1. Chase
Chase
Are You Gonna Be My Girl by Jet
Ding!
The elevator doors slide open, revealing Mia, arms crossed, with a deathly scowl.
“You absolute slut.”
I take off my sunglasses, giving my best friend a wink, before exiting the elevator.
“Good morning to you, too, beautiful.” I hand her a cup of coffee from the tray I’m holding. Maybe that’ll help cheer her up.
“Don’t ‘Good morning’ or ‘beautiful’ me,” she huffs, bringing her morning latte up to her lips.
“You knew you were supposed to review the Ad budget before today. And where were you last night? Hmm? You forget I have your snap location; I know you weren’t home.
” She points at me, keeping up with my long legs stride for stride. “Don’t lie to me, Rutherford.”
I roll my eyes. Mia is protective, so it doesn’t surprise me at all that she searched my phone’s location last night. I bet she initially set it up one night to make sure I was safe.
Little does she know that the only thing in danger last night was my one-night stand's headboard.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I snicker. I place my food package on top of my tray of drinks and pull the folder out from under my arm. “There you go. Reports done, as promised.”
Her jaw tenses as she takes the folder from me. “It’s almost infuriating how good you are at your job.” I can see a small hint of a smile on her lips as she says it.
She and I both know she’s absolutely right.
I’m really fucking good at my job.
I juggle my coffee tray as I push past the glass door and nod to Bailey at the front desk.
Bailey shifts the phone away from her ear and leans her torso on the desk, showing some of her cleavage as she does it. “Morning, Chase,” she purrs.
“Morning, Bailey.” I flash her a smile, over my shoulder, as I turn the corner.
Mia’s slap to my arm immediately snaps me back to reality.
“You dog. What’d I say about hooking up with the new hires?”
“No shitting where I eat, I know. I was just being polite.” I shrug.
Not hooking up with people at work is actually the one rule I have zero trouble following. You’d think in an office with eighty-percent majority women, that the temptation would be a problem, but honestly? It’s the opposite.
Having to deal with breaking things off with someone I still have to see every day sounds like my personal hell.
Yeah, no thanks.
As a frequent participant of casual one-night stands, keeping my sex and work life separate sounds perfect to me.
“Good boy.” Mia nods matter-of-factly as we arrive at her desk. “We don’t need another Erika incident.”
I cringe at the memory of our former social media manager. How was I supposed to know that not calling her after a night out for drinks would make her so furious she’d quit just two weeks into the job?
Apparently, the fallout was enough for HR to create an entire no-dating-in-the-workplace policy.
Whatever. That’s fine with me. Flirting is the only way to go, and sometimes that’s not even safe.
I get a buzz on my phone, bringing me back to the present. Peering at the text message, I see it’s from my boss.
Heather: My office. Now.
Ominous.
I arch an eyebrow at Mia, who returns the expression, making me laugh.
“Duty calls.” I dump my hand into the bag, pull out a plain bagel toasted with butter, toss it up, and she successfully catches it midair.
“Ha. You said doody,” she chuckles. “See you at lunch.” She waves as she settles into her desk chair.
I say goodbye and head to Heather’s office. Peeking through the glass, I can see she’s sitting at her desk, speaking on the phone. Without knocking, I push the glass door open.
“Yeah, that sounds amazing. Perfect," she says into the phone. Noticing me, she gestures for me to sit down in my normal seat across from her desk. Placing the tray holding our hot coffees on the desk, I take out our bagels.
When I first started years ago, I used to grab her breakfast as her intern. We got along so well and really enjoyed eating together that the habit just stuck.
“I’m really looking forward to it. Yeah, talk to you soon. Thanks. Bye,” she says into the phone before hanging up.
“Don’t hate me, but they were all out of herb and garlic, so I got you plain cream cheese today. No crying about it,” I explain, dividing napkins between us two before taking a seat.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” she mutters, reaching for her breakfast.
I don’t miss the way her voice is low and quiet. Uncharacteristic of her usual upbeat, charismatic persona. Choosing to ignore the weird feeling that something is wrong, I pay close attention to unfolding the paper wrapping my bagel.
Heather sighs deeply. “Chase.” She leans back in her chair. “We need to talk.”
I lick some cream cheese off my finger. “Yeah? What’s up?” I smile, unfolding the paper to reveal my everything bagel.
“I’m so sorry to tell you this, but…” She breathes out harshly. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to let you go.”
A silent beat passes between us.
Pictures of me working anywhere other than here flash behind my eyes, and it’s honestly terrifying.
Where would I go? What’d I do wrong? Why doesn’t she want me?
Slowly, a small smile cracks Heather’s lips. “Okay, I’m fucking with you.”
A whoosh of relief floods my body.
“You’re hilarious.” I shake my head, huffing out a laugh. “How could you joke about that?”
“You make jokes all the time.”
“Yeah, but my jokes are funny.” I smirk, biting into my bagel.
She over-exaggerates the roll of her eyes, taking a sip of her hot coffee.
Still, I can’t help but feel something’s a little off about her energy today. Heather has always been such a sweet person to me. We’ve always had such an open and honest relationship. If she’s nervous to talk to me about something, it must be serious.
Placing my bagel down, I sit back in my seat. “Okay, talk to me. What’s up?” I ask. Even though I’m starved, breakfast can wait.
Gnawing at the corner of her bottom lip, she looks me over. “Okay, well…there is something. Something big.”
