The Assistant (37 page)

“You guys are the cutest,” I heard a female voice sigh.

I turned around in confusion and found Anna standing behind me with a smile on her face and a glass of white wine gripped tightly by both hands.

“Thank you.” I smiled. “You look really nice!” I complimented, observing her black cocktail dress and royal blue high heels.

“Are you kidding me? Nothing compares to how you look tonight,” she gushed, freeing one hand from the glass and motioning at my dress. “You’re literally distracting everyone with your beauty and your laugh. Seriously, I’ve seen so many people around you look at you while someone is talking to them, or they’re talking to someone. You look amazing!”

I blushed and nervously looked around the room briefly; noticing the small looks she pointed out, before smiling slightly. “Thank you.” An all too familiar light blue dress caught my attention, and I sighed before looking back at Anna. “I’m really sorry, I’ve just spotted something I need to take care of… I’ll find you later and we’ll talk more?”

“It’s fine! I understand, you have to run around a lot since it’s your boss and your boyfriend’s event. I’ll see you around.” She smiled.

I nodded briefly and instantly made my way over to where Amy was now blinking into a worried looking man’s face.

“I’m so sorry, she tends to observe people a bit too closely to know what to write about when we ask about how the night went.” I smiled sheepishly at the man before grabbing a hold of Amy’s left arm. “Thank you for coming tonight. Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

I dragged Amy off to the ladies’ room.

“Amy! What did I warn you about when I told you about this event?! This is serious! Pull yourself together!” I stressed, fixing her flattening curls.

“Why couldn’t Rita do my hair?” she grumbled with a pout. “Yours looks so pretty. So does your dress. So do you.”

“Amy,” I growled, beginning to lose my patience.

“What?” She whined.

“Sober up and pull yourself together,” I snapped. “I’m going to get you a glass of water, and then I’m giving you to Blake.”

She instantly straightened up. “Blake’s here? Oh my God… I mean, no! I don’t want to go to Blake.” She attempted to glare, but failed from her eyes still being wide with surprise and admiration.

I smirked before dragging her out. “I’m sure you don’t. Come on, let’s get you some water.” I led her to the bar. Amy began to sip on the glass of water put in front of her just as Blake and Allen appeared.

“Amy?” Blake called out, mirroring Amy’s previous expression once Blake was mentioned.

“Well, if it isn’t Flakey Blakey,” she drawled out, before taking another sip of water.

“Are you drunk?” he asked with a slightly amused expression.

Amy turned to both men and squinted one eye as she pressed her thumb and forefinger close together. “
This
much.” She grinned, before her eyes went wide. “Hey, you look really hot!” she blurted.

Blake, Allen and I burst into a fit of laughter then, causing Amy’s face to turn red with embarrassment. “I- I was talking about Allen.” She tried to cover up with a glare.

“I’m sure you were, sweetie,” I spoke up, still laughing.

Blake shook his head at my best friend before looking up at me. “I’ll take care of her from here.”

I tried to fight the smile that was threatening to jump onto my lips and nodded briefly. “Are you sure? That’d be great, thank you so much.”

Allen and I left the pair alone and we began to look for Adrian again. “It’s pretty obvious that your brother likes her as well. Why haven’t they tried it out yet?” Allen asked, looking around the crowded reception.

“It may be obvious to a third person; but those two are completely oblivious about their feelings for each other.” I laughed at that, remembering the day of our graduation when Amy had accidentally pulled Blake into a hug, and they both acted awkward after that.

“I’m guessing you invited them both here tonight to play the role of cupid?” Allen asked, casting a sideways smirk in my direction.

I shrugged and grinned. “I have to entertain myself at these things somehow.”

Allen pretended to act offended. “What, I’m not entertaining enough for you? I’m wounded.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes before I began scanning the room again. “Shut up you big bab-” My sentence swallowed itself up in my throat as my eyes landed on the one thing I
didn’t
want to see tonight.

“Big what? D- Emily? Are you okay?” Allen noticed my frozen stare, and followed my line of gaze until he spotted what I was looking at. “Son of a bitch, you were right,” Allen mumbled under his breath, before grabbing onto my arm. “Come on, we have to find Adrian and tell him.”

I don’t remember how but suddenly, we were near the stage at the front of the room and Adrian had me in a protective hug. “I’m not going to let anything happen, Shortcake,” Adrian murmured into my hair, rubbing my back softly. “You don’t need to worry.”

“I was right,” I mumbled into his chest.

“I specifically told the fucking security of this place not to let him in,” Adrian growled.

“I’ll take care of it,” Allen spoke up, before I heard him walk off.

“Emily. What did you see?” Adrian asked, pulling away from the hug but still keeping me in his arms.

“David Walter and… Anna. They were in the corner of the room talking. David passed Anna an envelope, and that’s when Allen brought me to you.”

“Son of a bitch,” Adrian muttered.

“She was so nice to me… We were going to talk later on with a glass of wine in our hands.”

“I’m going to fire her right now,” Adrian growled, ignoring my rambling.

