Page 11 of Waiting for Acceptance
And that’s how they shall stay, for now.
I’m back to my regular routine of being the first one in the conference room for our team meeting today and I have the great displeasure of being accompanied by Fitz—who chooses to sit right next to me. With a room full of open chairs, he drops his stuff down on the table right beside me. I close my eyes as the gust of wind blows across my face from his folders hitting the table and swallow down my annoyance. Successful for only a moment in remaining calm until…
“Care to tell me why my emails are still unread?” His tone is arrogantly expectant.
“Because I didn’t open them.” I don’t look up from my phone when I answer but I can feel his eyes on me.
“But you saw them, did you not?” I suck my teeth and tilt my head to the side and finally look at him, regrettably so, because the man is so gorgeous it makes me want to bleach his perfectly trimmed beard just to take him down a few pegs.
“Oh, emails fromyou?No. Must have gone straight to junk where they belong. Why? Were they important?” I feign ignorance as he studies me. Then he narrows his eyes and leans in closer—much closer than is necessary since we’re the only two people in this dead silent room.
“Bitterness does not become you, Lauren.” I bare my teeth and feel my chest tighten.
“Entitlement does not becomeyou,Fitz.” I hope for some kind of reaction. A sign that he isn’t some corporate robot that is incapable of doing anything other than piss me off but he simply raises a brow at me and sits back in his seat as he keeps his eyes on me.
“You don’t like me, do you?”
Duh.
“I don’t know you.” Trying to avoid this conversation going any further I pull my pen out of my notebook and make a note to go for a run after work tonight. No matter how cold it is, I already know I’ll be in need of a little decompression run after today.
“And yet—you don’t like me.” I finally let the petty part of me that uses sarcasm and indirect responses as a way to deflect uncomfortable situations sit this one out and look at him more directly and confidently in what I’m about to say.
“I don’t like the way you treat people.”
“And how do I treat people?” If I’m not mistaken he actually looks interested in my answer, so I don’t hold back with it. I toss my pen down on my planner and link my fingers together folding my hands over the top of it.
“Like they’re beneath you. Less important.” His jaw tightens and I canfinallytell I’ve struck a nerve. Though I must say, I’m a little shocked thatthisis the topic that finally warrants a reaction from him—but I continue. “You come in here on your first day, not bothering to look up at anyone as they walk in. You continued emailing the whole time Marcus is going through our morning meeting, then you interrupted Jack when he was trying to introduceyou. It was the most disrespectful behavior I’ve ever seen pass through this office and I am shocked Jack actually hired you.” He nods slowly like he’s processing, and just when I think we’ll see some kind of breakthrough, I’m proven wrong.
“Well, I hope you can get past this little disapproval you have of me, because we’re about to be spending alotof time together, Sweetheart.” And with that, he stands up, collects his things, and walks out of the conference room. He stops to chat in hushed tones with Marcus before disappearing down the hallway.
Marcus comes over, sitting in the chair Fitz just abandoned, and lets out a sigh.
“Do not say it, Marcus. I’m so serious.”
“Don’t say what?” His brows knit together in confusion.
“Whatever you’re about to say that informs me I’ll be working with Lucifer for whatever god-forsaken reason he’s come up with.”
“I don’t call the– Wait, did you just call him Lucifer?” I close my eyes in annoyance and take a deep breath.
“Don’t worry about that. What did you mean? You don’t call the what? The shots? Because last time I checked that’s exactly what you do when Jack isn’t here.” He pulls his bottom lip in with his teeth, rubs a hand along his jaw, and looks across the room, clearly frustrated. “Marcus?”
“I’m sorry, Lauren. I wish I could do something, but you’re doing a round of training with Fitz.”
“What?!Why?” My eyes grow wider and my heart feels like it’s fighting against my ribs. “Marcus, you know I keep up with my training, I stay up to date on everything there is to know in this business,” I lower my voice to a whisper. “I’m one of the best agents you have. What doIneed training for?”
“You don’t. You’re right, you are the best. I have no idea why this is happening, I was just told to inform you of your new assignment.” He gives me an apologetic smile, lets me know I don’t have to stay for the meeting, then stands and addresses the rest of the room.
What the fuck is happening?
CHAPTER 6
FITZ
I sit in my office staring at an email from my father with very specific instructions for my newest assignment, and a not-so-subtle reminder of my role in this company—hiscompany. Nothing puts me in a worse mood than having to work with him, which is probably why I seem pissed off eighty-five percent of the time. Well, nothing except maybe having someone tell me to my face that I’m acting just like him.
I’d planned on breaking the news to Lauren myself about what all this training would entail, but her blatant distaste for my very existence has been slowly chipping away at my desire to get on her good side. When I asked her why she didn’t like me I thought surely it was because she’d come to the realization of how we knew each other and was upset that I hadn’t said anything about it yet, but oh how wrong I was. Instead, I got a full serving of humble pie and what I hated most was that she was right. The longer I’m in this business, being the puppet to a master who cares about no one but himself, the more I inherit his undesirable characteristics.
