An elevator was out of the question at the moment.
I darted for the stairs, dialing Darcy while tripping on almost every step.
"Darcy, What the hell?" I yelled.
"I meant to tell you last night, but you rushed off. And you weren't answering me aftee that."
"Well why is he here so early?" I was practically out of breath now, and my heels felt like hell on my feet.
"I don't know, Garret never told anyone."
"Well hold on, I'll be there in a moment."
I hung up and climbed another flight of stairs before reaching the top floor.
When I made it to the reception area, Darcy was waiting for me. She looked nervous, as if I would punish her for her small mistake, which wouldn't be the case. In a sense, this is Garret's fault. What kind of boss wouldn't inform us about someone as "important" as Sebastian coming to visit?
Darcy handed me a cup of black coffee, two sugars, the kind I get every morning, but I pushed it away.
"Is Garret in his office?" I asked as we made it into my own. I sat down at my computer and waited for it to power on, kicking off my pain inducing heels.
"Yes, ma'am. He hasn't ringed you in, however." I stopped typing my password in and glared at her. I was assuming she had forgotten if he told her, but by the look on her face she was telling the truth.
I stood up and put my heels back on.
"Check my emails for anything involving the situation. I'll be back." Darcy nodded and took a seat at my desk. I exited my office and walked to the secretary's desk.
"Is Mr. Harrison busy at the moment, Paul?" I asked.
Paul looked up from his computer he was frantically typing away at. Paul has been the Secretary up here for a couple of months, but we have grown pretty close. His boyfriend, Max, works in the Public Relations department.
"No, Les. But with all the Sebastian commotion going on I'm surprised he isn't." He put the person on the phone on hold before speaking to me. "The phone has been ringing off the hook, and everyone here is going crazy. We had to put everyone on hold because Harrison hasn't given us any 411!" I took a look around the floor, and sure enough the few other secretaries and a couple of recognizable Executive Officers were acting like beheaded chickens. Who knew the arrival of one person could cause so much commotion.
Paul stared at me a while longer, and raised an eyebrow.
"Girl, what happened?" He asked.
"What do you mean?'
"Your hair."
I patted my hair and felt fly aways in every direction.
"Shit." I whispered to myself. Paul reached into the desk drawer and handed me a mirror while resuming his conversation on the phone.
Looking at myself in the mirror, I looked a terrible mess. My face had a sheen of sweat from my recent run up the stairs, and I obviously looked exhausted. I took out my bun and reconstructed it, happy with the results. Once I handed the mirror back to Paul he put the phone caller on hold again.
"Something happened, and I want to know what it is!" He wore a smile a mile wide, oblivious to the chaos happening around him and only focusing on why I looked a sweaty mess.
"I'll tell you later, right now I have to focus on not losing my job."
Paul's jaw dropped, but I walked down the hall towards Garret's office before he could pester me with questions. I knew he was going to pile them on later though.
I reached Garret's office, and knocked softly on the giant door. Once he heard me knocking he told me to come in.
Oddly enough, Garret and his son shared a very strong resemblance. Same piercing colored eyes, same towering height, but Garret was far older than Sebastian, and his hair was completely grey.
"Ah, Leslie. Come in, come in." I walked in his office and stood infront of his desk, waiting for him to explain what was going on.
"Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I would like to know-"
"Yes yes, why there's a group of paparazzi, and my son. I'm sorry I didn't tell you ahead of time instead of last night. I figured you wouldn't have gotten my e***l since you were at the meeting."
He walked towards the door and gestured for me to follow him. Without hesitation I tailed him out of the door and through the hallway.
"As you know, I'm getting up to a certain age where I'm ready to...to retire. I just don't feel like I'm what I used to be. Young, energized, full of ideas."
We walked past the Secretary's desk, and Paul gave me a quizzical look. I shrugged at him then continued following Garret to the elevator.
Once we were inside, Garret started speaking again.
"So, I need someone to take over the company for me. However, in my son's...current state he isn't fit. Who would want to invest or work or even pledge to this company, when a reckless drunkard is in the big seat?"
