The Intimidation Game (Game Series Book 1) Read online

  I’m taken aback when he hugs me. “We’re going to be good pals you and me. I just know it Miss Nikki.”

  I smile as the doors open on the first floor and we make our way to HR. I’m glad I met Damo first and not Astrid.

  My time at HR was short and sweet. They already had my badge and I.D card ready for me and they’ve given me an access fob for the office doors. I also have a pass card for the car park but since I don’t have a car it’s pretty useless right now. I need to start making money so that I can pay my own rent and not have to rely on the bank of mum and dad much longer. And it turns out Damien is actually my PA.

  Back on the third floor I have been shown to what is my office although the open plan nature of this place means it really is just a space in the area with a desk and chair. Thankfully, there is a small conference room that has walls and a door so at least it affords some privacy if needed.

  Jed, my immediate line manager, has gathered the chatting, lively staff around my desk and I am about to be introduced to my team. I honestly hope I look composed because inside I’m dying.

  “Right everyone.” Jed raises his voice above the din, and they all fall silent. Eight pairs of eyes give him their fullest attention. Astrid’s are not one of them and I breathe an internal sigh of relief. I wonder what her job is as she sits beside Jed taking notes.

  Damo winks at me as Jed begins my introduction. “So, guys this is Nikki Olsson, your team leader.” They all clap for me and I feel my cheeks heat. “Nikki you can get to know everyone over this week, get a feel for the company and what we do and make yourself at home. This is your floor, if you need to make changes please feel free to do so.”

  I’m really not sure what I was expecting with this job. I knew it was heading up a new team working on new security software, but I never imagined I’d have a whole floor of the building to myself. “Okay, um, thanks.”

  Jed asks everyone to give their name and their job title and they all smile at me as they each take it in turns to introduce themselves. The varying ages of the group is exciting to me. Many of the software companies I have known tend to favour very young people in their developer roles. I’m glad to see that this place challenges stereotypes. I think I’m going to be just fine here. I can’t wait to get my teeth into this job, now that I have met my team, and this space I have to work in is excellent.

  Jed leaves me to it, and I watch him head for the elevator quickly followed by Astrid. She towers over him, her backside swinging from side to side as she goes. She is extremely beautiful, unfortunately she knows it.

  “Hey Miss Nikki, how you feeling?” Damo plonks himself down on the chair at the other side of my desk.

  “Oh…I’m fine, a little overwhelmed, but fine. Can I ask you, what does Astrid do here?”

  “She’s Jed’s PA.”

  “She’s not sleeping with him, is she? He has a wedding ring on his finger.”

  Damo laughs. “No, not Jed. God no, he’s so in love with his wife it’s vom inducing. No, I heard she’s sleeping with Dan King…The Big Boss.”

  “Oh. I haven’t met Mr King yet. What’s he like?”

  Damo smiles. “He’s a really great guy, don’t know what the hell he sees in Astrid, and he doesn’t like to be called Mr King. We don’t really see him down here too often. His office is on the top floor, obviously. Wait till you see the view he has up there. Oh, and he’s drop dead gorgeous. So, tell me Miss Nikki what’s brought you to bonnie Scotland?”

  I’m going to have to give him the edited version. I don’t know him well enough to divulge my shameful existence. “Well, my mum and dad were moving back to the UK because of my dad’s job, and my sister lives in Edinburgh, so I decided I didn’t want to be the only one left on another continent.”

  “That’s cool your sister lives here, you’ll get to see her more often.”

  “Yeah and she’s just had a baby, so I get to see my niece now too.”

  Damo claps his hands together. “Oh, I just love wee babies. They’re so cute.”

  We are interrupted by the arrival of the elevator. It’s Astrid and she’s followed by Mr Rock Star. She makes her way to a desk at the far end of the floor.

  “I’m going to make a coffee Nikki would you like one?”

