Animalistic Galley Fin

by Lizzie Lynn Lee

  Ever since their boss, Quinn Alexander, took over his uncle’s position as CEO of Animatrica, one of the country’s top five game developer studios, he had been subjected to endless gossip from the female employees.

  Quinn was tall, dark, and devastatingly handsome. He was physically fit and a sharp dresser. It didn’t matter that he was perpetually broody. All his crankiness was forgiven by the opposite sex because he was one hell of a male specimen, jammed into a fine package: gorgeous, smart, and extremely wealthy. Many of his male employees often jested when Quinn arrived at the office. “A Witcher? Quick, hide your women.” An inside joke in the gaming world based on a blockbuster RPG game where the main character, “Geralt of Rivia,” had such incredible sex appeal that women kept flocking to him wherever he went.

  Vanessa didn’t jump onto the bandwagon with the rest of his female fans. It wasn’t because she didn’t think Quinn was hot as hell. He was out of her league. She was also practical. There was no point in coveting something she couldn’t win.

  She’d always been the prim, proper, and level-headed one in her family. While her sisters partied through high school and college, she had always been known to have her nose in books, studying and getting good grades. She learned her limitations at a very early age.

  While her two older sisters were blessed with their mother’s good genes: tall, willowy and beautiful, Vanessa unfortunately inherited her father’s traits: chubby, plain and socially awkward. Their mother was a B-movie actress in her golden days and their father was a math professor at Princeton.

  After she graduated from college and got her dream job as a game designer, Vanessa maintained her Spartan lifestyle. At first, she did it because she wanted to excel at her work. By the time she realized she wanted more from life than just being good at what she did, it was too late. A geek could never shed her shell as a social butterfly.

  But that night changed everything.

  The damn New Year’s Eve office party.

  What the hell was she thinking? She was a lightweight when it came to booze. She had one too many and impulsively agreed to a dare. All because she wanted to prove Stephen wrong. He was the team leader of her department. Since she was transferred under him, Stephen had thrown some digs at her that she wasn’t team player material.

  Vanessa was academically brilliant and also an efficient worker. Efficient workers led to more productivity. She didn’t appreciate the bullshit that middle management liked to pull on her. Stupid meetings to discuss stupid stuff, when time was better spent on the actual work itself. When she insisted on doing her projects her way, she was branded difficult to work with. Too rigid. Uptight.

  In her tipsy haze, she’d been irritated that Stephen nitpicked her personality over her capability to work. She challenged him with the idea she was capable of doing something unexpected. Something on a whim.

  And that was when Ivy Bishop half-jokingly suggested Vanessa might as well walk up to Quinn and steal a kiss if she wanted to prove she wasn’t as strait-laced as everybody thought.

  Quinn Alexander was dubbed Lord Demon for a reason. He was a perfectionist and workaholic to the core, and expected his employees to work as hard as he did. His smile was as rare as a two dollar bill. A broody hen was more cheerful than he was.

  To think she would take Ivy’s bait and kissed Quinn so rashly…

  Oh God, if Vanessa could take everything back, she’d gladly sell her soul to the Devil.

  She really liked her job at Animatrica. What have I done?

  Now she was going to have to start looking for a new job at second-rate companies.

  Vanessa shooed Ivy and the fangirls from her cubicle. “Nothing to see here. I need to do work.”

  They dispersed as they continued their chatter.

  Swallowing a bitter gulp, Vanessa scrolled through her work emails. It shouldn’t have been a surprise when her mail box contained a few “R U Crazy?” messages. She didn’t need to be reminded how shitty her situation was. She’d planned to go to Quinn’s office and apologize for her behavior.

  Somebody plodded up behind her. Vanessa lifted her head from the screen. Her supervisor, Stephen Morris, stopped at her cubicle. He wore a dark expression on his face.

  “Quinn wants you. His office. Now,” Stephen announced without pleasantries.

  Vanessa groaned. “It’s too early to fire his staff, don’t you think?”

  Now Stephen looked uncomfortable. “Maybe I should have a talk with him too. Things got out of hand on our part. It was my stupid bet that started all of this.”

  “Save it. I’ll go see him now.” Vanessa sighed. “I’ll pack my things afterward.”

  “I don’t think he’ll go that far. You’re one of the best designers we’ve ever had. Quinn never fired anyone for personal problems. The party wasn’t work related.”

  Vanessa forced a smile. “We’re talking about Lord Demon here. Let’s hope that EA or Pixar has a job opening that suits my talents. Otherwise, I have to move in with my folks.” She shuddered. What would her mother say to her? Or her busybody sisters? In her family, her only pride was her stable life, academic achievement, and her career. Getting fired from work was the worst humiliation that she could suffer.

