Part 4

Echo stood outside the large building with a frown.


She questioned herself over and over. Why am I here? Why didn't we meet at the restaurant? She did not want to be here. She hated the idea of being here, especially here. She craned her neck and took note of the large building that she'd hated visiting ever since she was a child. She pressed her hands together, noting the light fluttering of her fingers before digging them deep into her pocket. She was anxious.


She knew that the moment she walked through those doors, people were going to be recognizing her left and right, greeting her and expecting her to be friendly. It was a nightmare. She wouldn't even be here if Ben hadn't insisted she meet him in the city today for lunch. Echo wanted to stomp her feet around erratically and throw a tantrum. Why? Why didn't she know how to say no to her brother?


It was because he was a lot like Romy. He just had a very authoritative manner about him and Echo always found it easiest not to argue. Sweet Ben- she knew he wasn't trying to make her uncomfortable for the sake of being uncomfortable either. She knew he had insisted she come here because he thought what every one else thought... that Echo needed to get out of her comfort zone. She continued to stare at the revolving door as people went in and out casually, going around her as they did so. It really was a large building, covered in large glass windows that reflected the city around it. There, on the 22nd floor was her parent's office... along with George, Ben and Romy's. Vera was on the 21st floor with the rest of legal and finance. She would have to drop in and say hello, even if that did mean that even more people would see her and greet her.


"Why?" She muttered, questioning herself again, trying to force her feet forward into a walking motion. It was funny that Echo had learned to walk younger than all the others only for her to find herself frozen into place so much throughout her life.


"Why what?" a voice from beside her said, making her jump back. She caught her breath and swallowed, forcing the air down her throat. She turned, then looked up, trying to locate the source of the voice and finding him standing right next to her, also looking up at the building.


"Nothing." She said, with a shake of her head. Her eyes had only scanned enough of him to notice how very tall he was, before she quickly glanced back at the building.


"Right." He said, walking ahead of her and pulling open the still side door. She was grateful, even if she couldn't even manage to smile in response, even if she couldn't bring the words to her lips. Instead, she stepped forward with a nod and hoped she would not fall, or trip, or anything that would delay her escape from this stranger. That's what it felt like, every time she was around people- like she needed to escape. Echo did not to look back, feeling embarrassed at being caught talking to herself. She only moved quickly, hoping to disappear into an elevator before the receptionist or security caught sight of her...


"Hi! Ms. Reid! How are you?" Leslie, the receptionist smiled as she saw her moving past the counter.


"Hi Leslie. How is everything?" Echo said, slowing her pace but not stopping.


"Good. It's rare we get to see you here." Leslie continued to say, reaching out to place a hand on Echo's arm as she passed her. Echo turned at the gesture and finally managed a smile of sorts before turning away again.


"I know. I have to go but it was nice seeing you." Echo said, practically running towards the elevator doors that were opening. She dashed in without looking around, only leaning forward to push 22 and then the button to close the doors, shutting her eyes for a second and hoping no one would try to stall the elevator.


Echo silently told herself that Ben better be paying for her lunch for putting her through this, and then she smiled, letting out the breath she'd been holding and thinking it was silly. She looked up, catching her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing an old pair of cargo pants and an over sized, zip up sweat shirt that was zipped up all the way to the top where the zipper just grazed her chin. That was when she noticed the other reflection and quickly glanced back down. She felt the color in her face begin to change.


It was him, the man from the door she'd tried to get away from and now she was trapped on an elevator ride with him. She glanced quickly at the buttons... 19. Okay, not a big deal. These elevators weren't too slow. A few minutes and he'd be gone and she could refocus her panic from the stranger just a foot away to the people who'd be crowding her for hellos once she reached her floor.


She was glad that this man was not a chatter, she'd gotten stuck with those kinds before and it was always so awkward to deal with them. She'd been mortified in the past when she'd been unable to respond to small talk with anything other than strange sounds and the occasional grunt. It always left her feeling so foolish and so, to avoid embarrassing situations like that, she'd gotten into the habit of just staring at her feet- her way of silently telling the world she was not interested in a conversation.


Still, she couldn't help but watch him. Her eyes kept darting to their reflection in the mirror.


