Chapter 4
“Get Precious in here now,” Febe barked as soon as her door opened.
Haylee looked over to Cherish’s desk, horrified to realize she still hadn’t returned from the previous errand Febe had sent her on. That meant it was up to Haylee to find the therapist and get her here as soon as possible. Which would undoubtedly not be soon enough for Febe. Haylee’s stomach filled with the nerves that were ever present in her life.
“Can I tell her why you want her?” Haylee looked up and met Febe’s stormy look.
“No. She doesn’t need to know she’s about to be fired, but if she has any brain cells left in her head, she’ll suspect exactly that.” Febe stalked toward her office, but before the door shut, she muttered, “Entitled young adults. Don’t have a clue what professionalism actually is.”
For a moment, Haylee simply stared at Febe’s closed door. Had Febe been talking about Precious or her? The rock in her stomach turned into a boulder while a lump formed in her throat. Febe hated her.
Ever since Febe’s dismissal of her idea, Haylee had noticed Febe’s patience with her had been shorter than ever. She couldn’t lose this job. She needed it. She had so many bills racking up that she couldn’t see a way out. She was drowning in collection calls and a negative bank balance.
With that in mind, Haylee picked up the phone and dialed Precious’s number. It took three attempts, Cherish’s return, and three reports typed up over the next twenty minutes before Haylee finally reached Precious.
“Ms. Aarts needs you in her office immediately.” Haylee tried as best she could to channel Cherish. Be calm. Be cool. Be collected. Don’t let Precious know anything.
“I was about to go on lunch,” Precious whined through the phone line, stretching the last word out like a musician might, but without the melodious quality. Haylee closed her eyes and let out a short, sharp breath she hoped Precious couldn’t hear. Surely Haylee didn’t sound like this to Febe, did she?
“Immediately means right now.” Haylee noticed Cherish’s head rise but didn’t allow herself to look up and meet her coworker’s gaze. “She’s already waiting, and I suggest you don’t make her wait any longer.”
“Fine.” The petulance in Precious’s tone made Haylee shake her head as she stabbed the end call button.
“Nice work,” Cherish said.
Haylee looked up, startled by the praise. But a warmth spread through her chest and into the pit of her stomach, moving that boulder just a smidge to ease up the tension.
“She was being childish.” Haylee shrugged, heat in her cheeks. How ridiculous and childish of herself to blush over the small praise from Cherish.
“And you handled it very well.” Cherish smiled, and Haylee met her eyes once more. With a nod, Cherish returned to her screen.
All right, so maybe Cherish wasn’t as big a bitch as Haylee had always thought. But still, blushing over the smallest of compliments was ridiculous. Wasn’t it? So what if it had been ages since anyone had said something nice about her? She shouldn’t be taking compliments from her coworker like it was flirting. That was a bad idea. Especially coming from Febe-obsessed Cherish.
Precious barreled in a few moments later, eyes narrowing at Febe’s door as she tried to walk directly through the two receptionists without a word to either.
Cherish jumped up, putting herself between Precious and the door, her hands out in front of her. “You can take a seat, Precious. I’ll let Ms. Aarts know you’re here.” Cherish spoke with all the icy authority she had, despite the petulance Precious had shown on the call.
Haylee’s chest tightened when Precious’s face fell. Real panic spread over her features as she took the seat for guests. Did she finally understand what was about to happen? Febe had hoped she would, so maybe this was to her advantage.
Febe made Precious wait for seven and a half minutes before she called Cherish to let Precious in. Haylee had fastidiously watched the clock. She would have been shitting herself if she’d had to wait that long to be fired. Surely by now Precious understood the gravity of the situation. Cherish sent Haylee a longing look from across the desks but said nothing as she sat, working, but poised for whatever Febe might need.
Haylee dropped her eyes to her screen and tried to focus on her work. The words filtering through from Febe’s closed door were impossible to ignore. Each time she heard Febe’s raised voice—not quite yelling, but the loudest she’d heard to date—Haylee flinched. It definitely didn’t help the uncomfortable heat in her chest that every time something about professionalism was mentioned, words like age, youth, or inexperienced quickly followed. Haylee took a deep breath, fighting the heat in her chest and the lump in her throat. She didn’t even want to think about the stinging in her eyes from tears that wanted to spill over at any moment.
