Eight: On The Job

Malea's POV(2 days later)
I rubbed my eyes and flipped through the channels halfheartedly but gave up and switched to Netflix. How to Get Away with Murder, here I come!

Halfway through the 5th episode, I heard the front door unlock. Slowly, I closed my MacBook and carried it with me to the front door. That shit costs me a crap ton of money, there's no way I'm going to leave it if there's a robber in the house. Before heading into the foyer, I grabbed the first thing I could find—wooden spoon—from the kitchen.

As soon as I turned around from the kitchen, Ales stood in front of me. I shrieked, my spoon falling to the floor.

She doubled over in laughter. "Malea, why are you so on edge?" She picked up the spoon and tossed it in the sink. Then she made her way into the living room. "Why isn't the TV on?" She muttered to herself as she dropped down on the sofa.

I dropped my MacBook on the coffee table and joined her. "Sorry I was watching How to get away with murder and when you start seeing crime scenes and murderers, then you're obviously going to be on edge when someone unlocks the door randomly."

Ales giggles and punched my shoulder jokingly. "Did you think a wooden spoon would stop a serial killer?"

I shrugged and we burst into laughter.

After gaining control of ourselves, Ales cleared her throat. "Well I'm here to give back the keys. I won't be needing them because I'm moving in with Lucian, my fiancé." She held out the keys to me.

I gulped past the lump in my throat. It would be so hard to get used to not seeing Ales everyday. I took the keys. "So, um, when is your wedding?"

Ales beamed as if she'd been waiting for me to ask that all along. She looked down at her expensive ring and sighed deeply, a slightly maniac smile on her face. "2 weeks from now. I'm trying on wedding dresses tomorrow. Lucian wants the marriage as soon as possible and I do also. We're getting married in Hawaii."

I gasped. "So is it going to be some kind of eloping thing?"

She shook her head and bit her bottom lip in excitement. "It's going to be a huge, dream wedding with bridesmaids and a reception, and there's going to be a beach house Lucian's going to buy where everyone invited can hang out. Lucian's father, my parents, and important guests will be there. And so will you, Miss Bridesmaid." She pulled out an envelope from her Chanel handbag and handed it to me.

A ticket to Hawaii and back. I pulled her into a big hug. "Thank you so much! You have no idea how much this means to me!" She grinned against my shoulder. Why the hell am I her bridesmaid and not her Maid of Honor?

"Who's the maid of honor?" I asked reluctantly as we pulled away.

Ales tucked a flyaway hair behind her ear. "Winter Banks." She turned to me and grasped my hands when she saw my face fall. "Listen sweetie, Winter and I've been hanging out for a long time now and I think it best if she's the maid of honor. I mean it's good publicity!"

I could slowly feel my anger bubbling. "Ive been your friend longer than Winter has and now you're choosing a woman whom you've only known for 2 weeks over me just because you want publicity? How shallow are you?"

She gasped, anger and frustration flashing through her eyes. "You know what, Malea? You're never happy for me! No matter what I do, you're never happy for me! I just got proposed to, for Heaven's sake and you can't even say congrats! Even after he proposed, I hoped to see you but you just took off! I think you're just jealous! That's all you've always been. Jealous!" 

She gathered her handbag and coat, a frigid, uneasy calm passing over her features. "You know what? You can come to the wedding if you want, because I'm not going to stop you. You're the reason I'm with Lucian and I wouldn't trade him for the world. If you like, you can come dress shopping with me tomorrow." She stood up and glared at me. "You know where to find me."

I followed her to the door. Only when she was outside the door did I reply. "No thanks, I think your new bestie, Winter, would rather go dress shopping with you."

"Maybe she will! I'll ask." She shrieked. Then I shut the door in her face.

I exhaled deeply, the numb feeling of annoyance seeping into my bones. I know I'm going to end up caving and follow her dress shopping anyhow. Ales and I may fight once in a while—all the time—but she's like my sister. We'll sort this out.

_______(3 weeks later and the wedding is over) Lucian's POV

Ales and I didn't go on a honeymoon. I told the press it was because of work, which was partly true but honestly I just didn't like the idea of parting from my work for so long and being on a vacation that was meant for a couple who love each other. But the outcome of the wedding was amazing. Now being the CEO and sole owner of King Enterprises, a billionaire company, was the best possible outcome that could come out of an ultimatum.

"Mr. King, your new assistant is ready for the job." My secretary buzzed in from the intercom.

"Send her up." I replied back, as I shuffled through my cluttered desk—an unusual thing for me, I'm always neat—and stacked a pile of paperwork on the side of the desk.

The door opened and Malea took a seat. "This place is insane." She said, looking around the large room.

She was dressed in a tight black pencil skirt, a loose white blouse with a decent plunge line and her hair was tied back in a messy bun. I cleared my throat and diverted my eyes from her chest. "Welcome to King Enterprises. You can start as early as today."

She smiled, and adjusted her top so her cleavage would be covered. She must've noticed me looking. "If it's fine with you, I'd like to start today."

I nodded and unlocked the file cabinet at the bottom of my desk. Thumbing through the files, I landed on the one I needed and handed it to her. "I need you to run this over to Ficara Co and hand this to Levi Ficara's secretary. Tell her I say that the contract's been officialized. There should be cars lined in the front of this building, pick one and tell the secretary downstairs, Rita, to get one of the drivers to take you." A look of recognition flashed through her features but as quickly as it came, it went.

