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eleven

E L E V E N

"WHAT A GENEROUS BOSS YOU ARE."

It was a joke, but in the most part, it was also true. I didn't know many other bosses who would shell out this kind of money to celebrate their employees, and yet that's what he did. Based on a receipt that I had been asked by him to toss into the garbage can, just the catering service alone costed over $20,000. He must've really cared about his event, because the only boss I knew who went all out like this was Bretton's team manager.

He looked up from the stack of papers he was sifting through and smiled at me. "No need to flatter me, Fiona. Is there anything that you want - anything that I am able to give you?"

I rolled my eyes, leaning against the doorframe. "I'm not trying to leverage anything from you," I defended myself. "I just wanted to compliment you. And also, to have a brief discussion."

Things with Ashton had been so nice and calm, at a record low for excitement and drama for the past two days and I thought that if now wasn't the time to tell him about Meredith, then there would be no other.

"Alright, then," he said with a wave of his hand. "What is it?"

He was in a genuinely good mood and I knew that this would most likely be ruinous, but I had to trust in my friends' advice because they were right, that this would be better in the end.

"I have to tell you something," I said softly, "something important. I wasn't the one who paid for that spa trip."

I knew then that his good mood had slipped because the smile on his face had instead become a firm line, his lips just slightly resembling a frown. "What do you mean? I could literally see and smell it on you, besides, you were the only one who swiped out that day."

"No, I'm not saying that I didn't go to the spa, but that someone tricked me into going," I said, growing extremely nervous. This wasn't the way I was expecting it to go, not at all. Especially since Meredith was somehow able to cover her tracks so well. I found myself scrambling for words, for anything that could make this right. "I-it was not me, it was-"

"Save it," Ashton interrupted me. "I don't appreciate you trying to lie to me. I have all the logs to prove that it was you. I've already forgiven you, so please just leave it alone because you've gotten me into enough trouble."

"Ashton, I swear it was-"

"Fiona!" In all of my time here, with all of the screw-ups, this was the first time that he ever raised his voice at me. I instantly shut up, not wanting to cross him any further. "I don't have time to deal with this. I know that you're just trying to shift the blame onto Emilie since you seem to hate her so much, but honestly, I'm not here for this. So please, just get the hell out of my office."

He didn't have to tell me twice.

-

IF I LEARNED ANYTHING FROM THE MOVIES, IT WAS THAT LOVE WAS TRICKY.

The only surprising thing was just how tricky everything had to be. In every great romance, there were preventative forces in between the two love interests, and while Ashton and I weren't some love story, we had plenty of those.

Over the next three days at work, I had fallen into a routine to keep me off of Ashton's bad side. With Baldwin Industries' big event coming up so soon, there was a flood of phone calls, emails, and meetings to be scheduled; meaning that we had to keep a united front no matter how upset he was with me. It definitely meant a lot less time talking with Elijah and Eric - which was upsetting, but completely necessary.