“How about we go get some lunch?” Cherish’s smooth voice reached Haylee’s chaotic mind.
Haylee found Cherish standing over her computer, fingers on her desk, gaze locked on Haylee’s. When had Cherish moved? She always heard Cherish as she stood up. A light tap of fingers at the edge of the desk and a quick swish of wheels as she pushed away from the computer. If Haylee didn’t know Cherish, she might even have thought Cherish enjoyed the rolling chair with the same enjoyment as a child.
“Haylee?” Cherish’s voice was so gentle and soft. There was no clipped edge or demand in the tone. In fact, there was clear concern and worry.
Haylee scoffed internally. The worry was probably about nothing more than the workload if she didn’t snap out of whatever was happening in her head. She blinked as Cherish continued to look down at her. And then blinked a few more times.
“Come on. We can take a break now. My treat.” Cherish leaned down, her full palm on Haylee’s desk. The scent of her perfume reached Haylee, taking over her senses but not quite distracting her from the ass-chewing going on in the other room.
“Um.” Haylee flicked her eyes back to Febe’s closed door. There were still the rumblings of a highly pissed off employer behind that door, but the words were finally muffled.
“It’s okay. I’ve already emailed Ms. Aarts to let her know.” Sincerity crossed Cherish’s features.
“Oh.” Haylee nodded, taken aback. She gnawed on her lip, flicking her gaze from the door to Cherish and back again. “Um…am I next?”
“Next?” Confusion flashed through Cherish’s eyes, which helped ease the panic that rose in Haylee’s chest. Cherish might have been cold, but as far as Haylee knew, she’d never lied. In fact, she had been quite vocal about her hatred of the act on more than one occasion.
“To be fired?” Haylee finished the unasked question, figuring out far too late that Cherish had no clue what she was talking about.
“What?” Cherish snorted, a small sound that could almost be mistaken for a laugh escaped her lips until her eyes caught Haylee’s. Whatever she saw sobered her from the mirth immediately. “Of course not, Haylee. Come on. Let’s go have some lunch.”
“Okay,” Haylee agreed, because really, staying here would be akin to hell.
Her mind was numb as she reached for her purse and slung it over her shoulder. She’d never been much of a fashionista before, but since getting the job at Wellbeing Works, she wanted to fit in better in the corporate world. Like Cherish had so obviously done. Still, it never quite sat right with her.
Neither spoke as they walked out the main office doors and to the elevator. Haylee gnawed on her cheek again as she waited in the silence. She and Cherish had never shared a meal before. She’d always thought Cherish was too lofty to sit with her for a quick lunch. Then again, leaving the office unattended had always been a disaster—at least according to Cherish.
Haylee could see why.
Whatever would Febe do without her slave?
“Why would you think Ms. Aarts was going to fire you?” Cherish asked as they sat at a small table in the cafe on the first floor of the building.
Leave it to Cherish to ask her for lunch and then not take her truly away from the problem at hand. Haylee clenched her jaw as she sat down, glad a waiter came over immediately to take their order. Then again, she’d eaten there so many times on her short lunch breaks that she knew exactly what she was going to order. As soon as they were alone again, Cherish’s direct stare unnerved her.
“Why do you keep thinking you’ll be fired?”
Keep thinking? How on earth did Cherish know that? Haylee pressed her palms together, lacing her fingers and cringed. She’d done a horrible job at fitting in, hadn’t she? She’d been the odd woman out from the start, and there was no sense in even thinking that she could be someone she wasn’t. Except she wanted to be. Desperately.
“Haylee.” Cherish’s tone was almost a coo, a delectable siren’s song to pull information and fear right from Haylee.
“She doesn’t like me,” Haylee confessed, the words falling from her lips in an instant. “I’m pretty sure she doesn’t like anyone but you, and even that’s questionable.”
Cherish pressed her lips together hard, looking Haylee over intently. “Ms. Aarts isn’t the easiest boss to work for.”
