by Amanda Adams
“Okay. Great.” Perhaps I shouldn’t hate her. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity forever.
She pats me on the shoulder, but I ignore the urge to push her away from me. “I’ll see you in there. But I need you to copy me on the marketing plan now so I can go over it before we go in.”
I don’t like that, but I can’t say no. “All right.”
Alexa stands up and waves me toward my chair, my desk. With her heels on, she’s taller than I am and I wish I’d worn better shoes. “Now would be good. The meeting starts in ten minutes.”
In a panic I rush around the corner of my desk. “The presentation isn’t ready. It’ll take me at least thirty minutes to pull it together. Why didn’t you tell me last week?”
Alexa crosses her arms. “I emailed you this weekend. If you had been doing your job, like you were supposed to, you would have known. If you don’t pull your shit together everyone will see that you’ve dropped the ball. And what’s with you? You look like shit. Are you sick?”
Well, then. I move firmly back into the it’s-okay-to-hate-her camp. “I’m fine, now move so I can get this done.”
Alexa stands way too close with her arms still folded. “If you screw this up for me and make me look bad, you’re done.” She steps aside and walks away before turning back to face me. “Oh, and don’t think I didn’t notice your little stunt at the Christmas party. You threw yourself at Zach and you knew he was there with me. I saw you grinding on him like a little bitch in heat. I mean, really Bethany? Did you even dream he would go for a little mouse like you? Real men, hard men, need a real woman who can keep up with them. And trust me, little mouse, that’s not you, not even in your wildest dreams.”
“Just go so I can do my job.” I turn my back on her, sit down and log into my computer.
Alexa leans over my shoulder and whispers in my ear. “If you value your career, I suggest you stay far, far away from Zach. He’s mine. Cross me on this, and you will never work in this field again. I’ll make sure of it.” She turns, walks into her office and slams the door.
I hate the bitch but at least I will get the chance to present my work to the executive team. I worked for two months on the marketing plan and I’m certain they will love it. To finally get to demonstrate my capabilities and my hard work is a dream come true. I’ve been dying for the opportunity to show them what I can do and move out from under Alexa’s shadow.
Ten minutes? I glance at the clock on the wall. Now I’ve got eight. I rush through the final two slides as Alexa passes by my desk on her way to the conference room.
“Hi, Zach,” Alexa calls and I see him out of the corner of my eye. For a moment I think he’s headed my way, but she moves to intercept him. “Are you ready for the meeting? Let me show you the new brochure.” I don’t move as they pass by. I can’t bring myself to look at him.
With an eye on the clock in the corner of my computer I finish the presentation and open my email to send it to Alexa. I’m pissed to discover that she emailed me about the meeting this weekend. Any other weekend, I would have seen the message and finished my work. But this time I laid around pissed off and licking my wounds. I have no doubt she knew I wouldn’t check my work email, not after that party. Not after the grinding incident. Still, she could have thrown me a bone and followed the weekend email with a text. It’s not like she didn’t win in the end.
She got Zach.
I press send on the presentation and check the clock. They are only ten minutes into the meeting and I hope they are just getting started.
I jump up and rush to the conference room. As I open the door and enter the back of the room, I see Alexa speaking to the group with Jack Simpson, the CEO, at the head of the table. Zach is seated to his right.
“Is there something we can do for you, Bethany?” Alexa calls from the front of the room. She’s walking in front of the projector screen, my newly emailed presentation in bright lights.
“You told me you wanted me in this meeting.”
“Yes, sweetie. Thank you. We need you to get the coffee order.” Her smile is pure honey as she waves toward the counter on the other side of the room. “The order is on a piece of paper in the back. Thank you so much. And please, hurry back. We all need some caffeine.”
Frozen as much by Zach’s dark stare as I am by her fake smile, I can’t figure out what to do. “I thought… I was going to present the roll-out plan.”
“Oh no, sweetie. I can present my own marketing plan. This meeting is for the executive team. Now can you hurry? We have some thirsty men in here.”
