by Bryce Evans
“No, but it’s only been one day, Donnie. You know she has a lot to do before she can promote someone,” London replied. She didn’t want her nerves to show. She wasn’t that person who was naive enough to show her weaknesses to others. It wasn’t in her. She needed to be strong especially in front of others.
Donnie spotted Roxie Falcon before she got to the table. “Bitch alert. She's coming this way.”
London giggled at his assessment of Roxie. Donnie had given London the heads up about the woman when she first arrived in New York. Roxie was a bitch from the word go. The woman was a piece of work. When she started working at Landon and was introduced to her, the woman glared at what she was wearing snickering at how she was dressed like a scene from The Devil Wears Prada.
Roxie was of course, wearing a beautiful dress from Michael Kors with Jimmy Choo shoes on her feet. Hoping she would continue to walk on by was not in the cards today. She had that look on her face. The one that said, “I’m your fucking worst nightmare.”
“So London, I will need you to do some debugging on the AS 2000. I’m going to meet with the Johnson group today and I saw some things that need to be changed before they see it.” London frowned then looked over at Donnie. His expression said it all.
“Why are you working on this program?” she asked.
“Oh, didn’t you hear. Tracy got promoted effective today and she named me as her replacement.” London couldn’t control the frown that marred her face, but Roxie didn’t stop there. No, she had to rub it in more. The sound of amusement was etched in her next sentence. “Lord, you didn’t think you would be getting her job did you?” Roxie laughed aloud after she said it.
Other people in the cafeteria looked over at them, listening. London wanted to crawl under the table. She was mortified.
“I will be expecting that project finished by the end of the day.” Roxie’s flawless hair flew around as she turned and walked out of the cafeteria. Her high-heeled shoes clicked across the floor as she sashayed out of the cafeteria. London felt like she was going to explode. She could literally feel her head coming off. Her face turned blood red as she looked up at Donnie.
“Go home, London. I will say you got sick at lunch, but go home before you do something that you can’t undo. These people are sharks. When they smell blood in the water, they go for your throat. Just go home, baby girl. I will be over after work. We will figure this out.” London grabbed her purse and ran toward the door. She had to get out of the building before she did something crazy.
* * * *
Donnie sat back and rubbed his forehead. He knew this was going to happen. He had hoped that Tracy would do the right thing, but he was never wrong about these types of people. She was a fucking wimp and she needed that spineless bitch Roxie Falcon to do her dirty work. She didn’t even have the guts to come to London and tell her personally that she stole London’s program, and all the time and effort she put into it. London wanted to help others and keep them safe. Now someone else would be in charge of it and there was no telling what would happen to the program or if it would be used to help others. He knew she was feeling defeated for the first time in her life.
By the time Donnie got to her apartment after work, London was shit-faced drunk. She could barely hold her head up as she smiled at him.
“Hello, my friend.” London waved her hand around then fell off the chair. Donnie snorted as he bent down in front of London who was already asleep on the floor. Moving her hair off her face, he could see the pain she was feeling etched there. Tears were dried to her cheeks, and he knew her nose and her eyes would be red too if he could see them.
Donnie picked her up off the floor then carried her to the bedroom, placing her on her side and putting a pillow behind her so she wouldn’t fall over and throw up in her sleep. Then he took her bathroom garbage can and placed it by her bed, left the bathroom light on, and went and sat down on her couch. Checking on her throughout the night was a priority, and it was going to be a long night. She was going to feel like shit when she woke up tomorrow.
Sitting there thinking, Donnie heard a cell phone ringing, and ran into the kitchen where he finally located London’s phone inside her jacket pocket.
“Hello.” For a second, Donnie thought the caller had already hung up.
“Um…is London there?”
“Zoey, is that you?” he asked.
“Yes, yes it’s me. Who is this?” Zoey inquired.
“This is Donnie, London’s friend.”
“Oh Donnie! Finally, we get to talk. How are you?” Zoey asked excitedly.
“I’m okay but London…”
“What’s wrong with London?” Zoey screeched.
“Calm down. She’s fine. But right now, she is drunk as a skunk asleep in her bed. That’s why I’m answering her phone. I don’t want to leave her alone. She almost finished a bottle of tequila.”
“She didn’t get the promotion did she? That fucking bitch took her work.”
“Bingo, and to make matters worse the girl who did get the promotion is under qualified, and she still wants London to do more work on the program.”
“She is going to quit that job and come here with me, so we can go into business together. You have to talk her into it Donnie. She doesn’t stand a chance at moving up at the rate things are going there. We can compete with these companies with her computer skills and mine. We would be a great team. You have to help me convince her that this is the best solution.”
Donnie knew Zoey was right, but he didn’t want his best friend leaving him. He was feeling selfish, and London was family to him, but he knew if she stayed, she wouldn’t survive with this company.
“I’ll try, Zoey. I will.”
“Look, don’t tell her we spoke. She doesn’t like people meddling in her business. She is a very private person, but I’m coming to New York tomorrow with my brother on business. We will stop by the office and take you two to lunch, then we can tag team her then.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. Talk to you then, Zoey. Good bye.” Donnie responded then hit the end button. He erased the phone call in case London checked to see if anyone called her. He didn’t want her to think he was hiding anything. Donnie got up and went into the bedroom to check on her before he went to sleep. He was worried about his best friend. She didn’t deserve what was happening to her. She was such a good person.
