Chapter 24

Gina

I glanced at the clock, playing around with my stapler. It took me a second to realise that, in about five minutes, I would have a meeting with Davies and his new client. A bitter ball of panic clogged my throat, and I started picking up paperwork on my desk, trying to read through the briefings of the client’s campaign. I had been distracted all day, and now I was just about to walk into the meeting completely unprepared.
I barely slept last night, thinking and wondering if I had made the right decision. Josh’s words struck a nerve. He was right; I was happy with Harry. I’d never been happier than when I was with Harry.
This morning I looked terrible and Brittany had noticed.
My heart was in shreds. I missed him like crazy, but I was afraid to pick up the phone and call him. At some point I hoped that he would get in touch, but he wasn’t a man who easily changed his mind. He had no reason to call me.
I was speed-reading, but my brain wasn’t registering the content of the papers. I had spent all morning staring at the wall and thinking about a man who wasn’t available, and now I was totally screwed. The numbers and objective were written in some legal jargon. Davies was going to lose his shit with me this time around, and I had no doubt that he might even fire me.
“They are waiting for you,” Brittany said, poking her head into my office. “What’s wrong? You look nervous.”
“I’m fine, just tell them that I need ten more minutes,” I snapped. Sweat started pouring down my body, messing with my senses. Maybe I shouldn’t have come in today. I still had a chance to tell him I wasn’t feeling well and needed to go home.
Brittany looked confused.
“Davies will go mental. I can’t go in there. You know he can be a real arsehole,” she said, looking like a scared cat. I took a few deep breaths, telling myself that maybe I could do this, whatever happened.
“Fine, I’m on my way,” I said and grabbed all the papers on my desk. I walked across the floor, and I felt like everyone suddenly knew I was a mess.
Davies knew I was the most experienced campaign manager in the company. Of course, he was never going to admit to it because he enjoyed embarrassing me too much. This was the first time in my career that I was going to let him down.
My stomach was in knots. It’d been over two weeks since I told Erskine that I couldn’t keep pretending that we were a couple. I had developed feelings for him; as stupid as this sounded, it was the truth.
The office was busier today than normally. Davies had a huge audit day, and everyone looked stressed, running around with stacks of files and getting agitated with each other.
I took two deep breaths and, a moment later, I found myself in Davies’s office.
“Ah, Miss Martinez, we were wondering if you were planning to join us at all,” Mr. Arsehole said, glaring at me from his huge desk. “This is Mr. Moore.”
The client was a short Scottish guy with a silly moustache, who smiled briefly at me.
I squeezed my papers closer to my chest and sat down in the empty chair. I hoped that Mr. Moore would talk a little about his business, and then I would just jump in. It was a good strategy that could save my skin. I really needed to get my shit together, because my personal life had started affecting my workload. That had never happened to me before.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Moore,” I said, shaking the guy’s hand. He eyed my boobs and shifted on the chair.
I wanted to guess that the guy looked like he was in retail or IT, but the truth was, he could be doing anything. Now the idea of being sent home sick was very appealing.
“So, Miss Martinez, what did you think about—”
“Crystal, I haven’t got time for this. I’ve made myself very clear countless times,” said a voice that suddenly turned my stomach upside down. It came from Davies’s speakerphone. All the phones in the office were connected, but someone must have dialled the main switchboard number earlier on and left it like that, presumably forgetting about it. The conference room had been empty since this morning, so no one had bothered to switch it off.
Davies frowned and glanced at me like he was asking me what the hell that was all about. I parted my lips, and shook my head slightly, letting him know I had no idea why Harry Erskine was in the building.
Didn’t Crystal realise the phone was on and that everyone in the office could hear her?
“Right, excuse me, Mr. Moore, but—”
“Oh, stop it. You’re here because you missed me, dear, and you know you can’t afford to lose your business. We had something special going on, that is, besides fucking each other’s brains out.” Crystal continued saying, and Davies stopped himself midsentence. I didn’t dare look at him, so I stared down at my feet instead.
My heart was racing away. As far as I knew, Harry and I didn’t have an appointment. She must have cornered him again. I couldn’t believe that she actually dared to blackmail him for sex. This was pathetic. The secret was out and now Davies knew that his wife was cheating on him.
“I had a guy look into your dear husband’s finances and he’s going down for tax avoidance. The truth is, you have nothing on me. There is no paperwork and no signatures. All my accounts are clean, so you can carry on with your bullshit. It’s over. Get that through your thick skull. I’m leaving,” Harry snapped, sounding angry. I glanced at Davies then and saw that his face was twisted in rage. He was breathing hard, staring at the speakerphone like he wanted to burn it with his gaze. Harry had to get out of that conference room immediately.
It was a huge scandal.
“You’re here for that whore, right? No one gives better head than me, Harry, not even little Miss Martinez,” Crystal snarled, and I stopped breathing.
I felt Davies’s burning gaze on me now, but my world had collapsed. Crystal had just let everyone know that I had an affair with a client. It wasn’t necessarily against company policy, but I had no doubt that Davies would fire my arse over this.
No one was paying attention to Mr. Moore who sat in front of Davies, looking baffled. I took a deep breath and said, “I think we should switch this—”
“Give me a break, woman. You have caused enough trouble as it is. Forget about me and work on your marriage. I’m done with fucking around. From now on, I’ll only be making love. Now get the hell out of my way,” he said, raising his voice.
My heart was beating franticly in my chest. I wanted him to stop talking and just leave, but Davies wasn’t done yet. He wanted to hear it all. His wife had been cheating on him for ages, but it looked like he really didn’t know.
“Don’t be absurd, you couldn’t have fallen for that ginger witch. What does she have that I don’t?”
“She’s a wonderful human being, Crystal, and I love her. That’s why I’m—”
Davies cut the connection off, so the rest of the words were lost. Raw, unbridled panic clawed up my throat when Davies lifted his penetrating gaze at me. My career was over, and despite everything he just heard, he looked overjoyed that he could finally get rid of me.
“Mr. Moore, could you excuse me for just a second?” he asked the man.
“Sure,” Moore replied.
I was stunned that he didn’t say anything to me. Instead he got up and stormed away from the room. I jumped out of my chair and followed him.
Moments later I saw Davies kicking the door open to the conference room. Crystal screamed, backing away to the wall.
“You son of a bitch!” Davies roared and he launched himself on Harry, who looked caught completely off guard.
Everything happened so quickly. Davies punched him once, then a second time, and Harry went down. I stood in the doorway, not sure what to do. A few other staff members barged inside.
“Andrew … no, stop it! What the hell is wrong with you!” Crystal shouted, still most likely oblivious to the fact that Davies had heard everything just a second ago.
“You were fucking him, weren’t you?” he asked, but his question was rhetorical. He wanted her to admit to it.
I stood still, unable to move.
“I don—”
“I heard everything through the speakerphone. Someone must have left it on,” he snarled back. Harry wiped the blood off his face, getting back up. “How long? Fuck, how long have you two been fucking each other?”
Every single person in the office was standing outside the door now, staring at their boss and his scummy wife. Andrew was only interested in Harry and Crystal’s relationship. He must have known about his problems with taxes. It looked like his wife’s affair was just the tip of the iceberg.
“It started two months ago, then she just kept blackmailing me into sex. She was that sad,” Harry said, fixing his tie and jacket. “Maybe that wouldn’t have happened if you satisfied her in the bedroom.”
No one dared to laugh, but I bet they wanted to. Davies moved toward him again, but Arthur from accounts and some other guy stepped between them. This was really embarrassing. I hated Davies, but I kind of felt sorry for him. He had just been humiliated in front of all his staff.
“I’m sorry, honey, this isn’t what—”
“Shut the fuck up, Crystal. I’m through with you,” Davies said, now shaking with rage. “Gavin, call security. Mr. Erskine needs to be escorted out.”
“Save it, Davies, I’m leaving. Gina, I need to talk to you,” he said, but I couldn’t move. I was still going over what Harry had said in my head, a few minutes ago over the speakerphone. Love? Did he just admit that he was in love with me?
I must have misheard him.
“And you, Miss Martinez,” Davies said loud enough so everyone heard him. “You’re being dismissed for having an inappropriate relationship with a client. You may pick up your things and leave.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks, and I heard a wave of snippets and whispers behind me. I opened my mouth to protest, but I couldn’t come up with anything reasonable to say.
My career at Digital Box was over. Harry had admitted to sleeping with me out loud, and Davies had plenty of witnesses to back up his claim. I couldn’t talk to Harry now. I needed some space. This was too embarrassing. I quickly slipped through the door, passing security on the way to my office. I heard Harry shouting after me, but I felt so ashamed. I had a perfect plan that was now ruined, because I couldn’t keep my legs together.
I got to my office and started dumping all my important stuff into my bag. Brittany wasn’t at her desk. My head was fuzzy, and my thoughts were racing away. Tears forced their way into my eyes, but I refused to break in front of the whole company. I should have known that sleeping with the man who was fucking my boss’s wife would end badly.
Now I was unemployed, and I was only in the early stages of building my business. Harry Erskine had just confessed his love for me, but I was still unsure of how I felt about it.


