Done Being Friends (20 page)

George set down her plate and gave her a disapproving look, but Faith could see the sparkle of joy in his eyes. George knew that Faith was over the moon; he could see it from her face, and that was good enough for George.

“I have to go to my office to settle some work today. I’ll drive you to work, and then I’ll see you for lunch?”

“Sure. If you’re busy, I can drive myself there.” The reporters had already moved on to new stories and the mob that she dreaded seeing each day had disappeared.

“No, I want to personally make sure that you are safe in your office before going to work.”

Faith knew better than to argue with him. First, she knew that he wouldn’t give in to her where her safety was concerned and second, she did want to spend more time with him anyway.

On the way to work, Zac kept glancing over to Faith. He was a little worried that Faith might have changed her mind about what happened between them after sleeping on it, but the kiss in the morning had proved that wasn’t so.
 

“What?” Faith said without taking her eyes off the file before her. There was an important meeting that would definitely cause some tension with one of the staffs later on, and she wanted to be prepared.
 

“Nothing, I like watching you work. You look serious and gorgeous.”

Faith smiled and looked up. “Really? That was exactly what I thought when I looked at you work.”

They both laughed.

As Zac pulled into the car park, Faith reached over to open her door, but Zac took her hands. “I can get that for you.”

With that, he opened his door and jogged over to open the passenger side door.
 

“I thought you had to go to the office. You don’t have to walk me in.”

“I know, but I want to. I like every excuse to be around you.” He put his hands around her waist and pulled her right beside him. Inside the private lift, Zac kissed her crazy till the very last second before the door opened.

“See you at lunch. I love you,” he whispered softly into her ears and gave her another quick peck on the lips. Then he let her walked out of the lift alone, afraid that he would find more excuse to linger on in the office if he were to follow her in.
 

Chelsea eyed Faith suspiciously as she strode into the office. Faith knew she must had been wearing a smitten look on her face and tried to wipe it off, but could do nothing to get that silly smile off her face.

She settled into her chair and thought about Zac again. She could still feel the sensation of his lips on hers, she could still smell his cologne and she closed her eyes for a moment, indulging in the memory of their kiss.

Then, knowing that the real world was waiting, she got back to work and prepared for the meeting to come.

“Why are you making all these changes? You don’t even know what you are doing. Your father must have been crazy when he decided to leave you in charge of the company.”

“Enough. Mr. Miller, if you are unhappy with what I am doing, feel free to leave. My father’s frame of mind is none of your business and take this as my last warning. If you ever speak to me again with such disrespect, I will not hesitate to let you go.”
 

Silence fell, and the tension thickened in the meeting room. Faith had taken Wilson Miller’s sense of arrogance and superiority in the beginning, not wanting to step on the toes of an old employee but enough was enough. He had to be put in place; he had no right to be speaking to her in that manner.
 

Instead of backing down, Wilson Miller slammed his fists onto the table, rattling the cups. Faith would normally be shocked by such an outburst, but she had observed and come to expect such dramatic actions from him.
 

“You insolent child!”

Faith looked straight at Wilson Miller. “Well, I guess you have made your choice. Mr. Miller, you have fifteen minutes to clear out your desk and turn in your security pass to the HR department. I will get the security to watch you.”

Wilson Miller’s face turned red and Faith wondered if his head would just explode like those in the cartoons. He swept his hands across the table before him, spilling coffee and pushing files off onto the carpeted floor.
 

“Bitch!”

If Faith knew how to throw a punch, she would have served one right into Miller’s nose, but she knew that if she tried, it would only cause her pain and she would probably make a fool out of herself. She kept her face straight and smiled, going for an icy kill.

“The bill for the change of carpet will be docked from your pay. If it isn’t enough, I will get Jessica to forward the bill to your house.” Faith watched as his face got redder.

“Fifteen minutes, Miller.” Faith stood and tapped at her watch. “Tick tock.”

Faith watched as Miller launched toward her, flying a fist in her face and then got abruptly slammed to the ground by two security
 
guards who had rushed into the meeting room. Faith wanted to walk right out of the room and drama, but she wanted to let Miller know that she wasn’t afraid of him.

Making sure that she looked right into his eyes, Faith went on. “Goodbye, Mr. Miller.”

She strode out with her head high and point made.
 

“Did you call the security?” Faith asked as the lift opened at the fortieth floor. She hadn’t realized that her hands were shaking until then. Silently, she thanked God for her ability to maintain a straight face even when her heart was drenched with fear.

“Yes. I called them immediately after he slammed his fists onto the table. I knew you were not going to back down, and it was going to turn ugly,” Chelsea said nonchalantly.

“Thanks Chelsea, you did great.”

Zac had gotten to his office and settled all the work he had to do in a few hours. He had a good assistant who had kept everything in place, allowing him to get away and help Faith.
 

Still, there were tons he had to do. He had been settling his work through emails and many of them at night, after Faith had slept. He made a mental note to give Mindy a huge bonus on her birthday, she deserved it.
 

Picking up his phone, he called Dylan’s office. His secretary answered and told Zac that he wasn’t around but would be back soon. Zac didn’t bother to leave a message as he was intending to meet him face-to-face.

“Mindy, I will not be back till after lunch. Call me if anything crops up.”
 

Mindy nodded. “I’ll drop the important documents by Miss Preston’s house tonight.”

Zac smiled. He knew things were getting back on track for Faith and the company. He probably didn’t have to spend so much time with her. He could definitely start staying home for a change, but he had been churning up excuses to stay, and last night proved that it was the right decision.
 

“Something is different,” Mindy said it as a statement. The smile on his face was unmistakable. Her eyes widened, and she broke into a smile. “You finally stepped up.”

A grin spread across his face, but he said nothing.
 