London hadn’t moved from the spot, so Donnie decided to lie down beside her on the bed. If she started throwing up, he needed to be able to hear her. Grabbing the blanket off the end of the bed, he covered up and fell asleep until he heard her in the bathroom. Looking at the clock, it was five in the morning. What was she doing up so early?
Leaning up on his elbow, he listened until the bathroom door open. London showed all the signs of being hung over. Her beautiful gray eyes were now red and puffy. She had just gotten out of the shower and her hair was wet as she used the towel on it.
“Why are you up so early, sweetie? I was going to wake you up in time for work.” Donnie asked as he got up from the bed and walked over to her.
“I’m going in early. I may not have gotten the job but the bitch will not steal what is mine.” London said, determined. Donnie looked worried as she walked past him to get her clothes on.
“What are you going to do?” he asked, worried she was about to make a huge mistake. “Look London, once you give the company your work it doesn’t belong to you anymore. It belongs to them. Don’t do something stupid and get arrested for this.”
London stopped and looked up at him. “You don’t really know me, Don. I can be…well, let’s just say I’m not going to take this sitting down. I won’t get arrested, but I heard everything you said. You’ll have to trust me on this, okay?”
He had a bad feeling about it, but he nodded anyway.
“Now, you go and get in the shower while I cook us some breakfast. We have a lot to do this week.”
Donnie watched as London walked out of the room.
He had to smile at her, but he was worried sick now. Nothing good ever came out of revenge. He would need to watch London to make sure she didn’t do anything stupid. If she left, he would leave with her. He had learned more from her than he had in four years of college and three years at Landon. Asking Zoey if he could join the business was what he needed to do. He only hoped London would agree.
Chapter 13
London sat at her desk typing and fuming. When she looked at the top of the document she was working on it had Tracy Allen’s name as the programmer.
Good luck Tracy and Roxie when your program goes dead. I’m no longer going to be a lap dog around here. Finishing, she turned to look out the window. It was a beautiful day and she was cooped up in the office, unable to come up with one reason she should work for the Landon Company anymore. Blowing out her breath, she found herself daydreaming about him again. Her quiet thoughts always seemed to circle back to Ryder Malone.
The hair on the back of her neck lifted as the door creaked open, and she turned to find Ryder standing behind her. Somehow, she had conjured him up out of her daydreams. Wow. Damn I’m a better witch than I thought. He was more handsome than she remembered, and their gazes met as he stared at her with those electrifying blue bewitching eyes.
The spark she felt every time she looked at the man started igniting. The intensity of his gaze was rapidly making her body excited in all the right places. She felt as if his entire focus was on her, and her heart faltered as she stared back at him. She didn’t know if he felt it too, but the way he stared at her made her think he was just as affected.
He’s wearing a pair of fitted dark blue jeans with a navy blue V-neck sweater that fit him perfectly. She could see his muscles as they stretched the sweater across his body. He was handsome and rugged. With his hair black as night and styled to perfection, he took her breath away and she ached to touch him.
Why is he here?
Just then, Zoey appeared underneath his arm breaking up her view.
“Hello, best friend.” London shot out of the chair toward her best friend almost knocking her down. She grabbed Zoey hugging her tightly to her chest. She hadn’t realized just how much she had missed her. With everything that was happening at Landon, she wanted her life back and that included Zoey. She inhaled deeply as she hugged her tighter.
“Hey…hey, it’s alright.” Zoey held on looking over her shoulder at Ryder. “But you’re squeezing the life out of me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” London pulled away, swiping the tears that had fallen from her eyes.
“Are you okay?” Zoey asked, concerned as she led London to the chairs in front of her desk.
“Yeah, I’m fine, but what are you guys doing here?” London asked. Zoey looked behind her and London’s eyes followed hers to Ryder who was standing against the wall watching.
“I came to New York with Ryder. He had some business and I tagged along. We want to take you and Donnie to lunch. Can you break free for a few?” Donnie sashayed into the room as if he heard Zoey talking about him. He was funny as he introduced himself to Ryder, like he was the King of England. She had told Zoey about her new friend, and that she wanted them to meet. He was a breath of fresh air when he entered in the room. Then he came over to Zoey and pulled her into a huge hug.
“Hey, good-looking.” Zoey teased as she hugged Donnie back like they were long lost friends. London narrowed her eyes thinking it was odd since they had never met, but she didn’t say anything. She was too excited to see Zoey. If she was honest with herself, she was even more excited about seeing Ryder, but she would never allow him to know that.
Ryder moved to the other side of the door, looking at the books in her bookcase when Roxie Falcon walked into the room.
“What is going on here? This isn’t happy hour, London.” Zoey and Donnie turned around glaring at the snarling woman. The small amount of happiness she felt at her old friend’s arrival disappeared when Roxie walked in. She sucked all the oxygen out of the room when she entered it.
“These are friends of mine who just arrived from out of town. I’m going to lunch.” London got up and went around to her desk to get her purse.
