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thirty nine
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Over the next few days, work became a painful distraction from my even more painful reality.
Without having Tyler around, the jobs seemed to pile up for everyone else, which was good for getting my mind off everything, but made me all the more irritable and tired by the time I went home each afternoon.
Rather inevitably, there were also a countless number of reminders of Mr Gray everywhere around the office. And even though Mr Baird was the official Acting Manager while Tyler was gone, everything still seemed to be about 'Mr Gray wants this' and 'Mr Gray does that'.
After almost an entire week of being in these conditions, I was practically going insane. And considering that this was the case when he wasn't even at work, I didn't even want to imagine the struggle my life would be when he
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Despite my years of running for leisure, adrenaline was the only thing fuelling me as I sprinted through the doors of the emergency room. I'd hardly stopped to take a breath ever since getting the call from Zoey. After grabbing my absolute essentials and rushing downstairs to hail a cab, I'd taken the excruciatingly long ride to the hospital where Tyler was at. It was nearing midnight when I finally arrived, and was eerily quiet in the brightly lit waiting room."Can I help you, Miss?" the receptionist called me over to the front desk."Yes um.. I'm here to see Tyler Gray," I replied, not really sure what to say in such a circumstance."He's actually in the intensive care ward at the moment, and our visitation hours are over," my heart dropped as her words sunk in. "So I'm sorry, but unless you're directly related to the pat
Make Me one
Moving to America had always been my ultimate goal in life. Ever since I was fifteen, when my high school bestie and I had constructed a detailed ten-year plan, mapping out everything from our university courses to our apartment's precise address just five minutes from Broadway, I had known that this was what I wanted to do with the one life I'd been blessed with. And from the moment Rebecca and I had come up with a catchy 'American Dream' jingle in the ninth grade, I'd been determined that nothing could get in the way of me getting to the Big Apple.Having lived in the 'perfect family' my entire life, I felt as though I needed to take some risks and live a little. My parents had given me the classic sheltered upbringing, lined with curfews and restrictions, healthy meals and a private school education. In hindsight, I was grateful for mostly everything they'd done for me, no matter how hopelessly deprived I may have felt at the time. Nevertheless, I was the sort of
Make Me two
"I give up!" I groaned, annoyed by my fruitless search for meaningful employment, or any employment for that matter. By this point, I didn't even care.After two full weeks of searching, I'd managed to secure myself a job at a scrappy little café, which I had honestly only accepted as a worst-case-scenario safety-net.One (dare I say) 'benefit' of the situation was that we'd been able to set ourselves up quite nicely in our apartment in our ample free time. The space wasn't quite finished yet, but the major furniture pieces; a couch that doubled as a king bed, a coffee table, a small dining table and a couple of chairs; had been added, and a TV mounted on the wall. Becca had also insisted on us getting a number of plants. Yep, real plants. I was much more keen on the plastic stuff that I couldn't be responsible for killing, but she assured me that she would keep them going strong and I could simply enjoy them as a sort of decoration. Perhaps my favo
Make Me three
Monday morning came around way too fast for my liking.After leaving the confines of Mr Gray's intimidating building just three days ago, there had been a number of things I'd needed to do in preparation for my first day in the office. I'd started off by telling Becca about my new job, which had produced an unexpected reaction from my best friend."How could you go against Mase like that?" she had practically yelled at me. "I know you were desperate for work, Al, but your priorities are absolutely whack if you think you made the right decision taking this job."Deep down, I'd known that she was completely right, but that hadn't stopped me from being rather defensive at the time."You're literally the PA of Mason's biggest rival!" She'd responded to whatever lame argument I had scrambled together. "I can't believe you see nothing wrong with this.""It'
Make Me four
Gray's Consulting did it all, which meant that I did as well.The paperwork, filing and business correspondence was endless. I took all of my boss's calls, planned out his every move, and made sure he was everywhere that he was meant to be. I also attended countless meetings, where I was basically just the scribe, writing down every notable comment that was made. It really baffled me as to why billion-dollar businesses like his hadn't implemented some sort of recording technology to replace the physical labour.In my first few weeks on the job, I'd also done a lot of research, both assigned, and of my own accord. I was obviously required to know every intricate detail of the business in order to represent it well. But in addition to studying the surface facts, I' s found myself more often than not digging deeper into the history of Gray's Consulting, as well as into their many scandals, both past and present. I was more than aware that a lot of what
