Left (Still Standing, #1)

by Graves, T. R.

  "Thanks, Falan. You're presentation was a real game changer." Then he says to the rest of the room, "Do we have any other people who are confident enough with their projects to take a shot at this?"

  I wait for Gabe to make his way to the front, but he doesn't move. He sits in his seat with his head buried in his notebook. His face is red, and he's gritting his teeth. I don't know him well, but I know something's wrong. He's angry.

  Everyone else looks down at their feet or does their own search of the crowd. They are trying to see if anyone else is going to take Ryker up on his offer without taking one step forward themselves.

  Without any other takers, Ryker says, "Well, it looks like I have my job cut out for me. I have two very talented employees and great projects to choose from. It'll take a few days before I make a decision. Once I do, I'll send out a formal announcement. Thank you all for meeting with me today. This has been great."

  Threatening, Ryker's stare lands on Alex. "I want all of you to know that I'll be in this office a lot more from now on. Since I'll be in the neighborhood, I'll be popping in and out of meetings frequently. There's lots of healthcare reform activities going on within the medical center, which means I need to make sure I know and understand everything happening within my company and with the hospitals who've partnered with us. Now, let's all get back to work," Ryker orders, and almost instantly, the people in the room begin dispersing.

  When Alex gets up and heads toward the door, Ryker says, "Alex, I'd like for you to meet me in my office in fifteen minutes."

  "Not a problem," Alex says, eyeing me in a way that lets me know their discussion will be all about me and their plan to fire me.

  Before they can team up on me right then and there, I grab my notebook and pen and dash out the door and back to my office. I shut the door, sit in my chair, and rest my forehead in my hands.

  Holy hell! I'm about to be fired! Holy hell! What am I going to do?

  CHAPTER 16

  COFFEE, TEA, OR ME?

  Baylee

  There's a knock on the door to my office. With it, I sit up straight, click my mouse, fire up my computer, and pretend as if I'm working.

  "Come in," I say with as much of an I'm real busy right now tone as I can muster.

  When the door opens and Ryker pokes his head around it, my stomach drops to my toes.

  Professional. You must remain professional.

  "Is there anything I can help you with, Mr. Russell?" I say sarcastically.

  Ryker doesn't step one foot into my office. He looks worried. Somehow that emotion doesn't look right on him. He doesn't hike his eyebrows and call me on my sarcasm like he normally does.

  He only says, "You and I will talk more about this later. Right now, I want you to come to my office with me."

  I don't say a word. I just stare at him like I'm a deer caught in an oncoming car's headlights.

  "Well?" Ryker asks, clearly confused when I don't bound out of my chair and follow him without hesitation.

  I gulp.

  This is it. I wonder if I can go back to work at the emergency room?

  I nod, grab my pen and pad—purely out of habit—and follow him down the hall. I've never been fired before and can't help but wonder about protocols and severance packages. With every step, I think of a new word or phrase to describes me.

  Left.

  Carless.

  Homeless.

  Fired.

  Jesus! Can my life get any worse?

  When we make it to the executive suite, I see Susie, the COO's grandmotherly administrative assistant. It's hard for me to reconcile the fact that she is no longer an imaginary man's assistant. She is Ryker's assistant. Ryker is the COO of Triple R Enterprise.

  "Have a seat here," Ryker demands while pointing to a chair next to the door of his office.

  "Susie, is Alex in my office?" Ryker asks without glancing her way.

  He's short with her, and I want to scold him for it. I don't, though. Mostly because I'm afraid of this Ryker. During our walk from my office to his, I realized he's more than just worried. He's quietly angry. He's working hard to keep it hidden, but the rolling of his muscles, clenching of his jaw, and gritting of his teeth are dead giveaways.

  "Yes, sir. He is. He looks mighty anxious. Should I get the two of you something to drink? Coffee or tea?" Susie asks.

  Proving she's the kind of assistant any man in Ryker's position would want, she completely ignores his rudeness and stays focused on the task at hand. She takes nothing he says or does personal.

