Cinderella for Hire

I was freaking out so badly at that point. It was as if someone snatched my wildly beating heart from my chest cavity out to my throat and shoved it back again. I honestly didn't expect Nick to come out of nowhere and just punch a guy like that.

Panting slightly, I leaned against the wall with both of my hands covering my face. These crazy emotions were making me feel exhausted. And I felt unreasonably angry at Nick because I was so close to punching Ian myself. Dissatisfied, I picked one of my heels on the ground and threw it at Ian when he wanted to retaliate. He swore profusely at me, rubbing the spot on his forehead where my heels hit him and Nick picked him up by the collar and tossed him at the wall, punching him again. I stumbled out of their way, feeling shaky from adrenaline and the scare that Nick oh-so-kindly gave me.

"You ungrateful bastard," Nick barked. "Haven't you done enough?"

Ian didn't look scared at all, despite being punched twice by Nick. He looked smug actually and I knew by the look of Nick's face that he was trying so hard not to punch him again.

"You know," Ian started. "Thank goodness I came to Bryan Simmons with ideas when his own team failed him. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to see my girl, Olivia, present it to the shareholders now."

I thought I saw hurt flashed angrily in Nick's eyes. And for the briefest moment, I thought that he was going to beat Ian up to a pulp after that cruel remark. But Nick just gritted his teeth and to my surprise, let Ian go. Straightening up his jacket and shirt as Olivia's echoed through the microphone. She was speaking backyard, I suppose. And most of all, she was presenting a stolen idea in front of everyone. I wondered if any of the employees under Richard Fulton that was here today would yell that it was plagiarized.

I looked surreptitiously at Nick. Maybe he had advised them to keep their cool because let's face it, there was no proof.

Wiping the blood from his face with his hand, Ian winked at me and smirked before striding towards the house.

And then I broke down. Right there in front of Nick, in a millionaire's lawn.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice soft and gentle.

"Shut up, just shut up," I said, rubbing my eyes. "I can't take this anymore, I can't be your girlfriend…mock girlfriend, whatever," I sobbed as he put his arms around me. "I t-thought, I thought this would be the least stressful job in the world and it would be easy money but holy crap, holy crap was I wrong."

But I didn't want to lose my job either. I needed the money and truthfully, I wasn't ready to be away from him. If I quit, I had no reason to see him around anymore.

"You're quitting?" Nick said incredulously.

"I…I'm not sure yet," I replied and Nick actually had the audacity to laugh.

"Could you please stop? This is not funny, Nick!"

"I know, I know," he said, exhaling slowly as he looked at me, his expression went from gleeful to serious. But then he laughed again. "I'm sorry," he said, in-between laughter. I scowled at him and hit his shoulder repeatedly.

"This is not funny, Nicholas!" I shrieked and he laughed harder. "I'm honestly stressed out just by being around you, damn it! What with your family issue and your work life and Ian and trying to be someone who's worthy of dating a millionaire—"

He pressed his lips against mine mid-rant. It was only for a second though before he pulled away but his forehead was still pressed against mine.

"—and these stupid blonde hair and extensions…" I continued, frantic than ever before. I thought I wanted to rant some more but my brain finally registered how close he was to me, how soft his lips were, how my lips were aching for more…

"What was that?" I asked, aghast. "Did you just kiss me?" I said angrily and pushed him away, my trembling fingers touched my bottom lip as he licked his. "Why'd you do that? You said that it'll complicate things up and it does, Nick!"

"You quit, remember? Not because you wanted to be with me, but because you're sick of me."

"Technically, I'm still not sure if I want to quit or not—"

"Yeah well, you said you'd quit. I don't care. Let's talk about this back in the apartment. In between that time, you've quit. I don't care."

"So can I kiss you again?" I blurted out before I could stop myself. Nick nodded fervently before taking me in his arms and pressing his lips firmly against mine. And at that moment, it was like all of our pent-up frustrations exploded between us. His hands slowly moved from the side of my neck to the small of my back as I kissed him back as if my life depended on it. We pulled apart to catch some breath but he had his arms around me still, pulling me closer to him as he rested his chin on mine after his lips pecked the side of my head.

"We have a lot of things to talk about," I whispered and I could feel him nodding. Before I could forget again, I said to him in a rush, "I saw Olivia in your office holding up a pen drive when she flipped me off. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. If I remembered to tell you sooner then maybe…"

He didn't answer for the longest time and I was afraid that he might have a stroke or something so I pulled away from his arms. He had that Bambi look again. Damn it. Not good.

"Nick," I croaked out, not knowing what to say.

"It's fine," he said, his voice low. "It's fine. Things are pretty fucked up right now. The files, Ian…you and I. We'll talk about everything later, okay? If I take anymore news and stress right now, I'll have a heart attack."

I thought as much.

He intertwined his fingers with mine and led me inside the house, where I could see a crowd of people gathering around a platform in the backyard. My eyes widened and I looked at him fearfully. "What are you doing, Nick?"

"I want to listen to it."

Olivia was in a gorgeous cocktail dress with the most-expensive-looking diamonds around her neck as she confidently strode across the deck, motioning to the skyscraper model in front of her and the slides behind her. Flashes from cameras went off every now and then. I looked around, mesmerized by it all. That was when I saw a couple of people in suits looking like they were going to hurl themselves to the wall, including Richard Fulton.

"Why can't you accuse them that they steal the ideas, Nick?" I whispered gently. "They did, you know. I saw Olivia—"

"It doesn't mean anything, April. If we were to blindly accuse them of plagiarizing our work, we don't have any evidence apart from your statement – and even that statement doesn't seem solid. Don't get me wrong, I believe you, how could I not?" he said, glaring at Olivia. "But legally, it's not enough. If we shout and cry that they stole it, it'll just make a senseless scene. Good news for the press, bad news for our company."

I sighed heavily. "What happened, really?"

"We didn't have a Plan B so we had no choice but to walk into that meeting today announcing that we lost our files. It was quite pathetic, really. To make matters worse, Olivia and Ian were already in the conference room, done with presenting our ideas to Bryan Simmons. Bryan was pretty pissed off. One of the members in our team pointed out angrily that Olivia and Ian stole their idea but Bryan looked at it as a last-minute, desperate attempt to get back control of the project."

I had a sudden urge to take off my shoes and attack Olivia with it too.

"What are you guys going to do?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said. "There's nothing we can do."