Chapter 17

The first thing I noticed when I awoke the following morning was that I was definitely not in a bedroom. I was still in the fort Jess and I so childishly built in her living room. The second thing I noticed was that I was completely naked underneath the blanket covering me. Then I remembered what happened last night. What Jess and I had not so childishly done.

Jess’s arm was still wrapped tightly around my waist and I could feel her pressed up against my back. I felt her steady breath against the back of my shoulder and I sighed deeply, feeling so content and full of so much love. I never expected yesterday to go the way that it did but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

I closed my eyes again, intending on sleeping for a bit longer, but it was then that I felt Jess’s lips pressing against my shoulder and trailing to the back of my neck. I leaned into her instinctively and felt her arm tighten around my waist.

“I didn’t know you had a tattoo,” she said randomly.

“Yeah. I got it when I was sixteen. It was a rebellion thing,” I laughed. I felt her move her arm to trace the small horse on the back of my shoulder.

I turned over to face her and kissed her softly on the lips, my hands moving to her bare waist so that I could hold her to me.

“I love you,” I heard her mumble against my lips.

“What?” I asked playfully.

“I said, I love you,” she said as she kissed the corner of my mouth.

“Say it again.”

She laughed before planting several kisses all over my face, speaking in between.

“I love you. I love you. I love you,” she repeated over and over.

“I love you too,” I giggled, brushing my nose against hers.

We laid there for several more minutes in silence before I suddenly remembered what today was.

“Shit, Jess what time is it? I’m supposed to be going in for my first day at two.” I was supposed to be going in as sort of a ‘half day’ just to learn a bit of the ins and outs of what I would be doing for them. Being late on the first day wouldn’t exactly be a great first impression.

“I don’t know. We should probably get up though,” she said as she untangled herself from me.

It ended up taking us a few minutes to find our clothes seeing as we weren’t too concerned about where they ended up last night. Eventually, we both got dressed and started to take down our fort. Turns out it was only ten so I still had about three hours to get ready.

“So do you know exactly what you’ll be doing?” Jess asked.

We were currently in her bedroom. I was sitting at the foot of the bed while Jess was searching through her closer to find me “the perfect first day outfit.” Her words, not mine.

“No, not really. Apparently my boss’s name is Tamra but she didn’t tell me what I would be doing. Do you know her by the way?”

I saw Jess shake her head as she pulled down yet another top.

“No, I’ve never met her. She probably works with some other artists,” she said as she walked toward me. “Stand up.”

I obeyed and stood there as she held several tops up against my frame. She spent the next few minutes doing just that and I started to wonder just how long this was going to take.

“Okay try this on,” she said, handing me whatever top she decided on along with a skirt.

“Erm, Jess have you ever seen me in a skirt?” I said. I was probably eight last time I wore a skirt or anything of that sort.

“Nope but I’m about to,” she winked. “Come on, you’ll look gorgeous.”

I sighed and stripped down quickly. Jess, who had just sat down on her bed, was eyeing me the whole time with a bit of a smug look on her face as I put on the clothes she picked out.

“Enjoying the view?” I said as I straightened the top.

“Yep,” she smirked. “You might need to cover those spots on your neck by the way.”

“What?!” I ran to the mirror in a panic and sure enough, Jess had marked me. Several times I might add. I groaned while I heard Jess dying of laughter behind me. “Oh my god, Jess you couldn’t do it in a less obvious place?”

“I needed everyone to know you’re mine,” she joked as she wrapped her arms around me from behind.

I was about to speak again when I caught Jess’s gaze through the mirror. She was looking at me quite intensely and I held her gaze for a few moments before raising my eyebrows at her.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she blinked. “You’re just beautiful.” She planted a single kiss on the side of my neck before walking to the other side of the room and coming back with what looked like a make-up bag.

“Okay, sit back down,” she ordered as she spilled out the contents of the bag on the bed.

I sat there perfectly still while she used the different products on my face. I noticed she didn’t use very much. Just a bit around my eyes and a light colored gloss on my lips. I saw a smirk appear on her face as she tried to conceal the many marks that were on my neck. When she finished, her face was so close to mine I couldn’t help but steal a kiss before she leaned away.

“You’re going to ruin my masterpiece!” she scolded but couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face.

“Oops,” I laughed as she reapplied the gloss she had just put on.

It was time to go by the time Jess finished dressing me like a doll. I had to admit though, I thought I looked pretty good. I’d probably never get used to wearing a skirt but I thought I looked nice nonetheless.

Jess drove me to Island Records seeing as she knew exactly where it was and I obviously had no clue.