"Sir, you-you wish to retire...when?"
"Sometime this year." He answered. I felt my jaw drop at his response.
"But sir," I started, "we have so many interviews scheduled-"
"Sebastian can take care of all of that, once we get him in top shape." He replied. Once the elevator doors opened to the lobby, two well built men in black suits walked with us towards a small conference room that was isolated from the other bigger sized ones in the other direction.
"Sir, this still isn't making any sense..." I said.
"It will soon, Leslie." He answered. When one of the men opened the door, the room was filled with about a hundered people. I recognized a few faces, and knew that some of the people in there were department heads; I saw Caleb sitting in the front, next to the only four empty seats in that area.
Fuck.
Many of the Chiefs where there also. Like the Chief Information Officer, the Chief Operations Officer and so on. The Board was there as well.
When Garret walked in, everyone stood up and halted there conversations. I quickly sat next to Caleb, who was now staring endlessly at me. I wasn't concerned about his stare, though. I was more concerned at my job. If Sebastian was the new boss he could fire me on the spot for what happened in the elevator.
My hands started trembling uncontrollably.
Once Garret got onto the stand, everyone sat down. He cleared his throat before speaking into the microphone.
"Good morning, everyone. Department Heads, Cheifs, Board of Directors. I'm aware that you all are very busy, but frankly so am I. I have called you in here to clear the air of some things that I have been asked a lot via phone and e***l. As you know, there are media surrounding the front entrance. Just know that they aren't here for you."
Everyone laughed, softening the tense mood in the room.
Suddenly, the door opened, and everyone's attention went in that direction, even Garret's. I felt my heart sink in my chest, and my face grow hot with embarrassment. Sebastian stood there, with the woman from the elevator and another man at his side. The entire room went quiet with disbelief. Sebastian didn't look at his father, or at any of the Board members, he looked straight at me, and a devious smile spread across his face. He knew he had me.
Once this meeting was over, my job would be dangling off of a cliff, with Sebastian being the only one to pull it to safety.
"Sebastian, I told you to wait up in my office until this meeting was over," Garret said assertively. Everyone stayed quiet, waiting for the chaos between father and son to commence. Sebastian walked further into the room and asked what I assumed was his assistant to shut the door."I know, but this meeting is about me, isn't it? Surely I should be here if it's about me." He kept his eyes glued on me his entire reply. I focused my attention to my iPhone instead, which was shaking due to my trembling hands.Everyone then turned to Garret, who knew that Sebastian had a good point. I could see however, why Garret didn't want him here: because he's an arrogant immature jerk. The complete opposite of my boss, who was actually going to be my former boss soon.Garret looked extremely pissed. His face turned a darker shade of red every second. Sebastian was not only embarrassing himself, but his father as well. Good thing the press wasn't i
I knew Garret was out of his freaking mind.I've never heard of a boss that does the stuff that he does, I mean his tactics are insane. He left the conference room without answering any questions, even though the entire room was asking the necessities such as "why didn't you tell anyone before" or "why are you retiring so soon."He didn't even let me stay to calm the crowd down even though I knew none of the answers to their questions. He lightly grabbed my arm and Sebastian followed, along with Terrance, David and the two people who followed Sebastian in here.Once we left the room, the two big bulky men who escorted us out of the elevator earlier escorted us into one. I walked in first, and Garret pushed Sebastian in afterwards even though he looked as if he was willing to glue his Armani shoes to the floor than stand next to me. Sebastian stumbled in next to me and everyone else piled in, leaving hardly any elbow room. Perfect. T
I approached the door that led to the CEO office of doom. I didn't open it, though. I wanted to give myself some time to think over what I was about to do. Sebastian and Garret's screams were more amplified now, which made it harder for me to push myself to walk in. Still, I told myself that I would be a savior of sorts for breaking up the unecessary argument.I knocked softly and the screaming was replaced by the sound of Garret yelling "come in!" through the door. I opened the door hesitantly and stood in front of the two angry menSebastian looked at me as if I just killed his dog."Oh, Leslie. I'm sorry about all of this." Garret started."It is perfectly fine, sir. I just wanted to check in, to see what is going on...how...why I'm involved...I could come back another tim-""No, you have come at the right time. Shit has already hit the fan."Sebastian snorted and let out a laugh
