“Just keeping your options open…”
Before I could see what she listed as the pros and cons for him, I saw Mr. Frost approaching out of the corner of my eye.
I slammed her laptop shut just as he walked up.Did he see her list?
“I’m surprised you’re still here,” he said.
“Why?”
He picked up the binder and opened it to the first page. It was an hourly breakdown of everything I was supposed to do today, including a line item for 10:30 to leave and go pick up lunch from some place called The Sausage King. And it was almost 11.
“Better hurry if you don’t want to be late for your meeting with Masquerade Records,” said Mr. Frost.
“Why? Our meeting isn’t until noon. And can’t we just get it delivered?” I wasn’t his assistant. Didn’t he have someone else who could go fetch him food?
“They don’t deliver.”
“Let’s just order from somewhere else then. Gochujang Palace is pretty great.” I immediately regretted what I’d said. Mr. Frost’s gaze made me want to crawl under the desk. “Actually, I’ll just go pick up lunch from The Sausage King.”
“Good,” growled Mr. Frost. “I already placed the order under your name.” He spun on his heel and left.
I pulled out my phone to see where this Sausage King place was. Wherever it was, I definitely didn’t need to leave at 10:30 to pick up food for a noon meeting. That was the craziest…SHIT!Google maps said that The Sausage King was 24 minutes away based on current traffic. It was almost 11. I’d only have a few minutes to spare if traffic stayed the same, but it was almost lunchtime and there would surely be an accident. Why had Mr. Frost just let me sit here when he could see me through his office window?
I officially had the worst boss ever.
This Is War - Chapter 13 - The Sausage King
Monday – September 18, 2023
I told my Uber driver to hurry, but we pretty much hit every red light possible. And it didn’t help that construction took traffic down to one lane for a few blocks. As usual, no actual construction was being done.Thanks for making me late for the most important meeting of my career. Assholes.
Actually, that wasn’t entirely fair. While the construction workers were definitely assholes for putting up those cones when they clearly weren’t working, the real asshole was Mr. Frost. There were literally thousands of restaurants in NYC. But I was pretty sure Mr. Frost had intentionally picked the one that was farthest away just to mess with me.
Despite all that, my Uber driver did his best to earn his 5-star rating. At 11:25, we turned onto a street that looked like it was straight out of Germany. Most of the buildings were half-timbered, while the rest were super modern with lots of concrete and sharp angles. The street was lined exclusively with Audis, BMWs, and Volkswagens. So. Many. Volkswagens. And all the store names had weird umlauts in them. There was Schläfriger Bär, Schön, The Sausage King…Ah! The Sausage King!We’re here!
I was out of the Uber before the driver could even put the car in park.
“Wait here!” I called back to him as I ran up to the front door of The Sausage King. As long as they had the food ready, I would beable to make it back in time for my meeting. Hell, I might even have a few minutes to spare.
I let out a deep breath and pulled the door open. But it didn’t budge. I pulled again. Then I tried pushing just for good measure. Still no luck.
Shit!
Was this the wrong door? Some restaurants were weird and had different doors for takeout. There was writing on the door, but most of it was in German. The only thing I recognized were the store hours: Monday - Friday: Noon to 2 a.m.
Noon? Noon!?!? You’ve got to be kidding me.
I put my face to the glass and peered in. There was a nasty glare so it was hard to tell exactly what I was looking at, but I definitely didn’t see any movement. The place was deserted. Part of me wondered if it was even still in business.
Mr. Frost was probably sitting at his desk laughing his ass off. His plan was suddenly so clear. He wanted me to miss the meeting so that he could take credit for landing Masquerade Records. What better way to show that he was the right choice for the job than to make his competition look completely inept?
Shame on me for falling for it.
I got out my phone to call Mr. Frost. It was time to give him a piece of my mind. Except…I didn’t have his number. So I called Chastity instead.
“Do you have the food?” she asked.
“Put him on the phone right now.” I was practically yelling.