“No! Adrian, not here,” I pleaded, grabbing a hold of his arm.

Adrian gave me an angered look of disbelief. “Are you kidding me? Why the fuck not?! That stupid little bitch-”

“No! You’re at a formal event. People are here to listen to your speech about future plans with the company and shake your hand and give you cheques. You can’t show a mean side of yourself right now; firing someone is not the way to go.”

Adrian just glared down at me. “Does it look like,” he began slowly, “I give a fuck about the company right now?”

I sighed. “Adrian, please. Don’t be irrational about this. You can’t fire-”

“Emily. Who I do or do not fire is none of your concern nor is it in your control. She fucked with you, so I ruin her.” Adrian’s tone was final, and he walked away before I could say anything else to change his mind.

Anna was the one. The mole. David Walter’s ‘little bird.’ No wonder why her apology was so sudden.

I began to walk back to the table I was assigned to while smiling briefly at whoever I passed. Adrian was angry with me, and he was going to need a few hours to cool off before I would be able to talk to him again. My thoughts wandered back to Anna’s behaviour earlier this evening, and my frown deepened as I bit my lip. She was being nice; cautious with what she was going to say to me but nonetheless, nice.

“I’m in love with your chest,” a deep, familiar voice uttered.

“Mason!” Another, more feminine voice scolded, pulling me away from my thoughts completely.

I looked up from my shimmering dress to find Katherine glaring at a smug looking Mason, and a small smile instantly appeared on my lips. “Hello! I didn’t know you two were coming tonight.”

“Well, my bitch of a son forced us to; even though I’m getting too old for this shit.” Mason grunted, before another smile appeared on his lips. “Come on Emily, give this poor old man a hug.” His smile began to grow as he waggled his eyebrows in my direction.

I frowned slightly in confusion before cautiously making my way over towards Mason’s seat.

“Poor girl. Don’t hug him Emily,” Katherine warned in a deadpan voice, giving her husband another flat look. “He only wants you to hug him so he can make a comment about your chest.”

I instantly stopped walking and blushed furiously at the revelation. “Damn you,” Mason mumbled to his wife.

I laughed as Katherine rolled her eyes at her husband before she stood up with a small smile playing on her lips. “It is nice to see you again, Emily. You look drop dead gorgeous tonight. That dress does more wonders to your body than the usual ones do,” she stated calmly, before pulling me into a hug.

I blushed at her observation and hugged her back. “Thank you. You look incredible! Red is definitely your colour.” I smiled.

“Where is my son?” Katherine asked. “I’m quite surprised he doesn’t have you attached to his hip – or lips – at the moment.” Her eyes twinkled in amusement, and I blushed even more under her gaze.

The mention of Adrian put me in a sad mood again, and I sighed before answering. “He’s firing someone.”

“Oh?” Katherine replied, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

“It’s a long story,” I mumbled, taking my seat across from them.

“Don’t worry, Emily,” Mason spoke up. “Adrian is quite the idiot when it comes to your wellbeing. He’ll fire himself if it meant making you happy. Just give him a little time to cool off and then I’m sure everything will be back to normal.” He whistled. “And by the way, damn straight that dress does wonders!” Katherine wacked him across the head.

I laughed as Mason glared at his wife, who was wearing a smug smirk, before my phone started buzzing at my ankle. Frowning, I bent down to retrieve it, and found a text message from and unfamiliar number:

This is Jared Gilbert. I was running late tonight and security won’t let me in, even though I’m on the list. Will you please come and retrieve me? I’m at the side entrance.

Jared Gilbert?
My mind mentally scanned the guest list for tonight’s event and I frowned once my memory came up blank. “Excuse me for a moment, I need to take care of something outside.” I smiled.

“Take your time, sweetie, we can entertain ourselves. Make sure you sway your hips for me when you leave though. I need something to look at while my wife is still giving me the silent treatment.” Mason winked, earning another wack on the head.

I laughed at the couple in front of me before leaving the table and making my way through the small clusters of people, towards the exit of the reception.

“Hey, where are you off to?” Allen spoke up, suddenly appearing beside me. “Blake told me to tell you that he’s taken Amy home.”

I grinned. “My plan has worked! I’ve got to take care of something with a guest outside. Have you… Um… Have you spoken to Adrian?” I asked, trying to keep my expression neutral.

Allen’s eyebrows shot up in surprise before the realisation settled into his expression. “You guys had a fight, didn’t you?”

I sighed. “I didn’t want him to fire Anna in front of any of these people, and he went and did it anyway.”

Allen nodded in understanding. “I did hear a few people mentioning what an asshole he is for publically humiliating a woman like that… But others kind of shunned her. There goes her reputation,” Allen mumbled, more to himself than to me.

“This is my fault.” I sighed, looking down at my heels. Adrian was angry with me, and now Anna was never going to be able to get a decent job again.

“Hey, don’t blame yourself,” Allen stated firmly. “None of this is your fault.”

I looked up at him with a small smile before pulling him in for a quick hug. “You’re a great guy.”

“I know,” he replied with an arrogant grin.