"Is that all, Lucian?" She asked, tucking the file in the crook of her elbow.

"You will address me as Mr. King. Nothing more, nothing less. When you're coming back, get me a black macchiato, no cream or sugar. It should be brewed to 202 degrees Fahrenheit. Be back no later than 20 minutes."

She squirmed in her seat. "Could you maybe write that down?"

They always ask that question. It's not that hard to remember. "Ask Rita. She has a ton of photocopied notecards with the coffee order on it. You're dismissed."

Then I went back to work.

____Levi's POV

I hurried into the elevator and pressed the close button as many times as I dared before it shut. It was so hard to be able to get on an elevator by myself. The female employees always tried to get on the elevator with me before it shut. I could hardly get a second to think whenever I was at work, which was most of the time. Whenever the women would be in the elevator with me, they'd try basically anything to make me notice them.

The elevator door opened with a ping to the first floor. I hurried out and walked over to the large receptionist desk in the entrance of the building. Ficara Co. had over 80 stories and the walls were solely made out of bulletproof, one sided glass. Anyone the outside couldn't see in, but anyone inside could see out.

The marble floors were the type of shiny where it almost looked brand new, even though this building was made way before I was even born.

"Good morning, Mr. Ficara. You look great today." My assistant, Cara, sidled up to me, a Manila folder in her hand.

"Good morning, Cara. Any updates on the contract that was supposed to come in today from King Enterprises?" I asked, taking the Manila folder from her outstretched hand.

We walked together towards the receptionists desk. "Actually, no. He called last night to say his new assistant would be bringing it, but honestly, he should've just faxed it over."

I nodded. New assistant? How many assistants has he even had this past month? 4? Maybe 5? Cara's been my assistant for 3 years. Maybe I'm the only CEO who actually likes having one sole assistant for a long period of time.

"What do you mean his secretary isn't here?" A female voice shrieked. Cara and I looked over at the receptionist's desk where a woman with disheveled hair stood.

The receptionist, Dawn, shook her head and said something inaudible. "You don't understand. I have to give this to his secretary. I can't go back without this handed over."

Again Dawn shook her head and replied calmly.

"Please, please just take this and hand this to his secretary once you see her." She pushed a Manila folder towards Dawn.

Dawn pushed it back. "I'm sorry, ma'am but I am in no position to accept Mr. Ficara's paperwork. It's not in the job description." Dawn replied.

"You don't understand! I woke up late today and somehow still got the job! Then Mr. King proceeded to tell me what to do and he said give it to Mr. Ficara's secretary! And she's not here now is she? And then he told me to get him coffee, black without cream or sugar, made at 202 degrees! Do you know how hard it is to find a place that makes coffee at 202 degrees?" She blurted, her face immediately turning several shades of red once she finished.

Quickly I walked over to Dawn and that was when I got a closer look at who the woman was. Dolce. From the proposal Gala. "I'll take that from you." Dolce's head snapped up. Her lips formed an 'O' but nothing came out.

__Malea's POV
Levi. He's the CEO? What's up with all the CEO's I keep running into? I knew he worked here by the name of his company but I hadn't expected him to be the CEO. I expected Lucian to be talking about Levi's father.

I realized I'd been staring and pushed the file towards him and cleared my throat. "Levi." The girl next to him had the reddest hair I'd ever seen (besides Winter) and she had the prettiest blue eyes ever. She glared at me. Was that his girlfriend? Why did I even care?

Levi grinned. "Dolce." He said. I took notice of the fact that he had dimples which totally added to his handsomeness. His dimples only made him look younger than before.

At the sound of the nickname Levi had adapted for me, the girl standing next to him looked towards Levi and then at me, her mouth falling open slightly. "He prefers to be called Mr. Ficara, Dolce." She said tightly, the nickname coming out of her mouth like venom.

"Oh, of course! Sorry." I replied quickly, my words tumbling over each other.

He only chuckled, his brown eyes never leaving mine. "No, no. You can call me Levi. I don't mind."

The girl next to him scoffed and unsuccessfully tried to supress rolling her eyes.

"Is there a problem, Cara?" Levi asked shooting a glance at her. Cara. The name fit her.

She straightened up. "Um, no, Sir."

"Good." He turned back to me. "Dolce, this is Cara, my personal assistant. Dolce this is Cara."

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. "Erm—my name is Malea, actually." I shook Cara's hand and took notice of how reluctant she was to doing so.

Levi's eyebrows shot up. "That's such a lovely name, Dolce."

I frowned. "I told you my name already, Levi. You can stop calling me Dolce."

He grinned. "I'll stop calling you Dolce when I feel like it."

Cara cleared her throat and smiled tightly. "Well what brings you here, Malea?"

"Um I'm Mr. King's new assistant and as of right now I'm pretty sure I'm going to be dead if I don't get his coffee and go." I glanced down at my watch. 15 minutes had passed since he'd told me to drop off the files. 5 minutes left.

Levi looked shocked to hear I was Lucian's assistant. "Well, I hope to see more of you Malea." He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a business card. "Call me anytime."

I grabbed the card absently and waved to both of them before running out of the building.

I almost tripped on my heels. That, would've been embarrassing.

..