I’m mortified. Did she ask me to come to this meeting just so she could degrade me, send me for coffee and take credit for my hard work? I’m speechless and stunned as everyone stares. My hand trembles as I reach for the coffee order but stop inches from the piece of yellow legal paper.
I’ve got a dozen pair of eyes glued to my back wondering why I’m here. My shoulders are tense, fragile as glass and ready to shatter.
Fuck this. And fuck her.
I turn on my sling-back heels and cross my arms. “No. You’re a fraud and a liar. I’m not doing it.” What little focus had shifted away from me roars back and every face in the room is looking my direction. I don’t care. “That is my marketing plan, Alexa, and you know it.”
“Please honey, you’re embarrassing yourself.” She waves me off as if I’m an annoying fly trying to land on her arm.
“Are you seriously going to stand there and try to take credit for my work, when you continually do nothing day after day?” This job is a lost cause at this point. And I will not be this bitch’s doormat. And Zach? He’s hot, but he can go fuck himself, too.
“Now that’s enough, Bethany. You are on treading on thin ice.” Alexa wags her finger in my direction.
“Jack, sir…” I say before Alexa interrupts.
“That’s it.” Alexa moves between the CEO and me. “Bethany, you’re done, leave, now.”
“Are you firing me?” I am nearing tears but don’t want to humiliate myself any further so I hold back.
“You’ve done it to yourself.”
“Bethany, wait.” Zach stands behind Alexa and I can no longer contain myself.
“No, you know what? It’s fine Zach. You deserve each other. And I don’t have to put up with this. I’m out of here.” I turn and storm out the door not bothering to stop at my desk and clear out my things.
8
Bethany
I need my best friend. I need Lindsey.
I haven’t heard from her since I left for the Christmas party and she didn't respond to any of my texts over the weekend so I head for the coffee shop. It’s Monday morning so there is a high probability I will find her there. Then I can bitch at her for not returning my texts. She better have a damn good reason, like being tied up to her boss’s bed all weekend.
I’m so angry that I make the trip to the Get Perky coffee shop in half the normal time. I open the doors and am greeted by the familiar aroma of brewing coffee grounds and acoustic guitar music floating in the air. My mood brightens, if only just slightly, but Lindsey is not here. Screw it, I need coffee anyway so I get in the queue.
“Well hello dearie.” I hear a voice I recognize speak from behind me in line and I turn.
“Oh, hello again,” I say to the old woman with the magical touch and she is smiling at me again.
“It’s almost Christmas. Do you think you’ll get all that you wished for?”
“It doesn’t seem so.” Then it occurs to me she might remember Lindsey from last week. “You haven’t seen the woman I sat with last time, have you?”
“No, I’m sorry I haven’t. I could use some company though. Would you like to sit with me?”
“Sure, why not?”
As we sit and talk, I find her delightful, grace personified. Her outfit is perfect, accessorized with matching jewelry and handbag. Her hair looks as though she just left the salon and her makeup is flawless. She rushes nothing, savoring eve
ry sip of coffee and each morsel of her pasty. And she listens, attentive to every detail as I pour my heart out. She doesn’t judge me or offer solutions. She listens. Before I realize two hours have passed, the lunch crowd files in and Lindsey walks through the door.
“Lindsey.” I wave to her. She waves back and gets in line.
“Well, dearie, I’ll be on my way now. I’m sure you’ll be wanting to talk to your friend.” The grey-haired woman stands and gathers her black leather gloves. Before she puts them on she grabs my hand and I recognize the familiar magical sensation. “Listen to me Beth," she says. “Don’t give up on love. I promise you won’t be disappointed. Old ladies understand things and this old lady knows more than most.” She winks and puts on her gloves as she walks to the door. “Trust me and have faith, magic is in the air this holiday season.”
“Wait.” I call to her. “I never got your name.”
“I’m Opal.” She smiles. “We’ll meet again.” She turns and pauses as an elderly man opens the door for her and she is gone.
