Lilah
As I walked out of Asher's office, my throat began tightening up. The sting of tears threatened the corners of my eyes. I rarely cried, but after this, after everything that had happened, it just felt as if things had reached a tipping point and everything had just come crashing down. Facing Asher had been much harder than I'd imagined it would be. I just needed to be alone and my office was locked.
I walked as fast as I could, without drawing attention to myself from other people on the floor, and headed straight to the women's bathroom. Thankfully, it was unoccupied, so I went into one of the stalls and locked the door.
I gave myself a minute or two to let the tears and emotions out, and boy, did they come out. I sobbed and sniffed, and the tears rolled down my cheeks and dripped onto my blouse and skirt. Thankfully, I’d worn a dark outfit, so the tearstains weren’t noticeable. It was one my favorite “power suits” and I’d chosen it specifically because I'd suspected that a confrontation with Asher was in the cards.
After I had finished crying, I stood and dried my eyes and cheeks. I was about to exit the stall when my phone buzzed in my bag. I took it out to see who the message was from. I was from Meg.
Hey, Lilah! Happy Monday! How has the start of your week been? You still need to tell me all about Friday night!
I typed out a quick reply.
Hi, Meg. It's not going well at all. Have a minute to talk?
Almost as soon as the message had been read, my phone started to ring.
“Hey, Meg.”
“Hey! What's wrong, Lilipop. Are you all right?”
“Not really. It's been a hell of a Monday morning already.”
“Wow! You’ve been at work 15 minutes. What happened?”
“Asher confronted me about Friday night,” I explained.
“Umm, how did he know?”
“I figured you might have seen it, but there was a huge glowing picture of me and Brendan on the social page of The Times Saturday.”
“Ohhhhhh,” she let out.
“Yeah. So, we got into it and I kind of told him that Brendan was interested in me not just professionally, but also romantically.”
“Oh my God,” she exclaimed. “You have not one but two billionaires lusting after both your body and your genius brain?! Wait. Sorry. I know on the surface it would seem like every girl's dream, but I can totally see how this can be pretty overwhelming to deal with. So, what happened on Friday night after the restaurant? Brendan wanted to take you back to his mansion, didn't he?”
“He did.”
“Oh my God, and did you let him?!”
“No!”
“Thank God. Did you let him kiss you goodnight?”
“Nope. I didn't even let him give me a peck on the cheek. Even that would have felt like I was cheating on Asher. Not that Asher and I are together. Although, it feels like we are. Ugh! You know what I mean! Anyway, I told you already, my interest in Brendan was strictly professional.”
“But, you knew from the start that his interest wasn't strictly professional, didn’t ya?”
“Yeah, and I feel bad about that. But I really wanted to see what kind of job offer he would make me.”
“And, what kind of offer did he make?”
“A very tempting one, I'll say that much. He's offered me a higher salary than Asher pays me, a corner office with a killer view, bonuses, and shares in his company, and a company car—a luxury vehicle from his friend's dealership.”
“Wow. That does sound tempting.”
“It is. But the truth is, I really love working here. That has nothing to do with my personal feelings for Asher. I mean that on a strictly professional level. The camaraderie here is fantastic, the team is inspiring and passionate, there’s no backstabbing, and Asher is a brilliant leader. I feel like I could really grow and develop here and build a stellar career for myself.”