Page 18 of Breaking Conviction
Wes paused before grabbing another box and tilted his head with a grin. “No shit?”
Pride at his response filled her chest. Dean liked to remind her how he’d gotten her foot in the door at CTI, but Naomi was the one who’d fought tooth and nail to be Gail’s EA, despite her lack of a bachelor’s degree.
It was a big opportunity in a rural county like Ashland, or anywhere, really. Most of CTI’s work was digital and overseas, so even though the main office was small, Gail’s reach wasn’t. The nonprofit had distribution centers all over and shared life-changing tech to non-industrialized countries across the globe. Naomi was proud as hell that she was the right-hand woman to one of the most influential nonprofit execs in the world.
“Yeah, I’ve been with CTI for a while. It’s a great job. I’m learning from the best on how to be the best.” Was that braggy? Sure as shit, she was bragging, but she didn’t get to flaunt herself often, and getting the wide smile on Wes’s face felt fucking fantastic.
His smile fell as he seemed to be thinking. “CTI... CTI... CTI, CTI, CTI... I heard something about them a while back, I think. Weren’t they in a big lawsuit or something?”
Naomi huffed. “Yes. It was a nightmare. We make, sell, and donate computer systems and tech around the world and we were caught up in some bullshit patent suit between several other companies. Anyway, everyone was prepped and ready to go for a trial and then BOOM, the next day we settled with the defending party for pennies on the dollar of what the suit was worth. There was a huge turnover in the company, tons of my friends were fired. Thankfully, the board kept Gail and she kept me. That was all a couple of years ago. But things have been... tense ever since.”
Wes nodded. “Shit, that sucks. At least you kept your job, I guess?”
“Yeah.” She shrugged. “That was a plus. Although now I’ve been roped into some stupid party planning committee. It’s turned into one of my main job duties and I didnotwork my ass off to plan parties for a bunch of old sexist white men. Nothing wrong with being an event coordinator, butIdidn’t sign up for it, ya know? I hate parties and—what?”
It’d taken her a few boxes of shelving until she realized it, but Wes was stock-still and staring at her.
“What? Do I have somethin’ on me?” She patted herself and looked down briefly before returning to his face when he spoke.
“No, no. You’re fine.” His gaze left hers as he fidgeted with the shoebox in his hands. “A party planner, huh? Is that um... is that the Ashland Elite Scholarship Party?”
“Oh, pfft.” She waved her hand. “Yes. It’s supposed to be some charity event with all the bigwigs in Ashland County. The date and time and event list are stupidly secretive, blah, blah,blah. Gail and I both think the theatrics and dramatics are stupid as hell, but what can ya do?”
There was another pause as Wes slowly shelved one of the final boxes.
“Ellie actually went last year.”
“No way?” Naomi propped her hand on her hip. “That’s wild. What a small world. I don’t remember her name on the list, but there were plenty on it. I was only there for a few minutes to make sure it was runnin’ smoothly, but then I had to leave—” She cut herself off, not wanting to admit that she’d had to leave because her Dean was too jealous to allow her to stay. For once, he didn’t seem to notice her caginess.
“A list? For what? Of attendees?”
She barely knew this man, so it could’ve been her imagination, but his voice sounded stilted as he talked. For what reason, she had no clue. They were just talking about a freakin’ party, for goodness’ sakes.
“Yeah, the party planners, aka mostly me” —she rolled her eyes— “get a guest list each year.”
“Oh, um…” There was a hitch in his voice, like he was excited but cautious. “I know Ellie met someone there last year… maybe a… scholarship donor, or something. I’m not sure, but I know she’s been trying to figure out who it was.”
“That shouldn’t be too hard to figure out. I can give her the list and she can see if she recognizes their name or something.”
Wes’s hand paused over the last box. “That would… that would be amazing.” He was choosing his words carefully, and she narrowed her eyes at him. She didn’t understand why he was being so odd, but she shrugged it off. Wes could be as weird as he wanted, but if she could help Ellie out, even in the slightest, she’d do it. Giving her a stupid guest list after Ellie had been so kind on one of the worst days of her life was the least she could do. It kind of actually felt good to break the rules for once, even if it was a ridiculous one.
“I’ve got my laptop in my car. I’ll just go get it right now. I think I might have a flash drive or something.”
“Wow, yeah, that’d be great.” He huffed out a laugh, like he couldn’t believe his luck—weirdo—and threaded his fingers through his blue-black hair before holding out his hand. “I can go get it for you, though. You don’t need to be walking out there alone at night and that way you can hold down the fort.”
Naomi eyed him warily, wondering what his game was. He was chivalrous and thoughtful… and had to be up to something.
Or maybe he’s actually one of the good ones.
She resisted a groan and bit the inside of her lip. It was exhausting trying to find things wrong with him. It would be so much easier to stay away if he was just another jerk.
“Sure, thanks. That’d be nice.” She retrieved her keys from her purse behind the counter and tossed them to him. “It’s on the floorboard of the front passenger seat.”
He nodded and set off, in no time coming back with her laptop bag.
“Kinda unsafe to leave it just out in the open like that, you know.” He gave her a pointed look and she almost wanted to laugh. She’d take some fool out on the street with her pepper spray any day over an angry, volatile Dean.
“Thank you for your concern.” She unloaded the laptop and fired it up.
