Page 60 of Company Ink

"Yeah, I can do that." She pauses. "Are you okay? You sound...weird."

"Oh, everything's great. I'll see you later, okay?" I squeal and hang up. "Here's your phone back,Luther." I turn my head and look outside. Are you freaking kidding me?! It's raining now?! I drop my head on the granite front desk and whimper.

"Here," Luther says, and I look up. He hands me an umbrella. "It's the least I can do."

"Oh, gee thanks." I give him a tight smile. "Where is this place again?"

Luther writes down the directions on a Post-It and passes it to me. "Have a nice day," he sings as I exit the complex.

"Fuck off," I mutter under my breath and open the umbrella. In order for the manila envelope to stay dry, I tuck it inside my blouse. Great, I have a rectangular chest now. Fantastic.

By the time I make it to Buster's Impound, my shoes are soaked completely through, creating suction sounds with every step, my pants are damp, and my hair is no longer straight.

"Hi, there—" I look at the attendant's name tag. "Noah." He looks like just a kid, shaggy unbrushed hair and crusties in the corner of his eyes. "I'm here to pick up a black Lexus SUV. It got towed here maybe like twenty minutes ago."

Noah scratches his head. "Uh—license plate number?"

Shit!"I don't know," I mutter, biting my lip. "It's my boss's car, not mine." I crane my neck trying to get a view of his computer, Noah tilts the screen away from me.Rude. "Can you just look up the latest cars that were impounded?"

"I guess I could do that," he replies lazily with a yawn, and begins typing away. I tap my nails on the counter waiting not so patiently. "Okay, yes. We have a black Lexus here. So—" He leans towards the screen. "That'll be $465.23."

My mouth drops. That's insane! Oh my God. "Fine! I just need you to bring me to the car so I can get my purse."

"Ooo—" Noah squints his eyes. "I'm not allowed to give you access to the vehicle until you pay the charge."

"Are you fucking with me right now?!" I exclaim. "How am I supposed to pay if I can't get my wallet from the car?!"

Noah takes a step away from the plexiglass counter, his expression almost scared. "I'm sorry ma'am but it's policy."

I clasp my fingers together and beg. "Please! Please! Please! It's right there! Come on, Noah!"

Noah shakes his head apologetically. "I can't, I'm sorry. I don't want to get fired. I need this job to pay for college."

My face falls. I feel bad for the kid. Taking a deep breath, I compose myself. "It's fine, Noah. I'll just come back I guess."

"I'm really sorry!" he calls out as I exit the lot. At least it's stopped raining which means the walk back to the office will be slightly more pleasant. Thankfully, the impound lot is only a twenty-minute walk from Pearson's & Associates. This entire afternoon feels like a fucking nightmare.

Stepping off the fifteenth floor, I make my way to Blake's office. I'll just give him the documents and go back and deal with his damn car. I am so defeated and pissed off right now. My feet are screaming, my nose is dripping, and I've sneezed seven times in the last half an hour. That can't be good.

"Blake?" I knock on his door.

His voice looms from inside. "Fine! But this is a mistake!"

I open the door slightly to catch him slamming the telephone receiver down aggressively, his furious eyes dart up at me.Shit!

"Where the hell have you been?!" he barks, standing up. "You were supposed to be back an hour ago. What happened?"

"I—uh…" I stammer. Fuck, he looks so pissed off. "Here." I hand him the manila folder.

Blake snatches it from my hands. "Why is thisdamp?!"

I chew the inside of my cheek. "Okay, here's the thing. So, I went to Mr. Wagner's and parked out front to quickly run up and get the documents, but then he asked me to stay for a coffee, and I couldn't just say no, you know? But then, when I got downstairs, your car was gone, Luther, that's the concierge, had ittowedand it had all my stuff in it, like my phone and purse, so then I went to the impound lot and they wouldn't let me have access to the car unless I paid, which I couldn't do because my wallet was in the car, so then I walked all the way back to the office to give you the files—"

Blake's eyes darken. "You let my car gettowed?!" He shakes his head in disbelief. "Thirty minutes, this entire thing should've taken you thirty goddamn minutes, Cassandra!"

I stand there frozen. I've never seen Blake so worked up before. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Oh, of course, you didn't!" he fumes. "Such incompetence."

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