Chapter 4 - Dylan Ashford

Dylan POV

Waking up alone is really the thing I hate the most. I hate when Savanna travels and leaves me alone. The bed she chose in my house feels so big without her. I roll to the side and hold her pillow towards me, but I can’t remember the last time she actually slept here. I stretch my arms above my head and stand up. I need to man up and stop being a love-sick puppy running around Savanna. Maybe I should act cold towards her, see if it works, and she gives me more attention.

After my shower and getting dressed, I grab my phone from charging and call her, but it goes straight to voicemail. I close my eyes, momentarily pinching the bridge of my nose. This woman is going to be the death of me.

I walk out of my room, and I can hear Mrs. Alma in the kitchen. She is the best housekeeper in the world. She treats me like her son, and her food is to die for. I dare to say that it’s better than the one I eat at my mom’s house. But I don’t think mom has cooked once in her life.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” she says as I walk into the kitchen, kissing her on the cheek. She blushes straight away, smacking my arm playfully. “Your girlfriend someday is going to kill me,” she says, and I shake my head, grabbing a cup from the cabinet and pouring some coffee.

“You could have waited, and I would do that for you,” she says, but I wave her off.

“I have two hands, and I can do some of it by myself. How’s Greg?” I ask, and she takes a deep breath. Greg is her son, and he is always getting into trouble. He is in his twenties and always hanging out with a terrible crowd. Drugs and alcohol.

“He came home covered in blood last night,” she says, shaking her head as tears form in her eyes. “I don’t know what that boy did, but I swear he will end up behind bars someday,” she says, and I agree with her if he keeps going like that, he will end up in prison. He has some violent outbursts, and he once even hit Alma. She moved in here with me for her own safety, but she went back home a couple of weeks ago. At the end of the day, he is her son, and all she wants to do is take care of him.

“Shit, I’m gonna be late. Thanks for the coffee”, I say, leaving my half-empty cup near the sink, and I walk out of the kitchen to get the rest of my things. Robert is already waiting for me outside the building with the car door open.

“Good morning, sir,” he says.

“Good morning Rob,” I let out, sliding into the car. Rob closes the door, and I immediately start scrolling through my phone. Email after email. I have a meeting with Richard today. Reading through the emails that Soraya sent me, I realize she is already working. God, I love that woman.

“We’re here,” I hear Rob say, and I raise my head to see the big building in front of me. Rib opens the door, and I give him a nod focusing on my phone again as I walk, not the building. My office is on the twentieth floor. When the elevator doors open, I see people moving inside and leaving me some space. I am not the CEO, nor I ever wanted to be, but people do respect me here. I am an Ashford. After all, my name is outside of the building.

“Good morning, sunshine,” I say as I walk past Soraya, who waves me off as she speaks on the phone with someone.

“Coffee?”, she mouths, and I nod. She knows me too well, I usually don’t have breakfast, but I need at least two cups of coffee before I am fully functional. I sit behind my desk, open my laptop and start replying to emails.

“You have a meeting in fifteen,” Soraya says, waltzing into my office. I always leave the door open, and she never knocks. Expect when the door is closed, she sure as hell nocks.

I am not a saint, and sometimes, I like to have some help dealing with the lack of sex. But it obviously makes me feel like the worst person in the world, but she is fucking some guy somewhere anyway. That’s the deal. I push those thoughts away, bringing the coffee to my lips, and I shrug my nose. What the fuck is this?

I walk towards Soraya’s desk. “What the fuck is this?” I ask, placing the cup in front of her, and she smiles.

“Decaff,” she replies, and I look at her deadpan. Is she fucking serious right now? I can’t function without my fix of caffeine in the morning.

“You better throw that crap in the trash and buy some proper coffee,” I say before I walk out towards Dylan’s office. The meeting is going to be held near his office in the conference room.

“Hey, Lay…” I start saying as I walk into the office, but she is not there. Richard is sitting in her chair, and I frown, watching him. Layla is Richard’s secretary, and I swear that he has a crush on her, fuck, he would be stupid if he didn’t. The woman is a wet dream for any man. I shove my hands into my pockets as he talks to someone on the phone.

Richard walks into his office, and I follow him. He looks stressed and worried, more than he usually does, because I am not going to lie, the man never smiles, and he always looks fucking grumpy. Since Layla started here, he became a little more intense, especially around her and after the shit, he pulled at the business meeting last night…

“What’s going on?” I ask as I sit on the opposite chair from Richard, crossing my legs. He keeps trying to call someone, but I can tell by his frustrated look that he is not getting anywhere.

“Layla is not in, she hasn’t called in, and I can’t get a hold of her,” Richard tells me, and I can’t help but frown. Here we go. He fucked up yesterday with that “this is my date” crap to his ex-wife, and now Layla has run away.

“What did you do?” I ask. But I already know the answer, and he probably treated her like crap after dropping her off or something. She was great, and I liked having her around.

“Why do you assume I did something? I didn’t do anything, and I took her home”, Richard says, trying to convince himself more than he is trying to convince me. I know the guy.

“She is the best damn secretary you could have, and if she is not here, I assume you did something to piss her off. You are not the easier person to work for or with”, I let out, and he nods, rubbing his beard. Finally, he agrees with me on something.

“I didn’t do shit,” he barks, and I raise both my hands in surrender. I am not going to argue with him. Not about this. I have other battles to fight.

“Come on, we have a meeting in ten,” I say, but he grabs his phone again, dealing with Layla, and I guess that this time she answers by his reaction.

“Layla, it’s Richard, Richard Ashford,” he says, and I can’t help but roll my eyes. “Where are you?” he asks her, and I stop myself from laughing. Not here for sure, running away from you?

“Layla, where are you? What happened?” I can hear the concern coming in his voice, and I realize that something serious has happened. I keep my eyes on my brother while he keeps talking to her until he tells me to cancel the meeting because Layla is in hospital. Great. Fucking great. I grab my phone and get Soraya on the line to cancel everything. I know she will deal with everything.