  Ryker shakes his head and softens when he says, "No, but you can bring Ms. Messenger a cup of tea while she waits for my meeting with Alex to be over."

  Susie instantly pops out of her chair and makes herself busy at the tea bar lining the wall behind her desk.

  When I look back at Ryker, I notice he's staring at me like he's afraid for me. Like he thinks I'm about to kill myself. Something about that irritates me. I wish at that moment I'd never told him about my mother. It's an intimate detail about me and my life, one I'm positive will eventually be used against me. I grit my teeth like he did earlier.

  "I'm not my mother. You won't have to worry about my blood being on your hands. Do what you need to do and let me go," I say, gulping again.

  I can tell by looking at Ryker that he's torn. He nods and very gently says, "Stay right here... okay?"

  He doesn't move an inch, and I'm positive he won't until I agree with his request. Finally, I bob my head up and down. When I do, he reaches for his door and heads into his office to meet with Alex. Behind him, he closes the door, but it pops back open the tiniest bit.

  "Ryker, is there something in particular you want to talk to me about?" Alex asks, and with his question, I realize I can hear through the crack every word coming out of Ryker's office.

  Then a couple of things occur to me. First, Ryker wants me to hear this conversation. He purposefully left the door open for that very reason. Second, Alex is much less formal now that he's in Ryker's office. He calls Ryker by his first name rather than Mr. Russell. Before I think too long or hard about that, I admit to myself that fact is not the weirdest thing I've noticed about Alex.

  "Alex, when I asked you if Ms. Messenger was a good employee, you told me she could not carry a project," Ryker says, pausing as if waiting for Alex to explain himself.

  "That's right," Alex agrees.

  I feel my eyes slit in anger.

  "Based on today's presentations, I have to wonder if you've had your head up your ass the entire time you've worked with her. I was blown away by her, her work history, and her proposal. That leaves me to wonder what kind of talent scout you are. You are the goddamned Vice President of Healthcare Project Management for my company, and you recommend that I fire one of our best employees. Then, in front of my employees, you tell me that we can't improve the efficiencies of our own company because we will lose people and money. You do realize that I expect us to lead by example. If there are efficiencies to be had, I fully fucking expect us to take advantage of them."

  I hear pounding, and in my mind, I see Ryker's hands furiously banging his desk.

  "Jesus, Alex, you don't even believe in what we do. How the hell are you going to sell our mission to our customers... or, better yet, hire people that earn a living selling it to our customers?"

  Finally, Alex decides it's time to defend himself. Unfortunately, he'd have fared better if he kept his mouth shut. His defense only proves beyond a shadow of doubt that he is as weak and spineless as I've always suspected.

  "Ryker, Eden doesn't want her working here. Does it matter if she's any good or not?"

  When I hear a loud thump and glass shattering, I jump in my chair and look over at Susie in time to see her jerk a little bit also. She and I are alone in her office, the office you must go through to get to Ryker's office. She hears everything I hear. Only she's better at pretending she's not listening.

  "This is what I'm talking about. I don't give a shit wh
at Eden says or thinks or does. She may be James's daughter, but she doesn't run my company. I do. At least now I know why she begged me to hire her cousin. You've probably been feeding her more information about my company's business than you've given me. Everything about you and her pisses me off," Ryker yells.

  "I haven't. Why would I do that?" Alex practically whimpers.

  "Because she's a manipulative bitch. She thinks if she knows more about my company than me, she'll be able to control me. She, of all the people in the world, knows exactly why I left her. If she thinks I'm going to forget what she did, she doesn't know me as well as she thinks she does."

  "Ryker, I don't know what you're talking about. She's a partner in Wyatt's law firm. She's busy twenty-four-seven. She's my cousin, but we barely speak," Alex contends dramatically, and even to my own ears, I hear the lies embedded within every word.

