THIS JOB SUCKS!

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Whitney woke groggy and stiff again. Everything ached. She wondered what time it was. The clock said four but was it morning or night? For the first time in a long time she had slept the whole night without waking up with nightmares. She stretched and rolled over onto the opposite pillow. Whitney buried her face into its softness. She sighed. It smelled really good. It smelled like...Madraeus.

Instantly Whitney sat up. She thought back over the events of the last day. She remembered Madraeus putting her to bed. He had left hadn't he? She couldn't remember anything. Scooting across the bed she grabbed the curtain and pulled it aside. Light flooded in and blinded her. Obviously it was four in the afternoon. She should be at work. She pushed the curtain closed again and dashed through the apartment. She rushed to the bathroom and dug through the clothes she had left on the floor. Her cell phones weren't in her pocket.

"Oh crap." She groaned. Hurriedly she pulled off her shirt to get dressed and caught the smell of Madraeus' cologne on her shirt. "Oh crap. Crap. Crap!"

Less than an hour later, she cautiously poked her head through the door of Madraeus' study. She hoped that no one would see her. She wanted to gauge Madraeus' mood before she had to talk to him. She jumped when her ring-tone screeched through the silence in the study.

"Damn it." Madraeus groaned as he slapped a folder onto the phone hoping to muffle it but it only started to vibrate across the desk with the folder on top.

"Why do you have my phone?" she blurted out forgetting her desire not to be noticed.

"Ah, Whitney!" Rami grinned. They were standing on either side of the desk. It was covered in paper and more old books. It was the messiest she had ever seen it.

"Don't worry you can have the damned thing back, it won't shut up." Madraeus growled as she stepped forward to pick it up. She stared at him. She had no idea what had happened last night or if she should mention it. He seemed to be in a bad mood again. He glared at her but he kept his thoughts shielded.

"I took it so it wouldn't wake you up. It's been going off non-stop." He said in disgust.

"Really?" she frowned as she looked at the list of text messages. 

"Have a seat." Madraeus gestured to the chairs that surrounded the chess set as he turned back to his work. 

"I should really go get something to eat. I just didn't know if I was supposed to be at work," she edged toward the door.

"No. Sit." Madraeus said without looking up from the file he was reading.

"What do you mean no? What? I can't get something to eat?" Whitney crossed her arms.

Madraeus sighed and let the file drop to the desk. He turned and looked at her.

"I meant no work. Sit and we will get you something to eat." He looked tired but there was an ominous edge to his tone.

"Oh," she mumbled and shuffled over to the chairs.

Madraeus pressed the intercom and spoke into it, "Mrs. Myers, she's up and would like breakfast."

"Be right there," Mrs. Myers voice called over the speaker.

Whitney sank into the cushions of the chair. She felt like she was in the Principal's office. She was relatively certain that Madraeus' bad mood had to do with her, it usually did, so she was going to try and be as quiet as possible and maybe he would forget she was even there. She watched Rami and Madraeus for a while. They were talking but it was too quiet for her to hear what they were saying. She hoped it wasn't about her. She gave up trying to eavesdrop and turned her attention to her phone.