Page 5 of Hidden & Held

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JACKSON

It’s been four months since I moved to Cascadia. Four months of secret glances in the office. Four months of stolen evenings and four months of learning Phoenix inside and out.

I slip out of her office, another surprise waiting on her desk now. We might have agreed to keep our budding relationship under wraps, but I can’t help trying to put my mark on her somehow in this place.

Phoenix is standing in the bullpen area of interns and paralegals, pointing to something on a screen. She spots me slipping her office door closed and arches one eyebrow at me as if to say, “Really, right now?” I give her a wink as Cassandra walks behind her, eyeing her up and down, then rolling her eyes as she passes.

“If they can’t do the work themselves, Lane, then let them fail out. I don’t pay the interns for someone else to do their job.”

You don’t pay the interns at all.

My girl ignores her and keeps helping them. Turning toward my office, I hear the thump of Cassandra’s heels behind me as she calls out to me in a shrill voice. Ignoring her, I open my door and go to shut it gently behind me, hoping that conveys the message.

“Jacky, didn’t you hear me?” Cassandra whines.

“Sorry about that, I must have been thinking about my next meeting.” My next meeting with Phoenix tonight. What should I cook for her this time?

“Is it with your grandfather?” She perks up at the idea. “Can I join the call?”

“No.” I arch a brow, staring her down. Her cheeks heat as she glances back at the door, checking we’re alone. “And we’re not discussing that here.”

“Of course. I’ve got some interesting new developments he’d want to know. Key insights that he would find particularly … insightful.” She saunters closer, leaning in. “I’ve been looking into some of the employee case files. Found some interesting tidbits.”

I keep my face neutral, not giving her any fodder for her fire.

“Hey man, quick—” Daniel Davenport, a senior litigator for the firm, opens my door with a quick knock. I take a quick step back away from Cassandra. “Oh, sorry. Am I, uh, interrupting?”

“Not at all.” I jump at the excuse. “Cassandra was just leaving.”

“Of course. See you soon, Jacky.” She waggles her fingers at me before leaving Daniel and me alone.

“What do you need?” I ask.

“I want to throw in an extra practice tonight. Can you make it?” Daniel invited me to join his rec league basketball team on my first day. It’s a game I love, and one I haven’t made time for in years. The team is quickly becoming my second favorite part of Cascadia.

I open my mouth to relay I have a date but quickly shut it. “Not tonight, I have plans.”

“Book club?” he teases, knowing I joined a steamy romance readers group from the coaxing of a sweet grandmotherly coworker, Beth, my first week.

I laugh. “You should join me next time. They would love another young guy.”

Daniel waves his hand dramatically in front of him. “No man, not a chance. Alright, I’ll see you at the next practice. Later.” And he backs out of my office.

I was born and raised in Portland, and before I moved to Cascadia, I had a downtown apartment, exciting career, and more family than I knew what to do with. The opportunity to come down to Cascadia appeared, and I don’t know what it was that made me jump on it. But looking back, my life wasn’t half as rich as these last four months have been. Although the job is exciting, coming here has made me realize what I truly want. A life. With friends, time for hobbies, and a dark-haired beauty do it all with.

Everything had its place in my world. All aligned in nice, compartmentalized buckets. Now the buckets are starting to spill over. I sit at my desk, scrubbing my face in my hands. The compartments are leaking into one another. Work. Family. Phoenix. None of them are staying where they belong.

Feeling overwhelmed, I take out my phone and open my locked photo album. I punch in 0830: Phoenix’s birthday. It’s become my new coping mechanism when the world starts feeling too out of control. I scroll through a few photos of her I took when she wasn’t paying attention, pausing on my favorite. She’s curled up by my side, a rare moment when I got her to watch a movie with me instead of doing something productive.

Our relationship is a secret, and I hate it. Professionally, I know it’s the right thing to do. Women in particular get a bad rap for dating in the workplace. Phoenix prefers it this way. She likes work to stay work. No gossip. No whispered theories. No one wondering whether she earns a case or a promotion because of who she’s dating. At first, I admired it. Now … I’m hiding behind it.

A text bubble appears over her photo, and I smile when I see it’s her.

Sugar

Dinner tonight? Please tell me you have something delicious planned. My eyesight is too blurred to even think about throwing something together.