Chapter Three Jasmine
CHAPTER THREE
Jasmine
Unbelievable!” I slammed my portfolio on Cassie’s desk, making her jump.
“Oh my goodness!” She slammed her laptop shut, giving me her full attention. “Did you get fired? Wait, hold up. Did I get fired?”
No. It was worse. So much worse.
I wondered if getting fired would have been preferable to what happened in that meeting. I was still trying to wrap my head around it.
“Apparently, Edward Mason has a sick sense of humor, or he’s one of those psychotic billionaires who thrives on the misery of others.” I dropped into my chair and placed my head in my hands.
“Okay, that explains nothing.” Cassie slapped her open palm on her desk. “Has anyone been fired—and most importantly, is it me?”
I heaved a deep sigh and lifted my head to meet her eye. “Apparently, Derek Carter—”
“Derek Carter, the piece of furniture in a three-piece suit who we saw yesterday?” Clearly, her concern for her job evaporated with the mention of a handsome man. I ignored her and continued.
“Derek Carter also had the idea to revive the Miller’s Cove project, but he has the asinine idea to over development and turn it into some boring tourist trap, because Florida doesn’t have enough of those.
” I rolled my eyes. “And Edward Mason not only loves this idea, he also loves my idea to capitalize on the history of the town and focus on the baked goods. You know, the one that’s innovative and not the same old crap that everyone else has done. ”
“Okay, he liked both of your ideas,” she quipped. “What does that mean? Which one is he going with?”
“That’s the thing. He wants Derek and me to go to Miller’s Cove and come up with detailed proposals for our ideas, and the owner of the proposal that he likes best gets to keep their job.”
“So, what I’m hearing is that you’re getting a paid trip to the Florida coast with a man who looks like he stepped off the pages of GQ magazine, and this is a problem, because…” She raised an eyebrow.
“I can’t do this, Cassie.” I felt my voice begin to crack. “Not with him.”
“Okay, what is your history with this dude? Is he an ex-boyfriend?”
I shook my head.
“Ex… lover?” She dropped her voice an octave and waggled her eyebrows.
“Hell no!” I scoffed.
“So what is your problem with this guy?”
I didn’t even know where to begin to describe my history with Derek Carter.
“W-well, he was,” I stammered. “Actually, he was…” My voice drifted off at Cassie’s sudden change in expression. I turned my head to follow her gaze.
Actually, Derek Carter was standing in the doorway of our office.
“How did you get up here?” I stammered, more in shock than anger. “What do you want?” I stood from my desk and glared at him. Without invitation, he strode into my office and stopped a foot in front of my desk. His nostrils flared. He was clearly pissed off about something. That made two of us.
“I want to know how you nosed your way into the Miller’s Cove project.” He jabbed his finger onto the portfolio on my desk.
“Excuse me?” I scoffed. “I didn’t nose my way into—”
“Oh, bull, Jasmine,” he cut me off, making my heart pound and heat creep into my cheeks.
“I’ve been working on that project for weeks, ever since MasonCorp announced the Waterford buyout, and you just happen to come out of nowhere with the same project?
Out of all the other dead projects!” he spluttered before adding, “For what? For some dumbass cookies?”
“First of all, lower your voice when you’re talking to me,” I seethed.
“You are in my office. Second of all, I had no idea you’d been working on the Miller’s Cove project ‘for weeks,’” I mocked him, “and I don’t give a damn.
Third of all, my ‘dumbass cookies’ are a more dynamic and innovative fit for Miller’s Cove than whatever tired-ass hospitality project you have planned.
So, if I were you, I’d spend less time harassing me and more time working on your proposal, because you’re gonna need every second you can get.
” I crossed my arms over my chest and tilted my head.
I didn’t miss Derek’s head momentarily flicking downward before he narrowed his eyes at me, his chest rapidly rising and falling.
“Now, get the hell out of my office before I call security.”
He shook his head before turning on his heel and stalking out of my office. I let out a deep sigh when he turned to face me just before he got to the door.
“I should have expected something like this from you.” His voice was full of venom. “I guess the rotten apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. You can’t trust a Morgan.”
I felt like I’d been hit in the chest. I watched him disappear down the hall before I slowly sank into my chair and willed myself not to cry.
