto Nia.

“Sir, I said no,” I replied, frightened.

“Alright, and I’m not taking no for an answer,” he grabbed my arm, and immediately both Mateo and Ace stood.

Ace walked over to me, gripping the man’s arm a lot harder than the guy was gripping mine.

“I’m pretty sure she said no,” he removed my arm from the man’s now loose grip.

“Sorry, dude, I didn’t know she was yours,” the man said, trying to remove his arm from Ace’s grip.

“Apologize,” Mateo states, his eyes piercing the man like daggers.

“I’m sorry, lady, have a nice night,” he said, visibly shaken by the two tall buff men as he ran off.

“Thank you, guys,” I say, turning toward them, glee sparkling in my eyes as I look at them.

“Of course, sweetheart,” Mateo said simply with a smile as he sat back down on the couch.

I sat next to Nia once more, and she cooed about how Ace was so protective of me for about 20 minutes.

“Alright, I know I shouldn’t, but I need a drink,” I say as I stand.

Nia follows behind me, and we order drinks at the bar. Practically chugging the drinks down was not the best decision. My throat burned for like 15 minutes after, but by that time, I was on the dance floor without a care in the world. The music slowed, and a slow song turned on. Nia was almost immediately dancing with Mateo, so accepting that I was alone, I went back to where we sat, and Ace was nowhere to be found. I sat down and laid back, waiting for everything to be hype again but ended up falling asleep.

It’s been about two weeks since my first day, and it’s been a bit of a breeze. I’ve definitely had hardships since it’s only my first few weeks, but it’s nothing I couldn’t figure out.

“Ms. Spades!” Ace shouts for me. I sigh as I stand, grab my tablet, and walk into his office.

“Yes, Mr. Phantom?” I ask, stopping in my tracks when I see another man in his office.

The tension in the room felt sickening. As soon as I stepped in, I wanted to leave.

“This is my right hand, Mateo. He’ll be around most of the time, so get used to his face,” he states as I turn to look at Mateo.

He stood near the door, hands clasped before him, tattoos covering both of his arms and a scar across his face. He studied me the same way I was studying him. His stare sent chills down my spine; it was cold, as if he hated me without even knowing me. I nodded my head, since he doesn’t seem like much of the talking type, looked back at Mr. Phantom, and turned to exit.

“Wait, Ms. Spades,” Ace says, making me turn toward him once more. “We want Jersey Mike’s today. I’ll take a pastrami sandwich.”

I proceed to pull out my tablet and type the kind of sandwich he wants and once more turn to Mateo.

“What about you, sir?” I say, looking up at Mateo. His body stiffens as he looks at me, eyes lurking with a sense of something.

“I’ll take the same thing as Alejandro,” he murmured. I can tell he was flustered, he was just good at hiding it.

“Alright, I’ll go get those. I should be back in like 20 minutes,” I smile at them, finally exiting the room from whatever tension was there.

Now confused and in a haze, I rush out, not paying attention to where I’m going, and run into a pole. “Ow, Jesus.”

With a deep sigh, I continued to walk, now actually paying attention to where I was going. Finally feeling like I could breathe as the sun hit my face, I took a deep breath.

“What is wrong with me?” I throw a fit as I walk toward my car.

Taking another deep breath before I got in my car and began to drive was definitely necessary. Oddly enough, this Jersey Mike’s had a Drive-Thru. I was so confused. I thought I was crazy. Finally obtaining the sandwiches, I drove back, and Linda’s car was in my spot. I knew it was Linda’s because she had it written on the hood. What a weird thing to do. I parked wherever I could and walked into the building where I found Linda yelling at the receptionist.

“I told you! I have a meeting with Mr. Phantom!” She shouted at the young lady who was on the verge of tears.

“Actually, you don’t. Stop yelling at this poor girl,” I calmly said, getting behind the counter and letting Cynthia go.

“But I do, you can ask him,” she tried to convince me, and I laughed.

“I’m his secretary, dummy. He would’ve told me to put it on his calendar, and we both know he’s too busy to not put it on his calendar,” I say. Offended at my comment, she tried to reach over and hit me, but she missed badly and I didn’t even move.

I laughed hysterically as she tried over and over to get to me. Once she finally gave up, she sighed.

“I just, I need to see him one more time,” she said to me sincerely, practically begging for sympathy.

“I’m sorry, Linda, I’m gonna have to ask you to leave,” I responded, genuinely apologetic.

She left. What in the hell made her act like that? Over Alejandro Phantom. I wonder.

I finally make it back to Mr. Phantom’s office, not knocking before entering and not even looking at him before I go to close the door. I begin to ramble, “Mr. Phantom, I’m sorry. I know you must be upset, but I had to deal with Linda. She was–” I finally turned to look at him and see he was nowhere to be found.

“So great talking to you,” I sarcastically say to myself.

