Chapter 57
I chewed the end of one of my pens. I looked at my watch. 11:23 am and still no sign of Dylan. Logan was right, it was kind of nerve–wracking how he didn’t get to meetings until the exact time they were
scheduled.
I had told Logan he was expected in the conference room at 11:30 for a meeting with a couple board members. In reality, it would just be me with my presentation, and Dylan helping me keep him in the room, But I had been hoping to have a few minutes alone with Dylan first to help soothe my nerves and go over the plan.
My phone dinged, I looked down and saw a message from Dylan.
“I’m here! I’m so sorry, I got caught in traffic. But I’m headed to the conference room now.”
meet
“I’ll meet you there. 🙂 “I sent back.
I picked up my laptop and hurried to the conference room. Once I got to the room I began prepping for the meeting. I lowered the projector screen and hooked up my laptop, then I opened the presentation program and clicked on the first slide.
Dylan came running in at 11:27. “I’m so sorry I’m late,” he said, breathing heavy. “How are you doing? Everything okay? You ready for this?”
“Uh. I’m okay. Ready as I can be,” I walked over to the door where he stood. I suddenly felt shy, the way he makes me feel a lot. “I can’t thank you enough for helping me with this.” Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.
“Yeah, absolutely. I’m happy to help,” he smiled at me and reached out to rub my arm. My chest burst into a million butterflies.
I saw Logan approaching through the glass walls of the office.
“Here he comes,” I said, the butterflies turning to nerves.
Dylan moved to the corner of the office where Logan wouldn’t spot him immediately. I moved back to my laptop.
Logan walked into the room and froze. He looked at his watch. “Where is everyone? You did say 11:30, correct?”
“Yes sir,” I said. “If you don’t mind taking a seat, I have something I would like to present to you.” Logan shook his head and snorted. “Oh, okay. I see. More lies? If you’re done wasting my time I think I’ll just head back to my office.”
He turned back towards the door but Dylan quickly moved to block the exit.
“Dylan?” Logan looked at him, then back at me, confused. “What are you doing here?”
“Hazel has something she would like to say to you, and I think you owe it to her to hear her out,” Dylan
said.
“Now you’re both wasting my time,” Logan snapped, trying to push around Dylan. “Get out of my way, I don’t have time for this nonsenso.”
#25 BONUS
“Come on man,” Dylan had lowered his voice, but I could still hear him. “Don’t be an asshat about this. Just…give her a chance to talk to you.”
Logan glared at Dylan, then turned and moved to a table that was right in front of me and the projector. He leaned against the table.
“You’ve got five minutes,” he told me.
I nodded, relieved. That was all I needed, I wasn’t able to make much of a slideshow from the two things I had pulled from Peter’s computer.
“Peter approached me and asked if I would help him gather information on you for him. He told me if I didn’t, he would go to the board with the following items.” I clicked to the second slide, which contained the fake email. “This email he concocted, that looks like it was written from me to you, and…”
Before I clicked over to the next slide, I realized I hadn’t thought this through. I froze. I didn’t want Dylan to see the video of me walking into the mens locker room with Logan, and I imagined Logan wouldn’t like that too much either.
“And?” Logan asked.
Um and a surveillance video he found from….the night I bailed you out of jail,” I said, hoping he would understand which specific event I meant and that I wouldn’t have to show it.
“Do you have the video? Logan asked.
“Yes, but…” I looked at Dylan, who gave me a confused look.
Logan stood and clicked on the next slide, then clicked play on the video. His eyes grew wide as he watched. I wasn’t sure he had even remembered that night or realized how bad it looked. He stopped the video just before we walked into the locker room together.
I snuck a glance at Dylan, who was staring at the projector, a pained look on his face.
Logan looked as embarrassed as I felt. Finally, after a moment of awkward silence, he said, “Dylan, would you mind giving us a moment?”
Dylan nodded, and left the room without a word. I felt so stupid. How could I have let him see it? It looked so, so bad, no matter how innocent it actually was. I didn’t want Dylan to get the wrong idea about anything.
Logan rubbed his mouth with one hand and paced back and forth in front of the projector. After a moment, he stopped and turned to me.
“That video, we need to get rid of it,” he said. “I can’t risk this getting leaked.”
“Yes, I’ll make sure that happens,” I said.
He shook his head at me. “You should’ve come to me about this, Hazel. You should not have had to deal with all of this on your own.”
I shrugged. “I didn’t want you to worry about it.”
“Hazel, if someone is threatening you, it’s my job to worry about it,” he walked over to me and placed his hands on my shoulders. “It’s my job to protect you.”
Chapter 0057.
“I’m sorry,” I said, unsure what else to say.
“Is there anyone or anything else I should know about?”
I hesitated. “Well… Elena was pretty heavily involved with Peter. After he got fired she threatened to make. my life a living hell.” I looked down at the ground. “She’s the reason I had coffee all over my shirt the other day.”
He nodded slowly. “I’ll take care of her,” he said..
“Thank you, sir,” I said.
He sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Hazel, I am so sorry. There’s no excuse for the way I’ve been treating you. I should have asked for your side instead of assuming the worst.” He pulled his hands from his pockets and placed them on the sides of my arms. “Is there any way I can make it up to you?”
“Promise you won’t fire me?” I asked.
He laughed. “I promise.” Then his eyes grew wide. “Oh, the termination slip! I have to go stop it!”
He bolted from the room, Relief washed over me. Finally this was all behind me. Peter, Elena, Logan’s anger. Maybe I could actually get some sleep at night again.
I walked over to the conference room door and peered down the hallway, looking for Dylan, but there was no sign of him. I pulled out my phone to text him. 1
“Still around? I’d love to take you to lunch as a thank you,” I sent him.
“Maybe another time.”
My heart sank. “Oh, okay,” I typed. “Well. Thank you again. I couldn’t have done this without you.”
I sent it and waited for a response, but one never came.
Chapter CDSB