“She braked suddenly for no reason! There was no one in front of her,” I defend myself. Barbara’s eyebrows pinch together, and she takes her glasses off so they hang on the chain around her neck. I know that if I don’t say sorry, this will just end in her quitting again. Last time, it cost me a month-long Mediterranean cruise. “Fine,” I huff out, “I’m sorry I accused you of being drunk. I should have just called you what you are—a reckless, clueless female driver.”
Lauren stands there glaring at me as Barbara yells, “I quit!” This must shock Lauren, because she immediately goes to Barbara and strokes her back. “Oh no. No, no, no. Please, really, it’s fine. It’s totally okay. I accept his apology.” She aims a glare at me. “I understand now why so many women left, he’s a...” She leans in and whispers in Barbara’s ear. I don’t know what she says, but they both snicker. Great, just great.
“Yup, my money is on Lauren.” She looks at me. “You’re lucky she saved you this time.” She smiles at Lauren. “Let’s do lunch tomorrow. Austin’s treat.”
She leaves the room leaving us all alone. “Fine. I guess I’ll try and work with you, for Barbara.” She walks out to the desk facing my office. She puts her purse on it. Turning the computer on, she grabs a pen and notepad and comes back in. “No time like the present to get this out of the way, so why don’t we start with your expectations of me?”
I look at her while she sits in the chair in front of me, crossing her legs at her ankles. I sit down, leaning back in my chair, and start rocking. “Okay, fine. I expect you to be on time. Every day. No exceptions.”
She doesn’t write it down. “That isn’t a problem. I hate when people are late, so you don’t have to worry about that. Unless, of course, irresponsible people hit my car while I’m innocently driving, I’ll be here on time.”
“There is a list on your desk of routine tasks required of this position that you can read. If it’s not clear enough, then come ask me questions. How’s that?”
She gets up. “That sounds like a plan.” She turns to walk away, and I watch her. Every fucking step she takes she swings her hips; the best thing is, she has no idea she’s doing it. She has no idea that I’m sitting here negotiating with myself about my own rule. I’m not sure how I’m going to get anything done, because fucking her on my desk is the only thing I can think of that needs to be done right now.
Chapter 4
Lauren
I walk out of the office on shaky legs but manage to make it to my desk. I look up, letting out a slow breath.
I look down at the list that sits on my desk of tasks to be done during the day.
Looking over the list, I realize it looks pretty straightforward. Storing my purse under the desk, I take out my phone sending a quick text to Penelope.
Get me the fuck out of this job. STAT.
I turn and start going through the emails. I forward most of them to Austin, since I have no idea which ones are important or not.
When the phone on the desk rings, I look down to see if they wrote down how to answer it. When I notice that there are no instructions on the paper, I just answer with, “Hello.”
“Can you tell me why I have fifty extra emails that you forwarded to me?” His snarky voice makes me close my eyes and count to ten. It’s like dealing with my children.
“I didn’t know which one is important or not, so I forwarded them to you for handling or direction,” I respond, looking at the list, checking to see if I missed something.
“It defeats the purpose of having an assistant if I have to answer my own emails,” he huffs into the phone. “Come in here. I’ll show you how it’s done,” he growls before he slams the phone down in my ear.
I take the phone from my ear and look at it. Did he just hang up on me? Without saying ‘please’ or fucking ‘thank you?’ I put the phone back down in the cradle, slamming it a little forcefully. There are a couple of things I just won’t tolerate. Being called a bitch is one of those things, and the other is when you don’t say fucking ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ Three words. Very easily said, and they make a world of difference in any interaction.
I get up and walk over to the door, knocking once. I walk in and sit down in front of him. “How are you going to see what to do if you aren’t over here so I can explain it to you?” he asks.
“Okay, now, just a minute. We may have started out on the wrong foot here.” I