“Who was that?” Lindsey asks as she approaches the table.
“Where have you been?” I stand up and scowl at her. “Let’s go, you’re taking me to your place. We have a lot to talk about.”
“What’s going on?” Coffee in hand, she follows me out the door and rushes to my side. “I take it things didn’t go well at the party.”
“Umm, you could say that. And I think I just got fired… or I quit, I’m not really sure which.”
“What happened? Beth, what did you do?”
“It was the supreme bitch.”
“Ah damn. Alexa? What’d she do?”
On the way to her apartment I tell her everything, well almost everything, I save the dance for the apartment. By the time we arrive at her door I’m freezing and my feet are killing me from walking the whole distance in my work shoes. I sit down, kick off my heels, start up the fireplace and wait as Lindsey makes hot chocolate.
“Marshmallows?” She yells from the kitchen.
“Whip Cream?” I yell back.
“Marshmallows.”
“Sounds great.” I say as she appears with a steaming cup overflowing with tiny colored marshmallows.
“Here you go.” She hands me the cup and sits in the chair across from me. Somehow, she makes wearing a skirt and heels appear comfortable. And pantyhose. Hers have cute little black ribbon designs in them. They decorate her legs like a Christmas party all their own. God, I freaking hate pantyhose.
Legs tucked beneath her, Lindsey settles back in her seat. “Okay, now tell me everything and don’t skip any details.”
So, I talk. She sits in silence, nodding occasionally, absorbing everything and sipping at her cup. And then I get to the part where I grind on his erection on the dance floor, she jolts forward and spills cocoa on her adorable little ribbons. She’s rubbing it away with her bare hand as she talks. “Wait, you guys were that close? No wonder Alexa freaked out.”
“Yep.”
“And how was it?” Cocoa emergency handled, she returns her full attention to me.
I tease, “How was what?”
“Bitch, don’t hold back, you know what.”
“Magnificent.” I can’t help but smile like a Cheshire cat.
“Tell me everything. I want the juicy details.” She stands up and starts to pace.
I shouldn’t mess with her like this, but I can’t resist… “I thought I might come.”
She whirls, her eyes sparkling. “And did you?”
“No, but I wanted to.” I take the last sip of my hot chocolate and set my cup on the end table. “Instead, he left with that bitch and probably fucked her. She probably came more than once. Hell, she was probably coming all night long.” I could just imagine her in bed with Zach. Snuggled up after sex, all sweaty and hot and reaching for his…
“Are you sure he spent the night with her?”
“No, but it's all I could think about the whole weekend as I sat around and pouted.”
She crinkled up her nose. “You imagined them having sex?”
“I couldn’t help hit.”
“Ewwww, how could you?”
“Because he’s smoking hot and I hate to admit it, but Alexa is attractive. So, really, it wasn’t so bad.” I pause, glance up at her and grin. “I thought I might come.”
Lindsey screams and high-steps around the living room shaking her arms like she has the heebee jeebees, and then stops. “And did you?”
“No… but I wanted to.” We both burst into laughter and she jumps into my chair. She hugs me and I forget all about my stupid job. If only forgetting about Zach Steal was that easy.
Zach
It’s been three days since she ran out of the meeting and I haven’t seen her since. She never even came back to the office to clean out her desk. Not that there was much there. I checked her desk. Lip gloss. A nail file. Typical female stuff.
But there was nothing personal there. No photos or anything. Nothing for her to come back for.
Me included, I guess. Bethany told me, loud and clear, what she thought of me and Alexa in that conference room.
Thinking about her rage made me equal parts ashamed and horny as fuck. She was hot when she was mad, her green eyes spitting fire and her chest heaving.
I wanted that. I wanted her. So here I am, again, sitting in my truck outside her apartment building, a little bit like a stalker. But I am getting seriously worried. Nobody knows where she is.