“She loves you.” Haylee rolled her eyes, now unable to shut herself up. “I can’t even get her to give me a compliment on the smallest thing I do right, which means I know I’m doing everything wrong.”
“Haylee,” Cherish interjected. “You don’t do everything wrong.” Cherish fiddled with her silverware, as if the conversation made her nervous.
Her fingers were thin, long, and moved perfectly against the fork and spoon, as if she had no conscious thought to them. What would those fingers feel like against her? Haylee’s cheeks heated instantly. Shit. She could not be having those thoughts about someone so obsessed with Febe Aarts that she wouldn’t look at another woman. Except Cherish had looked at Haylee. Occasionally. On those days when Haylee wore something a little too low cut, or when she was bending over Cherish’s desk to ask a question and her cleavage was ample that day.
“Ms. Aarts is difficult, I understand that. But I don’t want you to think that she’s ready to fire you. In fact, I think she really likes you.”
“Likes me?” Haylee said, accusation in her tone. “She hates me.”
“She doesn’t hate you.” Cherish nearly rolled her eyes.
Haylee would love to see a moment when she did. It would make her human, almost. Just what would Cherish look like with her cheeks red from embarrassment—or better yet, arousal? Damn it. Haylee needed to get laid, especially if she was thinking about her coworker like that. The last thing she needed was some quick office tryst that really would throw her to the mercy of being fired.
Touch Cherish, and Haylee risked feeling the full brunt of Febe’s wrath.
That was something to be avoided. At all costs.
“She doesn’t like me.” Haylee pouted. “She loves you, though.”
Cherish frowned. She played with her fork again, not answering. That cemented it. Febe hated her. Cherish was the precious golden child of the office, and no one would ever compare. That must be why they had gone through so many administrative assistants before Haylee. And even then, Haylee had only stayed because…because what? To prove a point? To pay the never-ending pile of bills? Haylee clenched her fingers together tightly, digging her nails into the tops of her hands to center herself.
She was making a fool of herself.
“Ms. Aarts doesn’t love me.” Cherish clenched her jaw, the muscles rippling as tension rose within her. The play of her fingers on the fork stopped. She opened her mouth to speak when her phone buzzed. She wrinkled her nose as she reached into her purse to grab it. “Ms. Aarts likes you, otherwise you wouldn’t have lasted this long.”
“Well, that’s reassuring.”
“I like you.” Cherish looked in her direction, her blue eyes and red hair making her gaze intense as she held her phone. “I like the work you do. I appreciate your presence every day when I come into the office. I can’t…” Cherish trailed off and frowned. “Yes, Ms. Aarts?”
Haylee’s heart fell. Cherish couldn’t what? What had she been about to say? Haylee desperately wanted to know. She wanted to hear words of praise fall from Cherish’s lips. But why?
“Yes, I’ll be right there.” Cherish locked her gaze on Haylee. “Yes, Ms. Aarts.”
Cherish hung up and shook her head. Haylee already knew what was going to happen before the words were uttered.
“She’s firing me.”
“What? No.” Cherish rolled her eyes. Finally, the blessed look Haylee had been wishing for from her, and her own worry was too much for her to even appreciate it. “She needs me to remove Precious’s access to all our systems.”
“Right,” Haylee mumbled. “I’ll bring your lunch up, I guess.”
Cherish frowned. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.” It was the story of Haylee’s life. Everyone left her, one way or another. Usually not like this though. Not willingly walking away. That old familiar pain ached inside her chest and her fingers itched to rub at her sternum.
Standing up, Cherish straightened her shoulders, again looking down her nose at Haylee. “I was going to say that I appreciate what you bring to the office.”
Without another word, Cherish walked away, her pumps clacking on the floor. Haylee stared at her, jaw dropped. Her stomach swirled with confusion and misunderstanding, with the upset from thirty minutes ago to now. She wanted to chase after Cherish, to dig deeper and ask more questions.
Because what the hell did that even mean?
But running after her would be useless. She was off to be Febe’s bitch, again. Now and forever.
So why did that thought suddenly fill Haylee with such deep sadness?