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Ms. Morgan, report to my office ASAP.
“Report up my ass, you dick.” Sighing, I tried to adjust my attitude. Matthew was just my boss. I had to be respectful to my boss.
The moment I strolled into his office, however, I felt my fingers twitch to punch him. He looked up at me with a deep frown on his face and jerked his hand at the door. “Shut it.”
I took a deep breath and counted to ten as I shut the door and crossed to sit in the chair across from his desk. “You wanted to see me?”
“Where the fuck have you been? I’ve been trying to call you for nearly a week, Layla!” His face was red with anger as he leaned across his desk to hiss at me. “That was fucking childish.”
I thought about Xavier squeezing Matthew’s head until it popped off and a serene smile crossed my face. “I was on vacation. It was scheduled on your calendar.”
“You know what I mean, Layla. Where were you?”
“I was out, Matthew. I don’t see how where I was pertains to you.”
He stood up and glared down at me. “Did you see my calls?”
I shook my head. “I blocked your personal number. I don’t think you should contact me on that line again. If you need me, it would be a professional matter that occurred during working hours. Your office line isn’t blocked.”
He slammed his fist down on his desk. “Stop fucking around, Layla. I’m not doing this shit with you. If you want to act like a child and do whatever the hell you’re doing, you can quit.”
A bolt of fire stole through me. “I’m not quitting.”
“You either forget all this shit and we go back to the way things were or you won’t work for me.” He looked smug, like he’d backed me into a corner. “I said I was sorry and you had your week away, doing god knows what. Let’s just put this behind us.”
I stood up. “I spent the week getting railed, Matthew. It was fan-fucking-tastic and I wouldn’t change a thing that happened. I’m glad I caught you. I’m sick of doing your work and watching you get all the credit anyway.”
“What the fuck?” He stepped closer to me and gripped my upper arms. “We’ve been together for three years. You’re just going to throw that away? You’re going to throw your job away?”
I stepped out of his grasp. “You threw those three years away. Not me. I’m just glad you did. Being happy doesn’t make me responsible, though. As for throwing my job away, if you think you can fire me for not fucking you, I’d like to see you try.”
He laughed bitterly. “I’ll just write up the list of tasks I’ve asked you to complete over the past few months and note how you didn’t complete them. With your most recent attitude and disappearing act when I didn’t approve your time off, your termination won’t be questioned.”
I swallowed and nodded as I made my decision. “It sucks to have wasted three years, but I’d rather that than lower my morals by sleeping with you to keep my job. Fire me.”
“You’re being an idiot, Layla.” He sounded like he was trying to warn me away from hurting myself, but we both knew the truth. Without me, he’d be forced to work. His life was going to suck without me.
I smiled. “And I’ll still be an idiot five minutes from now if that’s how you’re deciding, Matthew.”
He went back around his desk and sat down. “Fine. You’re fired. Fuck off.”
I laughed, suddenly ridiculously happy to be away from him. “Fuck you very much, too.”
Doing an about-face, I walked out with my head held high and had a giant smile on my face as I got in the elevator. By the time the elevator reached the ground floor, the smile had vanished. I no longer had a job.
I avoided a group of people getting on the elevator when the doors opened and squeezed myself out, feeling numb. I didn’t have much of a savings built up. If I didn’t find another job right away, I’d have to give up my apartment. I’d be going back home to Tennessee to live with Grandma in the blink of an eye, just another LA failure.
I was halfway across the lobby when a security guard I hadn’t noticed lightly took my elbow in his hand. I gasped and flinched away, causing him to apologize.
“Sorry, ma’am. I thought you heard me. You’re needed on the top floor.” He motioned with his thumb towards the ceiling. “I got orders to catch you before you left the building and bring you up right away.”
My stomach felt like it was still on the elevator, dropping a hundred floors. “Oh? Um… Do you know what this is about?”
He shook his head. “No, ma’am. Will you come with me, please?”
I cleared my throat and nodded. “Of course. Sure.”
He led me past the main elevator bank and to the private elevator that Mr. Bingham used. “Mr. Bingham’s orders.”
