Chapter 20 Fire Me
Verena
I had never been this irritated by someone’s tears my whole life. The more I stared, revulsion swirled inside of me. Mandy’s face was an ugly smear of wet mascara that trailed down her cheeks as she reached for a handkerchief in her pocket, softly dabbing at the tears that brimmed in her eyes.
This woman was too dramatic and definitely manipulative because the moment she saw Daxton, she began to cry.
And here she was, still putting up a performance in his office like she was a teenager.
I shook my head in irritation, peeling my eyes off her. The door opened, revealing Daxton whose eyes were a storm, jaw clenched so hard that a muscle feathered. “Causing a scene in my hotel…” His face wore a disgruntled look as he walked past me, rolling up his sleeves as he pulled out a chair. “There had better be a reasonable explanation, Mandy and Verena…” He cut me a sharp look that held no weight.
Daxton wasn’t mad at me.
Mandy’s shoulders tensed as she walked on wobbly knees to the chair that Daxton had pulled out. While Daxton rounded the table and I slowly released my breath as my chest heaved.
Mandy was about to sit on the chair when Daxton’s cold voice made her freeze mid-motion. “I didn’t pull the chair out for you” Something dark shot in his eyes, a small chilling smirk that faltered stretched the corners of his mouth as he tossed a glance at me. “I pulled the chair out for my assistant”
I stilled. That was brutal.
Silence pervaded for a second as Mandy turned to me, blinking awkwardly as a pink flush of shame rose on her cheeks before she darted her eyes back to the chair that was still tucked in.
Her throat worked and she lowered her head, apologizing immediately. “I had no idea, I am sorry…” Her voice was barely a whisper.
For a minute, all I did was just stare at Daxton whose eyes nudged me to take my seat. What if his constant favorable acts towards me gave people the hint that we had something intimate going on between us? That would be super uncomfortable.
We would need to talk about this later but for now—
I blinked my eyes away, taking my seat while Daxton’s piercing gaze flicked between Mandy's and I’s face before he asked. “Does anyone care to explain what happened earlier?”
I opened my mouth to speak but Mandy beat me to it. “All I have done was put Verena through like you had instructed but all I have received in return for my kindness is arrogance and disrespect” She choked out, breaking down again.
Despite the words that burned in my throat, itching to sputter out of my mouth, all I did was just stare—stunned into complete silence.
Daxton leaned forward, his eyes narrowing on her. “In what way?”
Mandy made a tiny sniffle, swiping the tear that tracked down her face with her thumb. “She doesn't listen to me, talks over me but the extreme one she did today was bodyshaming me!”
A scoff almost escaped me as I raised a brow, amused by how effortlessly the lies left her mouth.
“Continue…”
She nodded. “She took my order and I asked for soda, instead she dropped a Diet Coke on my desk. She is rubbing the fact that I can't lose weight on my face,”
Daxton closed his eyes, fingers tightening around the pen before he gave her a blank stare. “So, that was the reason for the noise?” He sounded so bored.
Then he turned his eyes to me. “And you? I clearly heard when you used the F word on her”
“She pushed me to my limit and the Diet Coke issue was a mistake. It was mine but she wouldn't let me explain to her before she started accusing me of fat-shaming her—” I almost rolled my eyes.
“That isn’t the truth…”
Daxton cut in. “Miss Mandy, I expected so much from you as the executive assistant. And according to eye-witness, you were the one who blew things out of proportion”
“My assistant isn't the one to make people feel bad in their body and before you react rashly, always remember that you are in a workplace. The next time you cause such a scene, I wouldn't hesitate to have you fired!”
Good!
“And you Verena Carson, you don't use the F word on those superior to you. I’ll have to figure out what your punishment will be”
Punishment? I’d done nothing but at least this was better than asking me to apologize to Mandy because I would rather quit than do that.
“You can leave…” Mandy rose to her feet, lowering her head slightly and I was about to stand as well when his words sent me sinking back into the chair. “Except you Verena!”
The moment Mandy was out of the door, Daxton’s cold eyes softened as he leaned back in his swivel chair that swirled slowly by the sides, twirling a pen between his fingers. “So, you told the executive assistant to go fuck herself?”
Frustration gnawed on my insides as my shoulders sagged. “Not exactly…I just told her ‘Fuck You’”
He darted those bright eyes to me and I could have sworn that I almost wilted under it. “Same thing, Verena. Same thing. That was very disrespectful—”
I cut in. “So you hate me now?” I pushed the chair back.
Daxton huffed a laugh, amusement sparking in his eyes. “—and cute” He finished, shoving to his feet as he opened his drawer and brought out something I struggled to get a glimpse of.
“What now? You are going to punish me, deduct my salary…”
My breath caught when he walked towards me, eyes pinning me to my seat as heat coiled in my stomach. Before I knew it, his fingers gripped both arms of the chair as he leaned forward—so close that his face was just inches away from mine.
Those beautiful blue eyes flecked with gray searched mine before they dropped to my lips and my stomach knotted.
“What exactly are you going to do to me? Fire me?” My voice was low.
His thumb tugged at my bottom lip as he drawled. “Something worse?”
“How bad is it?”
“Well, you hate it…”
My eyes narrowed on him. “How do you know what I hate?”
A smile tilted his lips up as his hands moved to his as he gripped my face, his thumb caressing my cheeks as his eyes pierced deep into mine. “Get your bags—”
“and leave…”
A small left his mouth as he dipped his head, planting a kiss on my mouth. “No, silly! I got us tickets for the Monday Night Football and we are flying to New York in the next two hours”
I screamed, jumping all over him while planting soft kisses on his face. What did he mean by I was going to hate it? I had to cancel the ticket that I had bought way before on Saturday, because with the job at hand, it wouldn't be feasible for me.
But Daxton made this come true for me and I loved every bit of this punishment.