I stomped onto the elevator, angered that without even trying, the two troublemaking CEOs had already put their noses in my business. Without even meaning it, they had gotten me in trouble at work. Zane had little tolerance for mess ups. He had that in common with my mother.
I pressed the floor for the cafeteria, and then angrily tapped my foot as I waited for it to take me down.
The soothing music did nothing to take away my nerves.
They just couldn't help themselves, could they?
The elevator stopped and the doors opened. I stepped out, and was immediately greeted with the cafeteria—a floor entirely dedicated to food of all kinds. Salad bars, fruit bars, Chinese bars, margarita bars, it was all there.
I stared at it with an open mouth. Zane was so rich that he made an entire floor of his international headquarters a cafe? How American of him.
I started walking to the long line of refrigerators that I could only hope that one held his lunch. But on the bright side, if there was leftover cake, I didn't think anybody would notice if an extra slice went missing.
I opened the first fridge. It was stocked to the brim. How the hell was I supposed to find his salad in here?
"—oh I was in awe. Like, what would he be doing here?"
My ears perked. I tried to keep going through the food, but my mind told me I very barely knew that voice. And I was still young and dumb. I loved gossip. I kept listening as I rummaged through the food.
"I knew I just had to follow her down to the lobby and find out for myself, to tell you guys, of course?" The voice swooned. "When I got down there, there he was. And my God, his muscles were practically bursting from his shirt! I watched them argue, and heard something about a CEO, but then he left as soon as he came. I have no idea who he is, but I would give anything to find out."
I frowned. Was that the girl that had said that me and Jake would make cute babies?
My face twisted with disgust.
"Wait!" A male voice shouted suddenly. "Was he blond with cheekbones that could slice through butter?"
My mouth fell open. Unable to only eavesdrop any longer, I turned away from the fridge to see who the hell had just said that.
There were slews of metal tables and chairs littering the cafeteria floor. Surprisingly, they were all empty at 2 in the afternoon, except for one. Three people sat crowded around a table cradling cups of tea.
That was the girl from before. Crap, what was her name? I only remembered yelling at her.
She nodded. "Sounds right."
A male jumped up from his seat. "I know who that is!" He exclaimed. "That's Jake Hill! He's the CEO of Crimson, the tech company that merged with ProGo. Oh my God, Haley! I can't believe you got to stand in his presence. How did you not drop your underwear the minute you saw him?"
Haley smiled nervously. "Shut up, Henry. We were in public. Besides, he was there for a different girl."
"What? Who was the lucky bitch?" The male demanded.
My eyes widened. I tried to turn around and disappear behind the refrigerator door as fast as possible, but I wasn't quick enough. My eyes connected with the girl's and it was game over.
Haley immediately pointed at me. "Her."
The other two men turned. Their jaws went slack at the sight of me.
I squirmed slightly. That was definitely not a normal reaction.
"You?" The second man questioned.
I shook my head. "Uh, no, definitely not. You have the wrong person," I said quickly. "I don't even know what you are talking about."
Henry scoffed. "Don't play dumb with me. We've caught your nosy nose red-handed."
I held up my hands in defense. "Seriously, I'm innocent, sir. I just came down here to get lunch for Mr. Charlemagne."
"What! Playing with two CEOs?" Henry scowled. "I can't even manage one."
I turned away, feeling extremely awkward. How was anybody supposed to respond to that? Especially if the real answer was three. Maybe if I just ignored them, then they would go away.
I closed the first fridge's door to move onto the next one. That was when my space was invaded by the oddest trio I had ever encountered.
"Who are you?" Henry demanded.
I stared at him. "Alexa Baker."
He rolled his eyes. "And what is your job here, Alexa Baker?"
"Um, I'm the personal assistant of Mr. Charlemagne," I stammered. That title didn't sound as cool as I had imagined.
Henry looked at me with accusing eyes. "But you also know Jake Hill?"
I nervously nodded.
He huffed. "What was he doing here? For you?"
"Henry!" The second man scolded. "Leave the poor girl alone. You're terrorizing her."
"I want answers!"
"You are an entry-level accountant. You don't get answers," the man scoffed. "Especially not from the personal assistant of the president of this whole entire company."
"Wait!" Haley said. "That means you know Gretchen don't you?"
"Yeah?" I answered unsurely.
"Oh!" She brightened. "We're her best friends! That means if you trust her then you can trust us!"
"Tell us your secrets," Henry threatened.
I swallowed. Mom was right. Work gossip cults are very real.
"Fine!" I said at last, unable to take their bra thingy down my neck any longer. I sighed. "Jake came here to ask for his roommate's watch back."
"What?" Henry said in disbelief. "You've been to his house?"
"Penthouse, actually," I corrected.
"You slut," he grinned.
"It's not like that," I defended. "It's just a really, really long story."
"We have time," Haley blurted.
Was she sweating?
Flustered by the attention, I stepped aside. "Well I don't," I said curtly. "It was great meeting you, friends of Gretchen, but I have food to deliver. So, if any of you know where Mr. Charlemagne keeps his food, then I would be eternally grateful."
The second man raised his eyebrows. "Do you promise to tell us the whole story some time?"
I eyed him. "Yes?"
He nodded. "Third fridge to the end."
I scampered over. Sure enough, it was the only food in the industrial sized fridge. I grabbed it and made a beeline for the elevator.
As the doors closed, I saw that all three of them were still staring at me, fascinated by my mere existence. I tried to shake them immediately though, worried much more by what awaited me when the doors opened a second time.
