Page 2 of If You Could Only Imagine
So, like any self-respecting morning after victim, I ignored the elevator and ran towards the stairwell and flew down the five flights of steps that led to my freedom.
It wasn’t until I was sitting, safely inside a cab and halfway home that I could finally breathe. And then it hit me. I just ran and left my boss naked and alone in his bed.
This was baaaaaaaaaad.
Chapter 1
Denise~
Today was not the day to be running late.
But here I was, rushing through the front doors of Buchanan Industries, praying that there wasn’t a meet and greet or impromptu gathering to meet Aiden Buchanan.
Aiden Buchanan was the newest Buchanan to graduate and take over a piece of Buchanan Industries and it was a big deal. There were four of them and Mason Buchanan-the oldest-had made his debut a couple of years ago, already taking over and edging his father out, and making room for his brothers. Mason Buchanan was the boss of all bosses. CEO…and did I mention the boss of all bosses?
Aiden Buchanan was here to head up the finance division, answering only to his brother. And once his younger brothers graduated college, they were rumored to come in and head the marketing and personnel divisions.
Most people would be wary or judgmental about men so young taking over a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate, but from what I’ve heard, the Buchanan sons have been being groomed since birth to take over the company. The company gossip was that they spend countless summers and school breaks interning and learning about the company from the ground up. Mason and Aiden, both spent the year after their college graduations working throughout the company from reception, to mail, to security and so forth, until they spent two weeks working each job in the company, so they kneweverythingthat made up Buchanan Industries at present time.
They may be young, but no one could argue that they had more than enough experience and drive to lead this company.
And, thank God, for it.
I didn’t have the same gifts and privileges as the Buchanans growing up. I grew up in the rough neighborhood of Inglewood, California and every day was a battle to just keep my head above water. So, it was nice to know that the company I worked for was in good hands and was promised a bright and successful future.
Now, while I hadn’t grown up swimming around in large bills, I was blessed enough to have had both parents growing up, but because my mother was black and my father was white, life sometimes got uncomfortable. Granted, it wasn’t the 50s anymore, but there still wasn’t a shortage of racism in the world.
My father worked hard, and while it would have been no problem for my mother to work, too, he was desperate for her to be a stay-at-home mom, so he was our only source of income and that income made for some struggles.
But I’ll never forget when he told me,‘We might not be able to afford to buy you brand name clothes, but we’ll also never have to find a way to afford your bail or funeral’. And growing up in the ghettos of the world, your chance at a future was 50/50. My mother being able to stay home and raise me tilted those odds a little more in my favor.
Soon, after graduating high school, I worked odd jobs here and there. I didn’t mind, except that minimum wage didn’t allow for a whole lot of independence. I struggled to make ends meet. But I was determined to leave and make it on my own, and not because my parents were horrible, but because with me out of the house, they could finally stop stretching their dollars.
They sacrificed enough.
And then fate stepped in and it was in the form of Amelia Brand, who had been on a business trip from Indiana.
She was an account finance manager with Buchanan Industries, and one morning, I was serving her a coffee when she started shouting on her phone. I had waiting patiently for her to hang up on her caller and when I set her coffee down in front of her; she spoke.
“Are you stupid?”
What the hell?“No. I’m not and-”
Looking me up and down, she said, “Do you like your job?”
“I appreciate every job I’ve ever held,” I replied, coolly.
“How would you like a new job, with benefits and a hell of a lot better pay than this?”
“Uh, what?”
“My assistant is an annoying, little shit who was assigned to me by…” she waved her hand around, as if to end that direction of conversation. “I’m firing the little fuck today and I don’t have the time or inclination to hire someone new. So, that means I’ll get a temp and frankly…”
“Frankly?”
“Do you want the job or not?”
I had said ‘hell yeah’ and the rest was history.
