Chapter 10

EVERETT

When I get into the washroom, I wipe my knee with clean tap water from the sink. I fish for a bandage and then put it on the mouth of the wound. Thankfully, there aren't any rips to my beautiful skirt, and I glide the fabric against the wind to recheck it. It looks fine.

Phew!

Now I won't have to hurry home after work to change again.

I wasn't lying when I told the boss of my boss that I didn't have a spare change of clothes on me. Maybe admitting that would not have made him care about me snared up in a predicament like the one I saw myself mired in the lobby.

After I called the maintenance to retrieve and remove the art installation, I came straight here. I had to because I was so nervous about what had happened and needed a quiet moment to catch my breath.

Now that I'm here, I can see that my makeup needs a bit of retouching.

So, I search for my makeup bag in my purse and luckily see I have it on me because of my date later tonight. I take a moment to set it on the counter as I fix my hair in the mirror. I blot some setting powder on my face to remove the sweat beading on my hairline.

I don't understand why but I want to look nice before I join Mr Thorne for the meeting. Maybe he's not as big of a jerk as I thought when I first met him. I still want to look presentable before I go and see him.

Quickly getting rid of my makeup needs and after putting on a thin layer of lipstick, I head to the elevators to reach his office floor.

When I reach the front of his office door, I give it a series of loud knocks.

"Come in." His voice booms through the door. "Get in, please. We don't have the whole day."

Taking in a big breath, I enter his office.

"How's your knee?" he asks me. "Are you well enough to take a walk around the block?"

That random question confuses the heck out of me. I mean, the second question. 

"It's all good. Thank you for asking." I walk closer to his desk to get a more reasonable look at his face to confirm if he's joking about what he just asked me. "Yeah, I think I can do that."

"I don't want to know what you think, Ms Fischer." He sounds irate. His nostrils flare with annoyance. "Can you do it or not?"

I bite my lower lip, wondering if I should turn him down. I have a lot of pending work sitting on my desk, and I know I need to get rid of those files before I can get off work. It looks like it's going to be a long day. I can't keep my boyfriend waiting for me.

After another moment of thinking, I answer.

"Yeah, I can take a walk around the block." I set my gaze on the floor because I can't seem to help myself from getting lost in those fiery brown eyes of his. "Where do I need to go? Is there a meeting or something I need to attend?"

"No." His eyes grow darker, and his face acquires a steely expression. He looks like he's going to give a scolding for something I didn't do. "I need you to go and pick up my credit card from one of the bars down the block." His eyes are sternly on me. "It's two blocks down south from our office if I need to be accurate. When you reach The Love Shack--that's the name of the bar--you'll find a woman named Andie on the counter, who also happens to be the owner." His eyes dance around the room. "Ask her for my card and get it here. That's all you have to do."

I watch him intently when he says all that.

Go where?

Meet who?

Who is this woman, Andie?

A girlfriend of his?

Why can't he get his card himself?

Why does he want me to go and get it for him?

"Why can't someone else go?" I challenge him. I can't be doing his dirty work when I have so much on my plate. It's my fucking third year anniversary with my boyfriend! He can't make me work relentlessly on an important day like today. "I don't even drink." I try to infuse humor into the situation to get out of it. "Is this about a new client or something?"

"Again, nobody cares if you drink or not, Ms Fischer." He eyes me passively as he fixes the arrow-shaped cuff link on his business suit. "It's called a personal favour. Something like I did for you out in the lobby. I can't send anyone else because all the departments are working hard here. And I can't lose anyone to do trivial things today."

"We are not working hard?" My mouth falls open after hearing his statement. How could he even think that? "Is my department engaged in trivial things, Mr Thorne?"

"I never said that." He's having none of what I have to say. It looks like I will have to do this favour for him. I watch him run a hand over his cheeks as he throws another mean glance in my direction. "I need you to go and retrieve the card and get it back to me ASAP. Believe me, I have other things I need to accomplish." He clears his throat to assert his authority. When he does that, his face loses any colour it has on his cheeks and forehead. That tells me something. "Now, don't come back until you get that important card for me."

"But I--"

"Didn't I ask you to leave, Ms Fischer?"

I smile slowly, accepting my fate. My brows lower, and I return the look he offered me earlier. It's the same mean glance he threw in my direction while he decided on my punishment for receiving help from him early this morning, out in the building's hallway.

