Chapter.1*Mr. Hot*

I silently followed Scarlett as she made her way to her apartment along with the three more girls. The girls sniggered and tittle tattle while I was psyched up in my head to focus on my work only. I can't waste a minute of my life.

My brother was my only family left and I was his only hope. My father died as his heart couldn't put up with the betrayal my mother bestowed upon him by running away with her co-worker and that left me and my brother alone. He was my only family, I knew I must do it for him. I knew I had to do anything for him.

While we walked I stole a quick glance at everyone's outfit; splendid. I looked like a walking trash among them with the old jeans and a baggy sweater from years ago. Since I couldn't do anything about it, I kept my back upright and elected to rely on my confidence and hard work since they were the my only things in my possession.

''Okay, girls these are your rooms. They are a bit smaller but that's all I can do for you as you are living here rent free. Make sure you keep them clean and adjust yourself or else you can go ahead and find yourself a place.'' Her commanding voice made us focus on her every little gesture. I examined her red stiletto as she instructed us gloriously; she was very stunning.

Her looks were appealing and the way she talked, gorgeous. She was born to be a boss; her whole attire has been just perfect.

"Now this is my apartment." She took a few steps forward and opened a door to a very luxurious apartment. We all peeped inside and followed her as she led us in. "I'll be giving you girls some lessons here and the ground floor is the Boutique, there will be certain rules that you must follow because no company thrives without rules and regulations." She rubbed her hands together, keeping her spine straight and proudly watching our faces.

She was a wealthy fashion designer, living with her long-term boyfriend, an Instagram model, and gym instructor Ryker Malarkey. We haven't seen him in person before, but he was quite a hot topic these days.

Scarlet was doing this favor on us, she has appointed us for a job in her Boutique and it was nice of her that she was letting us stay in her place for free. That was extremely substantial on her behalf.

"Hey, babe!" We all shook in our places when a beautiful, husky voice fell upon our ears. The owner of the melodic voice was none other than the famous Ryker Malarkey. Together we glimpsed at the handsome hunk standing before our eyes; aesthetically pleasing.

He was drying his hair with a towel; shirtless and it took us a minute to notice that he only had a towel wrapped over his waist. A line of remarkable star tattoos caught our attention, which went to start from his asis to his ribs. As much as I wanted to count the stars, I found if inappropriate to stare at my boss's boyfriend right in front of her.

His advent bewitched our eyes from deterring away to the surroundings. The majestic way of lifting his eyes while keeping his face down was simply beguiling.

Fortunately, I wasn't the only one who had her eyes glued to him or it would have looked awkward, but all four of us were shamelessly checking him out. He smiled, pulling his lip from one corner and squeezed his eyes as his smile widened.

He lightly hugged Scarlet, who was sharing the same sweet, but a less attractive smile than his. His closeness has not only brought shivers down our spine, but I bet everybody sniffed his fresh and soothing scent hitting our nostrils.

"Babe these are the new girls." She whispered and stood with him, his hand wrapped around her back lightly. Wow, his strong hand might feel very warm, my mind drooled over his firm hands.

"Girls! He is my boyfriend Ryker Malarkey." Her voice was filled with enthusiasm of introducing the heartthrob Ryker to us. His lips were curled upward, forming a mild welcoming smile as he watched us.

"Hi!" We all said in unison. He had a small towel hanging down his neck. My eyes traveled along with the driblets of water that made their way down his naked chest at a leisurely pace.

"She is Lacy, that's Willow, and she is Nichole." She pointed at each girl and as he looked at them, they all swigged. The moment his beautiful eyes landed on each girl I noticed a shift in their moods.

"That tall one is Kathleen." I was busy scanning every little detail of his existence when her mentioned shook me back to reality. The way she mentioned my name made all the girls to chuckle except me. Obviously, I wasn't very pleased with how I was being introduced, but well, beggars can't be choosers.

She turned everybody's attention on me and I hate to announce it that I wasn't very well known with the audience.

"Hi!" I mumbled while I nervously played with my fingers. I peeked at his face and found him roughly looking my way, he then itched his forehead and looked down on the floor again.

"In the meantime, he will help you girls maintain your body." She announced abruptly with a huge smile plastered over her lips.

This was never mentioned before; we didn't bargain for that. It made me question if she didn't like the way we looked or she just wanted us to maintain ourselves? Now that wasn't the only thing that bothered me, Mr. Ryker over there was kind of caught off guard as well.

His neck swiftly turned to Scarlet, indicating he too was surprised as they both awkwardly communicated through the eyes in a fiddly silence.