  Ryker ignores his rebuttal. "When I asked you about Ms. Messenger earlier, I wanted the honest opinion of the man who has been managing her for a year. I got the opinion of a blue-balled vice president who's the hand puppet of the last person on the planet I want knowing anything about my business," Ryker yells at the top of his lungs.

  He's so loud that I'm sure everyone in the entire building can hear him shouting, and I'm so uncomfortable with what I'm overhearing that I want to slink out of here, leave my tea behind, go back to my office, and hide out until these two men are finished arguing. If I hadn't promised Ryker I wouldn't move, I'd be gone by now. Nervous, I wring my hands and stay put.

  "Alex, out of respect for James, you still have a job here, but I'm demoting you to project manager. I have other employees who can and will do what you were hired to do," Ryker says after he's calmed down a bit.

  "Ryker... let's talk about this. I've been here for five years. I was a project manager for the first two. You can't demote me and make me the peer of the people I've been managing."

  Ryker laughs sardonically. "I can, and I am. You feel free to go out and find another job, leave here, and live your life. For the rest of your career in my company you will be a project manager. Nothing more. Now get the hell out of my office before I have a change of heart and fire you anyway."

  When the door next to me opens wide, I glimpse to my side. Looking up, I see Alex. Every ounce of blood is drained from his face. His eye is twitching he's so angry. As soon as he turns his nose down to me, he stops in his tracks.

  I quickly glance back down at the teacup sitting on my pad. He knows I heard every word of this conversation. I can feel a new and more powerful wave of anger roll through him. He stands above me, and I wonder for an instant if he's going to shake me or try to hurt me like Colt did.

  Susie saves the day when she forces him to redirect his anger her way. "Take the rest of the day to cool off, Alex. I'll have your belongings packed and moved to your new office by eight a.m. tomorrow morning."

  Alex looks a little panicked. Then he heads straight for the open door of the office that's been his for the last three years.

  It's directly across from Ryker's. Susie steps between him and his office and very carefully explains, "Mr. Russell has requested that you take the rest of the day off. I'll text you with your new office location as soon as I have your belongings moved."

  Alex understands that he is not going back in that office today... or ever. I can tell that he's thinking about challenging her and bolting past the thin-framed woman until he hears Ryker behind him.

  "Go home, Alex!"

  This time when I look up and beside me, I see Ryker. He looks like he'd love to punch Alex just like he punched Colt after he shook me.

  An enraged Alex shakes his head in disbelief. He opens the door to Susie's office and looks back at Ryker. With spitefully thin lips, he warns, "You are going to regret this."

  "I already regret keeping you on," Ryker says steadily.

  After he leaves, Ryker says, "Susie, pack up his shit and let me know if you find anything I need to know about."

  "Yes, sir," she says as evenly as if nothing ever happened.

  I'm anything but composed. I'm a bundle of nerves. When Ryker reaches his hand out for mine, I take it. I know it's not what I should be doing. He's my boss now. I can't stop myself. I want to touch him. I want to calm down. Only he can help me.

  He drags me into his office, closes the door behind us, and pulls me into his arms. I'm too numb to do anything but melt into him.

  "You're trembling," he whispers in my ear.

  I nod. "Yeah... I don't like conflict as much as it might seem," I mumble.

  He softly chuckles, kisses the top of my head, and squeezes me tighter. "I've noticed chaos appears to follow you."

  "How have we been so connected for years and never met each other, never talked about anything that would have told us before today that we knew the same people, that I work for you, for Christ's sake?"

  "There were other things going on," Ryker reminds me.

  "Yeah."

  "You're my new Vice President of Innovative Technology... by the way," he announces like it's a present.

  I lean my head back and look into his eyes. "You can't do that. You're only picking me because you want to get into my panties."

  Ryker laughs. "Oh... I want in your panties unlike anything I've ever wanted in my life, but I'm picking you because you're forward thinking. You're the best person for the job. Don't worry about Falan. She'll be taking Alex's place."

  I'm torn with that information. Falan is not nice, and none of the team respects her. I'm not sure she's as great of a choice as Ryker seems to think she is, but I decide not to say anything. This is his company. Not mine.

