The Billionaire's Assistant

Chapter 84

Things at the den were quiet that week as Kat had the time of her life, each day a new adventure that taught her more about Jove as a person and brought them closer together. After some struggles to dampen the noise of their passions at the cabin, Kat finally conceded to spending parts of their days at one of Jove's many apartments, with him always begging her to stay the night and her leaving each time, unwilling to be caught up in another telling walk of shame.

She spent almost every free moment with Jove, waking up and leaving the den earlier and earlier so that the time they spent together felt longer and longer. She felt she'd never known anyone as well as she knew him, never been known as well. They continued to work on the speech, finally buckling down and putting together the main body of the work on Tuesday, and he practiced it for her Wednesday as they swam in his apartment's rooftop pool, lazily fighting off distractions till they were overtaken by them, their whims leading them from place to place and activity to activity.

Kat was able to talk to Jove about the things that mattered the most to her, about the lake, about outsideness. She talked about her mother and her upbringing, the way that she'd always felt she wasn't doing enough. He revealed the same, the pressure that had been on him since birth, the way his relationship with his father was negatively impacted by his stepmother, even his fears about failure. Kat knew he was a good person, a good person with the wrong priorities, and she did all she could to push him towards a bigger picture view of his situation, one that took into account the fact that if the planet was destroyed, Tillibenton industries would be destroyed too.

As the date of the shareholders presentation approached, Kat felt herself becoming more and more caught up in thoughts of the future, less focused on her time with Jove and more concerned about how jarring the impact would be when this all fell apart.

She still couldn't get a reading on Andy, was avoiding her like the plague while still trying to discern exactly why she would do this, exactly why she chose not to expose Kat for what she'd done. She was avoiding everyone in FES, seeing them all only in passing now, and the only person she actually had a conversation with in her day to day was Jove, conversations that neither of them ever wanted to end.

The intensity of their passion was also heightening, and Jove was learning to play her body like a delicate instrument, able to leave her soaking and ready for him with just one expertly placed touch. He was all she could think about, all that filled her waking mind just as much as he filled her dreams.

"So, do you have it?" Brent asked again Thursday morning, all of them sitting around the living room table earlier than they were normally awake.

"She gets it," Emma grumbled, her aversion to mornings showing, and Conner laughed at her grumping, pulling her closer to him and planting a kiss on her temple that made her frown lessen.

Kat nodded in agreement.

"I get it," she said. "Prop the door when I get in, the speech starts at 2, Conner comes in at 2:16, he takes the stairs to 11, he plants the flashbang in the fake fern right in front of the elevator. The speech will be over at around 2:30 and he'll probably leave right away to avoid socializing. I'll leave with him, Conner will pull the pin when he sees me walk out of the auditorium, then Conner will turn and walk in the opposite direction, back towards the stairs. The flashbang will go off 60 seconds later, I'll tackle Jove, and Conner will already be gone."

Emma screwed up her face.

"Jove?" she asked.

"Tillibenton," Kat corrected, feeling a warmth in her cheeks.

"Alright," said Andy, waving her hands. "So we have a plan. Get to work Kat, you don't want to seem suspicious."

Kat nodded and stood.

"I'll walk you out," offered Andy and everyone turned to look at her, the unusual offer a departure from her typical affinity towards solitude.

"Ok," said Kat hesitantly. "Ok yea, let me get my bag."

Andy nodded.

"I'll be outside."

A few minutes later they were walking down the sidewalk in silence, their steps in sync.

"Where are you going?" Kat asked finally, the icy feeling of goosebumps dancing across her exposed skin.

"Nowhere," Andy answered casually .

Kat gulped.

"Look, Andy," she began. "I'm-"

"Kat," said Andy firmly. "What part of me not wanting to know isn't clear to you."

She stopped, grabbing Kat's shoulders.

"Listen to me Kat. I don't respect him. And I don't respect what you're doing. But I care about you dammit, I care about you and I know you care about the planet, I know you care about more than being some rich man's current fixation."

Kat looked down, ashamed.

"We can still accomplish what we need to accomplish, despite," she gestured to Kat as a whole. "Despite you choosing him over us. Despite you lying to us. We can still do this. And I know you Kat, you're not some stupid boy crazy loser, you have an actual head on your shoulders. And I feel," she sighed. "I feel bad for you. I really do. I can tell you like him a lot and even though we both know that you two could never be together I just-"

She sighed again.

"I just don't feel right ripping him away from you like that. Do you hear me? I'm saying I get what you're doing, ok. And I gave you this time because, I don't know. Fuck. Because I guess I would hope somebody would do it for me.

Kat's mind was racing. Gave me this time? she wondered.

"With him," Andy said, as if Kat's train of thought had been audible. "You can't have a happily ever after with him, it's just not possible, but I care about you."

She wrenched her eyes shut.

"I care about you, and you care about this stupid fling. So I wanted to give you more time with him."

Kat's jaw dropped, Andy's words the last possible thing she could've expected.

"When it's over, it's over," she said firmly, pressing a finger into Kat's collar bone. "Please don't make me regret this," she concluded, turning heel and marching away before Kat had the chance to respond.

She watched Andy's back recede, still taking in what she'd just learned.

Andy not only knew she was in love with Jove, she was giving her extra time with Jove, purposely and intentionally. Kat wasn't sure what to make of that, wasn't sure what it could possibly mean with all she knew about who Andy was as a person, but she felt a foreboding chill. She wasn't looking forward to the 'over' Andy warned about because she knew Andy was right. Once it was over, it was over.