Alexa treated Bethany horribly and I can’t even imagine what she thinks of me. And so I wait. Again. At the very least, I need to apologize. And I don’t care if it is Christmas Eve, she’s got to come back, eventually. I’ve got nowhere better to be, so I’ll sit here and wait. I turn up the fan on my heater and lean back into the seat of my truck to get comfortable. Now I know what cops go through on a stakeout.
It’s almost ten o’clock and I shake my head to keep myself awake. I reach for my coffee and she appears from around the corner of the building. Her chin is tucked down as she heads for the front door. Adrenaline shoots straight to my heart, I jump out of my truck, wave and yell. “Bethany.”
She looks at me, squinting through those sexy fucking glasses, but doesn’t stop walking. So I run.
I don’t know the code to her building, and I don’t trust her to buzz me through, so I scramble to grab the door and sigh in relief when I catch it.
It’s warmer inside, but not by much. The cold, industrial tile on the floor is meant to handle a lot of traffic, not look pretty. I stomp the snow off my boots and wonder if she picked up her pace when she entered the building. She’s disappearing inside an elevator. I run, but by the time I reach her, I have to jam my arm between the closing elevator doors.
The annoying buzz of the elevator alarm fills the quiet and I wince, but the doors open and there she is. Her blond hair is wild and loose around her shoulders and her face is fresh and bare of make-up. Her lips are pink and full and all I want to do is get that heavy coat off her body, unwrap her like my very own Christmas present.
“What do you want, Zach?” She won’t even look me in the eyes. But she’s staring at my lips, so all hope is not lost.
I am out of breath from running after her in the cold. At least that’s what I tell myself. I’m thirty-four years old. I don’t get nervous around women. “Where have you been?”
She raises her brow when I step onto the elevator, then shrugs and pushes the button for the third floor. “Why do you care?”
“I’ve been looking for you for three days.” She turns to face me, her eyes wide with surprise and her jaw drops. Adorable. Flustered and fucking perfect. Suddenly, every hour spent sitting in my truck like a psycho stalker seems worth it.
“Why? Do you have my final paycheck or an invitation to your wedding with Alexa? Or some other way you’d like to ruin my life?”
Okay. So, not so flustered, but cute as hell. She’s pissed. And after the way Alexa treated her, I can’t blam
e her.
“How did I ruin your life?” I ask, as we step out onto the third floor and I follow her to her door. “I don’t even like Alexa.”
She has her key in the lock, refusing to look at me. I think I’m screwed, but she pauses before she turns the key. “Could have fooled me. Didn’t you have an “appointment” with her after your last dance? Didn’t you go back to her place?” She mimic’s Alexa’s cloying tone, and puts her hand on my arm, batting her eyelashes up at me almost exactly like Alexa did. I don’t like it. ”‘Zach, honey, just one more dance and we can head back to my place.’”
“I didn’t leave with her.”
“You came with her.”
Damn it. “You were engaged, Bethany. You had a huge diamond ring on your finger, remember?”
That seems to take some of the air out of her sails. Thank God, because I’m not going to let her put me in a box or tell me I did anything wrong. I wanted her, and if she’d stuck around long enough for me to tell her, we’d be inside this apartment right now. She’d already be naked and wet and ready. “I chased after you, but you are exceptionally fast in high heels.”
“You did?”
“Yes. I did. I saw you jump in that guy’s car, but he tore out of there before I could stop you.” I place my hand on her shoulder and turn her to face me. She doesn’t resist my touch, which I take as a hopeful sign. “Who was that guy anyway?”
“The cab driver?”
“That wasn’t a taxi. Bethany, the car wasn’t even yellow.”
“It wasn’t?” She looks into my eyes and tears are streaming down her face.
“No.” I reach up with my hand and stop a tear from reaching her chin.
“You were chasing me?”
I nod and reach down to grab her hands with mine.
She shakes her head and gets a sheepish grin on her face. “No wonder he didn’t charge me for the ride.” She giggles and sniffles. “But why, Zach?”