  Avoiding the pitying stares of Stephen and others, Vanessa squared her shoulders and marched to Quinn’s office on the top floor, like a brave soldier. She avoided the elevator. Instead, she used the stairwell to make her walk to the gallows seem longer. Man, she was going to miss this place.

  Animatrica was one of few studios in North America that offered generous perks to its employees. They hired an in-house chef to cater workers’ lunches and dinners. There was a free gym, recreational lounge, laundry center, and a quiet place where the employees could take a nap. Not to mention the free fresh fruit and snack bar. And in return, Animatrica expected you to “practically live” at work, which she had no problem doing, considering she was single. Eighty percent of its employees were under the age of thirty and workaholics just like her.

  The company got popular about eighteen months ago when its gaming apps became a worldwide sensation. A Silicon Valley tech giant bought the rights for a cool $6.2 billion, putting Quinn’s family a newly minted Forbes’ list of the nouveau riche. And a highly anticipated sequel was currently under development—the very game Vanessa and her team had been working on since spring.

  If she got fired today, that meant she had to kiss the project goodbye. Her blood, sweat and tears. That game was her baby.

  Just thinking about it made her want to cry.

  Vanessa blinked back her tears and pushed the stairwell door open. The fifth floor of the building was manned by a hag named Mary, the floor secretary—probably the oldest of the employees at Animatrica. Rumor said she was in her fifties.

  And today, Mary greeted her with a dark scowl usually saved for the unfortunate souls who had to go to the fifth floor to deal with one of the managers.

  Vanessa motioned toward Quinn’s office. “I was told His Lordship wanted me.”

  Mary wasn’t amused by her joke. She gave her the iciest stare before she flicked her wrist, telling her to “go.”

  Vanessa wheeled around and exhaled deep before knocking on Quinn’s office door. It was ajar.

  “Come in,” a deep, mellifluous, basso profondo kind of voice replied.

  Vanessa had forgotten to breathe for a moment. “You wanted to see me, Quinn?” He insisted that he remain on a first name basis with all his employees.

  He lifted his gaze from his computer screen. His expression was bland, and betrayed nothing. “Please close the door behind you.”

  Vanessa winced inwardly. Argh. Not a good sign. Quinn was an advocate of transparency. He rarely told his employees to close the door of his office. Unless he fired people. Jesus. Her heart dropped into her guts. This was it. She was done for. Her fate had been sealed. She braced herself for the forthcoming unpleasantness. She promised herself she wo
uldn’t cry afterward. Because nothing was more degrading than crying at work after losing a job. Of course, she had never been fired before, but there was the first time for everything.

  She closed the door with a soft click.

  Quinn waved at the empty chair in front of his desk. “Have a seat, Vanessa.”

  Like a rusty robot too frightened to squeak, she slowly planted herself in the aforementioned chair. She nervously scanned her surroundings, taking it all in. It seemed Quinn had prepared for her termination. There was usually no extra chair by his desk. He received his guests in the library or the private conference room.

  Vanessa forced herself to look at him, facing him eye to eye. She wondered if apologizing or begging him to let her keep her job would do her any good at this point. Unlike his uncle, Quinn wasn’t easily swayed by theatrics. If a madman pointed a gun at his head and forced him to admit the color of his blood was blue, Quinn would still say red, even if it cost him his dear life.

  Quinn was a man of principle.

  A filtered stream of light from the window panes bounced on his chiseled features. Vanessa resented the fact that some people were blessed with everything. He was smart, wealthy, and great looking. Maybe great looking was an understatement. He was drop-dead gorgeous.

  Rumor had it that Quinn had some Latino blood in his Anglo line, making him rather exotic. Quinn’s skin was caramel but his eyes were vivid green. His hair was the color of deep amber. The girls in the office often fawned over his emerald eyes or the lustrous shade of his hair. A few confessed they were dying to lick him, to see if he tasted as good as he looked.

  Vanessa never understood such dumb obsessions. But then again, she wasn’t like other girls. She didn’t like to waste her time on things that could be explained with simple logic.

  Quinn cut his gaze from the laptop. He cleared his throat and straightened his posture. “How are you this morning?” He sounded almost nice.

  Too friendly, in fact.

  Vanessa cringed inwardly. Was he trying to soften the blow before royally sacking her? “This is it then. Are you going to fire me?”

  Surprisingly, Quinn looked amused. “Sometimes I forget you’re not like the others. You never beat around the bush. That’s a quality I like in you, Vanessa. So I’ll be frank. I called you in today regarding the incident at the New Year’s Eve party.”

  Vanessa swallowed hard. Here we go. The invisible knot in her throat made her almost choke. “I… I only can say that I’m deeply sorry. There’s no excuse for what I did. I’m deeply ashamed for my bad judgment.”

