The Devil's Assistant (Watty Awards Finalist 2011)

Devil's Assistant [5]

I nodded my head to them in greeting. "Mr Watson, Mr Satani. Come on in." I stepped to the side and allowed the two of them to pass making sure my back was pressed against the wall as they stepped inside my home. It felt strange to me to have my boss, ex-boss I corrected myself, in my home. Pushing the door closed I let my hand linger for a moment before putting on a fake smile and looking at the two men, one of whom looked extremely uncomfortable to be here. "Come on through to the lounge. Oh can one of you pick that up for me?" I questioned as I spotted the bottle that had fallen off the ledge I had left it on. Its times like these I'm glad for the lids, I wouldn't have been impressed if I had had to get a new top for it because they distracted me.

Mr Watson smiled at me before bending down and retrieving it from the floor. I nodded in thanks before brushing past the pair and leading them towards the lounge. I could feel both of their stares on my back and I knew they were probably sharing looks about my attire. Well, it was 9am and I didn't have a job so I didn't see the problem in being in my Mickey Mouse pyjamas at this time. I was more disturbed at the fact that I was around two men and had no bra on.

With a regretful sigh I led them into my sanctuary and quickly retrieved my dressing robe from top of the pile of freshly laundered washing on that chair that I had been up since six sorting out. Laying Danny down on his little mat on the floor I sat down beside him pulling on the dress robe whilst nodding for the men to take seats. Mr Watson took the armchair so Mr Satani was forced to sit next to my pile of washing that teetered precariously for a moment before stilling. I looked over to Mr Watson and saw he still had the bottle clutched in hand.

"Can I take that, the little guy needs his feed." I questioned looking up at him before turning my gaze to the cooing child beside me. He seemed as happy as ever, unaffected by the events of the other day. I was glad that he was too young to understand what happened, heck I was twenty two and I still couldn't comprehend it fully, it seemed too unreal.

"Yeah, sure." Mr Watson replied sitting forwards and handing me the bottle I smiled in thanks as I shook it before pulling the lid off. After testing it on the back of my hand, I scooped Danny into my arms and tentatively pressed the bottle against his lips whilst I stared at him in awe. I still couldn't believe that this beautiful little boy in my arms had come from me. As my son suckled noisily on the bottle, I turned my gaze to the two men.

"Okay, start talking." I murmured trying to figure out why exactly they are here. 

Mr Watson sat there smiling whilst Mr Satani shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his nose wrinkling in disgust as he eyed the room. I rolled my eyes at this, what a snob, I'm sorry that I don't live up to your rich man expectations.

After much throat clearing Mr Satani spoke, his voice as deep and smooth as I remembered. I'm sure to some it would be seductive but to me it was nothing out of the ordinary because I'd met enough players in my life to know one when i saw one. "As I'm sure you are aware Miss Holmes, when you joined our company you signed a contract which deemed you would work for us for the period of 3 months minimum, as for your resignation, I'm afraid to say I cannot accept it based on said contract. As for your continuing absence that would be deemed breach of contract and you could be held liable," he leaned forwards with a smirk on his face. It sent shivers down my spine and not the good shivers either. Staring at him wide eyed, I waited for him to continue and was surprised when he lowered his voice so it was almost as if he was being conspiratorial with me. "And trust me, you don't want that."

I stared at him for a moment before turning to Mr Watson. "You're kidding me right?" I glanced between the two of them with growing sense of incredulity wondering who had hit the two of them with the stupid stick today. "You expect me to return to that place, after what happened on my first day? You must be frigging crazy and as for contracts, I didn't sign them, we were supposed to do it at the end of the day but it happened so no matter what you say there is no contract binding me to your service." Barely restraining the urge to stick my tongue out at the two of them, they both looked at me with wide eyes before they turned to one another and seemed to have a silent conversation with just their eyes. I waited for them to finish instead focusing my attention on Danny.