He was much taller than her, but that wasn't rare, and his shoulders were very broad. He wore a black suit, one she could tell was expensive and tailored for him- it fit him like a glove and those dark sunglasses he hadn't removed gave him a mysterious look that for some reason... frightened her. Echo had seen men dressed in expensive suits before and while her anxiety was always present, she'd never quite been so impressed by them.


She had to hold in a gasp when she really looked at his face. He looked so... bad. No, this man looked like the devil. Too handsome to be true and something about the curve of his lips told her he could be just as cruel. Every feature on that face was sharp as a knife...She bit her lip and looked down, hoping that gasp hadn't escaped after all.


She hadn't missed that long scar across his cheek, prominent against his skin, slicing through those perfect features, nor the suspicion of another peeking out above his brow. It was startling against that beautiful face and Echo wondered silently what type of danger he must have been in to get it. Of course, flawless beauty would be completely wrong for a man like this. Her eyes slowly went back up towards his reflection. No. He couldn't frighten her as much as he had without it. The scar... was a part of him.


She had a sudden vision in her head of him, reaching out towards her with a smirk on his lips and she could feel with certainty that if he so much as grazed her skin with his finger she would absolutely turn into a puddle on the floor. Echo's eyes snapped open. Where was she going with these crazy thoughts? She balled up her hands within in her pockets, pressing her nails into her skin. As if it wasn't bad enough that she was in an elevator with a stranger, in a building where she was about to be more social than she felt comfortable with, she was now thinking up crazy and wildly inappropriate ideas. She glanced at the reflection again, noting the lips that were tightly pressed together. What would they look like in a smile?


Damn it, Echo stop. She took a deep breath and held it, hoping that the elevator would speed up just a bit. Whoever this man was, he was too much for a girl like her to handle and all she wanted was to be free of his imposing presence. How could anyone have this type of effect on her just by standing in the same room? Sure, Echo was constantly a bundle of nerves with strangers but this... this was another level. This... this was different. Her anxiety was screaming at her to keep her eyes on the ground and count to twenty but she couldn't stop stealing glances. What was it about a man like this that made her so damned curious? When her eyes scanned the scar again, it was to find herself wondering what his skin felt like there...


Just then, when Echo was sure she was going faint, the elevator stopped and the doors opened. The air that came from the 19th floor surprised her, making her shiver. She hadn't realized just how warm it had gotten in that elevator. Without a word, he stepped out and stopped, turning to look into the elevator as the doors began to close. Echo was so surprised that she actually looked directly at his face this time, eyes wide as he lowered the sunglasses. As she watched in anticipation, unprepared for what he might do, she felt her chest tightening, beginning to rise and sink dramatically... and then she froze.


She hadn't expected those eyes, one with a scar cutting through the brow and both as dark as any sin imaginable. They burned through her, burned into her skin so that she was sure she'd carry permanent scars too. And although there was no reason for it, although it seemed impossible- she was sure they were condemning her coldly, despising her for sins she didn't even realize she had committed. She should have looked away but they both stared on silently as the doors closed between them.


Echo reached out and put a hand on the wall, leaning onto it for support. He must have known she'd been watching him the whole time. She felt herself grow bright red- he must have known she'd been checking him out, must have imagined the crazy thoughts floating around in her mind. When the elevator stopped again and the doors opened, she stepped out and smiled, hoping she wouldn't die, hoping her legs wouldn't just collapse beneath her as she walked on.


But the more and more people greeted her, the more she realized she wasn't as bothered by their attention as usual. After all, what was this compared to what she'd just experienced in the elevator?


"Hey, Give me one sec and we can go." Ben said, appearing from his office door and signalling for her to enter. Echo nodded, stopping at his doorway and standing like a zombie, trying to process that strange feeling that had now come over her. She was unsettled, rattled but also, if she was honest, exhilarated. She hadn't felt this way since she got off the roller coaster at the theme park when she was 14. She pictured his face again, he'd seemed so angry as he looked at her but she had a feeling when he was angry it was much worse. That man was trouble.


"You seem distracted." Ben said, looking up at her as he grabbed his keys. Echo blinked, finally turning to actually look at him, finally coming back to reality. Then, she nodded, as if acknowledging it.


"I think you'd be too if you just met the devil." She said, picturing those dark eyes over and over again.

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