Chapter Three: Meet the Suits

Zoey’s POV:

I was stepping out of the elevator when one of the Men in Black stepped in front of me. “I would strongly advise going out the back door.”

I turned to do as he said, and he continued following me. “Can I help you?” I asked.

“Mr. Rivers asked that we escort you off or the property. The paparazzi are in full force since yesterday’s moment.”

I huffed. “There was no moment. I don’t even know him.”

The man was silent as he walked next to me.

“Why is he here?” I asked him as we walked down the long hallway.

No response.

“Hmmm,” I said back to his no words. We had made it to the back door. As soon as I stepped out, flashes started to click all around me. “So much for the back door,” I said to the man next to me as he shielded me as best as he could. A black SUV was waiting, and he put me in it.

“It is yours for the day. For all the trouble, Mr. Rivers insists.”

And then the door was slammed shut.

What fucked up upside-down world was I living in?

I had made it to work five minutes before my first client had arrived. The SUV was a Miracle to making sure I had made it in on time.

It was around noon when the front door chimed open. Everyone stopped working and looked up; the building had gone eerily quiet.

It was him, again.

Megan, next to me, put her tools down and looked up. “Is that Zach Rivers?”

“The one and only,” I said.

He spotted me and came over to my booth. “Who is this little guy?” He said, petting the Yorkie I was in the middle of cutting.

“Ralph,” I said, keeping my eyes on the dog. Megan’s eyes were not looking away from Zach, and she had yet to walk back to the booth where a mini poodle was sitting.

“Could we talk?” He asked. Some of the other workers popped their heads up and stared at us.

“I would rather not,” I said, ducking my head down more.

Megan grabbed the clippers out of my hands and nudged me toward the back. “We got this. Go.”

Zach followed as I walked to the back and climbed the steps to my loft-style office. DogLife was the name of my company that had started with me working out of a friend’s garage. Eventually, it had grown into a much larger operation.

Zach walked around my office, looking at the graphics on the wall. I had a marketing team, and we would be starting our clothesline at the end of the year for adults and dogs.

“You are the TikTok gal!” Zach said, whirling around to look at me.

I folded my arms and squared my shoulders at him. “The TikTok gal?” I asked him calmly.

“Yea. You have a mobile grooming station. I’ve seen your videos.”

Zach Rivers had seen my TikTok videos.

He was the person that had paparazzi following him around glued to his side, and he had still seen my page. I sat at seven million followers hence why the marketing team thought DogLife needed their own apparel.

“Can I help you with something?” I asked him. I was unsure if I liked him being in the place I worked.

“I was unsure if you had seen the newest story?”

I shake my head. “I’ve been grooming dogs all day. I have a job, so no, I haven’t.”

He holds his hands up. “Down, girl.” I wanted to throw my dog shears at him, but I thought damaging his face would not benefit my insurance. “I was just coming by as a concerned neighbor to make sure you were ok.”

“As a neighbor?” I glare at him. “You have lived in the building for all of a day.” And then the fact that he let me borrow his car service for the day hits me. “They saw me getting into your car this morning.” I throw my hands up. “Just bloody perfect.”

He stands there staring at me as if I’m mental. And maybe I am mental. I have seven million tiktok followers, and here I am, mad that America may or may not think I am dating this beautiful specimen of a man before me. But the thing about my tiktok followers was it was not about my life; it was videos of groomed dogs.

“Please leave.” I stand from my desk and walk around and open my office door. “Please use the back way.” But I knew that his appearance at Dog Life would be leaked before the end of the day. He was Zach Rivers; half of the girls down on the floor was probably live streaming as I walked him up to my office.

He pauses and turns around. His accent that he can hide so well in his music is coming through strong. “Why is it such a bad thing that people think we are together?”

“In what World would Zach Rivers ever end up with a Zoey Michael?” I don’t tell him the real truth, that I knew too many guys like him. I had dated plenty like him.

Zach opened his mouth to refute my claim or maybe to agree, but I put my finger up his lips; they were soft, softer than I could imagine. “Just go.” And then I turn and close the door on him. I sit at my desk and watch as he walks down the stairs.

I let out a slow “Fuck.” Because looking into Zach’s eyes, I saw determination, and to him, I had just become the biggest challenge.

Who tells a millionaire rock idol no?
Apparently, Me.