  "Are you worried that everyone will think you chose me because I slept with you," I say.

  Ryker kisses me, and it's soft and gentle, controlled. I suspect that has a lot to do with where we are. Finally, he says, "I don't give a shit what anyone thinks as long as I do get to sleep with you."

  My heart is racing and my palms are sweaty. His kisses are so exciting for me. They turn me into a flickering ball of flame.

  When he unexpectedly pulls away from me, I feel lost and cold. He's determined to do something, and it is obviously more important than making out with me.

  He opens the door and issues a new order. "Susie, send out a memo announcing Baylee Messenger as the new VP of Innovative Technology and Falan Franco as the VP of Healthcare Project Management. As soon as that memo is out, you can go since it's five o'clock. Come in early in the morning and get Alex's office packed up." Then, as an afterthought, he says, "Lock the door behind you."

  "Yes, sir."

  Susie's voice echoes into Ryker's office.

  Ryker closes the door and turns my way, studying me like I'm a gazelle and he's king of the jungle. Instinctively, I want to run from him just like the gazelle would run if the mighty lion were hunting her.

  "It's five, Bay. You and I have a date," Ryker reminds me.

  I shake my head. "I made that date before I knew you were my boss."

  Ryker takes the few strides necessary to make his way to me. "You can't back down on your word, Bay. I've been fantasizing about you, your striptease act, you naked in the shower all day," he says, pulling me back into his arms, nestling his mouth into the base of my neck and kissing me, twisting and twirling his tongue along my collar bone and the top of my shoulder.

  I roll my head to the side, giving him full access, and moan.

  "I can't say no to you when you do this to me," I hum.

  "Good," Ryker says, gently sucking on my neck, working his way up to my earlobe.

  When he draws the lobe into his mouth while untucking my T-shirt from my skirt, my knees are so weak I wrap my arms around his neck to keep from falling down. He slips his hands up the back of my shirt and unhooks my bra before sliding one of his palms around to massage my breast.

  "I can tell by how hard your nipple is that you want me as badly as I want you," Ryker whispers.

  "We shouldn't do this
here," I say through my hormone-addled daze.

  I'm sure if I get away from here... him, I'll come back to my senses and realize I can't sleep with my boss. Not if I want to keep my job.

  "This is my office, my company, my building. We can do this here, and we will do this here."

  With as much grace as he showed when unhooking my bra, he reaches behind me and begins unzipping my skirt right before he slides it down past my hips, letting it fall into a pool on the floor near my feet.

  He leans back and stares down at me, admiring me. "Beautiful!"

  He grabs the bottom of my shirt and helps me pull it over my head. Then he slips the bra—one shoulder strap at a time—off of me. When he's finished, I'm standing in his office wearing nothing more than my Christian Louboutins and a pair of my most dental-flossiest thongs.

  Ryker takes care of the underwear by reaching over and pulling them until they rip apart and drop to the ground next to the skirt.

  "That's better," he whispers, staring at me like he did that morning while I was in the bathroom.

  I'm about to take off the shoes when he orders, "Leave those on. You'll need them where I'm about to take you."

  My stare snaps toward him, and he offers me a lopsided grin.

  "Turn around, bend over my desk, and spread your legs."

  Hearing him tell me what he wants, knowing how much I want him makes me a willing participant in this game. I turn my back on him and slowly, seductively shake my ass while I saunter over to his desk.

  There is almost nothing on the top of it. What is there can easily be moved to the side. While I'm doing just that, I hear the ping of his computer's email in the background.

  Behind me and in my ear, Ryker whispers, "No one will ever be able to say you slept with me to get your job. You had it before I fucked you."

  He grabs the monitor, turns it toward me, and clicks on the announcement letting everyone in the universe know I'm his new VP of Innovative Technology.

  While I'm reading the email and processing the information, I hear Ryker unbuckle his belt and unzip his pants. He still has his shirt on when I glance over my shoulder.