"Right, honey?" She forced a what appears to be a fake smile and hastily held his hand to coax him into agreeing with her. Her gentle touch seemed to work as Ryker retrieved the smile on his lips and vaguely smiled.

"Sure!" He casually spoke, maintaining his posture again. The smile he was wearing was charming, but something about it didn’t seem genuine.

I felt bad for him, for a moment, it felt like she was the boss in their relationship, which wasn't a bad thing as us woman wants to be treated like queens at times as well. I shook my head secretly as I remembered their relationship was none of my business.

Scarlet was nice enough to give me a job, a roof over my head, which was much needed at this time. This job was like a golden ticked dropped in my lap for me so I wasn't going to jeopardize it for some suffering handsome and rich boyfriend of my boss.

 "Girls! To your rooms now." Once Scarlet was pleased with how everything went, she declared and turned on her heels to trample past us to her room without sticking around for our departure.

"I'm your biggest fan." Willow giggled, finding a moment to praise him. She clasped her arms together over her abdomen and wriggled her shoulders to look cute.

"Well, that is sweet." Ryker's tone sounded rather sham, but hey, I haven’t heard him in real life before so maybe that's how he used to sound like.

Everyone turned around to shove off to their respective rooms and that's when I caught Ryker sneaking a look at Willow weirdly. It was such a brisk stare that I couldn't figure out if it was impetuous or he was being defiant. I followed the girls in the lack of certainty and soon we were out of Scarlet's apartment.

There was a huge hallway outside their apartment to which our rooms were located from across each other. I pulled out the key from my purse and got in the room I was blessed upon.

 Locking the door, I let out a deep sigh. It was a hard day, leaving behind my town to earn money for my brother's hospital bills was not only tiring but somewhere sucked the energy out of me.

I passed a full glance into the room from one corner and to the other. It was a cozy little room with an attached bathroom. There was one dressing with a beautiful mirror and a single bed in the middle. All and all, Scarlet has saved me from much trouble, I couldn't ever thank her enough.

I sat on the soft mattress and begin to debate if I should take a shower or leave that chore in the morning since I was tired as hell and it was 11 pm already.

Before I could think too much, I dozed off as soon as I closed my eyes. I could say it was the most peaceful sleep I had after months of feeling unsafe and constantly waking up in the nights to make sure nobody has found me.

Knowing someone is chasing you can be a vigil, but I slept peacefully because I knew that no one knew I was here. Nobody was here to disturb me, right?

Right?

 Then why was it that I kept hearing someone pounding and calling my name in utter bitterness?

''Kathrine!'' I heard a yell and a hard knock on my door. I frowned in my sleep and pulled my pillow over my head to prevent my ears from getting damaged by that annoying calls.

"KATHERINE!" the high pitched voiced drilled holes through my ears, but my first reaction was to be vexed over that person for pronouncing my name wrong.  

''It--is Kathleen,'' I mumbled in my mouth, yawning and changing my side. 

I opened my eyes gradually and smiled at the window previewing the beautiful sunny weather outside.

I've no idea how I slept for this long but the sun was already shining through the window. I furrowed at the opened blinds that I forgot to shut last night and chalked it up to me being incredibly worn out last night.

''Wake up! You are late.'' The voice called forth me in the bed in disbelief, I was late?

I looked over to the alarm clock and realized I didn't have one. I slapped my forehead, feeling stupid for being late on the first day and decided to make a run for it.

''Shit!'' I cursed, throwing the blanket afar and stumbling into the bathroom. ''I'll be there in a minute,'' I yelled from inside the bathroom to Willow, who was now impatiently banging my door.

Dammit! I knew the schedule, Scarlet had put out an announcement in our WhatsApp group last night with the schedule and timings mentioned repeatedly. Ryker was going to give us some workout tips and as our gym instructor he was going to help us get in shape and maintain it.

They had gym equipments in their apartment which by the idea of Scarlet could be utilized by us in order to save our time from leaving the apartment building and paying for a gym fee.

''You have ticked off everyone,'' I perceived Willow's remark distinctly, perks of leaving the bathroom door opened. I rolled my eyes and scowled under the shower while my hands kept rinsing my hair in a quick circular motion.

I knew I have pissed them off, obviously, they wanted to start working out with him so they could slobber over him stretching and sweating before their eyes.

"Now don't be late, we are not here to tolerate your indiscipline." She shouted again abrasively from across the door with all the strength she could gather. I couldn't leave without getting a shower, I've been sweaty since last day.

Imagine being her roommate, okay don't, that would be a torture. I remained ignorant of her soft tapping on my door and continued doing my business hastily.

 Right off the bat, I knew this girl and I were going to have some drama. I had seen her during the interview and she was kind of snobby to everyone.