Make Me five
Just six weeks after touching down at JFK, we were back at the airport, this time to pick up a very special delivery. Mason's plane was due to land in a little under thirty minutes, and the moment couldn't come fast enough.The last twenty-four hours for me had been hell, to say the least. It hadn't all been bad, but it had ended in a way that caused me to forget the good.It had all started after the success of our meeting with Mr Russo. Not even five minutes after I'd saved his butt in his consultation with the bigwig investor, Mr Gray had called me into his office and completely discredited all that I had just done for him."If I had needed your help, I would have asked for it myself," he'd snapped."It's not like I was
Make Me six
"Mason I can explain," I softly spoke, my eyes likely revealing fear, pain, and most importantly, regret.And by the look of the deadly glare that he was sending me, I knew that I had a lot of explaining to do."Go on." he seethed. "Explain to me, Ally, why my own girlfriend would find the need to become so closely associated to the man that I told her I hated the most. And explain to me, babe, why I had to find out the disturbing news from an unrelated third party."His eyes were dark with anger, daring me to elucidate the situation. He knew as well as I did that that there was little I could do to justify myself."It wasn't my intention," I began, "to work for him, or to hide it from you.""Then what was your intention, Ally?" he asked almost mockingly. "To betray me? Hit me where it hurt most? Because y
Make Me seven
After the awful weekend that I'd had, walking into work on Monday morning actually came as a relief. It didn't change my mood, or make me forget, but it certainly did provide a sort of distraction. As soon as I entered through the doors of Gray's Consulting, it was business as usual; people all over the place moving every which way, and the soothing sound of small-talk.Small-talk was such a funny thing. It was humanity's way of building rapport, without the added stress of vulnerability. We were all equally guilty of it, but it was certainly a strange concept when you took a step back and examined it from a different perspective."How was your weekend?" Bella called over to me from where she sat behind the main desk."It was good, thanks," I smiled back. "Yours?"I was just as culpable of idle chat as anyone in this office, but it wasn't like I was going to pour out
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Despite my years of running for leisure, adrenaline was the only thing fuelling me as I sprinted through the doors of the emergency room. I'd hardly stopped to take a breath ever since getting the call from Zoey. After grabbing my absolute essentials and rushing downstairs to hail a cab, I'd taken the excruciatingly long ride to the hospital where Tyler was at. It was nearing midnight when I finally arrived, and was eerily quiet in the brightly lit waiting room."Can I help you, Miss?" the receptionist called me over to the front desk."Yes um.. I'm here to see Tyler Gray," I replied, not really sure what to say in such a circumstance."He's actually in the intensive care ward at the moment, and our visitation hours are over," my heart dropped as her words sunk in. "So I'm sorry, but unless you're directly related to the pat
Make Me thirty nine
Over the next few days, work became a painful distraction from my even more painful reality.Without having Tyler around, the jobs seemed to pile up for everyone else, which was good for getting my mind off everything, but made me all the more irritable and tired by the time I went home each afternoon.Rather inevitably, there were also a countless number of reminders of Mr Gray everywhere around the office. And even though Mr Baird was the official Acting Manager while Tyler was gone, everything still seemed to be about 'Mr Gray wants this' and 'Mr Gray does that'.After almost an entire week of being in these conditions, I was practically going insane. And considering that this was the case when he wasn't even at work, I didn't even want to imagine the struggle my life would be when he
Make Me thirty eight
"It's my mum," he spoke almost shakily, leading me to immediately assume the worst.And as the next two words left his lips, my heart shattered into a million pieces along with his own."She's dying.""Oh Tyler, I'm so sorry," I tried my best to convey my sympathy, eventhough I knew I would probably never know the extent of his pain. "When did you find out?""Zoey called last Wednesday," he replied, "just after I got the text from Rebecca.""You should have told me. You know I would have come back early with you.""Would you have? Really?" His voice raised slightly again, the first sign that the tone was turning. "Because it really seemed to me like you'd left me for dirt.""I was just scared, Tyler," I reasoned with him. "There wasn't a second there that I stopped cari