"I heard you, Mr Thorne." I let my voice sound as assertive as I could make it come out of my mouth. As I pivot to make my way towards the door, I nod my head again, leaving him to his misery. "I'll do you your personal favour. I shall be back."

***

The bell jiggles on the threshold as I walk in through the white front doors of the pub. My eyes go around the decor of the spacious seating area, and everything looks tastefully placed. One can almost feel a woman running the place at first glance when they enter through the front door. It comes off in this manner because of how elegant the interiors of the watering hole look. A statue of a small white man serves as a wine-holder sitting on the counter. Though, the white man statue holds a beer bottle instead of a nice flask of merlot. The right side of the counter has a sizeable golden wall fixture filled with wine bottles and plants hanging from the ceiling. Five tall black chairs line the bar, and all the stools are empty. I walk straight to the counter and sit on one of those on the left. There's a French-inspired giant wall poster taped in the middle of one of the large windows imprinting the name 'The Love Shack' for people walking outside on the pavements to see.

"What can I get you?" A woman dressed in a black shirt appears from the restaurant area of the bar with a shiny silver tray in hand. That's when I notice a young couple on the far end corner, sitting on one of those long couches under the dim lights making out. "What's your poison?" She gives me a bright, flirty smile. Her lip colour is to die for, and I make a mental note to look for it online as soon as I get out of here. She clicks her fingers in front of my face. "Are you a first-time drinker or something?"

I shake my head quickly.

"Actually, I'm here on business." I take my company card out of my purse and place it in front of her. "Mr Thorne wanted me to retrieve the card he might have misplaced here in the bar." I exhale. "He wants me to get it for him. Can you hand it back to me?"

Her eyebrows climb to her forehead.

"Can you spell his full name?" She wipes the counter with a wet rag, making me remove my company card and pocket it back in my purse. "I have to make sure because of safety and privacy concerns."

I nod.

"It's Waylon Thorne. W-a-y-l-o-n T-h-o-r-n-e." I give her a reassuring smile. "That's my boss. Umm, I don't mean to rush you, but I got to get back to work."

She nods, pulling her phone out of her pocket as she stops wiping down the bar counter. Then she holds up a finger as she taps furiously on her phone screen, placing a call on her phone. It rings for a long minute before the other party picks up, and I wait patiently, biting my lip. I want her to get off the call and give me the thing I'm here for, so I can get back to my backlog work.

"Hey," she says. "Did you really send your assistant to get your dumb fucking credit card?" She minces her words as she speaks into the phone. And this time, my brows furrow and climb to my hairline. "Do you think you can get rid of me so easily, Wayne?"

I watch her eyes get watery, and her lips quiver as she tries to look anywhere but at me. Her eyes widen as she hears something from the other side of the static.

"Well, you'll pay for this! You rich fucking asshole! You coward of a man! Fuck you truly, Wayne." She breaks down. "Fuck you so much."

Then she brings the phone back from her ear to drop it abruptly on the bar counter. The sudden motion of the collision of the phone screen with the white marble of the bar counter makes me flinch inadvertently. I almost get up from the bar stool, but I stay seated when I watch her disappear into the back room on the left.

She looks heartbroken. I just watched a woman get her heart trampled upon by our CEO, and I still can't piece together what happened between them. He must have said something to make her face look like that. It's the opposite of the one she greeted me with upon entering the pub.

So, trouble in paradise?

Who knew that insolent jerk had a girlfriend?

Do monsters have hearts?

But it still looks like he's breaking hers while he's at it.

I feel in two states of mind about being included in this melodrama. Something makes me wish I wasn't a part of it. I didn't want to watch someone getting their heart broken.

Why couldn't he have sent someone else to do his bidding?

"Here." She returns from the backroom with the card in hand and roughly shoves it on the bar counter. "Take this and fuck off. Tell Wayne to never show his face in my pub ever again, or set his foot through the front door. I don't want to see him. Not now, not ever. If I see him here drunk off his arse, then I'll make sure he pays the price. Fuck off right now, and never return to this place. You're not welcome here, and neither is he." She looks wildly at me. "Did you hear me?"

I pocket his card in my purse and nod. Then I slide off the bar stool and leave the way I had come in no more than fifteen minutes ago.