novelxo Chapter 3
Evie
The boss had called me into his office this morning. Dread settled in my stomach
as I stepped inside and Jasper was standing there too.
“Miss Sinclair,” he says simply. “Mister Morgan. I called you both in here to
discuss a rather important matter. I can’t have two interns. One of you will be let
go
1 bristle at his statement.
“The one I keep here has to demonstrate a knowledge of client acquisition that
exceeds our expectations for interns. Whoever brings me the next big client will
receive the role here in this office. The other will have to go.”
Jasper chuckles smugly beside me.
“Certainly, sir,” he says. “Excellence in everything, isn't that right, Evie?”
My nails bit into my palms as anger started boiling over.
“Absolutely,” I say, feigning sweetness.
“I expect to see your client portfolios in three days,” our boss said. “I look forward
to seeing what you guys bring to the table.”
As soon as we step outside his office, Jasper began his trash talk again.
“Prepare to lose, Evie,” he says with a smirk.
“I won't lose,” I say proudly.
“Don't lie to yourself,” he snorts. “I know you have zero prospects. It must be
hard being you.”
“Oh yea? What do you have that I don't,” I ask, folding my arms.
“My family owns the largest shipping company in the world,” he says plainly,
picking at his nails.
“That's a cowards way out,” I snort.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said quickly, a grin plastered on his face. “A client is a
client. It's not about what you know, but about who you know. It won't matter how
smart you are when you show up with nothing. I hold it all in the palm of my
hand.”
I felt my stomach drop. I hated when he was right. Jasper was second on my list
of most hated people I knew. Which means he was first place loser.
How fitting.
“It might be better for you to just give up,” he says, lowering his tone. “It's obvious
you don't belong here. You'd never understand how to deal with the one percent.
I mean, look at you. You taped your heels.”
My jaw tightens. “Your attempts at scaring me are childish at best. I'd suggest
you focus on your clients.”
I strode back to my cubicle, aware of how my heel wobbled beneath me. I
cursed, feeling embarrassed creep onto my face.
God, I was so out of my league. It felt like I dropped right into the deep end
without my floaties.
I didn't let his words deter me. I kept reaching out and searching for the client of
my boss's dreams.
1 just had to keep looking.
As the day came to a close, I felt my first wave of defeat. Not a single bite. It was
like no one would come near me with a ten foot pole. I would suspect sabotage
from my colleague, but something told me Jasper was much too confident in his
abilities to want to put in the extra effort.
So I packed up for the night.
My phone started buzzing. I pulled it from my purse and looked down at the
screen.
Aria.
I picked up her call, pressing the phone to my ear. “Hey.”
For a second, all I could hear was soft sniffles coming from the other end of the
phone. “Hey,” Aria repeated. Her voice was wobbly and quiet.
I frowned. “What is it,” I ask worriedly. “Aria, what's wrong?”
“He dumped me,” she wailed. “Ryan, dumped me!”
I inhaled deeply. “Aria, I'm so sorry,” I say apologetically. “What can I do?”
Her sniffles grew louder. “I don’t want to be alone,” she whimpers.
1 nod quickly. “No, absolutely. Come over,” I urge. “We can order takeout and
open a bottle of wine. Maybe watch a movie?”
Aria laughed sadly. “You're too good for this world, Evie,” she says tiredly. “Are
you finally off work?”
“Yea,” I answer. “I'm just heading onto the elevator.”
“Okay,” she sniffled again.
“I'll see you soon,” I promise gently.
“Okay. Bye.”
She hangs up, and I move double time to get home. I've gotten much better at
hailing a cab. I used to be much less assertive than I am now. Once inside the
cab, I place an order at our favorite Italian restaurant. I got us the whole thing—
pizza, pasta, salad, you name it.
All of it was set to arrive about the time I was.
When I stepped into my shabby little apartment, I kicked off my heels and
shrugged off my blazer, throwing it on the couch.
My doorbell rang just then and I run to grab it. A tearful Aria stands at my door,
still wiping her cheeks of their dampness.
“Come in,” I say quickly, ushering her inside with a gentle hand. “What
happened?”
“He broke it off because he was “working’ on himself,” she says with air
quotations. “But we all know what that means.”
1 felt bad that I didn’t know what that meant. “What does that mean?”
Aria breaks down again, sobbing uncontrollably. “I'm going to die alone!”
“Oh, no, babe,” I say, laughing quietly as I drew her in for a hug. “You're not going
to die alone. You'll always have me.”
Honestly, if anyone was going to die alone, it was probably me.
“I hate men,” she whines in frustration.
“Me too,” I admit softly. “Jasper was a real a-hole today. There's a reason he’s
number two on my hit list.”
“You never told me who's number one on that list,” Aria says, with almost
pleading eyes.
“It doesn’t matter,” I sigh tiredly. “Men suck in general.”
Aria groaned. “Il mean, why can't they all just be like Timothy Hayes,” she whined.
“He's so hot. Ugh.”
The name is my number one.
“Yea,” I croaked. “That would be... interesting.”
1 sit her down on the couch, tossing a fuzzy blanket to her.
“Thanks,” she says gratefully. “You didn’t have to do this, you know.”
1 laugh softly. “I think I needed this too,” I admit. “Things have been tough lately.”
“What's up,” she asks.
“It's nothing, just work,” I answer, keeping it vague. She didn’t need to pile my
problems on top of hers.
“Evie, you know you can talk to me too,” she says pleadingly. “I can't be the only
one word vomiting tonight.”
“It's not that big of a deal,” I say dismissively. “I'm just tired.”
“Evie-"
“I just don't need you to get involved,” I say sharply. I regretted my tone the
moment the words had left my lips. “Ari, I didn’t mean—"
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She remained quiet for a moment,
1s am f »
hurt filling her eyes. “It's fine,” she
: « c
finally says. “But I just delice
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know that Quen bhhwd tb solve
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Feith y yourself. I'm your best
friend, I just want to help you too. You
’ ¢ :
work so hard. You're literally falling
apart at the seams and I just have to
sit by and watch you rip yourself to
” .
shreds.” The content is on
Novelxo.org! Read the latest
chapter there!
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l inhaled quietly at her words. Aria
was the one person who truly had a
heart of gold. She cquihbea Gitle
N (& .
npessy. Soret mes and chaotic, but
she truly meant well. And she at least
deserved an explanation as to why I
was the way I was. The content is on
Novelxo.org! Read the latest
chapter there!
“I know you're worried about me, Ari,” I began, swallowing quietly. “But this is
something that I need to do on my own.”
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2 . I
Aria nods quietly. “You need to learn
how to relax. Come with me to a
y Ry
Thunderbolts game, gg pleaded
innagertthy! It's a birthday present to
f. I'm hoping fi
myself. I'm hoping for glass seats.
That way, I can see Hayes up close
” :
and personal.” The content is on
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chapter there!
I scoff, rolling my eyes. “Let me check my calendar,” I concede.
She continues giving me her puppy dog eyes. “Please?”
I look through quickly, not seeing any conflicts on the day of Aria’s birthday.
“Ugh, fine. You win. I'll go,” I laugh.
She claps her hands together. “You know I love you,” Aria grins.
As much as I loved making Aria happy, anxiety rippled through me. I would be
willingly putting myself within close proximity with my mortal enemy.
God help me now.