  Quinn stilled. He tapped his fingers on the glossy surface of his desk. “You’re ashamed of kissing me? Hmm. Somehow my pride is wounded. Here I thought I was a prize catch.”

  “I’m sure you are, but that’s hardly relevant in this case, isn’t it?” Vanessa thought hard for a moment. “Can I, at least, be allowed to resign instead? My past performance has been exemplary. If I resign …” Her words trailed away. She was hoping to keep her resume squeaky clean.

  Quinn stared straight into her eyes. “This job is important to you, isn’t it?”

  “This job is my everything.”

  Her boss relaxed. His ghostly smile lingered. He waved her off. “I’m not going to fire you for our little… ahem… indiscretion. The company rewards or punishes employees based on his or her work performance. You have been a great asset to us, especially during development of The Northmen Saga. I would never dream of letting you go over something so trivial.”

  Vanessa could not believe what she heard. “So, you’re not going to fire me? I get to keep my job?”

  “Yes, Vanessa, you get to keep your job.”

  The weight on her shoulders suddenly lifted. She couldn’t believe this turn of events. She kept her job. Kept her pet project. She was having a hard time containing her grin. She’d jump around and dance if she weren’t in Quinn’s office right now. She couldn’t wait to tell Stephen.

  “Thank you. I’m so relieved. I better get back to my work.” Vanessa started to rise from her seat.

  “Sit down. We haven’t finished.”

  She paused. “We haven’t?”

  “Not in the slightest.”

  “Oh.” She sank her butt back in the chair.

  “The reason I called you is that we have a problem that needs to be addressed quickly.”

  “What kind of problem?”

  Quinn took his phone and swiped his finger across the screen. After a few scrolls, he showed her. Vanessa craned her neck over Quinn’s desk, watching what appeared to be a YouTube video.

  She widened her eyes, and couldn’t believe what she saw.

  Someone had secretly taped Quinn kissing her at the New Year’s Eve party. She was giggling merrily in it, draping herself over Quinn’s arm as he led her from the restroom. She said something to him and Quinn suddenly pushed her against the wall and kissed the life out her.

  Blood drained from her face. She wanted to disappear from where she was sitting, if she could. She covered her face with her hands, unable to look at Quinn any longer.

  Unable to face her boss.

  “It did happen, didn’t it?” she said in a small voice. “I thought it was a dream.”

  “It did happen.” Quinn sounded rather annoyed.

  Was he mad about this? But he was the one who kissed her. How was that her fault?

  “I’m so sorry,” she said automatically, placing her hands on her lap.

  “Well?”

  “It won’t happen again.”

  Quinn narrowed his eyes. “You have to take responsibility for this.”

  “Ah yes, of course. Wait… you make me sound like I got you pregnant or something,” Vanessa blurted. “You’re the one who kissed me.”

  He looked as if about to laugh but covered it with a frown instead. “This video has become viral. The problem is, my mom happened to see it. Then, my uncle. My brothers. Practically my entire family. And my mom, God bless her heart, has been bugging me about grandkids since I hit thirty-three. What a pain she is. Anyway, my phone has been ringing off the hook since she saw this video. She wants to meet you.”

  Vanessa sat ramrod straight in her chair. “Why? I’m not your girlfriend.”

  “I told her you are.”

  “Why on earth did you do that?”

  “To keep her off my back. You have no idea how persuasive she can be.”

  “That’s sneaky.”

  Quinn placed his phone next to his laptop. “We have a family get-together this weekend in Aspen. Mom expects me to bring you.”

  Vanessa opened and closed her mouth. She shook her head. “No, no, no. Leave me out of this. You’re the one who lied to your mother. I won’t be a part of your charade.”

  Quinn tsked. “That’s too bad. I already told her you’d come.”

  “No way. I’m terrible at lying. I won’t go.”

  One of his eyebrows arched. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

  Crap. “Are you going to fire me if I refuse?”

  He shrugged. “It’s very tempting. I do have the power, after all.”

  “You’re not being fair.”

  “I did ask you to take responsibility for this.”

  Vanessa threw him a dirty look. “Do I have a choice?”

  “Then it’s settled. I’ll pick you up Saturday morning. Six o’clock at your home. I have reserved two tickets to Denver.”

  Argh. This wasn’t happening. “You didn’t even ask if I have a boyfriend befo—”

  “You don’t have one.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I’m your boss, aren’t I? Naturally, I know a lot of things about my employees.”

  Vanessa was defeated. She couldn’t find a way out of this situation. Lord Demon had her exactly where he wanted. “Fine. But as soon as the weekend get-together is over, you have to tell your mom we’re breaking up.”

  In res
ponse, Quinn only offered a smile. Whoa. He smiled. Hell was freezing over.

  A predatory, triumphant smile.