Chapter Nine: In Which She Dry Cleans and Chills

The limo ride was filled with tension and anticipation, Glory did her best not to think about what she was preparing to do. Arden sat next to her with his palm of his hand rest on her thigh while his fingers lazily stroked her in a teasing fashion. She could see the outline of his large erection through his slacks which only caused her desire to flare more. Arden Fox was a forbidden fruit, ripe and ready for the taking.

When the limo pulled up to the sidewalk of a tall building Glory peered out the window. Her lips parted and her eyes widened as she stared up at the steel and glass tower, "Holy—You know just because your closer to heaven then most people it doesn't mean you're anymore god-like Mr. Fox."

Arden leaned over her, pressing his firm chest to her back, "You might find your tongue uttering different words before the day ends Miss Novacek." He reached his arm around her and popped the door open. Glory turned her face to get a look at him. His lips were twisted up into a sinful smirk and his blue eyes sparkled with wicked desire. She swallowed hard and scooted away from him before stepping out of the limo on weak knees.

Mr. Fox followed behind her, putting his hand on the small of her back of a moment, "Follow me." He whispered down to her before her removed his hand. Glory watched him situate his coat, doing up a button as he took confident strides toward the entrance. She suddenly felt very out of place in the high class part of downtown in her jeans and t-shirt. She followed several feet behind Arden forcing herself to keep her head held high. The doorman greeted them as he opened the door.

Glory found her eyes taking in the splendor as she passed through the threshold. There was a giant crystal chandelier hanging from the center of the angelic painted ceiling. To the left there looked to be some kind entrance to a fancy restaurant, a hostess stood guarding the door. Glory peered in to see the people in side dressed up to the nines, it was definitely a place she had been forced to go many times as a child.

"Miss Novacek?" Arden's voice pulled her attention and she turned quickly to see him looking at her with slight impatience, "Shall we?" He seemed to be giving her the opportunity to turn back, as if he expected her to. Glory straightened her back and squared her shoulders, meeting his challenge, "We shall." She walked past him, brushing her hand against his purposefully as she headed to the elevators.

Arden came to stand beside her pushing the button that called for the elevator, "When we reach the Penthouse Mr. Fox—I'm going to show you just how wicked my tongue can be." She whispered in a low voice. Glory noticed the way his body tensed at her words and she smirked. The doors opened and a couple of business men stepped out giving nods of recognition to Arden. He returned it before stepping to the Elevator with Glory mimicking his movement.

She was still smirking as he pressed the button for his floor and the shutter doors slid close. Glory gasped in surprise as she found herself pressed up against the wall of elevator with Arden's hand around her throat in a light choke and his leg shoved between her own. It wasn't painful, if anything the aggression he was displaying only heightened the anticipation of the moment.

His lips were only separated from hers by mere centimeters, "You are playing a dangerous game Miss Novacek." She could taste the mint on his breath as it fanned across her face. She met his gaze as she reached out her hand and grabbed onto his belt, yanking him forward, "What would life be without a little danger Mr. Fox?"

The elevator dinged and Arden moved away quickly, straightening out his jacket. He stepped out pretending to be completely unaffected but Glory held a smirk on her lips because she had felt exactly how affected he had been. His slacks might be nice but they did not help to hide anything. She followed him out into the small hallway that lead to a single door. This has to be the door to heaven, she thought to herself as she admired the way Arden's muscles tensed as he unlocked it.

The door opened, "After you Miss Novacek..." Arden stepped to the side. She gave him a quick look before she pushed her way in, curious to find out how a man like Arden Fox lived. The space was very classy in its shades of whites and grays, everything seemed pristinely in order. It was probably more sanitary then an operating room, she had definitely been right about him being a control freak.

Strong hands grabbed onto her hips, yanking her back into a firm body. Glory gasped at the feel of Arden's erection pressed into the small of her back. She clenched her thighs together in anticipation of having him buried deep inside of her. She was sure he planned to take her there in the foyer of his penthouse, hard.

"Arden? Is that you?" A feminine voice that did not belong to Glory drifted through the Penthouse, echoing off the walls. The two of them quickly jumped away from each other as if they were on fire. A familiar, yet not so familiar face came into view. She looked even more lovely in person then she did in photos, which made Glory hate her immediately.

