"Yeah, of course. Wait—vomiting? Girl, donotpuke in the car. I'm borrowing it from my cousin, and he'll literally kill me."
"Heard," I grunt. "What's going to happen with my team? What are you going to tell them?"
"Nothing, for now. We'll say you're taking a leave of absence, and any outstanding questions or concerns can be addressed with Kelly directly," Nora says. She sounds so rehearsed. Like she's been in this situation a million times. A far cry more professional than when she was yelling at Dustin in the brig, actually.
I guess we really fucked up. I mean, I know we did. But if we got Nora—Miss Prim and Proper Human Resources—to yell like that? God, we fucked upbad.
Janine shuffles me to the car—a trashed-out sedan, don't ask me what it's called, it's red—and shoves fast food wrappers from the passenger seat onto the floorboards. I silently plop into the (slightly sticky) seat and numbly bucklemyself in. She keeps starting questions, then shaking her head as we crawl along the city streets to her apartment.
What have I done? What have we done? Don't talk to him? What are they going to do, bug my phone?
I shiver in my seat. I don't know if they'd find out, but I'm nervous to test the theory. This is my job—both of our jobs—on the line. Shit.
Dustin
Nervoustensionbuzzesthroughmy veins. My bones are replaced with vibrated rods. Cold sweat gathers on the back of my neck, and I need to getout. But no, I'm still in the fucking brig, shaking my leg to the beat of my racing heart.
The ship's been docked again for a while. I think it has, anyway. I can't feel the gentle sway of movement anymore. I swipe my hands down my face and let out a sigh. The anxiety doesn't abate.
Fuck. I've always been so careful. Work-life boundaries have always been my thing. I follow the rules. I play the game. I do my job to the best of my abilities.
I came to New York—to DropTop—with the intention to onboard the latest Atmosphere acquisition. But it was always doomed, wasn't it? From the instant I saw Brooke at that stupid tourist shop (sorry, Janine), I was fucked. Even when she was at my throat, I couldn't deny the animalistic attraction between us. And I may be an idiot, but god, I'm a happy idiot.
Now, if only I can keep my job and Brooke's.
"Mr. Sanders?" Nora raps her knuckles against the metal door, shaking me from my thoughts. "It's time to go."
Stumbling to my feet, I only give her a curt nod before confidently walking down the hall towards the stairs.
"Wrong way, Mr. Sanders."
Shit. I about-face and walk again—with slightly less confidence—to the corrugated metal stairs. At the top, Kenton St. Clair (the bastard) stands waiting with Travis Bellardi.
"Dustin… Sanders, you said? Well, I wish I was meeting you under more pleasant circumstances, eh?" Kenton chuckles. "Though I did introduce you. I think I did a pretty good job, wouldn't you say? Well, that's neither here nor there. I understand you've had a bit of an, ah, indiscretion with a DropTop employee."
"Uh. Yes." A mortified flush runs down my neck.
"Well, obviously, that's against policy. And I'm afraid you're being put on unpaid leave." He offers me what I'd consider to be an inappropriately timed smile. "We will, of course, reimburse you for your departing airfare."
"Departing airfare?" I mumble.
"Well, yes. You can't expect we'd allow you to stay in the company apartment, do you?" He laughs. "Oh, heavens, no. We'll need that for your replacement."
"Replacement?"
"The acquisition is moving forward as planned. You will no longer be DropTop's Onboarding Director, though. The exact replacement is to be decided. Uh, Nora? What was it we decided on, regarding Mr. Sanders here and the DropTop employee?" Kenton St. Clair turns over to Nora, who smiles simpering at the CEO.
"That they will have absolutely no contact until the investigation is complete. She is on paid leave until the investigation concludes, at which time her role will be decided. You see, we really must discover if he promised any special treatment to her or her team in exchange for, uh, favors. Quid pro quo, as it were." Nora looks over at me with disgust.
"Hey, what? No! No quid pro quo! I… I love Brooke. I always have." The words spill from my mouth before I even knew they were coming. Shit. I mean, I'd toldher, but I hadn't told anyone else. Not even Alicia.
Nora's eyes nearly bug out of her head. "Always? Do you mean to say you orchestrated your presence here to… to… sexually harass a woman?"
"Oh, my god! No! What? That's insane!" I throw my hands up and stare stupidly at Kenton and Travis. "I hadn't even seen her inyears;we dated in high school and college—"
"Okay, that's enough." Kenton holds up a hand, and for some weird reason, it silences me. He may be a pompous ass of a CEO, but he can work a crowd. Even when thecrowd is just us four. "I may not be a practicing lawyer anymore, and I've certainly never been your lawyer, but I would highly suggest you stop talking."
Oh,fuck. Holy shit, do I need a lawyer?
