SLOW HANDS

With a sigh, she explained the whole sorry tale about her her history with Timothy, their reunion and their trip to the beach house. She left out the mushy details she’d shared with Ann. Evan was, after all, A. her boss and B. a man. He didn’t need to know that she’d stupidly fallen in love with a man she’d be working with for a long time to come. It made things entirely too messy. What if they broke up? Would Evan feel weird about continuing the relationship with Packard enterprises or would he take his business elsewhere?

There were a million reasons why she should have never ever gotten involved with Timothy , and yet, she hadn’t heeded any of the warning signs.

“I overheard what Ann said about how it shouldn’t matter to me how you got the account. I won’t lie. It doesn’t. Furthermore, it’s none of my business unless you broke the law or did something to damage the reputation of Golden Gates. I don’t think this qualifies. My concern is for you. I know how devastated you were by what happened in your former work place..

“I meant what I said when I told you that you had my support. That hasn’t changed. I’ll make sure to put an end to any speculation going on in the office, but I can’t control what people think or say outside the work area. I don’t imagine this is going to be easy for you to deal with in the next little while, but Golden gates promotions stands behind you.”

“Thank you, Evan,” she said in a shaky voice. “That means a lot to me.”

“Any idea who would have done this?” Evan asked.

She frowned and stared down at the pictures. Then she looked back up at Evan.

“I have no idea. I didn’t even know they existed, and by looking at them, you can tell that they weren’t taken by the professional photographer. I have no idea who would go to these lengths to discredit me.”

Evan swore long and hard. “Are you sure no one here did this?”

Chloe stared back at him. “You don’t think….. surely not. No one here would do something like that.”

“I don’t know, but I’ll find out,” he snapped.

He rose and stalked to the door. Then he paused and turned back for a moment.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

“Don’t let this get you down, Chloe. I have a feeling that whoever did this intended just that. You did a damn good job on this account. No one can take that away from you unless you let them.”

As he tried to leave, Chloe called him back. “Hey Evan, I heard about Christina. Are you okay?”

His face seemed to tighten even more as he nodded. “I’m not… honestly, but I have no idea what to do. It’s my fault anyways and I deserve this.”

Then he was gone, leaving Chloe sitting there like a deflated balloon. She was supposed to meet Timothy in just a few hours. Their evening was already planned, complete with the sleepover at his hotel and his driver taking her to work in the morning. She’d already had reservations about it all, but now the idea made the knot in her stomach grow even larger.

Who the hell had taken those pictures? It made her furious. Why would anyone even care or go to such lengths to discredit her? She wouldn’t put it past Athos Koteas. He’d made it a point to tar Golden gates promotions any way possible, but how would he have taken those pictures?

The idea that one of her coworkers was responsible made her want to puke. She couldn’t believe it and work here another minute. She had to push that possibility out of her mind or go insane. How sick was it that she didn’t even want to venture out of her office now? She couldn’t face everyone knowing that they’d seen that damn article. She laid her head on her desk and tried to ignore the painful ache that had developed around her temples.

She knew what she had to do, and it hurt far more than those damn pictures. But she hadn’t worked this hard to rebuild her reputation and her career to have it go down the toilet over one torrid affair.

The rest of the day was spent sequestered in her office. She only spoke to Shelby to tell her she wasn’t accepting any calls and the rest of the time she spent in brooding silence.

At five, she stared out the window, watching as her coworkers left the building. She purposely waited until everyone else had left before she locked up her office for the night.

Though it was well past seven, she dragged herself down six flights of stairs just on the off chance any stragglers were in the elevator. She was pathetic and spineless but she didn’t care. She’d face them all when she had some semblance of control over her emotions. She drove to her apartment with her fingers curled tightly around the wheel. She battled bouts of fury and the impulse to break down into tears. By the time she reached home, she was mentally exhausted.

To make matters worse, Timothy was waiting for her by the door. He wore a deep frown, and his brow was creased with concern.

“Where the hell have you been?” he demanded. “I was worried. We were supposed to meet here an hour and a half ago.”

She couldn’t even meet his gaze as she jammed her key into the lock. She shoved the door open, and went inside, allowing the dark to swallow her up.

“Hey, Chloe, what’s wrong?” he asked.

He flipped on the light, and she winced. He was in front of her immediately. He grasped her arm and tilted her chin up with his other hand.

“What the hell? Have you been crying?”

She closed her eyes and tried to pull away, but he held tight.

“Talk to me, dammit.”

“We can’t see each other for a while,” she blurted out. “Okay? We need to cool it. Things are crazy. My life is crazy.”

Her words did what she hadn’t been able to do. He let go of her arm and took a step back.

“Want to run that by me again? In a way that I understand?” he said.