Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,254

Pam shot me a look from inside her office as I went by.

Kait was in meetings all day, which made the pain of waiting for her ten times worse. I had no idea what was going to happen, but I knew it wouldn’t be good, and as the hours ticked by my imagination became more outrageous. By the time she finally called me into her office at nearly six o’clock, I was a bundle of nerves.

I took a deep breath, gathered my strength, and stepped inside Kait’s office.

“I don’t have any emails from you,” she said, her eyes on her computer. “Where’s the story?”

I braced myself before I said, “I didn’t do it.”

Kait cut her eyes up at me. “Excuse me?”

Still standing in the doorway, I shifted my weight, telling myself to hold steady. “I didn’t do it. I think…I didn’t really get any dirt on him anyway.”

Kait’s eyes didn’t move from mine. Her jaw was tight, and she looked coiled, like she was ready to spring across the desk for my throat.

“You’re telling me that, the assignment I gave you that could launch your career you just decided, screw it, I don’t feel like doing it?”

“No, Kait, it’s not that.”

“We go to press tonight. You better get your ass back to your desk right now and start writing,” she said. “And you better hope your fingers can type fast enough because if I don’t have that article in my inbox by nine o’clock tonight, you can kiss your career goodbye.”

“What if we did the article showing the other side of Leo Armstrong, the one that goes against his reputation?” I tried. I’d thought of that as I sat in traffic, my stomach a gurgling mess of nerves on my way in. I knew it wouldn’t work, but I had to try. I was sinking fast.

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” she said. “After all I’ve done for you? I gave you your start in this field. Do you know how many girls wish they had your job? How many girls wish they’d been given free rein of the Crush fashion closet to pick out anything so that they could look good on their dates with the Leo Armstrong? Do you get that?”

“And I’m so appreciative,” I said.

“He has got you so fooled,” Kait said, shaking her head in disgust. “Pam told me not to trust some young, naïve girl like you and she was right. That man has got you so fooled into thinking he actually cares about you. I don’t know whether it’s sad or pathetic or both. Sophie,” she said, leaning forward. “Listen to me carefully: He doesn’t care about you. No matter what he’s said to you in those quiet little moments in his high-rise apartment, he doesn’t care about you. All he cares about is using you. He’s been using you this whole time. Do you get that?”

“Maybe you’re right, Kait, but I don’t know why you hate him so much and why you’re out to get him. He’s not the man you think he is, he hasn’t treated me badly and I won’t say that he has just to make you happy.”

She kept her gaze on me, and I refused to look away.

“If you don’t write that story,” she said, “you can kiss your job here goodbye, and I promise you that there will be no other jobs to come. Los Angeles is a much smaller town than you might think.”

I’d considered this all day. Kait wasn’t the type of woman to let anyone tell her no. Hearing her say the words, though, still shocked me. I paused, wondering for a moment if I was prepared to do that—to give it all away and maybe get nothing in return.

“You know,” I said, “what you don’t understand is that Leo’s not the real user. You are.”

With that I turned and left Kait’s office, pausing only to grab my bag from my desk as I marched down the halls. The other editors had apparently been straining to listen and they all stood at the edge of their cubicles and offices as I walked out of Crush.

I didn’t care about their snide faces (Alexa, Bethany) or their victorious grins (Pam). I only cared about one thing—telling Leo the hard truth.

Chapter 19

Please answer, I silently prayed as I sat in my car outside the Crush offices—where my career had just been crushed—and listened to the ringing of Leo’s phone. Finally, thankfully, he answered.

“Hi! Leo!” I said with a