“He said he’d be back in a few,” Mateo said from the corner of the room, scaring me half to death.

“Okay, please don’t scare me like that,” I say, putting my hand to my heart and taking a deep breath.

“So sorry,” he chuckles as he steps toward me.

“Here’s your sandwiches; I have work to do,” I pass him the bag and walk toward my office.

“Hey, uh, me and Ace are going out later tonight. Would you like to tag along?” He says, stepping in between me and the door.

“Can I bring my roommate? She’s definitely the one who deserves a night out,” I say chuckling, the hardest overworked worker ever.

“I don’t think he’d mind. Go ahead and bring her. The more the merrier, anyway,” he smiles, finally moving out of my way.

I thought he was stone-cold. Why the hell has his mood changed? Why is he chuckling and smiling? Lord, please don’t tell me I’ve lost it. I can tell something fishy is definitely going on, and I’m scared to get to the bottom of it.

The sun blared through Jade’s window as she unpacked her last box of things for her new apartment in the new city. Moving out of her parent’s home and across the country was a big step in her newly found adult life, but it was for the better. Finally free from the grip of her parents, she sighed as she sat on her bean bag in her living room.

“Hey, Jayden, right?” her roommate excitedly questioned.

“Yeah, but you can call me Jade. It’s nice to finally meet each other face to face, Niara,” I smiled as she sat on the couch.

“Oh my goodness, agreed. You can call me Nia, by the way. Are you going to college?” She asked, wanting to get to know me.

“Yeah, actually, it’s my last year. What about you?”

“Your last year? Are you in a two-year college?” She questioned.

“No, I graduated high school at 16 and am graduating right before my 20th birthday,” I said, and her eyes gleamed in delight.

“So cool!” she yelped in excitement, making me chuckle.

“Are you in college?” I asked, and she shook her head no, taking a sip of her drink.

“I went to a trade school and became a medical assistant, best decision ever,” she said, very relieved about her choices.

“I wanted to, but my parents didn’t let me, so,” I shrugged as I stood once more with a stretch of my arms above my head.

“Do you have any jobs lined up?” Niara asked me before I could walk away.

“Yeah, actually, I start tomorrow as a personal assistant for this guy. His name is Ace,” I said as her eyes grew fearful.

“Like the Alexander Phantom?” she was barely able to utter the words.

“Uh, yeah, I guess,” I shrugged, confused by her fearful voice.

“He’s dangerous, please be careful around him, Jade,” she said, genuinely concerned for me.

“I will, thank you for the warning, Nia,” I said, a smile forming on my face before walking toward my room.

The next day arose, my ear-splitting alarm violently awakening me. I sighed before getting myself up and into a cold shower. Now awake and showered, I stepped back into my room and began to look for clothing. I put on these black pantsuit bottoms with a white long sleeve and a tan vest on top and some black Jordan 4s. I grabbed my purse, exiting my room, closing the door behind me. 

Walking over to the kitchen, Nia had made coffee earlier that morning, and it was still warm, so I helped myself to a cup and sent her a thank you text. Walking out, I locked our front door and headed to the elevator. I could hear my shoes tap on the floor. The draft in the hallway made me shiver a bit as the sun hit my face while waiting for the elevator. Finally getting to the garage floor, I walked over to my car and soon drove off. Playing music as I drove, singing along, I got to the office, parked in my spot, and went into the lobby. I got onto the elevator with this woman. She had 6-inch stilettos with a pink pencil skirt and a white top. She looked at me and chuckled.

“What’s funny?” I questioned, annoyed, looking at her.

“Nothing, your outfit is just too cute,” she mocked, laughing some more.

“Who are you to talk about me? You’re wearing the ugliest color of pink, black stilettos, and a white shirt. You don’t even match,” I stated. She looked me dead in my eyes, her expression now angry.

“Do you know who I am?” She asked.

I laughed. “Am I supposed to?”

Reaching the top floor, her stilettos angrily clicked off of the elevator and wherever she had to go. I took a deep breath before continuing to where I had to go, finding the same lady in my boss’s office. I knocked before entering, and Ace was laughing at the lady.

“Good morning, boss,” I said.

Out of breath, my boss turned to me and said, “You’re so funny.”

“Me?” I questioned.

“Yes, you! Not only funny but correct, Linda, you’re fired, and she’s your replacement,” he said so coldly; it gave me goosebumps.

“What! I have done nothing wrong for you to fire me,” she yelled at him, but he just gave her this odd, terrifying look, and she sighed, walking out of the room.

“Your desk is in that room. If I call you, you’re close enough to hear me but able to create your own space. You also get a complimentary tablet to keep track of my schedule and set up my schedule as well,” he said, passing me a white brand-new iPad.

“Okay, thank you so much,” I said, standing.

“Today should be pretty easy since it’s your first day,” he said, then ended the conversation, banishing me to my new office.