I dressed as quickly as I could manage. When I came out of the area, almost everyone was gone. And to my dismay, James hadn’t come back. I wondered if he went into another room in the building or in the lobby or something.
“Where is…” I didn’t have to finish the question because my face gave me away.
“James had to go into the office. There was something that came up. Sorry. I’m going to take you home.”
“Oh, okay.” My dismay showed on my face.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be paid this week, and you’ll be able to see the photos soon. I’m not sure how long it will take, but since everyone’s in a rush to get the campaign up and running, you’ll see them soon.”
“Thanks. I’m ready to go,” I said. “Well, I mean, unless you have somewhere else to go, because I can just take an Uber or something.”
“No, girl. I got you. Let’s get going.” There was a large luggage rack with four outfits in the garment bags that she snagged.
“Thank you so much,” I told Claude.
“You’re very welcome. You’re a natural, Ava, and made our job much easier.”
“You got it, girl. I just know the ad is going to be a hit with you on it,” Elizabeth said, holding onto the bags.
“Hey, let me help with those,” I insisted.
“Nope. I’ve got it. You just need to march your ass to the car and get inside. I’d hate to have the boss fire me if something happened to you.”
“Whatever. You are being ridiculous.” I rolled my eyes and opened the rear door and then she laid the garment bags inside.
“Do you want some food because I’m starved?” she asked as we both climbed inside her nice BMW.
My stomach grumbled loudly as if answering for me. “I could totally use something to eat.”
“Yeah, couldn’t tell,” she chuckled.
I laughed. “What he say to starving me?”
“Do go ratting me out now.” She wagged her finger at me before pulling out of the parking spot.
“What do you want? I know models have to keep it thin and all. A piece of lettuce now.”
“I will bite you.”
“That’s a lot of calories. I’m not slender.”
“Girl, you should have been the one taking those photos. You’re hot as hell.” I immediately regretted the words after they fell from my mouth because that would have meant that James would have been all over her, nibbling on her, and making her come.
She didn’t say anything for a moment before she added, “Hardly. Besides, I’d never be caught under my boss. Totally unprofessional.” Well thank goodness for that.
Chapter Five
James
The shitstorm that waited for me took the entire day and night to fix. Then I went for the culprits who thought my company was up for grabs. It wasn’t an actual invasion; it was a betrayal. A former employee stole classified codes, and when he joined another company, he decided to hack me with the source codes and create some havoc. I was able to fix it, even though it took a long time.
Now it was time to seek my revenge. I let him go for good reason. He was a liar and a lazy piece of shit who thought he was better than me and should own my company. Well, that was why he was working for someone else. It was my mistake to believe he hadn’t stolen anything when he left, but he had. All the codes for the servers and programs had to go directly through the main routers, and he didn’t have access to the office anymore.
The office ran on high security clearance, only paying customers having access to our number and having a special digit code that led them to their specific account that allowed them to speak to a representative. It was an added security measure. Until yesterday, it wasn’t even necessary to implement. An armed guard stood at each entrance. I paid great money to protect the security, so it pissed me off that he got in. It didn’t take long to fix the problem; it was fixing my mistake and making sure it never happened again that was the bigger issue.
As much as I wanted to think about Ava and spend all my time with her, I had to focus on my company. Sink or swim was a must in this industry. Failure wasn’t an option, so I had to get this done before tracking her down and claiming her. Damn,did I want to find her and finish what we started, but our future would depend on my ability to keep us financially stable.
Elizabeth came to the office on Sunday with fresh coffee and a promise that Ava was home safe where she belonged. I hadn’t summoned her in, but I had sent her several messages Saturday night that sent her into a tailspin of concern.
