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Ryan laughed but this time he laughed harder than usual, his hand holding his stomach as he doubled bent over, reaching out to the arm of his couch for support. “Ohh, I love this firecracker of yours. She makes it hard for you to even do away with her. Your business trip to London is going to be so beautiful.”
“Get out!” I snapped. My hand pointing towards the door, wishing there was a faster way to do away with this human.
“ Alright, I will.” Ryan stood up, straightening out his sky-blue shirt. “I should probably get to know this Ashley better. She might become my new best friend.”
“Stay away from her, Ryan!” I snapped even before I could stop myself. My nails were pressing deep into the leather couch.
“Why?” Ryan asked instantly, a coy look on his face.
I wanted to know why too, and I asked myself but came up short I couldn’t think of any answer except the one I couldn’t admit. I didn’t want Ryan getting close to Ashley. I sat back down, clearing my throat. “Just stay away from Ashley , Ryan.”
Ryan snickered, waving a hand my way as he started walking out of my office. “Of course, I will, Ian.”
I let out a breath. I didn’t even know that I’d been holding a breath until Ryan left. I rubbed my hand over my face, wondering why things were getting so out of control. Calm and collected was my nature, not this hot-tempered man Ashley had turned me into. At the same time. I can’t deny the sick joy I derived from knowing that she was working her brain off trying to create new proposal when I already accepted her first one a long time ago. I wasn’t someone to be messed with and I needed to prove that to her.
My hands went beneath my head, holding my head it up as I relaxed and stretched my legs over the center table. I was curious as to what Ashley Lane was going to do after the insolent boldness she had shown today. I wanted to know if she’d come to work on Monday. Any normal person would be scared to death, knowing they could potentially be fired and wouldn’t come to the workplace anymore. But I could already tell that Ashley wasn’t so normal. So I wouldn’t be completely surprised if she did show up.
Chapter 8
Ashley
Monday arrived faster than I wanted it to, much to my distress, and despite knowing that I was almost certainly fired. I dressed up for work and waited for Justin to get ready. We drive to work while listening to our favorite music and singing along. I could have used the car ride to tell Justin that I could already be fired because I had insulted my boss once again, but I didn’t. I just pretended everything was okay.
I knew Justin wouldn’t be so happy with me being fired and he would start worrying himself trying to help me search for a new job. I didn’t want to disturb him anymore because he’s already done enough for me. So my plan was to pretend everything was fine and take a taxi back to my place after Justin dropped me off. And somehow, I’d have to keep pretending I was still working at IM Corps until I get a new job, that way telling him I lost my job would be easier.
I had some money saved up and I knew I wouldn’t be penniless for the next couple of months, but then I’d have to find a new job before the money runs out.
Getting to IM Corps that morning, I discovered that Justin didn’t believe my lie as he offered to walk me to my department, stating that he wanted to see my workspace and meet my assistants. I made a couple lame excuses about being busy which Justin quickly brushed aside.
As we neared the strategic planning department, I thought of coming clean and telling him the truth, lying to Justin never really turned out well to begin with because he could always tell I’m lying. That’s why I never lie to Justin Andrews. He always makes sure to prove it to me that I was lying by debunking it. Instead of letting that happen this time around, I stopped walking and turned to him, but it looked like the universe was in my favor this morning because June came to my rescue.
“Good morning, Ashley,” she said, her voice sounding excited.
“Morning, June,” I said, praying she wasn’t here with news of Simone wanting to see me.
“Have you heard the news?” June piped up happily and my heart nearly flew out of my chest. “They want to move forward with your UNIQUE theme for the London project.”
“What!” I asked, blinking twice because I wasn’t sure I had heard it right. “It was?”
“Yes, the whole office buzzing with the news, you should come in,” June said, strutting into the doors, a skip to her steps.
I heard Justin sigh in relief. “You know, I actually was worried you got fired and were trying to hide it from me.”
I scoffed, pretending to be shocked and outraged . “What? Why would I get fired? What are you talking about?”
Justin raised his eyebrows as he looked at me in a way that told me he wasn’t falling for my mock outrage. . “Somehow I didn’t believe you when you said you didn’t insult Ian on Saturday.”
I gave a wry chuckle, hitting him lightly with my elbow. “Don’t be silly, you should trust me more.”
Justin huffed and turned on his heels. “Sure .”
I sighed in relief, wondering what had happened. I was curious and a little scared. I wondered if there was something bigger planned for me, I knew I couldn’t trust any decision made by Ian Maxwell. He hated my guts and he already promised to make me regret ever insulting him. Was this part of his plan to make me pay?
I was nowhere near as happy as the three creative assistants working with me who were overjoyed to finally get the work approved and even chosen for a major project, while I brooded on the fact that I might have gotten myself into an even bigger evil plot.
Simone was quick to let me know about an upcoming presentation to the CEO and the board of directors and how well I should be prepared for it. I left her office with conflicting emotions, but when I finally sat back in my desk and stared at the proposal on my desk, I knew I wasn’t going to let some grown man with a six-year-old tantrum get to me.
I worked on perfecting the proposal and worked on the perfect presentation slides with June and Steve. I read through my market survey research paper once again to be sure I had reflected all of my findings in the proposal and I haven’t left any important aspect out in the proposal.