Zane is going to kill me.
He wasn't there waiting for me though. So, as soon as the doors to the elevator opened, I sprinted to go deliver his lunch. The only thing that stopped me was when I saw Gretchen leaving his office wearing a very irritated expression.
I stopped. And I listened.
Faintly, I could hear yelling and roaring.
"The noise," Gretchen muttered. "I swear he only has these calls when my expense reports are due."
I frowned. "Should I even try to go in?"
"Definitely," she replied. "He's a beast right now. Imagine how he is on an empty stomach."
I didn't like the picture.
With his food still held tightly in my arms, I walked past Gretchen and very slowly entered his lair. When the doors were opened, the muffled yells burst into sharp focus. I winced at his booming voice, but I kept going. He looked very angry. But it didn't seem as though he had seen me.
Yet.
I crept over and carefully dropped the food on his desk.
"That's bull shit! Who does he think he's helping?" Zane growled. "Well, it's definitely not the one percent! And that's my customer base. Those tariffs are going to wipe us out."
I was almost out the door when, abruptly, I heard the slam of a phone against a desk. I winced. That was not good.
"Intern Baker!" Zane yelled.
I spun around. "Yes, sir?" I asked nervously.
"Pack your bags," he said firmly. "You leave Saturday morning to represent Matteo at an international conference in Chicago. The president has just approved a bill that is about to take a chunk out of all of our asses, and we need to congregate to bitch about it."
My eyes widened. "Oh!" I said, stunned. "Okay. Of course. Thank you so much, sir!"
He scowled. "All of the major companies will be there, got it? I need you to protect our interests. I've noticed you're good at that."
My cheeks went red. "Of course, sir. I'll make you proud."
"See to it that you do." He flicked his hand at me, a gesture that meant to leave him in peace with his deli sandwich. I happily obliged.
I left the office, and then took a deep breath. My knees were weak with adrenaline. I had just received my first major assignment. A real one. This was actually happening.
Oh my. This is actually happening.
I immediately went to find Gretchen. If there was anyone that could confirm for me how big a deal this was, it was her. I'm sure she had seen it all.
I found her in her office. Without hesitating, I spilled the news.
She squealed with excitement for me. "That's amazing, Alexa!" She beamed "I've never seen him do anything like that for an intern. You should feel very proud of yourself."
Okay. Yes. This was a big deal.
"I know," I exclaimed. "I'm about to die with anxiety, though. Do you think this is his way of getting rid of me because I didn't back down earlier this morning?"
Gretchen shook her head. "Definitely not. If anything, that showed him that you could hold your own. This is a win, girl. Don't sell yourself short."
"Okay," I breathed.
Slam.
We both turned. For the first time, I saw someone other than Gretchen leaving the VP's office. She looked to be only two years older than me, but I was in awe of her beauty just the same. She was fair skinned with an overflowing amount of perfect red curls, but she was also impossibly tall. The matching set of a grey blazer and pantsuit did nothing to diminish her intimidating looks.
My mouth formed an O. "Is that the VP's wife?" I whispered to Gretchen.
Gretchen snorted. "It wouldn't be a bad guess to say that she was married to herself."
My eyebrows furrowed. "What does that mean?" I questioned.
Gretchen sighed. "That's Ember Lockwood. She is the VP, and, unfortunately, my boss."
I gasped. "But she looks like she belongs on the Victoria Secret runway," I said before I could even reconsider my words. My eyes were still fixated on her as she seemed engrossed in her phone. "How on earth does she have this job?"
Gretchen scoffed. "Oh Ember would have no problem telling you that story."
I frowned. "Are her and Zane having a co workers with benefits?"
"What? Oh God no," Gretchen said quickly. She looked instantly annoyed at the thought. "Like you said earlier, Ember is practically married to herself and her work. She is way too obsessed with the mirror to see anyone else. And even if she could find a heart somewhere, Zane is the devil about work relationships. He fires anyone so much as flirting."
"Well," I said slowly, "that's unfortunate."
I left Gretchen's office soon after to go collect my stuff for the day. Thankfully my stack of work had dwindled now that there was only one thing on the agenda—a business class flight to Chicago. The only thing I would have to focus on was what was actually needing to be said.
Once I had tucked my computer into my bag and switched off the lights, I left my office for the night. Zane was still slaving away, but he was adamant that I had to leave by five o clock.
When I rounded the corner for the executive elevator, I was surprised to see Ember still there, now off her phone and apparently waiting as well. I awkwardly stood near her. I didn't know wether to introduce myself though. She seemed irritated.
When the elevator arrived, we both stepped inside.
I pressed the button for the floor for the lobby.
We rode down in terrible silence...until I couldn't take it anymore.
"Uh," I said. "I don't think we've met. My name's Alexa. I'm Mr. Charlemagne's PA."
"Dumb bitch number 23," I heard her mutter under her breath.
I frowned. "I'm sorry?"
"Nothing."
"Oh." Was she referring to the amount of PA's Zane had had? "Okay, well, I just wanted to say that it's really cool thar you're a VP at such a young age. That success is remarkable."
Ember sniffed. "How cute. The bitch is kissing up to her master." She rolled her eyes. "The secret is that I didn't start off as a low life intern. People saw that I was a success, so they were compelled to keep promoting me."
The door dinged, and Ember stomped off.
I stared at her retreating figure in shock.
My mother told me that besides gossip cults, there would be that one person at work that you're going to be forced to work with even though you hated their guts. If I'm going to hate anyone at this company, then it was definitely going to be her.