Chapter 25 25

Chapter 25 25
Karin's POV
It was amazing what a weekend and some sleep could do for a girl. I marched into the building on Monday like the most powerful woman on earth. “Good morning.” The security guard smiled as I walked through the security screen.

“Morning.” I smiled. “Lovely day, isn’t it?”
“Sure is.” He winked as I walked past him. To hell with Adrien Vale.

So what? We had sex. So what? It was great. But guess what? I didn’t care.
I wasn’t letting him dull my Los Angeles shine. I had moved here to start a new and exciting life, and to be honest, the first three weeks had been pretty amazing . . . well, except last week. But I was scratching that from the record, so it didn’t actually count.
I was moving onward and upward, and eighteen months from now I would probably look back at this and laugh.

I made it to my floor to find Aline and her friend Renee talking by the elevator.
“Hi, girls.”
“Hi.” Aline smiled. “How are you?”
“Good. Great, actually. What are you guys up to?”
“We’re discussing where we want to go this weekend.”
“Oh.”

“Hey, you should come clubbing with us,” she offered.
“Really?”
“Yeah, for sure. We always have a blast.”
“You know what? I’d love to.” I smiled.
“Awesome.” She took her phone out of her pocket and put my number in. “We usually meet up about eight or nine on Saturday night.”

“For dinner first?” I asked.
“No.” She smirked. “We eat mac and cheese before we go out and then buy hella expensive drinks. Priorities.”
I laughed. “Okay, sounds good.”

I made my way to my desk and found Maël already working.
“Hi.”
“Hi.” He said sadly.
“What’s wrong?” I frowned as I took my seat.
“I got stood up again last night.” He sighed. “I’m just getting sick of this, you know?”
“Have you talked to him?” I asked.
“No, he’s always working or has things going on or a legitimate excuse. Maybe I was looking for problems that weren’t there.”
“Maybe,” I replied. “Anyway, you’ll be glad to know that I’m in a much better mood today.”
“Really?” He smirked. “What’s your secret?”
“Sleep,” I replied. “And I’m even going to start going to the gym on level three next week. Want to come with me?”
“Maybe.” He thought about it.
“We could become superhot fitness freaks.” He chuckled. “Yeah, okay. Are you high?”

“I had such a shitty day on Friday, and I’m determined to change my mind-set.”
“Good for you.”

Eva arrived and put her bag onto the desk with a bang. “Anybody want a kid?”
I giggled. “What now?”
“Ugh.” She flopped into her chair. “So you know how Brad got caught messaging that girl. I took his phone from him because his father wouldn’t do it,” she snapped.
“Yeah.”
“Well, he was angry, but he wasn’t that pissed off, you know?”
“What do you mean?”

“Well, he wasn’t hassling me for his phone back all the time like normal, and he wanted to go to bed really early last night.”
I frowned as I listened.
“I felt like something was off, so I checked the hiding spot to see if his phone was still there, and it was. Then I had this strange thought to check the SIM.”
Maël chuckled, already knowing where this story was going.
“The little shit had taken the SIM out and put it into an old phone.”
“Oh, crap.”

“I barged into his bedroom, and sure enough, he was on his phone, and it was hidden under the covers. I snatched it off him and locked myself in the bathroom while I went through it. He was banging the door down, so I knew there was something on there that he didn’t want me to see.”
My eyes widened as I listened.
“Get this,” she sneered. “Pure little Chanel has been sending him nudes too.”
I frowned.
“This fifteen-year-old little girl is built like a fucking Penthouse Pet.” We chuckled.

“Oh, it gets worse,” she continued. “While I was looking through his phone, a new message came through from her.”
“What was it?”
“I got a Brazilian like you wanted. You like?” My mouth fell open.
“Can you believe that message?”
Unable to help it, I burst out laughing.
“I would find this funny, too, if it weren’t my child,” she whispered as she sat down at her desk.

“Then Brad had a complete meltdown and told me that if I call Chanel’s parents, I’m effectively committing social suicide for him as his whole reputation would be ruined and that he was never going to school again.” She hit her computer keyboard with a hard bang.
“That’s true,” Maël replied. “You can’t call her mother.”
“So it’s all right for her to call me, but I can’t call her?” she stammered.
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “I probably wouldn’t call her mother either.”
“Well, what would you do?” she asked.

“I’d buy him a box of condoms, that’s what I’d do.” She stared at me, wide-eyed.
“Because imagine if he got her pregnant,” I added.
“Oh my God.” She dragged her hand down her face. “I can’t deal with boys. They are so stupid.”
“The amount of testosterone in a male teenager is ridiculous,” Maël replied casually. “I was jerking off four times a day when I was fifteen.”
Eva and I winced.
“Four times a day?” I stammered.
“Don’t girls do that?” He frowned in surprise.
“No,” we both gasped.
“Men are gross.”

I faked a shiver in disgust. The phone on my desk rang.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Hello, Karin, this is Violeta, Mr. Vale’s PA.” What did she want?
“Hi.”
“Mr. Vale asked me to let you know that you have a meeting in his office in an hour.”
“I’m very busy today. Can you tell Mr. Vale that, unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it?”
“He told me that your attendance was mandatory, and he’s already spoken to your manager to get clearance.”
I rolled my eyes. Stupid twat. “Fine. I’ll be there. Thank you.”