Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
WORK. It wasn’t like she was thrilled on any normal day to be going into the Brooker building.
This day though… was particularly special.
One up there for the record books. If she was fired, she would…
What? She couldn’t guess. That was her life right now, dot, dot, dot.
Nothing was finished. There was no starting over.
Nothing was definitive. Fluid wasn’t as exciting as some might think.
What was she supposed to do without a job?
All the way from Cam’s and into Brooker, she tried to answer that question.
If Allan fired her, her job with Cam would be over.
He wouldn’t like learning she’d lost her job, or Allan sending someone else to fill her position.
She couldn’t say she was a fan either. The idea of anyone else taking care of him was crappy, but what could she do about it?
Losing this job meant finding another. Fast. She had bills; everyone needed money. How could she possibly interview after kicking their paparazzi plan into motion? She didn’t want to be hired for her notoriety or disregarded for it either.
Speculation was pointless. She walked out of the elevator with her head held high and crossed the bullpen without making eye contact with anyone. They could think what they wanted and if she had to walk out for the last time—
“Elle! Elle!”
Oh, God, she knew that voice.
Terra fell into step beside her. “Oh, my God, Elle! Hi! Can we talk for—”
“I’m going to see Allan.”
“He’s in with Mason right now.”
“Course he is.”
At Allan’s door, she peeked through the glass and, yep, Mason was there too. Allan raised an index finger, indicating he’d seen her. Okay, so he knew she was there. She’d wait. Not like she had anywhere else to be.
Sinking into one of the tub chairs by the door, it really made her day when Terra sat next to her.
“Where’s Roxie?” the chirper asked.
“Where’s—how do you know Roxie?”
“Everyone knows Roxie!” Terra declared. “She’s the Stream Queen. The Crimson Empress!”
Ah. “So you don’t know her, you just know who she is.”
“You should’ve told me you knew her personally.” That came with a loose wrist push and a laugh fit for another kind of friendship. She and Terra were not friends. Did that have to be clarified? “Why didn’t she come to Cam’s party?”
“She wasn’t in town.” And if Roxie had been in town, the party would’ve been a different affair. “You left the party early.”
“I wouldn’t have if Roxie was there.”
Hence why it would be a different affair. She wasn’t casting aspersions, she’d left too. Well, not left exactly, just retired elsewhere in the building. What she wouldn’t give to be in that same place right now. With Cam or without, being in his space guaranteed no Terra.
That out of the way, she had to wonder. “Can I do something for you, Terra?”
“Allan asked to see me too.” A regular parade. “I think I’m after you though.”
“No need to entertain me. I’m happy sitting here myself.”
“No! Don’t be silly. You were kind to me at the party, though…” A sheepish exhale. “I don’t remember everything I said.”
Lucky her. Ariella wouldn’t shed light on the details. The sooner she could forget how Terra looked at Cam, the better.
“You really don’t have to sit here.”
Take the hint already.
“No, this is perfect, it gives us time to plan.”
“Plan what?”
Why ask when she had no interest in the answer? Reflex be damned.
“The next party, silly,” Terra said. “I think we should have the next one at Crimson. You can get us all in, right?”
Ah, so that’s what this was about.
“Probably if I asked nicely.”
Or asked at all. And who exactly was “us” in this scenario?
“Great! We’ll need to curate the guest list, only the most exclusive—”
“Terra, there is no party, there will be no party.”
“Don’t worry, it’ll be easy. I’ll help! It won’t be on you,” Terra said. “Now we have access to somewhere like Crimson—I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me—”
“We don’t have access to anything and I don’t have time for this.”
Allan’s door opened right on time and she stood up. Standing there between Mason and Terra, it was a damn miracle she didn’t scream and run for the nearest exit. Right then, she wouldn’t say no to flinging herself from a twenty-story window. The fall would improve the current outlook.
“Elle—”
“Things to discuss, Allan? Let’s get to it.”
Cutting her boss off, she swanned past him into the office. No, she hadn’t been invited. If a firing was in her future, manners were the least of her problems. Time to get the doomsday meeting over and done with.
Pressure. Maybe that would help. Maybe if she had no other choice. Sink or swim. Fly or fall. She blew out a breath. How long could she keep this up?
Allan came around his desk, wearing maybe confusion, maybe some distress. Welcome to the club, dude.
“Elle—”
“Let’s just get this over with.”
Though that would be more likely to happen if she shut up and let the man do his job. Taking the easy route was far from her specialty.
“Yes, you’re right. Okay.” Allan picked up a tablet. “Three o’clock.”
“Three o’clock, what?”
“New York.”
This was… unexpected.
“You want me to—you’re not firing me?” she asked, looking around like the truth may pop out of nowhere in a clown costume and squirt ice water in her face.
He frowned. “Firing you? No, I’m not—you asked for a different assignment. Not in Boston, not in LA. I got you a different assignment.”
Man, so much had changed since she made that request. New assignment. Yes. Okay.
“In New York?”
“The client wants to meet you first.”
Okay, sometimes that worked in her favor. Only sometimes.
“What do I need to know?”
“I’ll send his information through to your email. He’s a top client. Extremely important.”
Great. “And I was given this assignment because…”
Given her affinity for pissing people off and tanking Brooker’s reputation with her inappropriateness, why would they risk offering her such an important chance?
