The phones on Steph’s desk buzzed.
“No, that’s okay, I got it.” Ivy raced into the hallway, throwing the door to the stairwell open.
“Yeah, these six guys aren’t going to come back. They think they are dropping off medical supplies into the hostile territory, but it’s not.” Mr. Winston’s voice echoed off the walls in the empty stairwell.
Ivy swallowed bile, carefully backing up against the door so it didn’t slam shut. “They’ve been told not to check the inventory. No one will know it’s us. They’ll think it’s an ambush or something. You know how people believe anything. That’s why we’re paying good money for this PR firm. Yeah, I’ll be there in twenty.”
Ivy closed her eyes, willing herself not to move or breathe. She waited, hearing footsteps on the stairs and the outside door slamming shut.
Finally, she closed the door to the stairwell, took a deep breath and walked back into Metric’s main office.
“Did you find him?”
“No, must have just missed him.” Ivy handed Steph the wallet. “Can you send it over to him?”
“Of course. You okay? You’re looking a little pale.”
“Just tired.” Ivy smiled.
“Ivy! The meeting with Paula went so good” Emery appeared in front of her.
“I knew you had it!”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I just need to focus on getting these notes over to the ad department before I leave tonight. I’m going to shut my door for a while.” Ivy smiled while her heart beat in double time.
“Okay, I’ll talk to you later.”
“Looking forward to hearing the details.” Ivy squeezed her friend’s arm, walked into her office and closed the door.
She pulled the blinds, so no one could look in, and then she slumped to the floor against her door, trembling.
God, this couldn’t be happening.
Taking out her cell, her hands shaking, she dialled Nick.
“Hello, Ivy.” Nick’s twangy accent calmed her for a moment.
“Nick, how are you?”
“All fine. What’s up?”
Ivy exhaled. Nick was a good guy, and he was tech-savvy. “So you know Gabe signed on for contractor work?”
“Yeah.”
“Can you check these guys out? Their website is so sparse, and I don’t know. I have a bad feeling about it.”
Nick was quiet for a long moment. “Gabe told me how you didn’t show up at the dinner by his dad’s last night. I know they aren’t the nicest people, but you got to support him, you know?”
She shot to her feet, annoyed by Nick’s comment. “That’s rich, Nick. That’sonedinner I missed. I have had years of them.”
“If you were my sub, I would call you out for being disrespectful to another Dom.”
“Good thing my Dom doesn’t care about stupid protocols like that,” Ivy gritted through her teeth, wondering what was up with Nick.
“Ivy, the man needs to work. Step back and let him work.”