“Okay so call me whenever you’re let out and maybe we can go out with Holly tonight to celebrate your first day?” she suggested as we pulled up to the building.

“Sounds good,” I answered. Jess smiled and squeezed my hand which would have to do since we were technically out in public.

We said our goodbyes and I briskly made my way into the building wondering what the day would bring.

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A woman at the front desk ended up directing me two floors up to another office where I would be meeting my new boss. I was all excited and nervous at the same time but managed to keep my cool when I reached her office.

Sitting at the desk was a younger woman. She looked like she was in her late twenties anyway. She had her blonde hair tied up in a tight bun but she seemed nice enough. I hope so anyway.

“Ah you must be Elena,” she said, standing up as she saw me walk in. “I’m Tamra.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said, taking her hand to shake.

“If you’ll just follow me I’ll show you to your workspace and introduce you to some of the people you’ll be working with,” she smiled.

Okay she seemed friendly. I’ve really had some awful bosses in the past and it was nice to have one that was at least civil. She led me to a larger room with a handful of desks inside. There were a few other girls there who I was briefly introduced to before I was shown to what would be my desk.

“So, Elena,” Tamra started. “Basically what you’ll be doing is working within our marketing division which is one of the divisions I manage. We’ll have you guys design advertisements for us and also help with marketing plans. So you’ll have different projects having to do with our different artists every day.”

I nodded to show I understood. It was a pretty straightforward job. I was actually pretty experienced with designing so this shouldn’t be too difficult to start.

“Right, so I’ll leave you to it. If you need anything at all, don’t hesitate to ask me,” she said, smiling.

I thanked her and as she left one of the girls immediately came over to me. She was small and petite. She looked younger than me and approached me with a friendly smile.

“Hey, I’m Ally,” she said, holding her hand out.

“Elena,” I answered with a smile as I shook her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Elena. I’ve been wondering when we’d finally get someone new.”

So basically for the next few hours, Ally was filling me in on the project they were currently working on. We were apparently working on some promo things for one of their artists called Dizzee Rascal who I honestly have never heard of. We were playing around with some designs when I heard one of the phones ring. Ally skipped over to answer it, confirming my suspicions that she was one of those happy-go-lucky girls who was pretty much in the best mood 24/7.

“Elena, Tamra wants to see you in her office,” she told me.

I got up to walk out, assuming that she probably wanted to brief me on a few more things since it was about time for me to go home already. Knowing that I was only a few minutes from seeing Jess again made my stomach flutter with anticipation.

I walked into Tamra’s office and saw her sitting at her desk as she was earlier, looking me up and down. Honestly, the look she was giving me made my skin crawl slightly and now I was questioning what was actually going on.

“Close the door please, Elena,” she said in an overly sweet voice.

I did as I was told and cautiously took a seat in front of her desk. She stood up and I eyed her nervously as she walked around her desk toward me.

“So, Elena,” she started. I felt her fingers brush my shoulder slightly as she walked behind me as I resisted the urge to shrink away. “I can already see I’m going to enjoy seeing your face around this office. But then you must know you are such a pretty little thing.

She’d leaned over my shoulder by now and she was so close to my face that I could feel the words hitting my ear as she spoke. I shuddered slightly but stayed silent for the moment.

“Now, I know exactly how we can both make this job a bit more…well enjoyable.” Her fingers were brushing against my cheek now as she made her way in front of me. Her face was so close to mine that I felt almost sick. I moved away slightly before speaking for the first time.

“Look, I’m sorry but, I’m in a committed relationship and I can’t—“

“Yes,” she interrupted suddenly. She leaned against her desk in front of me and crossed her arms. “I know all about you and miss pop princess.”

I stared up at her in shock as she stared me down menacingly.

“You see, miss Jessie J can’t exactly keep things like this from her manager. And of course I managed to catch wind of it.”

She suddenly lashed out and grabbed my face roughly, tilting my chin toward her so that I would be forced to look her dead in the eye.

“Now you listen to me, girl. You’ll do exactly as I say, when I say it. When I want you, you’ll give yourself to me with no arguments. You understand?” Her voice was low and menacing. It sent chills down my spine.

“And if I refuse?”

Tamra suddenly grinned at me menacingly.

“You refuse, and I’ll make sure Jessie’s career becomes an absolute living hell for her,” she said before releasing me from her grip.

“Now then. What will it be?” she patronized.

A/N  Yeah sorry. I cut it off here cause it's 3am and I'm too tired to actually finish the chapter oops.

Let me know what you think though and maybe I'll have another one up tomorrow if I get enough feedback ;o