Osbourne Corp has been a part of my life for a long time. Since I was a senior in high school. First the scholarships, then the internship. These are things I thought I’d earned on my own, and now I’m finding out I hadn’t. My mind can’t seem to shut off as I try to remember as much as I can. Like the fact that I was the recipient of the first scholarship the company ever gave out. That I got the coveted internship so easily, yet didn’t get any other offers.
The truth of Paige’s words hits me. If I did leave, he’d make sure no one else would hire me. He had done so once already. What’s to stop him from doing it again?
All these things floated through my mind this weekend. The little things he’d said about how long he’d waited for me. The way Paige never stonewalled him like she’d done to other men who tried to date me. I didn’t know what to do with all these odds and ends. They didn’t make any sense.
The one thing that keeps taunting me is why did he do this?
I can’t wrap my mind around the idea that he was obsessed with me. I’d never seen him before I came to New York. I would have remembered him, I’m sure of it. But he knew me somehow. Probably knew everything there was to know about me.
Worse, after I really knew who he was, I couldn’t stop myself from digging into him. Looking at every article I could find on the Elusive Billionaire Miles Henry Osbourne, they called him. There wasn’t much in the gossip magazines. Every picture I found of him he was either alone or with his mother. Except for one that looked to be when he was in college with a woman named Ivy Lennox. The picture didn’t make them look like a couple. I recognized the background of the picture and knew they were at Yale when it was taken. The tagline read The Next Big Power Couple? I had to admit they did look good together. She was completely different from me in looks. Tall, long blond hair, a waist that could rival Paige’s and a wardrobe to match her perfection.
“Still mad at the boyfriend?” Skyler asks, startling me as she looks over the top of the cubicle wall at me. Her perfect eyebrow is raised in question. I must have been lost in thought because I didn’t even hear her walk past my desk.
“That’s putting it mildly.” I know she’s only talking about the fight Miles got into with Joel. I’m actually a little worried about who else might have seen it and if anyone but her knows that I’ve been dating the boss. I don’t even want to think what those rumors will turn into.
“It was a dick move, but I have to say sometimes that whole caveman thing works for people. I know Jamie likes it when I get all territorial over her.” She smiles like she does it on purpose to get her girlfriend all worked up.
“At least you won’t have to see him much. Not like he’s ever around here. I’ve only seen him once in real life and it was when he was picking you up.” She shrugs like it’s not a big deal, but it is.
To me it is, anyway. I can’t see him or I might crack. Hell, who am I kidding? I’ll fucking shatter. I drop my head into my hands in despair. I groan and look back up at Skyler. “God, I’m so stupid. You knew who he was, didn’t you?”
“Well, yeah.” She looks at me like I’m crazy.
“I didn’t know who he was until yesterday,” I admit.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Her eyes look like they’re about to bulge out of her head.
Then it finally clicks into place. The day she was short with me. She must have been thinking what everyone else would be thinking if they found out about Oz and me. That I was banging the boss for my job. The sad part is I’m not so sure it’s not true. If Oz didn’t have his sights on me, I probably wouldn’t be here to begin with. I don’t know if that should make me mad or not. It’s not like I’d gotten a scholarship they’d been handing out for years. This was something new and apparently created for me. I’d gotten a few small grants from community colleges, but nothing like the full ride to Yale they gave me. It had all the odds and ends, of boarding, books, a meal pass, plus some.
“I know.” I suck my bottom lip between my teeth, biting it as I look back at my computer screen.
Skyler comes around, leaning against the edge of my desk. I look over at her. What sucks is I don’t even know if I can trust her. I’m clearly terrible at telling who my true friends are and who’s being paid to watch me.