“What was that?” Cassie whisper-shouted across our office. I’d momentarily forgotten she was here.
“That,” I muttered, “is why I can’t work with Derek Carter.”
“Okay.” She walked across the office and seated herself in one of the chairs opposite my desk. “We are gonna get through the rest of the day, and as soon as the clock hits 4:59, we are leaving this office and getting drunk.”
After my third cosmopolitan at The Capital Grille, my shoulders finally began to relax.
“Wow, that’s crazy.” Cassie popped another shrimp into her mouth. “So, what happened to make your parents dissolve their company and never speak to their best friends again?”
Apparently, I’d also relaxed enough to spill my guts to Cassie about my long history with Derek and his family, something I never did.
This might have been the first time I’d ever confided in anyone about it, which was wild, considering that since Cassie joined my team at Waterford six years ago we’d spent almost every day together.
“I don’t know.” I punctuated my words with a clumsy gesture of my left hand, almost knocking over my drink.
“I don’t know. My parents never talk about it.
Well, not to me at least. All I know is we were so close to the Carters.
CJ and Derek were, like, the closest thing I had to cousins.
” I felt myself getting emotional. “We spent almost every holiday together, vacations, everything. Then one day…” I blew a giant raspberry.
“Nothing. We never saw them or talked to them again.” I slapped my hand on the bar before grabbing my glass and downing the rest of my cocktail.
“Did you ask?” Cassie pressed. “Here, eat this.” She put a corner of a pita into my hand. It took me three attempts to dip it into the small dish of hummus before I answered.
“I wanted to, but I was afraid.” I shoved the pita in my mouth and kept talking. “My parents were going through it. I was a freshman in college. It was just… a lot.”
“Okay, you know I love you”—she placed a hand on my wrist—“but judging from Derek’s… outburst… today, do you think there’s a chance that…?”
“A chance that what?” My emotions flipped from sadness to anger so fast that I nearly fell off my bar stool. I knew what Cassie was getting at, but I needed her to say it out loud.
“Look,” she sighed. “I’ve never asked you about it before, and I probably wouldn’t be asking you now if I didn’t have all these Jack and gingers, but c’mon, Jasmine, you know what the rumors are about your parents. I know you love them, but what if… there’s some truth to them?”
“There isn’t!” I realized too late that I’d shouted those words before lowering my voice, though only slightly.
“My parents are not thieves. They are not embezzlers. Those rumors are bull, and screw anyone who thinks they’re not.
” Damn it. I was tearing up again. Derek’s words in my office suddenly blazed in my brain like a neon sign.
“And screw Derek Carter.” I signaled the bartender for another cosmopolitan.
“Speak of the damn devil,” Cassie muttered.
“What?” I spluttered, and she pointed over my shoulder.
Derek Carter was seated at a table across the restaurant.
And he was with a woman.
On a date.
Maybe it was a date.
I didn’t care.
Whether or not Derek Carter was on a date was none of my business.
It didn’t bother me.
Who gave a damn about what Derek Carter did?
I didn’t.
That didn’t explain why I downed half of the fresh drink the bartender placed in front of me before making my way over to his table.
I ignored Cassie desperately hissing my name and awkwardly weaved my way through the maze of tables until I was standing in front of Derek and a woman who was definitely his date by the look of her dress.
Again, not that I cared.
“Jasmine, what the hell are you—”
“Well, well, well.” I planted my fists on my hips and prayed that I wasn’t swaying on my feet. “Doesn’t feel so good to have people come into your personal space and get in your face, does it, Derek. Benjamin. Carter?” I wasn’t sure why I used his name, much less his whole name.
“Jasmine, are you drunk?”
Duh.
“None of your business,” I retorted. “But you know what is my business, Derek Carter?” I poked him in the shoulder.
“All those horrible things you said in my office about my family—that’s my business.
My parents are the best people I know, and they loved you…
so much. You had no right to…” Oh no, I was tearing up again.
I had to say something to get control of this situation, and I had to do it before Cassie could stumble over here and pull me away.
“You’re gonna regret crossing paths with me, Derek.
Benjamin. Carter.” Damn it, I did it again.
“I’m gonna get the Miller’s Cove project, and you’re gonna regret the—”
“Derek,” a female voice called out. I’d almost forgotten about his date. “Who is this woman?” I turned to face her.