by Carter Blake
“Okay,” he sighs deeply, mentally preparing himself. “Let’s go in there, let’s get this done.”
I want to tell him that at least he looks good in his charcoal suit, but that feels inappropriate to say, so I force my lips to remain zipped shut. Looking good, appearing professional, is vital in things like this, so at least he’s done that much.
We walk forward, into the room that I’ve had set up for the press conference, and I notice my heart rate instantly kicking up a notch, proving just how anxious I am about it all too. I shouldn’t really care that much, as long as the formula comes across as alright, but for some reason I am. I’m half scared that Wesley will be slated, and I’m also terrified that someone will notice me and pick up who I am. I scan my eyes around the room, but luckily for me it seems like no one is even noticing me. I’m just staff, someone to be completely ignored.
Wesley sits in his chair and faces out the crowd, whereas I stand behind him, trying to blend into the background, and it isn’t long before the questions start firing in his direction.
“Can you tell us exactly what is in the drug?”
“What are your plans with regards to health and safety?”
“What will the costs be of this drug to the public?”
I have to suck in a few deep breaths of air just to keep myself calm, but luckily for me Wesley turns on the charm and manages to relax everyone in almost an instant. He really is an expert in faking it until you make it, which makes me jealous. I thought I was pretty good at doing it, but nothing compared to this. It actually makes me like him that little bit more.
Just as I think we might be ready to wrap things up, having made a full success of things, someone else stands up, a guy that I haven’t noticed before, and he raises his hand to grab Wesley’s attention. I stare at him smilingly, thinking that this will be the last one, but then he opens his mouth and he starts talking.
“So, Mr. Montgomery, what do you have to say about the disagreement between your scientists over this drug?”
That statement makes my heart stop dead in my chest. Yes, just before I started working at Future Pharmaceuticals there was some petty disagreement between a couple of the staff on the technical team, and one of them walked out, but it wasn’t to do with the drug – not really.
It was petty and came about due to working under stressful conditions in a small lab. But no one should know about this, least of all the media. Everyone has signed a non-disclosure agreement for things like that, including me, so this could cause some serious issues.
“Didn’t you lose people over this?” The guy continues.
Shit, what do I do? Should I step in and put an end to things? I glance over to Wesley, wanting to take lead from him, but he isn’t making any contact with me. Then, he answers the guy, without even batting an eyelid, taking control of the situation himself. I haven’t prompted him on anything like this because I never thought it would come about.
“I think in a company such as mine, where people work long days under intense conditions, there will always be staff disputes. The disagreement that led to someone moving on to another company wasn’t over the drug, it was more to do with the clash of egos. I mean, it got sorted in the proper way, and we conducted an exit interview, but sometimes things cannot be saved.”
The man stares at him for a few moments, before sliding slowly back into his seat, seemingly with nothing else to argue. The way that Wesley handled that was phenomenal, but I don’t want to risk anything more, so I step forward and I tell him that it’s time to go.
“Okay, well thank you every one. It’s been nice to speak to you all.”
By the time we get back into the hallway, I realize that my heart is thumping painfully in my chest. That was petrifying, and I cannot believe that we made it through unscathed.
“Wow, you did really well,” I gasp to him, grabbing onto his arm. “I can’t believe how amazing you are.”
He pulls me in for a deep, celebratory hug and I fall into his chest happily. This moment is far too intimate, far too nice, and I’m sure that others must be picking up on it, but luckily no one has the guts to comment.
“Thank you,” he whispers into my ear. “I couldn’t have done it without you. You were a massive help.” Seeing him in action, I’m not quite sure that’s the truth, but of course I don’t intend to say that aloud. I would much rather lap up the compliments, and allow him to believe that I’m amazing at my job. “I have an investor meeting to go to now, but I’ll see you in a bit, okay?”
I watch him walk away from me with a wistful feeling in my heart, until I feel a rough tap on my shoulder and I spin around to see the unwelcome face of Oliver looking back at me. He’s hunched over, dandruff littering his shoulders, and his glasses are hanging annoyingly on the end of his nose. Already I feel irritated, and he hasn’t even opened his mouth yet. I just know that I’m not going to like what he has to say, because I never do. I swear to God if he asks me if me and Wesley have slept together yet I might just kick him in the balls.
“How was that?” Oliver asks, a smug grin on his face.
“What?” I stare at him blankly, not even slightly understanding his question.
“The conference? Was he blindsided?”
“Did you do that?” I gasp in annoyance. “Are you fucking serious? What the hell were you playing at?”
“Oh come on, it’s funny,” he laughs loudly winding me up even more. “Wesley needs taking down a peg or two. I want him to be off balance so we can take him down quicker.”
“And you honestly think that’s a good idea to do without even telling me?” I snap back, my blood boiling with anger. “You could have damaged everything with that stupid move. I know we want to take down the company, but we don’t want to destroy Dad’s work in the process.”