"Isobel—" Arden choked as he tried to compose himself. Isobel looked between the two of them with curiosity, that did not escape Mr. Fox's notice. He cleared his throat, "Isobel this is Miss Novacek—She's my—Uh—" He looked to Glory with eyes imploring her to help him.

Glory came to his aid even though she'd much rather have watched him sweat, "I'm his personal assistant."

"Yes, Miss Novacek is here to pick up some items I needed dry cleaned." Glory looked to Arden with a narrowed eyes for a moment before putting on a fake smile, "Right, dry cleaning—"

Isobel pursed her lips, "What happened to Jackie?"

Arden quickly redirected the flow of the conversation as he regained his composure, "What are you doing here Isobel?" His questioned in a rough and detached tone. Isobel tucked some of her shiny chestnut hair behind her ear, making Glory's eyes focus on the shiny rock that still decorated her finger. The sight of it brought a strange overwhelming feeling of jealously. She quickly cast her eyes away toward her feet, biting the inside of her cheek.

"I came to grab up the last of my things. I didn't think you would be here..." She commented in a soft tone. Glory knew she was lying, the women was clearly trying to get back into his good graces. Why else would she still be wearing his ring?

All the desire Glory had felt had faded away and now all she wanted to do was get the hell away from this place. She should have been spending her saturday in her shitty apartment with her fat cat, watching some poorly made reality TV. Instead she had been dragged through hell by the devil himself. She was lucky his ex-fiance had been there to save her or she might have sold her soul in a moment of fiery passion. She had almost just become the other woman. That though only filled her with anger and disgust.

"Would you look at the time—" Glory said loudly looking down at her wrist which held no watch, "I'm going to be late to another appointment." She glanced up toward Isobel faking a smile, "You know how Mr. Fox is about tardiness. Don't want to be fired before I even get a chance to really start—"

"Miss Novacek..." Arden's voice sounded guilty. Glory shot her eyes to him with an unbridled anger stirring in them, while she held the fake smile, "Mr. Fox, next time I'll be more careful not to mix up business and personal time. I apologize for my clear lapse in judgement." The words held clear meaning that only the two of them grasped. She watched his eyes spark with a foreign emotion before deadening.

Glory spun on her heels and marched towards the door, cursing Arden Fox and his perfect fiancé or ex-fiance, she honestly couldn't keep up anymore nor did she want to.

"What about the dry cleaning?" Isobel called out to her in slight confusion. Glory froze in her steps and squeezed her eyes shut, That's it I am going to kill Arden Fox.

*******************

Glory sat on her couch with her curtains drawn, surrounded by empty bottles of wine and cartons of Chinese food from her weekend dinners. Duke was purring happily on her lap, though she was certain if he didn't move soon she would never regain feeling in her legs. Her blood shot eyes drifted to her cell phone that had been lighting up every ten minutes but she couldn't find the desire to get up and check it.

She was still wallowing in the fact that she had almost slept with Mr. Fox. Glory let out another groan and threw her head back into the couch. Not only had she almost slept with him but then she had to pretend to be his personal assistant when Isobel had miraculously appeared. It was clearly a sign from the big guy in the sky that Glory had made a terrible judgement call, she could take a hint as well as the next girl.

The gentle sound of her lock clicking caught her attention. Glory turned her head to see Lucy coming into her apartment, "I've been calling you all morning! My god—what is that horrible smell? And why is it so dark in here?" She complained as she closed the door. Glory groaned again and sunk down into her couch, "Go away. Can't you see I'm wallowing here?"

Lucy's heels clicked against the worn hardwood floors as she made her way across the small space. She grabbed onto her curtains and pulled them open, letting in the light of day. Glory scrambled back with an angry slew of curses, causing Duke to awaken from his peaceful slumber. He dug his claws into her legs as if to say he was not pleased. She grabbed onto his fat body and tried to pull him free, "You—stupid—fat—ass—let—go!" She loosened him and tossed him over the back of her couch. He landed with a loud thud on the other side, before waddling away into her bedroom to probably take a dump in one of her favorite shoes as revenge. It wouldn't be the first time.

