"But what if I...you know..."

"What if you what?" she asked.

"What if I look bad in it..." I asked nervously.

She stared at me.

"What?" I asked.

She stared at me some more.

"Kendall!!!" I shouted.

"Maybe I misheard, did you just say what if you look bad in it?" she asked.

"Well, yea..."

"I'm sorry have you seen you?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" I sighed.

"Because we're confused on how you could question your looks so easily. Now I'll ask again."

She cleared her throat.

"HAVE. YOU. SEEN. YOU?!" she repeated.

"YES!"

"Obviously not!! It's a surprise he's not in here fucking you right now!"

"We don't sleep together that often." I lied.

"Leyla. You haven't even told me anything and I can tell he fucked your brain loose just last night."

I looked down and played with my fingers.

"See. The point of the matter is, you're far from ugly. I bet if on Valentine's Day you took a picture in it and sent it to him? He'd race home immediately no matter where he was at." Her comment made me snicker. "Also I don't think I've ever seen you look bad in anything. It's not gonna start now." she assured me.

"Thanks, Ken."

"Of course."

Kendall's plan for my Valentine's Day was buying this laced, black, lingerie set and getting a large cake made. She assumed Eli would have something else planned so she thought that was enough.

____________________________________

It was Monday but I was still jobless.

"Come work with us." Cam offered.

"I guarantee if she worked with you, you would get nothing done." Ken stated.

"Nah, I'd definitely get something done." he said and winked at me. Jesse hit him in his head.

"I WAS KIDDING!" Cam yelled as he rubbed his head.

"Anyway..." I began. "I have an interview tomorrow with that youth center, so I guess that'll hold me if it goes well."

"Hey, what about..." Ken said and gave me a look. "You know..." she stated.

"You know who?" Jesse asked.

"I don't know, Ken." I said, a bit skeptical.

"Doesn't hurt to ask." she replied.

"Ask who what?!" Jesse shouted.

I saw Kendall get on her phone and start texting at the speed of light.

"If you don't ask him, I will." read a text from Kendall.

"Alright. Fine." I replied.

...

After Cam and Jesse went home, I went across the street to speak to Eli.

I knocked on his door and played with my hands nervously. He opened it with messy hair, a white tank top, grey sweatpants, and a cigarette between his teeth.

"Miss me, princess?" he said jokingly and took a hit of his cigarette.

"Cute. Ummm...I have a question." I said and didn't look at him.

"Uh oh." he stated.

"What?! Why uh oh?! You don't even know what it is, yet!"

"Well you won't look at me so I can only assume it's not good. Is it about workouts later today?"

I forgot we had those.

"No."

"Then what is it?" he asked.

"Umm...Do you...by any chance...maybe...I mean if you don't then it's fine, I was just wondering."

"You realize you haven't told me what it is, yet, right?" he asked and took another hit of his cigarette.

"Right." I laughed. "Whoops, silly me. You know what? I actually forgot, I'll come back when I remember, okay?" I turned around.

I heard a ding on his phone go off and thanked the universe for the distraction.

"Come back." he demanded.

Fuck.

I slowly turned around and walked back over to him.

"Yes sir?"

"You know..." he began while staring off somewhere else and removing his cigarette from his teeth with two fingers. "The strangest thing happened today. My assistant...has to move...across the country...to take care of his dying grandmother. Isn't that random?" He finally looked back at me and put his cig back into his mouth, taking a puff. "So now, I have to find someone willing to take that job. You wouldn't happen to know anyone, would you?" he said and leaned against his doorframe.

"How's the pay..." I mumbled.

He chuckled. "About 2 grand a week."

I choked on the air.

"Two-...WHAT?!" I asked.

"Is that not enough?" he asked.

"Eli, that is definitely more than enough. Lower it actually, it kind of makes me uncomfortable." I explained.

"Is that you saying you'll take the job?" he asked.

"Depends, what will you make me do?"

"Well for one, when you enter the office we are no longer together. That means no special treatment. You'll file papers, set appointments, schedule meetings and remember the ones I've been scheduled to attend by others, might ask you to fix a coffee or two. You'll have to attend meetings along side me and potential dinners if they are work related. I want you dressed in professional attire everyday," he explained.

"Sounds easy enough." I stated.

"I'm not going to take it easy on you. I'll give you one week to get it together but after that, I'll expect you to do your job like a well oiled machine. You think you can handle that?"

Well now I'm nervous.

"Yes."

"When can you start?"

"Yesterday."

He smiled and took another hit of his cigarette.

____________________________________

We'd finished our workouts and were on our way to the ring.

"You know the next time you want to ask me for something, just ask. I don't bite." he stated. "Yes, I do." I heard him mumble.

"How did you know that was what it was?" I wondered.

"Kendall texted me saying you wanted a new job."

So that's what the notification ding was.

'At least she said wanted a new job and not 'her internship ended, she's been borrowing money from her mother, and she's hopeless'.' I thought to myself.

"Oh."

We got to the ring and headed downstairs.

Again no one said anything inappropriate to me, Eli really shook fear into these men.

"Get dressed, what're you doin'?" Gio asked as we entered the office.

"Relax, I have some things to say so I'll just get dressed in here," he said as he took off his shirt.

He turned around to stuff it in his bag.

"Dude, what the hell happened to your back?!" Jason asked, concerned.

"Yea, Leyla," he looked at me while he wrapped his knuckles in tape. "What happened to my back?"

A rush of embarrassment washed over my face and chest and I wished I could sink into the floor.

I looked at Jason and he smirked then held out his hand for Eli to shake it.

"It's not what you think. I bought him a pet cat, she scratched him." I lied to clean their dirty thoughts.

"Yea, must've been payback because I beat that pussy up." Eli chuckled and he and Jason shook hands.

'OH MY GOD!'

"He's an animal abuser." I lied again.

"Are you serious?" Gio asked.

"I'm sorry, man. I should've told you that I abuse pussy." Eli said to him.

'MOTHERFU-...'

"I hate cats. So I just...beat that pussy up. Again. And again. And again. It cried you know."

I shoved him.

"Will you shut up?!" I stated and he chuckled.

"Is the cat okay?" Teddy asked sweetly.

Everyone looked at him.

...

Eli's fight had begun a few seconds ago and it already looked like he was going to win.

"Hey, sweetheart." said some guy from behind me.

'God, please, no.'

"What's a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this, hm?" His arm wrapped around my waist and his chin rested on my shoulder.

"Can you please let me go." I asked and it will be my first and last time asking.

"Why? You don't like me?" he asked. I watched as Eli's fight ended. "Anybody ever tell you, you got a real nice ass? All beautiful and round." I felt his hand grip tightly onto it. "You like this don't you?" he asked.

Before I could do anything like I intended, Teddy had grabbed the man by his shoulder, turned him around, and punched him in his face.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM?!" The man yelled after he spit onto the floor.

"What's going on?" Eli asked as he walked over, his body dripping in sweat.

"This big bitch just hit me!!!" The man shouted.

"Teddy?" Eli called.

"He had his hands around Leyla and grabbed her ass. She looked uncomfortable and scared." Teddy explained.

Eli's face changed. A different emotion flowed under his skin. His eyes were dark as he turned back to face the man next to me.

"WHAT?!" The man yelled.