  “No thanks Damo.” I shake my head, but I can’t take my eyes off Mr Rock Star. I watch as he walks to the desk Astrid is sitting at. He has his back to me, but I can see from his body language that he is angry with her. They’re too far away for me to hear what they are saying. I’m starting to feel a little uncomfortable as I watch the look on Astrid’s face change from indignation to what looks like fear. When he shoves her chair back with his foot and scatters her papers off the desk I want to die inside. I should help her, but I can’t. I look around the room at the rest of my team and see that every one of them is engrossed in their computer screens and they all have ear pods or headphones on so none of them can actually hear what’s going on.

  I watch in stunned silence as Mr Rock Star stalks off to the elevator. The doors open immediately, and he gets in. Still facing the back of the lift, he lifts his fist and bangs it on the wall as the doors close on him.

  I can’t believe what I’ve just witnessed. My opinion of this guy now has just taken a nosedive and I actually feel sorry for Astrid. She looks smaller and not so full of herself anymore. I get up and go over to her to make sure she is okay.

  “Astrid are you okay?” I ask as I near her desk.

  She looks up at me and I see tears in her eyes. She quickly composes herself. “I’m fine. Why do you care?”

  “Well no man has a right to talk to any woman like that and what he did was verging on assault. You really should tell someone about it. Get him disciplined. It’s not right.”

  “Oh, you think so?” She eyes me suspiciously. “You going to fight my battles little Miss Nikki? Just leave me alone. You don’t know me, and I don’t need you sticking your nose in my business.”

  She stands and walks towards the toilets, swiping tears from her eyes as she goes, and I decide I need to get my nose in her business. I could never live with myself if anything were to happen to her, as cold hearted as she is, and I had stood by and did nothing.

  I head for the elevator feeling rather pleased with myself that I’m helping someone who is obviously going through the same mental torture I did at the hands of a man. I hit the twelfth-floor button and wonder to myself what Mr King is like.

  Chapter Two

  The seating area outside Mr King’s office is plush and well equipped. There’s a coffee machine, biscuits and a fridge stocked with almost any soft drink you could imagine. The whole building is beautiful but this floor reeks of sophistication.

  “Dan is free to see you now Miss Olsson. Straight through that frosted door.”

  “Thank you.” I nod to the secretary and make my way to the door. I stop for a second and compose myself. This is after all the first time I will be meeting the man whose company I now work for and my first thing to say to him is probably not going to go down well.

  Pushing open the heavy door I’m greeted with a sight that shocks and confuses me at the same time.

  Sitting behind the huge glossy white desk is Rock Star guy himself. I don’t know what to do. All I am doing though is gawping at him. Say something Nikki. I will myself to talk but I just can’t get the words out. I don’t need to speak however as his voice cuts through the silence.

  “Can I help you Miss Olsson?”

  “Ehm… Mr King?”

  He looks down at himself and nods. “Last time I checked yes.” Oh God his smile is beautiful

  “Shit,” I whisper and bow my head. I have been royally had by that bloody nasty piece of work. I turn to leave. “I’m sorry to waste your time.”

  I don’t know how, but I manage to move my feet and get out the door. I make my way to the elevator as quickly as I can in my heels and am thankful when the thing opens immediately. I get in and tap the button continuously un
til the doors close. I can’t believe what just happened. I’m probably going to get sacked now because of that horrible woman. I let my guard down and it has backfired spectacularly.

  The doors open on my floor, but I can’t get out. I’m glued to the floor as I watch the doors close. When they ping open again Damo is there.

  “Nikki are you okay? You’re as white as a sheet.”

  I don’t know what to say to him. I stare straight at him, but words fail me.

  “Come with me.” He grabs my arm and marches me to the conference room.

  Taking a seat at the table I put my head in my hands.

  “Nikki what happened? I came back from making my coffee and you were gone. Astrid said you’d probably gone to see Dan, but she was acting weird. She kept chuckling to herself. It was rather sinister actually.”

  “Oh, Damo I don’t think I’m cut out for this place. I’ve just made a total fool of myself.”

  “Tell me what happened?”

