Ignite

The next couple of days went well for Jack. He honestly felt like he was getting into the flow of things at work, and his first week wasn’t even over yet. Alex was a really nice guy, even writing him a basic script of what to say when answering the phone (basically, never let any calls through, just take a message, unless the executives Mr Wentz and Mr Saporta called, any of the department managers, or someone named Martin Johnson) and even though he’d been nervous picking up the phone, Alex had said he’d done a good job. And Zack had emailed him back saying that he’d taken good messages down for him, so that was good.

He still hadn’t properly met his boss though, still hadn’t spoken face-to-face to Mr Merrick other than that filing on his first day (but like that actually counted). He hoped to soon, because it just felt kinda weird that he didn’t know the person he was working for, but Alex said not to worry about it. When Mr Merrick had a spare moment, he’d call Jack into his office, it was as simple as that.

It was late Thursday afternoon when Jack finally got that call. Upon hearing his desk phone ring, and seeing ‘Zachary Merrick’ flash across the screen, Jack’s eyes went wide. But he took a deep breath and picked up the phone anyway – he didn’t want to look like a complete idiot.

“H-Hello Mr Merrick?” Jack asked nervously.

“Hello Jack. I was wondering if you could come into my office please?”

That deep voice. Fuck that was a nice voice.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll come now!” Jack squeaked.

Alex snorted. Jack ignored him.

“Great. Actually, can you grab me a cup of coffee before you come in? Black, 2 sugars. And grab a drink for yourself if you want one,”

“O-Okay!”

Mr Merrick put the phone down, leaving Jack to let out a shaky breath. That went okay, right? He didn’t make a total fool of himself?

“Earth to Jack?” Alex prompted.

“Oh shit, yeah, coffee,” Jack muttered, getting out of his chair.

Alex was still laughing when Jack came back with a coffee and a glass of water.

“Try not to drop your pants while you’re in there,” Alex grinned.

W-What?!

Jack blushed furiously, tucking a notepad and pen under his arm before walking over to Mr Merrick’s door. He knocked twice, waiting for 3 seconds, before opening the door. He was still blushing as he shut the door behind him. Damn it.

“Take a seat, Jack,”

Jack took the chance to look at the man sitting on the desk in front of him. He was still as tall as Jack could remember from his first day, dark hair neatly coiffed on top of his head, broad shoulders filling out his suit nicely, but with a smile on his handsome face instead of a frown this time. Fuck he was good looking. He understood why Alex told him not to drop his pants now. Fuck.

“Here’s your coffee, Sir,” Jack said politely, gently placing the coffee mug down.

“Lovely, thanks,” Mr Merrick smiled.

Jack smiled, the heat on his cheeks basically gone now, and sat down on the chair opposite his boss.

“So obviously I wanted to talk to you as an introduction to the company and about being my PA. How are you finding the work so far?”

Wow. Straight to it then.

“Y-Yeah, it’s going okay. Alex has helped me a lot so I think I’m starting to get there,” Jack nodded.

“Good. That’s good. I also wanted to talk about what your day to day work will be, for me in particular. What has Alex told you so far?” Mr Merrick asked, leaning forwards slightly.

Jack fought not to stare at how his forearms flexed slightly. Fuck.

“Taking phone messages for you, running any errands you need, booking meetings, managing your schedule, and doing your filing,” Jack listed.

“Good. That’s essentially correct. Normally when I have a pile of paperwork for you to file, I’ll email you to come and collect them, but for this week and next week I’ll drop it to the desk myself,” Mr Merrick explained.

Oh wow. That’s nice of him.

“T-Thank you, Sir,” Jack said.

“Please, call me Zack when you’re in my office. We’ll be working closely together, Jack, and I don’t want there to be an awkward barrier,” Mr Merrick said, smiling.

Well that was a nice thought. Jack quickly snapped himself out of his thoughts, nodding so Mr Merrick…Zack didn’t think he was a total idiot. Zack. That was a nice name. Nice masculine name. It suited him. No, stop! Behave Jack!

“I don’t really have much else to say right now, but I do want to apologise for not calling you in here sooner,” Mr Merrick said honestly.

“It’s okay, I know you’re busy,” Jack replied, shaking his head.

He was not a priority, he knew that. But Mr Merrick frowned slightly, surprise in his eyes.

“I may be busy, but I don’t want you to feel unhappy working here, Jack. You’re my PA and I want you to enjoy working for me. You looked upset on Monday night and I don’t want to see you like that again,” Mr Merrick said seriously.

Jack blushed slightly. He hadn’t expected Mr Merrick’s to remember that. And Mr Merrick didn’t want him to be unhappy? That was nice.

“Well hopefully I won’t be,” Jack said shyly.

Mr Merrick stared at him for a couple of seconds, only making him blush more, before he cleared his throat. Well that was weird. Why was he staring?

“That will be all, Jack,” he said gruffly.

Oh, right. Jack smiled and picked up his glass of water and notebook, before leaving.

As soon as Jack sat down, he noticed Alex smirking at him. Oh good.

“Did you drop your pants, or just his?” Alex whispered.

“Neither!” Jack hissed, “shut up Alex!”

Alex just smirked even more, making Jack blush again. Then Jack heard someone clearing their throat and looked up to see Mr Merrick standing behind him.

“I meant to give you these to read through. I need you to pick out at least 5 that look promising,” Mr Merrick said, holding out a pile of folders.

Cat groomers…okay?

Wait, Mr Merrick has a cat? Could this man get any more perfect?

“Okay,” Jack nodded, taking the folders.

Mr Merrick frowned slightly at the blush on Jack’s cheeks.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Damn it Alex.

“Y-Yes!” Jack squeaked.

Mr Merrick turned to look at Alex, and narrowed his eyes.

“Behave, Alex,” he said, frowning.

Alex just smiled innocently, earning an eye roll from Jack’s boss before he left.

“You officially suck,” Jack grumbled.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Alex said, winking.

Oh, gross.