“Barely a thought, huh? Valentine, there's been very little else I've thought about in the last three weeks.”
She nearly choked on that statement, and coughed into her fist to disguise it.
“You finally realized Porsches are for men with small penises, I suppose,” she continued on with her car rambling. It felt neutral, safe. Ari heaved a sigh and finally glanced at her.
“I didn't get another Porsche,” he started, holding her gaze when they stopped at a red light. “Because someone once told me she didn't like my car.”
Noooope, not neutral. Not safe.
Valentine sucked her lips between her teeth and gently bit down on them, trying to distract herself as the car started rolling forward. She retreated into her mind, figuring no conversation was the safest bet, and she went over her plans for the rest of the day. First stop after finishing up with Ari would be to go see her grandmother.
Gam-Gam.
The break up with Ari had been horrible, and it happened at a horrible time, but even worse than all that, Valentine had realized she was a bad person. She'd not only ruined her love life, but she'd also ruined her actual life, too. So blinded by a stupid man. By good times and better sex.
After six months of taking care of virtually every moment of her grandmother's days, Val had loosened the reins. Just a little bit. Just enough to hire a second nurse, leaving her grandmother in trained, professional hands around the clock. Valentine had honestly thought it was for the best. After all, nurses would know better how to take care of a sickly, elderly woman, right?
Apparently, someone thought otherwise. After her grandmother's second stroke, she'd been admitted to the hospital. The social workers from IDHS had shown up not too much later, claiming they'd received reports that she'd been abusing her power as medical proxy, and had also been stealing her grandmother's money and spending it on herself. Valentine had almost laughed. What fucking money? All of her grandmother's retirement money was gone – there was nothing to steal.
None of that mattered to IDHS, though. It was all Valentine's words against her accusers, and they couldn't exactly ask Gam-Gam her opinion on the matter, because she didn't even know her own name half the time.
So an investigation was launched. She was essentially being audited – they wanted every receipt, every bill, every doctor's visit, every medical file. They wanted her grandmother's bank statements, as well as Val's own. They wanted the paperwork on the sale of the farm. They wanted to know about her tuition payments. They wanted everything.
They also wanted to know where her own income came from.
What a fucking nightmare. Valentine knew she'd done nothing wrong, but it was still difficult to go through it all, and scary. At the beginning, they'd ordered her to stay away from Gam-Gam. It was over a week before she was allowed to see her grandmother again, which had been sheer torture when the woman had been so sick – touch and go, really. Thankfully, the in-home nurses, Grace and Crockett, had spoken up for her as character witnesses, which was why she'd eventually been allowed to visit.
Just knowing something like that could happen again, or even worse, had Valentine feeling even more on edge than usual. She worked more and more hours at the bike messenger place, and she ramped up the charm when she was doing her escorting gig at Caché, hoping for those big tips. Anything to help make things easier for her, her roommate, and Gam-Gam.
Anything at all, which is how I find myself in situations like this.
“Where are we going?” Valentine asked, suddenly realizing she recognized the area.
“Oh, I forgot, I have something for you,” Ari ignored her question and dug into an inside pocket on his jacket.
“I don't want any gifts from you,” she replied quickly. He snorted and pulled out what looked like a plastic white business card, but without anything printed on it.
“Access card,” he explained, holding it between two fingers. “To be my assistant, you'll need it. It will get you into my office at work, the main conference room, the break room – but no direct building access after hours.”
“Why would I want to ever come to your work after hours?” she asked, plucking the key card out of his hand.
“I'm sure I could think of something to entice you,” he suggested. She glared at him.
“I'm sure there isn't. Where are we going? I know this area.”
“I'm not surprised. Just working on a case.”
“A case?” Valentine asked. “How long are we going to be here? According to the auction rules, you only get me for four hours a day – and since you're an asshole, I'm deducting two of those hours. I don't wanna sit in a corner, taking notes while some rich guy tries to get out of paying his taxes, or whatever.”
“I'm not a tax lawyer,” Ari chuckled. “And I don't think we'll be here long. It's ... a new client, and a touchy situation, but an easily solvable one, I think.”
“You think everything is easy.”
“Because everything is for me.”
“You're ridiculous,” she snorted as they pulled into a parking lot. A shiver shot down her spine – she recognized the building instantly. She'd had several nightmares about it. “Are you doing work for the Department of Health Services? But you're in corporate law – what kind of meeting is this? ”
“The kind that will benefit both of us, hopefully. Trust me.”
“Trust you? Did you honestly just say those words? Are you high? I've got a half a mind to just get out of the car and walk away right now,” she threatened as he parked.
“Assistant, Valentine,” Ari reminded her while he shut off the car. “That means I'm your boss, and you have to do what I say for the next four hours, or those poor sick kids don't get any of my money.”
Valentine's jaw dropped.
“You are literally the worst.”
Ari smirked right back at her.
“Whatever made you think I wasn't?”
5
Ari sat stiffly at a table, working his head from side to side. He rolled it around for a moment, then jerked it quick to the side. Snap. Ah, he'd finally managed to crack his neck. That had been driving him crazy – he must be more nervous than he realized, he was holding all his tension in his shoulders. Then there was a noise in the hallway, drawing both his and Val's attention to the door. It was the first time she'd moved since entering the room.
When she'd first realized they were at that particular branch of the Illinois Department of Health Services, she'd asked a lot of questions. He'd been able to ignore her while he'd talked to the lady in the front office. Val had seemed shocked to hear he had an appointment all set up for the two of them, and with the social worker in charge of Gam-Gam's case. She'd clammed up then, and hadn't moved a muscle since they'd been seated at a chipped table in a small, empty office.
When the door knob started to turn, Valentine shuddered, but Ari slowly stood up. Smoothed his hand down his tie, then quickly combed his fingers through his hair, casting a glance at his reflection in a picture frame.
Valentine had always loved his hair. He didn't know why, it was unruly at the best of times, sometimes he considered shaving it all off. But of course now he never would, simply because once upon a time, she'd loved to run her fingers through it, and he had hopes that maybe she would again some day.