The odd look he gives me proves without a doubt that he just doesn’t get it. How the hell am I supposed to work alongside someone who is so pig headed?
“Just keep me in the loop next time, okay?”
“That’s not all that I’ve done,” he tells me just before I’m about to turn away. “I got this for you?”
He hands me a small box with some weird stuff inside it, which I turn over and over in my fingers, trying to work out what the hell I’m supposed to be doing with it.
“What’s this?” I ask in an exasperated tone. “And it better not be something you have already done without me.”
This is why I didn’t want any help, this is why I started this alone. I should have just explained to Dad that I didn’t really want any help. I’m sure he would have understood.
“It’s to make a cast. Then if you get the opportunity to, you can print Wesley’s office key into it, so you can get one created for yourself.”
Damn it, I don’t want to have to admit it to him, but that’s actually pretty good thinking on his behalf. “Okay,” I say a little grumpily, shoving the item into my pocket. “Thank you. I will do that.”
“Yeah, then you can get into his office and–”
“I know, I know,” I hold up my hands, shutting him down. “Trust me, I know what I have to do. I’ve been planning this forever. Don’t you worry about my part, I have that under control.”
No way will he be telling me what to do, I’m the only one who knows what she’s doing.
With that I turn away from him, and I make my way back to my own office to think things through before I have to face Wesley again. I get the strong sense that Oliver is watching me leave, but I refuse to give him the satisfaction of turning around to catch him. That will be the one good thing to all of this being done – at least I won’t have to deal with him again! I don’t know what it is about him, but he drives me crazy in the worst way possible.
Chapter 12
Wesley
Okay, so it might be a crazy idea to take everyone away from the office for an entire three days when we have such an important drug release in the works, but I have to admit that guy and his question wi
th regards to my staff members threw me. I just wasn’t expecting it, and it made me see things in a very different way. No one should have been able to know that information, it really should have been kept private, so it makes me worry how people see the company in reality, not just what they tell me about it.
“This is insane,” Naomi laughs loudly, spinning around in the middle of the reception area of the spa retreat I have brought everyone too.
I just think that for the moment we need to focus on building a strong bond between us all, and improving communication. I know for a fact that productivity levels are much higher when everyone is happy, so for that reason this feels like the exact right moment to get everything back under control. The investors at the meeting after the press conference agreed with me too. “I can’t believe you organized it quickly.”
“Well, I do have a good relationship with this place,” I admit. “We have done our team building activities here before. Hence why no one else is as excited as you.” She glances around, seeing that people have already gone to their rooms to pack their stuff away, so she nods quickly before picking up her cases to do the same. “Do you need a hand with that?”
I did consider booking us a room together, but that felt a little too presumptuous.
“No, no, I’ll be okay. Do we need to come right back down the stairs?”
“Yes, the instructor will be here in a moment.” This guy is great, he’s an ex army commander who really knows how to create a fun filled, but learning experience. The last time we came here there were a lot of office disputes, and the difference when we got back was palpable. “So I’ll see you shortly.”
I make my way to my own room, which is the penthouse suite, allowing me some luxuries while we’re here. I love having a hot tub and a great view from my window, it helps me forget all the shit going on downstairs. As my eyes scan over to the bed, I can’t help but picture Naomi in it, writhing around, allowing me to do all kinds of awesome things to her body. She’s such an incredible beauty, and I would love to be with her right now, but of course we’re here for a reason and I need to keep my mind centered on that.
As we all gather in the lobby, and Steve introduces himself, I can’t stop from flickering my eyes over to where Naomi’s standing, looking at him intently. She makes me smile to myself, every time I see her, especially when she’s putting such an effort into the business. The company has become my life, it really has, and to see someone else caring about it as much as I do makes my heart flutter excitedly.
“Right, I think that communication is a massive issue here,” Steve glances at us all in turn. When he gets to me, I nod quickly, confirming what he’s already suspected. “And that affects motivation, so what I’m going to do for you is write all your names on a piece of paper and pick you out to put you in pairs. Then we will have a fun day of friendly competition. Now, it doesn’t even matter if you aren’t paired with someone who you work with directly, what you need to have a successful company is communication throughout.”
I can see people shooting me an anxious look, not really wanting to be paired with the boss, which I understand for awkward reasons. I don’t make eye contact with any of them, focusing on Steve instead.
Once he’s done, he starts putting people together. “Okay, so Chris and Caroline, Michelle and Mika, Fleur and Harry, Ben and Josh, Wesley and…” Oh God, who is it going to be? All of a sudden this feels like a bad idea. “Naomi.” Oh wow… I couldn’t have even wished for that if I wanted to. That feels incredible, which gets even better as she shoots me a sweet smile. I don’t even listen to the rest of the names, because I no longer care. As if by some miracle I have been put with the person that I want to be with.
***
As soon as Steve started the games, we all began to relax and actually have some fun. I knew it would turn out that way because it always does, but it makes me feel good all the same. I need a happy company, I want content employees, and to see them all having a good time together feels great. This is why I always go all out when it comes to the company Christmas party.