I hold my breath, which she clearly notices since she quickly follows up with, “It’s great news.”
I nod, urging her to continue.
“Last weekend, I met a major investor in New York who’s interested in WingMate.
I’m talking a million in funding to expand WingMate internationally, and…
this just may be exactly what we’ve been needing to really take off,” she rushes.
Clasping her hands together, she places them in front of her lips, excitedly waiting to hear my reaction.
A wide grin stretches across my face. “Holy shit! Heather, that’s amazing. You’ve always wanted WingMate to go global.”
“I know!” She excitedly bounces in her seat. “This is huge, but there are a lot of things to do to get this process in motion. Which is why I wanted to talk to you about this.” She inhales a deep breath.
My brows knit. “Okayyy.”
“You’re incredible at what you do on our social team, but I’m going to need you to be completely hands-on with this. I need your support now more than ever.”
My heart starts to beat out of my chest. “Are you telling me what I think you’re telling me?”
Heather eagerly bounces in her seat, nodding. “I want to promote you to Marketing Manager. You’ll be taking full responsibility for the entire marketing team. What you say goes. You’ll be working closely with the rest of the executive team while we really spearhead this.”
A breathless laugh escapes me as I let her words really sink in. “Heather, I don’t even know what to say.”
This is all I’ve ever wanted since starting here.
She grins, getting up from her desk. “Say you’ll be a part of this with me.”
I laugh. “It’s a no-brainer.”
“Okay, great. Because there’s one other thing.” She rounds the desk and stops in front of me, leaning against the edge as she studies my reaction.
I chuckle, looking up at her. “That’s not all? You’ve really been busy, eh?”
“It’s funny you say that.” Her cheeks redden as she bites her lip again, nervously clasping her hands in front of her. “You know my main goal with WingMate. It’s always been to end up on a yacht with Emily, with our kids and three dogs. Not working night and day anymore—”
I nod along. “Yeah, of course. You and your sixteen children,” I tease.
Heather takes a big breath in. “Well…how about… we start at just the one?” She beams, eyes bright with joy.
My heart stops as my brain registers what she’s telling me. As soon as I do, I jump up out of my seat and wrap her up in a tight hug. “Heather! Wha—That’s so fantastic.”
Changes. Changes. Everything’s changing.
I swallow down the niggling feelings pulling in my mind and hug her tighter. I know how badly Heather and Emily have been trying for a child with IVF. Forever, it seems like.
“I’m going to love that baby so damn much.” I laugh softly before letting her go. “Have you told anyone else yet?”
She shakes her head. Her eyes sparkling. “Only family for the past few months. You’ve been the first friend.”
“I feel so special.” I smile softly, holding her arms in my hands. “So, how are you going to do all of this with a new baby on the way?” I ask.
“Well…that’s the thing.” She cringes, delicately. My heart falls once again.
If she’s gone…
“I’m hiring a Chief Operating Officer who will come in and oversee all operations, acting as me. He’ll be working closely with you and the rest of the executive team to make sure everything’s running smoothly.”
I guess that makes sense. Someone’s going to have to handle everything to ensure her vision for the company remains intact. “Okay. Until the baby comes?”
Her brows furrow. “Indefinitely. I’m taking a step back, Chase.”
My grin falters. "Like, step back, step back?"
Something about that sits weirdly in my chest.
How is this changing so quickly?
After college, I’ve only ever had this job. Starting as an intern and working my way up, I’ve always been right beside Heather. I don’t know how I’d do this without her.
Yet, after one call, she’s quitting? Leaving us? Leaving me?
Suddenly, the thought of a new boss makes my stomach turn and my skin crawl.
I feel her eyes scanning me. Reaching out, she squeezes my arm. “Chase, don’t worry. I’ll still be around.”
I blink a few times, registering the way she’s wording things. “Oh my God, you’re worried about me.”
With everything filling her plate, I’m the last thing she should be worried about.
“I’m not worried, I’m just…Chase, I know you. You tend to…” She tilts her head, giving me a sympathetic smile. “I know you care deeply about people. You tend to latch on to people. I just don’t want you to feel abandoned.”
Latch on? Ouch.
A humorless puff of air escapes my lips as I square my shoulders. “I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about me. I’m sure this new boss and I will hit it off right away. You go, be merry on your yacht with your wife and sixteen children. I’ll be fine, trust me.”
She laughs softly. “You said you’ll be fine already.”
I give her the best smile I can muster. “Thank you for trusting me with this. I won’t let you down.”
Her worrisome face smooths over, and quickly, it’s replaced by pride.
“You never have. I’m so proud of you, Chase, and I’m so excited to see what you’ll do.
We’ll announce it to the rest of the office this week, and we’ll get you set up for your new role.
” She dusts off her hands and goes back to sitting at her desk.
Thankfully, her confidence in my work soothes the nerves in my chest.
“Sounds great.” I settle into my seat. “And this new COO? When do they start?” I ask, going back to my bagel.
“I actually just got off the phone with him. He’ll be starting on Monday.”
“Holy, you work fast,” I chuckle under my breath.
“Gotta get everything set for my baby, baby.” She shimmies in her seat before taking a bite of her breakfast.
“Well, I hope he knows what he’s doing. You’ve built a great app, Heather.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. I’ve done my research. His reputation is a good one. I really believe he’s exactly what we need.”
“Well, can’t wait to meet the guy.”
“I’m sure you’ll both get along just great. You’ll see.” She winks at me.