“We need those bugs worked out now. Since you took a sick day yesterday, we had to postpone that meeting, and now you are taking a lunch break. The buyers are going to be here this afternoon. We need it all worked out now,” Roxie reprimanded.
“Yes, I am.” London bit out. Her cheeks reddened as she got up from the couch.
“No, you’re not. Tracy needs that now, before the Johnson people get here this afternoon,” Roxie argued with her hands on her hips.
London could feel the fury boiling up inside her. “Well shucks Roxie, that’s your problem now. You see as of now I quit. You two find out how to fix the problems.”
Roxie moved toward London putting her hands on her arm holding her still. London looked down at Roxie’s hand as it squeezed her arm. She could feel her anger as it rushed forward. The thought of knocking that look off Roxie’s face gave her chills. Her blood was burning molten lava hot inside her, and she could feel the magic inside her sparking. She didn’t understand why it had all of a sudden decided to make an appearance, but it scared her enough to make her close her eyes and breathe before she hurt Roxie.
“Roxie if you want to keep that hand, then I would advise you to get it off my arm.”
Squeezing her arm harder, Roxie got into London’s face. “You can’t quit. We don’t know how to fix these problems. If you leave then the deal falls through. So get your ass over there and fix it.” The air whooshed out of her mouth as Roxie found her head shoved down on the desk. Her arm was wrapped behind her back.
London managed to use the least amount of pressure, she wasn’t trying to hurt Roxie, but the bitch made a mistake when she put her hands on her. Roxie whimpered as London flexed her elbow just enough to let her feel the pressure tighten. She knew with just a little more pressure and she could snap Roxie’s elbow and break it. The thought flashed into her head, but she knew she wouldn’t physically hurt Roxie, no matter how mean she had been to her.
“You just made this a hostile work environment for me. You should never put your hands on an employee. So the next time you touch me, trust me, it will hurt. I guarantee that.” London muttered, before releasing Roxie and allowing her to get up.
“You are so going to jail. You bitch.” Roxie spit out rubbing her arm. “You can kiss your career good bye. You will never work in business again. I will make damn sure of that.”
“Maybe you should rethink that one, Roxie.” Donnie called out then waved his cell phone in the air toward her. “I just recorded the entire scene on my phone and sent it to my emails. I think you should walk out of here now while you still can.”
Roxie snarled then started to walk out. Turning back around, she whispered, “I will get you back for this.” Then she turned and practically ran out of the room.
“That went well.” London’s voice was thick with pain as she made it around to her desk sitting down hard. She had forgotten about Ryder who was standing in the corner watching. Apparently, Roxie hadn’t seen him either, or she wouldn’t have made such a scene. She looked up and Ryder smiled at her. He looked like he was proud of her. That couldn’t be right.
“Maybe we should pack your stuff and leave now before security is called,” Ryder suggested. Even his tone was different as he spoke. He was nicer to her this time.
“I saw some boxes in the copier room. I’ll go and get a couple of them.” Donnie suggested.
“Don’t bother. All I need is this.” London held up a flash drive. She put it in her purse and grabbed her jacket. She picked up the phone and called for Eloise, the secretary for her floor, to come to her office.
“Yes, London.” Eloise came into the room looking concerned.
Crossing the room quickly, the sweet lady held her hand out toward London. Eloise was an older woman who had worked for Landon Computers for twenty-five years, and she kn
ew what went on at this company. London had immediately liked her when she started the job, and she would bring Eloise sweet treats back to eat when she baked over the weekend. They had formed a bond over the ten months she had been there, and she would miss her when she left the company.
“Eloise? Today is my last day. I just quit and I need you to take an account of my office so they can’t say I took something. All I’m taking is my purse and coat. The books can be sent to my grandmother’s if you don’t mind. You have the address on file. If you could be so kind and take an inventory like you did when I started.” Shaking her head, Eloise walked up to London and hugged her.
“I heard what she said to you, and I’ve seen how they have been treating you. If anyone tries to say different, I will speak up. I’ve sat by and watched so many good people get crapped on in this company and it stops here. I know Mr. Landon’s secretary, so I will pass the word to her about what happened. I’m so sorry, London. You are such a talented programmer. I know you will do well for yourself, but not here. I can see that now. You’re not a thief like them. You love to work hard. That should be the way you get ahead in this business, but it’s not. I know most of these people are ruthless. They cheat and lie to get ahead. This company used to be so well run. Why Mr. Landon continues to allow this to happen I don’t know.
The world is changing my dear; hard work and talent don’t seem to fit in this company. I suppose it’s time I retired. I’m not cut out for these kinds of people any more, but, before I go, I’m going to request a meeting with Mr. Landon. He needs to know. I don’t know if he will change it, but I’m going to tell him.” London hugged Eloise back then put her jacket on.
“Eloise it has been a pleasure to work with you. You have been very special to me. I will miss you. If you don’t mind can I call and check on you from time to time?”
“Oh, London.” Eloise grabbed her and hugged her tighter. “That would be wonderful. I would be disappointed if you didn’t. I don’t have any family left and I feel that you are like my granddaughter.”