“Congrats! She’s a keeper!” Mindy shouted as Zac entered the lift.

“I know,” Zac muttered under his breath.

As he pulled his car into the parking lot, Zac turned off the ignition but didn’t make any move to leave his car. Sitting there, he contemplated on his decision of telling the news to Dylan personally. He sat there, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.

It wasn’t the fear of Dylan’s reaction that was gluing him to his seat. He knew that Dylan would be outraged, but that wasn’t the worst. It was the fact that his friendship with Dylan would probably be over the moment the news left his mouth that was causing his hesitation.

Puffing his cheeks, he blew out a deep breath and stepped out of the car.

“Mr. Hayden, Mr. Charles is in his office. Let me ring ahead to tell him.”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll just go on in,” Zac voiced before Dylan’s assistant called him. Otherwise, he might get kicked out before having the chance to step into the office. He had been in Dylan’s office more than enough times for the assistant to know they were good friends.
 

“Hey Dylan.”

Dylan’s head shot up from his work when he heard Zac’s voice. “What are you doing here? Something wrong with Faith?”

Sarcasm. He had definitely seen some of the pictures in the magazines.

“She’s perfectly fine. Even after how you let her walk into a pack of ravaging wolves, she is fine,” Zac retorted without mercy.

At that point, Dylan refused to look at Zac. He returned his eyes to the documents he was perusing through and ignored Zac.
 

“She was drenched from the rain, broke her heel, fell and scraped both her hands from her palms to her elbow and was clipped on her lips; probably by paparazzi. I hope you are pleased with that.”
 

“What do you want Zac? What happened between Faith and me is our business,” Dylan snapped, and finally returned his focus back onto Zac.

“True, but when whatever happened between the two of you hurt her...” It was Zac’s turn to look away now. He didn’t come here to settle the score; he was here to tell Dylan in person about Faith and him.

Taking a deep breath, Zac continued. “I’m not here about that. I’m dating Faith.” The word dating seems to be light in this case, and he wanted Dylan to know they were serious.

“Yes, I have seen it in the magazines.”

“No, those were rubbish. It is official now. We’re together, and it’s not just dating. I’m serious about her...” Unable to find the words to elaborate what he wanted to say, he let his voice trail off.

“Yes, so you say. When you get bored of her like all the rest of the women, I will be there to nurse her wounds.”
 

“Keep waiting.” Zac strode out of the office before it erupted into full blown quarrel. They were too old to be coming to blows, and he didn’t look forward to a situation of having to explain to Faith what had happened.

It was over. He had done what he had set out to do.

He got into his car and drove toward the Preston office building. It was finally lunchtime, and he had been aching to see Faith since the elevator doors closed in the morning.
 

Stepping out of the lift, he waved the security card that Chelsea had gotten him the day after Mr. Preston’s accident. It was the card that gave him access to the private lift and the lift access to all levels of the building. Faith hadn’t asked her to do so, but she figured that Zac would be there for some time and instead of having to buzz him in all the time, she might as well get him a card.

Chelsea smiled politely in return. “She’s in there.”

Zac nodded and moved right on, walking into the office after knocking softly on the door.
 

“Hi angel.”

Faith looked up and smiled, glancing at the clock. “Settled your work?”

“Why? Are you intending to keep me here the rest of the day?”
 

Faith laughed. “No, I was just asking.”

Zac stretched out his hand, and Faith took it while her free hand grabbed the bag that was leaning casually by the side of her desk.
 

At lunch Faith told Zac all about Wilson Miller and though he had kept silent, Faith knew that Zac was furious. His eyes narrowed a little and his jaw tightened when Faith told her about the near-punch she would have received if it hadn’t been for the security guards whom Chelsea had called.
 

“I was being rather mean though; he sort of channeled the inner-bitch in me,” Faith rattled off nonchalantly.

That statement resulted in a fit of laughter from Zac. “My love, he deserved everything, and if I were there, he would have gotten more than just some snide remarks.”

He took her hand and rubbed the back of her fingers with his thumb. Gently, he lifted her hand and planted a kiss on the back of her hand. He loved how he could just touch her simply because he wanted to and to kiss her simply because he couldn’t get enough of her.
 

When they got back to the car after lunch, Zac didn’t open the door for Faith immediately. Instead, he leaned his palms on the car, encasing Faith within his arms and leaned in to kiss her. Faith didn’t protest; she had been missing him all morning. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, knowing that there were people walking passed and staring at them.
 

“Shall we?” Zac opened the door after Faith broke away from the kiss. It was a good thing; it was getting difficult for him to remember that they were out in the public, and he just couldn’t pull himself away from Faith.
 

“Back to the office?” Zac asked when he got in.
 

“No, actually, I was thinking of visiting my dad. I have already finished all the work I need to do. You can drop me off at my parents’ house and get back to work if you’re busy.”

“So, you
were
intending to keep me around for the rest of the day.” Zac leaned across the driver seat and gave Faith a quick peck on her lips before starting the engine and driving toward her parent’s house. “Lucky for you, I’m not busy.”

When Zac’s car pulled into the house where Faith grew up, a place that had grown to become a home to Zac as well. Outside the house stood an unfamiliar car. Faith frowned, “Whose car is that?” She wondered out loud.

Zac shrugged as he opened her door, “Let’s find out.”

Even before they got to the door, they could hear an enraged voice hollering within the house. Both Faith and Zac hastened their steps but Zac had widened his strides, making sure that he was in front of Faith before flinging open the door to find Wilson Miller seated on the sofa with her father.
 

Miller gave a smirk of disgust when he saw Faith entering the door.

“What the hell are you doing here? Why are you bothering my father? Don’t you know that he is not feeling well?” Her voice came out louder than expected. She had side stepped Zac and was moving closer to Wilson Miller as she spoke.