To make it even better, mine and Naomi’s awesome team work skills are coming out again, and we seem to be winning almost everything. Competition is fierce, but that doesn’t seem to bother her at all, and she’s whipping everyone without a second glance.
“Another first place,” I grin at her as she jumps about with joy. “You won’t be defeated will you?”
“If you haven’t worked that out by now, then you never will.”
As someone else walks over to congratulate her, and chat to her for a few moments, I drink in her appearance. She’s wearing leggings and a tight tee shirt, I imagine to ensure that she’s more streamlined, which is much more casual that I normally see her, and she looks good in that way. I enjoy seeing her in her work suit, looking professional and put together, but I’m also loving seeing more of her body in these tight clothing too. She has some incredible curves, and I cannot stop staring.
“Right gang,” Steve calls out, interrupting all the chitchat. “It’s time for the relay race, so you need to team up with one more team and get into positions.”
Someone grabs onto Naomi, obviously wanting to lock in to her winning streak, which picks the team for us, but I’m no longer concerned with winning. I’m no longer worrying about anything at all, all I can really see is the odd look on Naomi’s face. She doesn’t look quite right, like herself at all, and that has me really worried.
“Are you okay?” I ask her quietly.
She nods quickly, but I’m not convinced. She’s pale and her face is an odd green twinge to it, as if she could be sick at any moment.
“Do you need to sit down or something?”
As she walks towards the race starting line, there’s a definite stagger there, which has me reaching out to her, but before I manage to connect her eyes roll to the back of her head and her body starts to collapse. I race as quickly as I can as she falls and I manage to grab her just before she hits the going.
“Steve, call an ambulance!” I cry out loudly. “Naomi’s collapsed.” I don’t know what could be wrong with her, she has seemed absolutely fine all day, but I need her checked out just to be on the safe side. Of course I would want to do that for anyone, but this is Naomi, and she’s special to me. I need her to be safe.
“Someone, grab some water.”
Everyone scrabbles around me, while I remain still, gripping on to Naomi for dear life, willing her to wake up. She doesn’t though, she’s still passed out when the ambulance arrives and the paramedics whip her away, leaving me hollow and alone.
“Wrap this up,” I tell Steve quickly. “I’m going to go to the hospital. There isn’t time for one of the HR girls to go back to check up on her emergency contact and I don’t want her to wake up alone.”
“Sure, of course.”
But I don’t wait for him to answer, not when my head is so messed up. Instead, I dive into my car and I drive away, moving as quickly towards the hospital as I can. It makes me feel bad that I know so little about Naomi. Does she have family I could call? Does she have some kind of underlying illness that I know nothing about? Is there something else that I should be doing here? I just have to get to the hospital and hope that she’s okay.
***
“She’ll be fine,” the doctor does her best to reassure me. “She’s just severely dehydrated so the drip will help her out.”
“When do you think that she’ll come back around?” I ask in a panicked state. “Is it normal for her to be out this long?”
“We will want to keep her in for the night anyway, so I wouldn’t worry too much about that. At the moment, all her vital stats are looking good, but I would rather keep an eye on her for now. You can go home if you like? We’ll call you if anything changes.”
I shake my head quickly, already knowing that isn’t the case. There is no way that I can leave Naomi alone in this cold, soulless building knowing that she will wake up confused and alone. I don’
t care how long it takes, I’ll be here whatever.
“No, I want to stay.”
As soon as the doctor is gone, I slide into the chair beside the bed and gaze over at Naomi, just looking at her and studying her face carefully. She might not know it, and it might have taken me a long time to see it, but she’s changed me a whole lot. Never before would I have been watching someone sleep. Never before would I have cared about how one of my conquests was doing. Never before would I have felt my heart fluttering over someone like this.
Maybe I like Naomi more than I would care to admit, even to myself. Maybe I’m falling deeply in love.
Oh God, I don’t even know what to do about that. I don’t know how I’m supposed to act, so I pull my phone out of my pocket and I dial the number of the only woman who I know can help me.
“Wesley, are you okay?” she always panics, every time I ring which always makes me feel bad for not calling more often. “Has something happened?”
I can’t see any point in holding back, she already suspects, so I might as well tell her everything. “Mom, I think I’m falling for someone.”
“You are?” she gasps out happily. “Oh wow, that’s great news. Who is she? When did you meet her? When do I get to meet her?”
“Well, actually she works at the company.” I know she won’t like that part, but luckily she doesn’t comment. “And I will introduce her to you soon enough.”
“Tell me everything about her.”
As I talk, looking down at Naomi, I start to feel like everything might be okay. With just a few words, Mom has already made me feel a little better, which can only be a good thing.
Chapter 13
Naomi
I groan, as I slowly come back around, wondering what the hell is going on. “Where am I?”
The last thing I can remember is feeling dizzy and sick, at the team building day, and now I seem to be in a really white room.