Glory turned her angry glare on her friend, "My pity party was going so well and then you had to come in here with your Prada and Chanel—looking like a runway model—god forbid any of us should look like normal human beings?! What are parents feeding their children these days..."

Lucy stared down at her friend and the mess that lay around her, "This is worse then I thought, you've gone into full cat lady mode..." Lucy maneuvered around the mess and lowered herself to the edge of the couch, nudging and empty carton away with her foot, "Is this because of Arden Fox? Did he fire you or something?"

Glory squeezed her eyes shut and groaned loudly as she was forced to replay her saturday morning, "No he didn't fire me but I wished he had. He took me to see my god awful mother and I did his dry cleaning—it was a lovely weekend experience..." She whined to her friend as she felt the urge to chug another bottle of wine.

"Bloody hell..." Lucy muttered before she grabbed hold of her friends sweatshirt, yanking her upright. There was a pause before she delivered a hard slap to the side of her face. Glory's eyes snapped open at the stinging pain on her cheek, "Ouch!"

"Don't be a baby!" Lucy snapped at her.

She reached up and cupped her hand to the sensitive spot staring at her friend who had a slightly crazy look in her eyes that said she might slap her again, "You're right, I'm acting like a complete idiot. Thanks I needed that."

She nodded her head and let her eyes rake down the disheveled form of her friend, "You do realize that it's monday Glory..."

"Of course I know it's monday. I'm not completely inept. I made sure to send Royce a lovely email about how I needed a personal day to mourn the death of my pet fish, prince Joffery." She dismissed with a small snort. Lucy gave her a look, "But Duke ate Prince Joffery three months ago. I remember clearly because that was the weekend you spent with that hot barista from the corner market coffee shop..."

"We know that, but he doesn't! Therefore it's still a valid excuse from my excuse bank." Glory proclaimed her cheeks heating with embarrassment as she recalled that weekend and how she now avoided that coffee shop vehemently.

"Since you clearly remembered it's monday that means you also remember you have to be at your press meeting with Mr. Fox in about an hour?" Glory's eyes widened in horror as she jumped up from the couch only to trip over her wine bottles. She stumbled across the floor before catching herself on her coffee table, "Why didn't you lead with that Lucy?! Aren't you supposed to be my best friend? Do you care about my life at all?"

"I told you I've been calling you all morning. Maybe if you had answered your phone—" She mumbled under breath as Glory began to stagger towards her bedroom stripping out of her clothes as she went.

Glory returned thirty minutes later dressed in her funeral garb. Admittedly it was a very nice black number that hung tight to her feminine curves. Her mother had forced it upon her when her grandmother had decided to check out the pearly gates or probably more accurately the fiery pits of hell. Though Glory understood people shouldn't speak ill of the dead so thats why she only thought it quietly to herself. Her grandmother had been even worse then her mother and that by most standards was a hard thing to accomplish.

"Oh mama, what do we have here? This certainly can't be my best friend, who was looking like the swamp monster when I got here." Lucy commented as she rose up off the couch.

"I'm going to ignore that last comment..." Glory replied as she shimmied her arms into her lucky cherry red suede blazer. Lucy grabbed her cellphone off the table and held it out towards her, "Mr. Fox has called you several times while you were getting changed." Glory reached out for the phone quickly but Lucy pulled it back and tucked it into her bra, "But don't worry I handled it."

"What does that mean?" She narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

Lucy shrugged, "It means we have less then twenty minutes to get you to that press meeting." Glory gave her friend a pained look as she contemplated just saying screw it and going back to her couch. As if knowing what was going through her head Lucy spoke quickly, "I was to inform you that if you did not show that Mr. Fox said he would personally escort your mother to your residence so you could rekindle your broken relationship."

"I'm pretty sure that he is the devil Lucy. I don't have physical proof yet but give me enough time..." Glory grumbled as she marched toward her front door.

Lucy cleared her throat and Glory tossed an angry look over her shoulder, "What now?"

"Forgetting something?" Her blonde friend questioned. She lifted her brows in annoyance not having the patience for guessing games when she had less then a half hour to prepare for her debut with Arden Fox.

"The dry cleaning—" Lucy reminded with amusement. Glory felt her blood heat to boiling, That settles it I am definitely going to kill Arden Fox.