Harry

The security officers kicked me out. I was pacing at the front, waiting for her. She should have been out by now. It’d been half an hour since that confrontation with Andrew. My nose was probably broken, but I didn’t care about the pain.
Crystal had slipped into the conference room when I waited there for Gina. I knew I should have waited until she finished work. Maybe then all that drama could have been avoided.
I got her fired, Goddamn it, and that wasn’t the plan. She was probably furious with me now.
Her business was fresh, and she needed a steady income. Davies was an arsehole, but this was all my fault. If I hadn’t insisted on sex, maybe things would have been different.
I couldn’t go back to the damn building. Two security guys were standing outside watching me. Davies had lost it. Well, I couldn’t blame him. The guy never really liked me.
Blood was pouring down on my shirt. The damn bastard had caught me by surprise. I didn’t care for Crystal, she knew that, but she had managed to get under my skin. I should have never gotten involved with her. I didn’t fuck married women, ever, so what the hell had happened to me when I bumped into her at that party?
The darkness was punching air out of my lungs and I kept clenching my fists. This wasn’t over. Gina hadn’t even listened to me yet. I was finally ready to share everything with her and I hoped she would listen.
Half an hour passed, and she didn’t come out. Davies had fired her, and he asked her to pick up her stuff. I jumped into my car and tried to calm the fuck down. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Gina didn’t deserve to be fired. She worked really hard in the past few months.
There were so many things that we needed to discuss. I wanted her to know that I was wrong before, that I had fallen for her.
Louisa was the first woman who turned me into a real man, and I tossed her away like garbage. This wasn’t fair or right. I didn’t want to make the same mistake again.
The darkness seeded doubts in my head, and even though I had the most amazing woman by my side, I didn’t appreciate her.
I was ready now, and I really hoped that I wasn’t too late.