Loving Him is Grey (50 shades fanfic-PG-13)

Chapter 27

I've sat through three hour science lectures before, but nothing could have prepared me for the boringness that is a business meeting. Not that I expected them to be fun, but I assumed a meeting about books would be exciting. I mean, it was business that involved books.

I stare at the clock across from me, realizing that it's only been an hour. How much longer could they talk about a font? Who knew this much work went into producing a book. Our new author, Elle, is writing furiously on her notepad. She looks not much older than me. Probably close to her thirties. She's a newer author. Before she was self-published, but she wanted to break into the traditional publishing. Choosing our company was the best decision she could have made. We give our authors our utmost attention to make their books the best in the industry. Because we all know that nobody wants to read a boring book.

"Ana, what do you think?"  Jack asks me and all eyes go on me.

I bite down on my pencil. "Uh...I think twelve font would do just fine."

Elle covers her mouth before bursting into laughter. Jack and the other two men don't look as amused with my answer. Oh my God...did they switch topics while I was in la la land?

"Ana, we wanted to know about the cover."

"Oh," my cheeks grow hot and I know my cheeks are an unflattering deep shade of red. If Christian was here, he would probably react the same way as Jack. He hates when I dose off during a conversation with me. His business talks can just be so boring that I can't help but think about puppies and ribbons. When I told him that, I was hoping he would have sprung a puppy on me, but no such luck.

"I think keeping it simple," I tell them flustered. It's not the best impression for my first official business meeting. This isn't college anymore. In the real world, you're expected to always be aware and pay attention. Adulting is so hard. Who let me grow up? I miss the relaxing and when I wasn't constantly stressed. Of course that was also when I was single and didn't have a billionaire boyfriend who came with a bit of drama here and there.

Then again, who doesn't have their own drama in their lives? I used to be one of those girls in high school who would constantly gossip with their friends. I never heard gossip about myself, but I wasn't in a very big group so there could have been talk. I just would have never noticed. Now here I am, in a job that I dreamed of having since I was a little girl and I'm blowing it. I blame it on Christian's arrival in Chicago. How am I expected to concentrate when my boyfriend came all the way from Seattle to ensure I had a good time while I was here. Plus, Chicago is beautiful and the perfect place to bring a boyfriend to. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a fairytale. Or maybe just one of those cheesy romance novels I read. Like I told Victoria a while ago, I could be the poster child for one of those books.

Elle finally stops laughing long enough to respond to my suggestion. She slams down her palm on the table with a satisfied smile. "I like that. I think having people on my cover will just make it too busy. The simpler, the better. Thank you, Ana. Even though you're practically asleep over there."

Once again, my cheeks flush with embarrassment. I don't know how I'll be able to cope being around Jack after this. He'll reprimand me and embarrass me like he does. Sometimes I want to throw my coffee in his face and tell him off. But I can't. I need this job. And I don't want to complain to Christian about it anymore because he'll get involved. When Christian gets involved, I know I'll never be able to have a job in publishing ever again. It's best to just dust it under the rug along with the rest of my issues. Maybe I should start journaling again. No, it would just include me writing about how much I want to punch Jack in his stupid, arrogant face.

After about another twenty minutes worth of discussion, we head out into the hall. The two tall men that didn't bother learning their names, walks out first. Elle thanks us for our time before heading into the opposite direction. Jack and I ride down to the lobby in an awkward silence. Elevators are the most awkward places to be trapped with your boss when you know he wants to yell his lungs out at you.

Once we reach the lobby, I start to make my way over to the piano where I see Christian. He sits there reading a newspaper as the sound of the piano keys ring through the lobby. Christian should really start playing the piano again. He'd look so good doing it too...My thoughts trail off and just as I make my way over to him, a hand wraps around my wrist. I stumble into Jack who's eyes look angry.

"We should talk about what happened in that conference room. That was extremely unprofessional and it made our company look bad."

I glance over at Christian who has started watching us. I see his intense stare on my wrist where Jack's hand is. I look straight into Jack's eyes. "I'm sorry. It'll never understand; it won't happen again."

"Make sure that it doesn't."

"Everything okay over here?" I hear Christian's voice behind me.

I go still, gauging Jack's reaction to seeing Christian. "No problem."

"Mmm..." Christian steps around to put his arm over my shoulder. "Well,  I don't appreciate you grabbing Anastasia like that. Unless you want to get hurt, I would back off, Hyde."

"Don't..." I whisper to him. "Not now."

Jack arches his eyebrow at the both of us. "You two have a nice night. Both of you."

"We will." Christian watch him go.

Yep, I could crawl into a hole and hide for the rest of my life. The way everything has gone today, there's without a doubt no way I'll be able to keep my job after that exchange. I'm thankful Christian stood up for me, but this was one moment I needed to handle it myself. He only adds fuel to the fire. Jack and Christian have that weird thing going on. Which I still need to get to the bottom of. Maybe these next couple of the days I'll get around to asking him. The puzzle pieces don't seem to be fitting together. It's only making me more annoyed.

Operation Hyde-Grey is a go.

*I know I haven't updated in a while, but school and everything has been kicking my butt. I'm almost on summer vacation, so I'll be able to devote more of my time to writing. Again, thanks for reading!*