  I recount my tale to him and watch his expression go through a kaleidoscope of emotions, the last one being pure rage.

  “That mean, nasty bitch. I swear the sooner that wee cow gets another job the better. I bloody hate her.”

  “What’s her goal Damo? Does she think because she’s fucking the boss she can get away with murder? What the hell did I do to her?” I am crying angry tears. I still can’t believe someone would stoop so low as to humiliate a colleague like that, especially one they don’t even know.

  Damo comes to sit beside me. He puts a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Nikki I honestly don’t understand her sometimes. She’s horrible to just about everyone she meets. You’ll notice people giving her a wide berth just so they don’t get a dose of her malice.”

  “I feel so stupid. I know she doesn’t know anything about me, but I feel like she intentionally played on my biggest insecurity and sat back and enjoyed the fallout.”

  “What happened to you Miss Nikki?”

  I look into his lovely warm eyes and I feel as though I can trust him, so I give him the heavily edited version of my horrid relationship.

  When I’m finished and have a face full of tears and running mascara, Damo shakes his head. “I’m so sorry Nikki. Now I know why you got upset in the lift today. I really am sorry.”

  “No, please don’t feel sorry for me Damo, honestly, you’ve been so nice to me today and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for that. In fact, you may be the only reason I come back tomorrow because right now I want to run for the hills and never show my face here again.”

  “Oh, darlin’ thank you. I liked you the instant I met you. Now you go and get yourself cleaned up and then we can spend the afternoon sorting out how we are going to manage your calendar and staff rotas.”

  “Good idea. I’ll never get any respect looking like Cruella de Ville.”

  The rest of the day has gone without a hitch and I haven’t seen Astrid again, which has been a godsend. Damo and I managed to get loads of work done and I also got to know my staff a bit more too. They are a really interesting diverse group of people. Everyone but Damo and I are gone for the day.

  “Right Miss Nikki, are we done for the day?”

  “God yes Damo, I’m going home for a stiff drink tonight. It’s been a bit of a mad day hasn’t it?”

  He laughs. “You don’t say. I’ll see you tomorrow then. Ciao.”

  “Bye.” I watch as he leaves and get engulfed by the silence.

  Sitting back in my chair, I survey my surroundings. I’m still extremely pissed at what happened today and I hope I won’t bump into Astrid again for a long time. I don’t even think I want to know what her problem is. Someone who can be so vindictive to a stranger is not a person I want to have anything to do with.

  I get up and take a walk around the office space. The windows wrap right round three walls, the fourth being the wall housing the elevator. The lightly tinted glass gives a panoramic view of the River Clyde and the beautiful bridges that span it. The day is fading, and lights are starting to twinkle in the distance. This place is so far removed from my home city in every way possible but for some reason I don’t feel homesick. I’ve made Glasgow my home and even though my parents are hundreds of miles away in London, I don’t miss them as much as I thought I would.

  The fire exit door next to the elevator leads onto a cold, bright white stairwell. I make a decision to use it every so often as some sort of exercise although I’ve heard a rumour of there being a gym somewhere in this building. I think I’ll get Damo to give me a tour of the place tomorrow.

  This is one of the best laid out and well-equipped offices I have ever worked in. This guy sure knows how to please his staff. I shudder at the thought as I think of Dan and Astrid together. I honestly can’t see the attraction he has to her beyond the physical. I mean she is absolutely beautiful, but she has such an ugly soul. ‘A black heart,’ as my mother would say. I wonder if he is the same. Maybe they’re kindred spirits in their own horrible way.

  I gather up my bag and coat and turn off the lights. The ambient LED’s around the room give the place a warm night-time glow. I nod to myself and call the lift. My phone pings with a text and as I check the message from my dad the lift doors open. I look up as I am about to step forward and stop dead as I see Dan and Astrid standing together inside.

