Thirty-Six
M y vision zooms out as the world zooms in, and I'm suddenly off balance. As I stand at the edge of the bullpen with Sierra staring straight at me, I can hear the blood flowing through my veins as my heart pounds like a sledgehammer driving a spike. I don't know what to say. How do I respond to this? For nearly three months we’ve kept this a secret, and all of it is going up in flames in the blink of an eye. Do I deny it? Act indifferent? Be dismissive? A hundred different flimsy solutions play out in my head, but only one word manages to make it to my lips.
“What?” I say, practically whimpering in the face of Sierra’s icy glare.
“Don't play dumb, Nia,” she replies, and it’s clear that she will not be doing me the favor of whispering to protect my privacy. “I saw you, and I always knew that it would come to this. I saw the way you would stare at him in meetings, drooling all over yourself when he would speak, clutching your fucking pearls when he would say something in Italian. You did a terrible job of hiding how badly you wanted to sleep with him, and now the truth has come to the light.”
“Sierra, it’s not what you think,” I say, trying to force myself to say words that actually make sense, but being caught red handed has me reeling.
“Oh, it’s not what I think? You sure about that?” Sierra keeps firing, quickly turning the office into a warzone. “Because what I think is that you've wanted to sleep with Rome since the moment he arrived here. I think you've been lusting after him like a teenager crushing on a rockstar this entire time, and there was some private moment where you took the opportunity to seduce him, and it worked. He is a man after all. Luckily for you, he’s single. There’s no wife at home wondering why her husband has suddenly lost interest, but that doesn't absolve you. The rest of us are in here trying to get by on our merit, but you figured you could skip the line by shaking your ass and flashing your tits every day.”
“Flashing my tits?” I say with a frown as I look down at my white top that reveals no cleavage whatsoever.
“Yeah, that’s right. Your tits. Maybe no one else in here noticed, but I did, and I think this is sickening,” Sierra goes on. “You should be ashamed of yourself—using your body to get ahead while the rest of us work our asses off to get Rome’s attention. If I had the power to, I would fire you right here, right now. In fact, had Mr. Thomas chosen me to replace him, I would have fired you on the spot. Luckily for you, that’s not within my responsibility, but now that everyone knows the kind of shameless person you are, maybe you’ll just do us all a favor and quit.”
With wide eyes, I slowly look around the room and find every person employed at Sandcastle staring at us. We are the trainwreck that no one can pull their gaze away from, and I don't know if it’s embarrassment, the shock of being caught, or the fact that Sierra is my superior, but my emotions come to a boil like water in a pot. I want to lash out to defend myself from the insanity of Sierra’s accusations about my tits and inability to hide how I felt about Rome. I want to tell her to go fuck herself because I don't let anybody talk to me the way she just did. I want to quit my job, because disrespect is never allowed from a superior—I don't give a fuck how long I've worked here. But I don't do any of those things. Instead, my boiling emotions result in them spilling over in the form of stinging tears sliding down my face.
I hate crying in general, but I loathe doing it in front of other people. I'm not some weak little girl who can't keep herself together. I'm much more powerful than the submissive title gives me credit for, but I'm also human, and the feeling of being overwhelmed is crippling to almost anybody. So I can't speak right now, even as Jeremiah pleads with me through his shocked expression, waiting for me to snap out of it and go off on Sierra for calling me out in front of everyone. I can't. I just lower my eyes to the floor and let the tears fall. They come like raindrops splattering at my feet, and I'm frozen in that position until I hear the sound of the breakroom door opening.
“What the hell do you think you're doing?”
Rome’s voice booms into the room like a jet engine, and it is not the same soothing voice I just heard when we were kissing a few minutes ago. This version of Rome’s voice is filled with hot coals and spewing fire with each word. At the sound of it, Sierra takes a step back like she might actually flee the scene.
“Umm, I'm not … I saw you two kissing in there,” she says after clearing her throat.
I manage to look up from the floor and witness the moment Sierra pulls her shoulders back and straightens her spine, preparing for a war with Rome.
He takes a step forward, letting the breakroom door close behind him, and stares at Sierra with a look that would certainly make her heart stop if looks could kill.
“So that means you can use your position as VP to belittle a subordinate?” he asks in a quiet roar.
“Well … no, but this is unacceptable from her … and you,” Sierra says.
Audible gasps spread through the bullpen from the front to the back as Rome’s eyebrows raise. I've never seen him angry before. None of us have, and I have a feeling that we never will again after today because the look on his face right now will be avoided at all costs.
