Heart of Steel ~ Winn Schott

I Hear a Storm Is Coming In

The placement of Winn's desk was, in his qualified and expert opinion, as perfect as it could get.

His one rule when he'd been a child, hopeful and filled with wide-eyed naivety, was that no matter what, he would not end up in a desk job. He'd seen the effect it had had on his mother, and the pure idea of sitting around for hours every day with nothing to do other than adding numbers and drinking coffee had not appealed to eight-year-old Winn very much. Twenty-six-year-old Winn was much the same; absolutely terrified of monotony and full of unresolved hatred for cold brew.

His job at CatCo had therefore been intended to be short-lived, but the universe had a funny way of working and here he was, three years later and no chance of a career change any time soon.

It was why it was so important that Winn, resident desk-jockey and absolutely horrible desktop-solitaire player, needed drama.

If he didn't spend so much time at work or under the command of random twelve-year-olds on first-person shooters, he could host his own reality TV series. He'd put thought into it to; if studios would ever respond to his pitches, CatCo Unplugged: The Inside of an Empire would be raking in profits, but either he wasn't a charming enough person over email or they were all scared of his stellar idea because he'd never heard back.

Fridays usually consisted of Caterina from the print department spending her lunch break relaying whatever gossip travelled up from the lower floors to whoever would listen, but she and her exotic French fiancée (who most definitely had something going on with at least three of the lobby receptionists) were on maternity leave, and so his day had been anything but exciting.

That was, until a few minutes ago.

Out on the balcony, Kara and James had struck up a conversation. He felt a little bit guilty for spying, but he was desperate, and it wasn't as though he could actually hear anything they were saying.

He had to admit, it seemed as though the whole love triangle (square?) thing had blown itself over pretty quickly. After a few awkward conversations that Winn was pretty sure he hadn't needed to be present for, the three of them had gone back to the uneasy quasi-friendship-slash-work-partnership that they'd existed in before the whole thing had collapsed under their feet.

He was now completely sure that his interest in Kara had been insubstantial. He'd had plenty of time on his own to think about it, and he'd come to a conclusion that her consistency and her affectionate brand of friendship was simply something he wasn't used to. Her love for James had caused a steep jealousy that Winn had mistaken as romantic in origin, but really, he must have only been upset that she'd stopped hanging out with him.

Plus, he was becoming increasingly aware of other sort-of-romantic thoughts crashing around in the back of his mind.

Outside, Kara's hair was frizzing out of its ponytail and her cardigan hung loose around her shoulders (had she gone out?) and from the dignified way she was holding herself, Winn could tell that she and James were arguing.

So much for easy-breezy work partnerships.

The phone on his desk started blaring obnoxiously before he could work out what they were fighting about and he quickly picked it up, trying to avoid the annoyed stares a few of his desk-neighbours sent in his direction.

"Hello, this is the CatCo IT department. You're speaking to Winn."

"Hi, Mr Schott..."

Winn tried his best to keep any groan that he felt urged to make strictly internal. He would recognise that voice any day.

"Mrs Goodwin, I've already asked you to call me Winn. What seems to be the problem today?"

"I'm so sorry for calling again, but I can't seem to get any of my spreadsheets to open."