  “Oh… um… I’ll get the next one. I forgot… um… yeah…” I’m a total mess. I really can’t deal with her right now and seeing the two of them together cements in my mind Damo’s assumptions that they are indeed an item. I turn and walk away from them as quickly as I can and head straight for the ladies toilet. I hear the lift doors close behind me.

  Resting my bag on the side of the sink unit I shake my head at my reflection. “What’s your problem Nikki?” My voice echoes round the room. I honestly have no clue what those two are up to, but I would have thought a man of Dan King’s stature would behave a little more professionally in the workplace. My eye roll at my stupid hypocritical thoughts can probably be felt halfway down the River Clyde. Mike acted professionally in the workplace, but it had nothing to do with actually being professional; I was his dirty little secret and that’s how he wanted me to stay.

  I decide, as I leave the building for the night, that a bottle of wine, a big bag of popcorn and a rom-com are in order to wind down after this extremely stressful first day at work. I need to clear my head and will myself to come back tomorrow, I have to make my new life work.

  Chapter Three

  Dawn in Glasgow is something wonderful. The nightlife here is so energetic and fun and the bars and clubs are always full, but the early morning is my favourite. The sun rising over the river as I run along its banks gives me a huge sense of wellbeing. Each pull of cool morning air into my lungs makes me more determined to stick out my job and make a real go at this life changing opportunity I’ve been given. I’m under no illusion that it will be challenging, and I know I can’t hide from Astrid forever, so I make a deal with myself that I’ll cope with her through the day and scream into a pillow when I get home at night.

  Pounding the streets before work has always been a great stress reliver for me, and I know I need it more than ever this morning if I’m to stand any chance of making it longer than a day at SecuriSoft. My recurring nightmares of Mike have started to become a little less frequent but the one I woke up from this morning has shaken me a little. It was all too real, and I woke up gasping for breath. Having somewhere to run and clear it all from my head is a godsend. As I reach the door of my apartment building, I feel almost ready to face the day and the hurricane that is Astrid.

  I get into work earlier than anyone else this morning and I’m glad because it gives me a chance to compose myself before everyone arrives. I have a meeting scheduled today with Jed and Dan to discuss all the fine details of the software my team are working on. I’m a little apprehensive about it given my embarrassing moment last night at the elevator. I think I’m more nervous about Astrid being th
ere though. Something about her doesn’t sit right with me. She gives off a toxic energy and I noticed yesterday that people tense up when she’s around. They don’t even notice they’re doing it, but I know I saw it. I could tell Damo has had his fair share of run-ins with her too.

  As if he sensed me thinking about him, the man himself appears from the elevator.

  “Morning Miss Nikki,” he beams when he sees me at my desk.

  “Good morning yourself. You’re very happy this morning.”

  “Oh honey, I’m just happy to see you. I honestly thought after Astrid’s shenanigans yesterday, you might not have come back.”

  I smile at him. I made the right choice in making a friend in Damo. He has a wonderful outlook on life. He’s an optimistic person and I’m hoping some of that will rub off on me.

  “Yeah, I had contemplated not coming back, but I couldn’t leave you to fend her off yourself. We’re a stronger force together. She needs to understand that she’s an adult and adults don’t act like that.”

  “Well I’m glad you came back. I like you Nikki and I think we’ll be really good friends. Now what’s the order of business today?” He pulls out his iPad and opens the diary.

  “I’ve got a meeting with Jed and Dan at ten this morning, I know that much but I don’t think there’s anything else.”

  “Ooh calling him Dan now, that escalated quickly,” he teases,

  “Oh, stop that. I made a complete fool of myself last night in front of him. I was heading home and went to get the lift but when the doors opened Dan and Astrid were in there. I couldn’t get in the lift with her after what she did but worse than that, I’m so unsure about Dan. Please don’t laugh at me, but when I first got here yesterday, he was in the lift with me. You know before I knew who he was and being near him made my belly flutter. I felt like a silly schoolgirl.”

  Damo purses his lips and I know he’s trying to stifle a laugh. “Were you making doe eyes at the boss Miss Nikki? Naughty girl.”