Ritual - Palm South University

It wasn’t that I was shocked at the offer, but more so that it had come not from Brandon, but from my manager and her team. They wanted me here, and not because I gave great blow jobs.

Because I’d earned my spot.

Another smile finds my lips as I log into my computer, going through the flurry of emails that came in while I was gone. I took four weeks off between my internship and my first day in my new position, mostly to be there for Jess during recruitment, and to get through syllabus week before work got crazy.

And then, there was the weekend in the Bahamas with Brandon.

I bite my lip as last weekend flashes through my mind — days spent on the boat and exploring the island, nights spent wrapped in the sheets. My skin is still bronzed from the island sun, the tan line left from my swimsuit top visible around my neck, and I run my finger over it with my cheeks flushing.

It had been absolutely perfect, wasting away a few days with him before we both got back to reality. I could still close my eyes and see his eyes dancing in the candlelight over our private dinners served on the yacht, could hear his laughter as I swam with the pigs and one nipped at the strings of my bikini, untying the bottoms, could still feel his warm hands framing my face as he swept his lips over mine on the beach, the moon high and full above us, waves crashing gently at our feet.

I sigh, feeling warmth spread through my chest like that island sunshine.

I’ve known Brandon for a full year now, and somehow, he still manages to surprise me.

He’s still on my mind after I have lunch with MyKayla, so before my first team meeting, I slip into his office, hellbent on sneaking a kiss or two.

That plan is throttled, however, when I walk in and find two, long, tan and toned legs with red-bottom stilettos strapped to the feet hanging from the edge of his desk.

I stop in the doorway, following the line of those legs up to the body attached to them. The girl sitting on the corner of his desk — the desk he’d bent me over too many times to count — is younger than me, by the looks of it, with long, bleach-blonde hair and lips painted the same bright red as the bottom of her Louboutins. She’s wearing a chic, black pencil skirt with a crisp, white button-up top that cuffs at her elbows. She has her arms wrapped around a binder, and her eyes on my boyfriend as she laughs.

As he laughs with her.

I’m not sure how long I stand there — it must only be a fraction of a second, though it feels like hours. And when the laughter subsides, Brandon finds me in the doorway, and his smile somehow stretches even wider.

“Well, if it isn’t our brand-new account manager,” he says, standing and fastening the button of his blazer. He turns his attention back to the girl. “Sophie, this is Ashlei Daniels. She started as an intern, too, and today is her first day as a full-time employee.”

Sophie turns her wide, sparkling, honey eyes to me, then.

We’re practically twins.

“Wow, so you’re the famous Ashlei Daniels,” she says, genuinely.

She stands then, and I take a breath that doesn’t burn quite as badly now that her legs aren’t dangling off Brandon’s desk anymore.

“Sophie Miller,” she says, extending her hand for mine. I shake it with the best smile I can muster. “I’ve heard a lot about you already.”

“Have you, now?” I ask, quirking a brow at Brandon.

“You have a great reputation here,” she explains. “I’ve only been here two weeks and already I’ve heard your name referenced a million times. It’s nice to finally put a face to the name.”

The longer she talks, the more I realize I can’t figure her out. At first, she seemed bubbly and sweet, but something about the firmness of her handshake, the way her eyes linger on mine, the confidence in the way she holds her shoulders back, in her smile…

It puts me on edge.

It’s like she already owns this place and everyone who works here, too.

“That’s sweet,” I say when our hands release. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Sophie is already making a name for herself, too,” Brandon says, circling his desk to join us on the other side of it. “Two weeks in and she’s already brought in a new client.”

Brandon smiles at Sophie, and she beams under his gaze like a prized peacock.

I narrow my eyes.

I don’t know why jealousy is flaring hot and bird-like in my chest, but it is, and I hate that I feel threatened by this girl just as much as I hate that I had no idea who she was before this very moment.