“Unacceptable,” Rome says, repeating Sierra’s word. “I find that awfully ironic coming from you, Sierra. You have the nerve to stand here berating Nia when she wasn't the first person in this office to show interest in me. You were.”
Another round of gasps turns our office into the audience of the Jerry Springer show, and my eyes enlarge so wide I think they’ll pop out of my head. What did he just say? Clearly he is speaking facts, because Sierra takes another step back, hoping distance will protect her from the truth.
“If there is one thing that annoys me more than a superior abusing their power,” Rome goes on, “it’s a hypocrite. On only my second day in the office, you asked me out to drinks, and I told you I wasn’t interested. That’s when you put your hand on top of mine and told me that I’d be interested if I got to know you better. I snatched my hand away, and your mood soured permanently. Everyone in this office knows you haven't been the same since I arrived, even Nia herself questioned what changed in you. But no one knew that you came onto me because I did you the favor of keeping that little situation private out of respect and professionalism. Now, you refuse to provide that courtesy to Nia because I didn't turn her down. You've been broadcasting your frustration for the entire company to see, talking down to Nia every chance you get … out of jealousy.”
As my tears dry up, Sierra’s eyes dampen like we’ve traded places. I don't even know what to say as I watch her swallow hard and look around the room, suddenly very concerned with the prying eyes around us. Just like me, she doesn't know what to say. She clearly thought that time would protect her from what she had done, and the fact that Rome didn't fire her or spread rumors gave her confidence that this would never come out. She should have been thanking Rome for keeping her secret, but instead she was angered by the fact that I was into him, and that anger was doused in gasoline when he began to show interest in me, too.
When the tables turn, they fucking turn .
As Sierra stands there silently, her eyes misting over, Rome faces the onlooking bullpen with a stern expression. He looks like a father who is disappointed in his children for their behavior, and no one moves a muscle as he begins to address us all.
“Everybody listen to me right now,” he starts, his eyes darting from person to person. “ This is not what we will become. Sandcastle will not descend into a rumor mill of jealousy, hypocrisy, nosiness, and disrespect. Admittedly, I've tried to keep my relationship with Nia a secret from you all, specifically for this reason. It’s not any of your business what she or I do in our private time or in our personal lives. All that matters to you all is that our relationship doesn't hinder the progress and business of this office. None of you can say that you've witnessed Nia getting special treatment from me, and if you're assuming she got the Golden Diamond account out of favoritism, you'd be dead wrong. Nia and I were not dating at the time of the pitch wars. She simply outdid everyone else with a pitch that was so good that she acquired the client. If the pitch wasn't good, we would have never been chosen to represent Nix Malone and his casino. So, you can be mad and make an incorrect assumption if you want to, but you can't deny the results of her pitch to the client.
“I don't care if any of you are dating someone from the office. It’s not my business. All I care about is whether or not Sandcastle can grow and prosper with the people standing in this room right now. This isn't high school. So, if you're interested in gossip, rumors, and talking about your coworkers' private lives, please see yourself out right now. I don't care what position you hold or how much you get paid. If you're more concerned about who the boss is sleeping with than you are with your work, the door is behind you. Please walk through it and don't come back. Our goal is to do our jobs and grow this company, ascending it to heights it has never reached before. Nia has taken a huge step in making that happen with her work with Golden Diamond. How many of you can say the same for yourselves?”
When no one answers, Rome finishes.
“So, here is how we’ll end this fiasco. Yes, Nia and I are together. We care about each other deeply, and as far as our future is concerned, I don't see an end in sight. So get used to it. We are together. We’re a couple … and it will never affect our work. I advise you,” he turns to Sierra, “ all of you —not to let it affect yours. I don't ever want to have to talk about this again. If I do, you won't have to worry about walking through the exit on your own, because I will gladly push you out. Any questions?”
As expected, no one says a word. The only sounds are breathing and the air conditioner as Rome turns on his heel, steps close to me, and kisses me softly on the cheek in front of everyone. I watch in astonishment as he starts to walk away, brushing shoulders with a stunned Sierra. But before he goes, he turns to her and says one last thing.
“Your decision is easy,” he whispers to her. “Either apologize and get your shit together … or resign. Choosing neither will not be allowed, and you have until the end of the day to make your choice. If you can’t decide, I’ll take your lack of a response as your formal resignation.”
A tear slides down Sierra’s cheek as Rome doesn't even give her time to respond before walking away, leaving our entire world in a daze, and my heart dancing.