Sebastian sat quietly, yet angrily in an arm chair while me and Garret sorted everything out. He had finished his hissy fit knowing it would do him no good. Garret had me sign a few papers, some wavers basically stating that if I got killed by a cow or got ran over by a tractor or something out there they wouldn't pay for my funeral. Greedy bastards.But loaded ones, though.Anyway, I began to realize how crazy and idiotic this whole plan sounded. I wanted to tell Garret that there was no curing his son, that he needed a good dose of Jesus, maybe an STD test as well, but frankly I didnt find it appropriate at the moment."I can't thank you enough for doing this, Leslie. You truly are a life saver." I smiled at Garret as I signed the papers he set down."I'm happy to help, anything for this company.""Anything?" Sebastian laughed."Shut..up!" Garret was fumming now. I couldn't unders
"What in the hell!?" I was yelling like a maniac in the lobby; all of the Harrison Inc. employees and some other important visitors were looking at me like I was crazy. Paul put the phone on hold and mouthed "what are you doing", but in all honesty I couldn't answer, since I didn't really know myself.I jogged my ass to the elevator, which Sebastian was already inside of, and stopped the doors from closing with my hand. When they re opened, a pair of surprised green eyes looked up from an iPhone, then turned into angry ones.Frankly both of our eyes shared a similar emotion.I walked into the elevator, ready to escort him out, until both of the doors were closed and we made our descent."Shit." I mumbled.He put his phone in his pocket. "What are you doing?" He asked."I should be asking you the same question. Your father told you to stay in the lobby. How can you not follow simple
All five of us stood in the elevator in silence, still trying to wrap our minds around what happened. The only sound came from one of the security guards opening a water bottle he had in his pocket. I still had Sebastian's jacket in my hand but he didn't ask for it back yet, since he was now eating his sandwich. He was scarfing that thing down like it was the last thing to eat on earth. Lucinda stood next to me, staring at him with hopeful eyes. I leaned in to Lucinda's ear."He may want it from you soon, but not now." I whispered. Her smile faded, and she turned and faced the elevator doors disappointed.A ring from a cell phone halted my thoughts. One of the security guards pulled out his phone and answered it. He walked into the corner of the elevator, so we couldn't hear what he was saying. I was surprised he has signal in here, until I saw it was those indestructible Nokia phones from the 90's.Lucinda turned towards me. "So wh
Once we got to the garage, another pair of security guards were waiting for us. They led us to a black SUV, and opened the door for me to get in to the back."Is everything alright, Ms. King?" Edward asked, in an emotionless tone. I nodded as I put my seat belt on, even though I was lying.Nothing was alright. It had been a long morning, a very long morning. I almost got fired twice, and my face was plastered on every gossip blog and TV show in California for now. Running away to Tennessee wasn't going to make anything better. I just hope that Darcy knows what she's doing, and by the time I get back my name will only be remembered as the millionaire's publicist's.The two security guards sat next to me, one on each side, then shut the door. I was squished in between their muscular arms, but I couldn't complain. I had a feeling they didn't want to be here either. The windows were so ti
The time was 2:45, but it had felt like we were only talking for mere minutes. Beth had decided that she wanted to enjoy something hard, and Vodka happened to be the first drink she spotted in the cabinet. I took a sip of the over bearing drink and decided that I wouldn't have anymore enter my body, no matter how much Beth insisted."C'mon, Les! Just one more drink." She pleaded. She was obviously entering the beginning stages of intoxication, for she could barely keep her balance sitting down. Paul downed a small glass of Vodka with one tip like a pro. Sure, he did cough a few times when he successfully swallowed the drink, but he managed to keep it down. He reached for the bottle and poured himself another glass, spilling the Vodka all over the table."Le-les. Just live 'little. Just one drink." Paul gurgled. He paused after every word to gather the right ones to say.I went into the kitchen and grabbed an old rag from under the s