“Oh, it’s alright, it was no problem,” I tell him. I start for the door, but I have barely moved an inch when Brett gets up. He takes my wrist gently in his hand to stop me from leaving. I look up at him questioningly. He smiles and wraps his arm around my waist. I feel myself blushing. I go to push him off, but I think better of it. It’s not like he’s telling his father about us. He’s just going to say I’m a good personal assistant or something, and if I shove him off, it’s going to look really odd.
“Actually father, the reason I can’t stay on here? It’s not that complicated,” Brett says to Mr. Connell. “I can’t take over the company because I am in love with Opal and I want to pursue a relationship with her. She is far more valuable to the company than I and so it makes sense that I’m the one to go.”
I feel like the floor has just lurched beneath my feet. I can’t believe Brett has just done this. I want the ground to open up and swallow me.
“Stop this nonsense at once!” Mr. Connell snaps. “You expect me to believe that Opal would be this unprofessional?” He stands up as he says it and stares at us for a moment. His face changes as he takes us in. Something in the way Brett and I fit together, even when I’m so mad I want to rip his head off, must make Mr. Connell see that there’s some truth to Brett’s words. Mr. Connell shakes his head.
He looks so disappointed in us that I feel like crying. I have never let him down before, but now I have, it’s certainly been done in style.
Mr. Connell doesn’t say a word to either of us. He turns and leaves the office, slamming the door behind him.
I finally find that I can move again, and I shrug Brett’s arm off my waist. “Are you fucking kidding me Brett?” I shout.
He looks surprised by my anger. “I thought you would be pleased,” he says. “You said you hate having to keep our relationship a secret and now, we don’t have to. There’s no danger of my father ever asking me to take over the company again, and we can be together properly.”
“Oh right, I see,” I say. “And the fact I’m going to get fired isn’t important enough to worry about?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Brett says. “I’m having dinner with my mom tonight. I’ll talk to her and she’ll make sure my father doesn’t fire you. Plus, I’ve just reminded him how valuable you are to him.”
“You’re missing the point Brett,” I snap angrily. “I don’t want to not get fired because your mom begs for me to keep my job. And I did want people to know about us. But not like this. I wanted us to tell people on our terms, when we were both ready. How would you have felt if I’d just blurted it out like that without discussing it with you first?”
“I’m sorry Opal. I didn’t think of that. I just thought that this way, my dad could see why I don’t want to take over the company and honestly, I didn’t think you’d be so mad.”
“God Brett, how can you be this fucking selfish? You used me to score points with your dad. Well, nice one. It looks like you really did shock him.” I turn to head for the door. I don’t know if I’m more pissed off at Brett for doing this, or more pissed off at myself for thinking he was different. I turn back, giving a bitter laugh. “You know something? If you’d decided to stay here, I was going to find another job somewhere else, so we could be together properly.”
“Well, maybe this isn’t so bad then, if you were thinking of leaving anyway,” Brett states.
It’s like he’s trying to get me to explode with rage. I shake my head, my anger making me mute for a moment. I make a sound that’s half a moan and half a scream, the sound of the frustration inside of me spilling out.
I thought saying that I was ready to take such a big step for him would make him realize how badly he has fucked up, but it seems like I really don’t know Brett at all. I find my voice again, “That would have been my choice. How can you not see that backing me into a corner and forcing me to leave the company isn’t a good thing? How can you possibly think I wanted any of this to come out like this?”
“Look, I said I’m sorry and I am. Don’t worry. I’ll fix this.”
“I don’t want you to fix it. I wanted you to not break it in the first fucking place?” I shout. “You know what? I can’t even look at you right now.” I start for the door again. This time, I have it half open when something occurs to me. I let go of the door handle, letting the door close again for a second. I turn back to Brett.
He looks so hurt and so confused that this has spiralled out of control so much that it takes everything in me not to go to him and wrap him in my arms, but I can’t do that.
Not after what he’s just done. It’s not just that he has put my job in jeopardy. I did that myself when I started seeing Brett and I always knew I was risking getting fired. It’s the fact he used me to wriggle out of this job, that he humiliated me in front of Mr. Connell. And the fact that he can’t seem to see what was so wrong about that. “Did you mean it?” I demand.
“Mean what? That I can fix this? Yes, I …”
“No, no that,” I say, cutting him off in the middle
