50 Shades of Drake 1 and 2

50SOD II: Chapter Thirty

    Aubrey commanded the room and the attention of everyone in it. There was a small desk several feet in front of the table, to the side of the canvas projection screen. He nonchalantly leaned against it with his arms folded across his chest. When speaking to the executives, he didn't mince words. He was very straightforward when explaining the details of the situation.

    There was a non-profit organization concept that he'd had. It was a program that would help to keep music and arts programs going in schools nationwide in both the United States and Canada. For a little over a year, he worked with a group of politicians to get the program off the ground. After yanking Aubrey's chain for the better part of that year, they decided that the program would be too costly.

    Aubrey hadn't taken the news that well. Destiny remembered like it was yesterday; the politicians rejected the program idea about six months ago. She was working at the bakery when his frustrated text message came across, the text message where he asked for her to leave work early. She'd known immediately that it must be important for him to ask her to leave work, so she had. He'd been quite emotional that day; the program was very close to his heart.

    That was when I suggested that instead of launching the program nationally, he started in a few cities first - on his own, without the help of any politicians. Only days later, he took it upon himself to conduct a rather...unorthodox interview with me. An interview where he decided to name drop every politician who had strung him along for that year.

    It had been a huge fiasco. Media outlets ran with the news of the article and the politicians named in the article had to do major damage control to keep their names from being dragged in the mud. Destiny's own name was mentioned in the majority of the reports, since her name was on the article's byline. News publications were still reaching out to her, asking her to work with them as a contributing writer.

    She snapped out of her memories and turned her attention back to the meeting at hand. Once Aubrey explained the situation to the seated executives in the conference room, he initiated the PowerPoint presentation, which Destiny recognized from her earlier meeting with Brian and the rest of her department.

    "Next, we are going to talk about possible approaches we will take when responding to these allegations," Aubrey said, pacing along the length of the conference table. "These days, silence after an accusation can be perceived as an admission of guilt. We want to make sure we give no indicators that we are guilty of any wrongdoing. Because, we're not." He gestured towards Brian.

    Brian smoothed down his tie as he stood up. He flashed a smile at some of his colleagues as he passed by them. "I do see a few new faces here. My name is Brian Davis. I am the Senior VP of Media Relations here at Graham Enterprises."

    Aubrey claimed Brian's seat and leaned back.

    Destiny sat up a little straighter and clasped her hands together on top of the table. She could feel his eyes on her, but tried to keep her focus on Brian. Her attempt was almost a success, but she felt Aubrey's thigh brush against hers and that subtle movement completely broke through her concentration.

    Just in case she hadn't felt it the first time, his thigh brushed against hers again. This time, she angled a look at him. Intensity flared up in his eyes as he silently stared back at her. With an elbow resting on the armrest of his chair, he raised a hand and ran his index finger across his bottom lip.

    She narrowed her eyes at him and turned her head back around to face Brian.

    Aubrey cleared his throat and leaned forward, lowering his hand from his mouth to his lap. It wasn't long before that hand traveled from his lap over to her thigh.

    She closed her eyes and felt her cheeks heating up. The lights in here are dim, but not that dim, she thought, blinking her eyes rapidly while trying to listen to what Brian was saying. Something about making sure statements released to the public were devoid of any underlying sarcastic tones. Aubrey isn't seriously risking someone seeing him touch me right now. His hand clamped around her thigh, contradicting that thought. She gasped out loud and covered her mouth with her hand.

    Brian arched an eyebrow at her, but smoothly continued his sentence as he turned his gaze to the executives in the room.

    Aubrey's hand continued to brush against her bare outer thigh and she continued to have heart palpitations. He raised his other elbow on top of the table and stroked his jaw while pretending to listen to Brian's presentation.

    She was thankful that she'd already listened to this presentation once before. Because Aubrey's hand lightly danced from her outer thigh to her inner thigh and from that point on forward, it was impossible to give Brian any of her attention whatsoever. She looked in his direction, but behind blank eyes all she could think about, all she could focus on, was Aubrey. How good he smelled, how good his hand felt, and how much she wished she could throw caution to the wind and fuck him right here on this conference table.