Chapter 6: Aiden

She looked just the same as she did the other night. Her big gray eyes fixed on me as her brown, almost black hair grazed her shoulders. She was in a black T-shirt that was a little big for her and a pair of jeans, the complete opposite of what she wore that night but just as beautiful. She was shorter than I expected, but even in heels, her head only reached my shoulders, so without them, she sure was tiny. And for some reason, I liked that.

"Everly," I said, and she jerked, snapping out of her daze. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. With her failed attempt at speech, she started looking around, probably for exits.

"I won't let you run away this time." I smirked, and even in the dim lighting, I saw her face go deadly white, taking me by surprise. "Are you okay?" I asked, extending my hand in her direction, but she stumbled backward.

This was unexpected. I'd imagined our meeting numerous times over the past few days, and in none of them did she react in this manner. She looked petrified of me. And that was the last thing I wanted her to feel. I certainly did accept the fact that I looked intimidating to some, and my reputation preceded me, but her being afraid of me was the last thing I wanted. Perhaps she got her hands on some old articles that completely portrayed me as a bloodthirsty and promiscuous capitalist. But I didn't have the time to ponder the reasons behind her reaction; I needed to make her calm down and not run away like the last time.

"Why don't we sit down?" I said, motioning to the high chairs behind us at the bar. She hesitated for a moment, but thankfully nodded before stiffly making her way toward them. Would I be an asshole for admitting that, despite her fear, the fact that she was being such a docile little thing was adorable as fuck?

I waited for her to settle down before taking a seat beside her and asking for another glass of water with extra ice, judging by the one she was nursing on when I interrupted, or more like scared, her earlier.

This was completely out of my comfort zone. I had had people be scared of me day in and day out, perhaps, but I'd never had to console anyone of them into not being scared of me. In my work and my personal life, I never really give a fuck about a person unless they are people I care about, which as of now are only a handful. And surprisingly, little Everly was somehow becoming one of them. So, her being scared of me was the last thing I wanted. But what reason did she have for being so afraid of me? I sighed. I neither had a clue nor could I reason with anyone about my current 'strange' behavior.

Turning to look beside me, I found her with her eyes fixed on her lap and her hair covering the better part of her face. I really wanted to tuck her hair and get a look at her face, but for better judgment, I decided against it. I did not wish to spook her any further than she already was.

The bartender poured the water, and I pushed the glass in her direction, but she barely noticed it. "Everly," I called out again, and just like earlier, she jerked upright. "Here, have some," I said softly, as if speaking to a little, scared animal.

Her big gray eyes stared at the glass and then up at me. "I'm good, thank you," she said in a small voice and shook her head.

"Drink it, Everly," I said firmly this time, leaving no room for negotiation. She looked at me again with fear in her eyes, expecting the worst, then shifted her gaze to the glass before grabbing it and gulping down its contents in one breath.

I sighed in relief. "Do you feel better?"

She nodded and straightened herself. "What do you want?"

For her to not be afraid of me, but that didn't seem possible as of now.

As I regarded her, I was glad to see some color return to her face, and so I gave her the answer she wanted. "I don't want anything from you, Everly."

"Then why are you here?" She asked, her voice louder than before but still low.

"You see that woman there?" I nodded toward Mia, who was chatting with some people a few seats away from ours. "She is an old friend of mine. She invited me here."

Everly turned in that direction and then back at me. "You know Professor Bennet?" She asked, surprised.

I nodded.

"So, you're not here after doing a background check on me to use my weaknesses against me, to sue me, or, you know, just to harm me or my life in general?" She asked with hope.

I was stunned into silence. What was going on inside that pretty little head of hers for her to come to such a conclusion? But at least she didn't seem scared now, given how she freely asked such a ridiculous question without a hitch.

I always had answers to all the questions anyone threw at me, but here it took me a second to form an appropriate one that satisfied her unique question. "Why would I do that? That would be an invasion of privacy and borderline illegal. And what would I sue you for? Also, no, I could never even think of hurting a little thing like you."

Realization dawned on her, and I saw some color glowing up her cheeks. She looked away from me and then down at her interlinked fingers, probably taking in all the information she had just been provided with. She seemed to do it pretty well considering how terrified she was when she first saw me, and with her fear dissipating, I found myself relaxing too.

"Aiden!" Mia shouted and made her way toward us. "When did you get here? And it looks like you already met the star of the evening." She said, gleefully.

"Certainly, I did." I said this, looking at Everly, who was now gazing at me curiously.

"So, Everly, this is Aiden Knightly; he is a good friend of mine, and I really wanted you to meet him. He is an investor; you majored in statistics, and I hoped that you could work part-time as a strategist at his firm and gain some on-site experience." She said it in her best professional tone.

"Me? Really?" Everly asked, "But why would you want to hire someone who just graduated?" She turned to look at me with her big eyes filled with excitement, curiosity, and a little anxiety. She really was an open book.

"From what I've heard and seen, you're great at what you do, and having you onboard would be a pleasure." I said, looking at her, unable to stop my lips from curling on the side.

"And just so you know, he's not hiring you because I asked him to. He's a bastard who loves his money a little too much; he didn't agree until he went through all of your work. So, don't think if it's a charity case." Mia added.

"I see. But this is all so unexpected. I didn't expect to be offered a job today." Everly bit her lip and let out a small laugh.

"You don't have to give an answer right now. Here," I pulled a napkin from a nearby stack, scratched my number across it, and slid it in her direction, "give me a call whenever you make up your mind."

She nodded and hesitantly took it. "Thank you." She murmured. "And I guess I'll call it a night too. Thank you, Professor Bennett, for the party, and Mr. Knightly, for this opportunity." She turned toward me, and for the first time in the night, I got a look at her face, which didn't express fear but had a small smile that made my lips curl up. "Thank you for this. I'm truly grateful, and I promise to get back to you as soon as possible." And then off she went.

"You bastard," Mia muttered before settling down on the seat Everly had vacated.

"What?" I asked, unable to stop the smirk from forming on my face.

"Can you go any lower? Seriously, she's still a kid." She said, shaking her head.

"First, she's not a kid, not in any way," I said before motioning for the bartender to get our drinks. "And second, it was all a chain of coincidences."

Yeah, sure." Mia gave me a side eye.

She might not accept it, but it was indeed nothing but a chain of coincidences. It was a coincidence that Jack neither sent the recordings to my office nor to me personally, and I had to watch them at his and Mia's place instead. It was also a coincidence that Mia recognized Everly in the recordings and blurted out everything she knew about her. And it was also just a mere coincidence that she was already about to recommend her at the opening at my firm. Things did, magically, lay themselves out perfectly occasionally without putting in so much as a single effort.

"Why did you give her your personal number? You never do that." Mia asked, turning her head to me.

"Who knows, she might need it in the future." I shrugged.

"Jackass," She muttered before returning to her drink.