“It’s believed…” Though he was only semi-convinced judging by his tone. “We may have taken the wrong approach. Your unexpected success with Camden Collier suggests you may be better suited to more affluent clients.”
They appreciated a no bullshit attitude more than the pretenders in the middle, or closer to the bottom, of the table? She could see that.
“So you’re giving me a high roller?”
“Don’t fuck this up,” Allan said, raising his eyes from the tablet to push his stare onto hers. “Elle…”
“Right. Don’t fuck this up. I won’t fuck this up.”
Why did she say that? Now it was almost guaranteed. Never say things out loud. It tempted a fate that clearly was already unhappy with her.
She pounced to her feet.
“Wait a second,” he said and gestured to something behind her.
Something? Someone.
“Ready for me?” Terra asked.
This woman was a cursed shadow. Sorry. She was sorry, okay? Whoever was laughing at her, whatever god or force or whoever—honestly, how much could she take of this woman?
“Yes, Elle, Terra’s going to assume your role with Mr. Collier,” Allan said. She? Just stood there. Life was happening around her, she ceased to be a part of it. “I’d like you to accompany her over there. Do the introductions, ease the transition.”
“Really?” Terra asked, all glee. “Oh, that’s amazing! I had no idea you were leaving him. Cam and I already know each other. He’s great. We’re great.”
Cam. Her lip curled, internally if not in her expression. Yeah, Terra and Cam knew each other. Way more than she was comfortable with.
“No.”
“It won’t take long,” Allan said. “If they already know each other, I suppose—do you get along?”
“No,” Ariella said again before Terra could reply to their boss. “It’s a flat no.”
“Have you and Mr. Collier had a falling out?” Allan asked. “You think your presence will disadvantage—”
“No, Terra will not ‘assume my role’ with Mr. Collier,” she said, as sure of this as anything. “There’s no way it will work.”
“Give Terra a chance,” Allan said, polite in his smile. “She may surprise you. She’s personable, polite, if he’s acknowledged now that he does need help, what’s the harm? You can transfer your duties to her, get her up to speed with—”
“Cam will laugh,” she said. “I swear to God, he’ll laugh her out of there so fast.”
“Why?” Terra asked. “Why would he do that? He was nice to me at the party.”
“He’s a gentleman.”
“So why would he—”
“Because he knows you fucked my boyfriend and he’s big on loyalty.”
Startling Terra was one thing, Allan was a different matter, though she wasn’t fixated on her boss. The woman next to her just sat there, stunned. Okay, that was unfair. Mason was the one who’d promised loyalty, Terra owed her nothing.
But Cam.
Cam was the subject at hand. It didn’t matter that she’d trust Cam to keep things professional.
Terra would push those boundaries, of that she had no doubt.
Except, damnit, what right did she have to demand professionalism?
If she was moving to New York… if this client meeting went well…
There it was again, life, dot, dot, dot.
“Okay,” she said in an exhale because what else could she do? “You want me to ease the transition? Let’s get this over with.”
Cam would not be a happy camper. It would actually be better for Terra if she went in first to soften up the—they needed to talk about her potential new job before they could… Goddamnit.
As soon as she left Allan’s office, Mason was there as just a wall of human. Before she could meet his eye, he grabbed her arm to pull her down the quiet corridor.
“You didn’t reply to my message,” he said. “I want to get lunch—”
“Good for you,” she said, extricating her arm from his grasp. “Go get lunch, I’m happy for you.”
“With you. I want to get lunch with you. We have to talk.”
“About what? We weren’t married. We have no shared assets.” Not that he’d cared about that, or seeing her, after they broke up. “There’s literally nothing I have to say to you and nothing I want to hear.”
“Come on, we can keep this friendly. We can be friends.”
Talk about laughing in someone’s face. “I don’t want to be your friend.”
“I know it’s difficult.” His hand came toward her face. Yeah, that wasn’t happening, she took a long, deliberate and exaggerated step backward. No mixed signals here. “Elle—”
“This is closer to you than I ever want to be again. I left my security guy downstairs with the car, but, boy, you want to lose my number fast.”
“Is this because of Crimson?”
And… she frowned. “What has Crimson got to do with anything?” He huffed. “One picture and suddenly—”
“You never told me you knew the Stream Queen.”
“There were a lot of things I never told you,” she said.
“A lot of things you didn’t ask either.” She wasn’t sure he knew about her marriage.
“Cheating was a shitty way to go about it, but you did us both a favor. I am a million times happier now that I was for even a second in our relationship.” And given the whole shit/fan thing, that was quite a statement.
“Live your life, Mason. And keep it as far away from me as possible.”
Walking away, back toward Allan’s office, she could tell Terra was curious. Though there was still some of that deer in the headlights thing going on. Had Allan asked about—was it ever a good thing for your boss to know your mistakes?
Not long ago, she’d have said no, but Cam knew hers and it brought them closer.
She didn’t miss a step in passing Terra on her way to the elevator.
“Train’s moving,” she said, side-nodding for the woman to follow.
The moment she stepped out of the building, the driver was there, opening the vehicle’s rear door. Security right at his side.
“Wow, is this your—”
“Get in,” she said to Terra and shifted a little closer to the men. “You might want to message ahead I won’t be alone when we arrive at Cam’s.”
The guys nodded. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing to have allies at her side. Could prove useful.