Make Me thirty seven
I arrived at work half an hour early on Monday morning, hoping that the extra time would allow me to settle my self and my nerves before the inevitable reunion with Mr Gray. Our 'unrelated' holidays had reached their scheduled expiration, forcing both of us back to work to finally face our reality.By the time the clock struck seven, I'd successfully built up the courage to go knock on his door. But there was no reply. When I walked into his office, his chair was empty and his desk was bare. There was no evidence of him in sight, which didn't sit well with me.Nevertheless, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, trying again an hour later, but to no avail. He wasn't in, and something really wasn't right."Come in," a deep voice called as I knocked on the door of my other superior
Make Me thirty six
"Please pick up," I mumbled to myself quietly as I held my phone up to my ear. The ringing sound dragged on for what felt like forever, before the dreaded voicemail came through for the umpteenth time."Tyler Gray is unable to come to the phone right now," the automated recording seemed to taunt me. "Please leave a message after the beep.""Tyler, baby, it's me - Ally," I cringed at sound of the words coming out from my mouth. "Please call me back, I just want to know that you're ok."I placed my phone back in my pocket as I waited by the taxi terminal for a ride back into the city. I'd just landed in New York after catching a sort of emergency return flight. Tyler had appeared to have upped and left Melbourne without my knowing, leaving me to assume that he was now back in The States as well. But since he wasn't returning any of my cal
Make Me thirty five
"Rise and shine," I woke to Becca pulling open the curtains of the room I was staying in, letting the bright morning sunlight fill the space."What time is it?" I croaked out, rolling over in an attempt to shield my face from the direct light."Almost midday," she replied. "I thought I'd wake you while it was still the morning.""Mhmm," I murmured sleepily, yawning as I began to stretch out my muscles.I'd gotten back to the house at around four o'clock in the morning, and hadn't had too much trouble falling asleep after that. I think I'd been entirely too exhausted, both physically and emotionally, to not pass out the second my head hit the pillow.Since it was well and truly too late for breakfast, Becca
Make Me thirty four
Just as we were about to head off to the next shop, a voice called my name from somewhere behind me, causing me to turn around instinctively."Shit," I cursed under my breath as I saw the voice's owner approaching where I stood beside Tyler. "How's it going, Mason?""Oh it's going just fine with me," he had a sly expression on his face that I couldn't quite read as he inspected the situation in front of him."I'm glad," I replied stiffly. "Um, Tyler, this is Mason - my ex," he gave a small nod in Mason's direction. "And Mason, this is-""Don't act like I don't already know who the fuck this is, Ally," Mason cut me off rather aggressively, planting a pretty distinct seed of terror in my mind."Woah woah," Tyler now spoke up, taking a step closer to Mason a
Make Me thirty three
When morning finally rolled around, the winter sun streamed through the window and onto the bed, waking me up in the most natural way. I yawned softly as I got my bearings, and realised that Tyler was still holding me as he was when we'd fallen asleep. We must have both slept real well given that neither of us had moved about."Good morning baby," his deep morning voice vibrated through me as he spoke from just behind my ear. "And happy Birthday.""How did you know that it was today?" I turned so that I was now facing him, his arm still draped over my waist and holding me close. I couldn't help but to run my fingers over his perfect features, intoxicated by the way the sun bounced off his bare skin."I pay more attention than you think," he chuckled lowly, placing a kiss to my forehead. "Plus Becca told me last night."
Make Me thirty two
"Hey, Al," Jake came over to give me a hug as we arrived at the racetrack."Yo bro," I grinned back."What's up man!" My brother turned his attention to Tyler who was stood beside me, giving him a passionate bro-hug which was majorly reciprocated."That's a sick car you've got there," Tyler commented, gesturing towards the white Subaru parked behind him. "Impreza STI?""Yep," Jake confirmed the car's make. "2006 model, so it's classic."It may have been 'classic', but it certainly wasn't stock off the assembly line. The amount of money he must have spent on modifications over the years was more than he'd care to admit. But, the end result was something that even I could admit looked pretty cool."God, I bet it flies round the track too," Tyler continued, appearing to know a thing or two
