Page 37 of Turn Up The Heat

Bellamy dragged a deep breath into her lungs. She could fix this. She just had to stay calm. “There was no rush on this when you gave it to me last week, and a lot of the legworkisalready done, but—”

“Well, the deadline is close of business today. You’re not giving me a whole lot of choice here.” The icy implication hung between them.

Bellamy’s brain finally kicked into gear. “Why didn’t you just tell me you needed it sooner? I’d have prepared it before I left if I’d known you were going to need it by today.” She pushed the covers from her legs, swinging her feet to the carpet.

“What are you implying?” Bosszilla’s tone hit arctic levels.

“I’m not implying anything.” Anger welled in Bellamy’s chest, canceling out the last remnants of euphoria from the night before. “I’m just saying—”

Her boss cut her off again. “What you’re doing is wasting time, and frankly, I’m sick of these little games. I’m telling you I need that presentation on my desk, complete, by close of business today. Unless you’re interested in coming back to clean out your desk.”

Something thick and hot snapped from the anger in Bellamy’s chest, pushing the words out of her mouth before she could rope them back in. “If you needed that contract reviewed so quickly, you should’ve said so in the first place, rather than dropping the ball and pinning your ineptitude on me.” Momentum coursed through her, double-dog-daring her to speak her mind, and the feeling that swirled like an ominous wind in her gut spilled out with the words. “You want that thing by COB today? Then roll up your sleeves and do it yourself, because I quit,” she ground out, pitching her phone onto the bed with a satisfying plop.

Her gratification lasted for all of six seconds, and then she realized what she’d done. Oh, God. Oh God oh God oh God.

She’d quit her job.

“Bellamy? Are you okay? We heard shouting from the hallway.” Holly stopped short as she rushed into the room, clad in her pajamas and a very worried expression that only got deeper when she saw Bellamy’s face.

“I, uh. I don’t think so.” She sank to the carpet, dread washing over every inch of her. “I’m pretty sure I just told Bosszilla off and, uh.”Oh, God. “I think I just quit my job.”

“Are you kidding?” Jenna breathed, standing wide-eyed in the doorway behind Holly.

Bellamy shook her head weakly. “No.”

Her mind reeled, so many thoughts flying around that not one of them had a prayer of sticking. She took a deep breath and blurted out a recap before she could lose her nerve, but the re-telling only instilled more panic.

“Okay, honey. This is going to be okay.” Holly went into red-alert crisis mode, sitting down on the carpet next to Bellamy and taking her hand.

Her stomach lurched. “How is this going to be okay? I impulsively quit my job, Holly. What am I going to do now?” Bellamy’s brain went right back into spin-cycle mode, refusing to let her string together any further thoughts.

“You’re going to find another job, that’s what.”

Jenna’s no nonsense answer made a chink in Bellamy’s spiraling dread, and she blinked up at her friend. “What?”

“Bellamy, listen to me. I know this is scary, but it’s not the end of the world, I promise.” Jenna knelt down to look Bellamy in the eye. “We’ll head home tonight, and you can think it through. If you feel like you made a mistake, you can go from there, maybe file a complaint with HR. Your boss was both unreasonable and unprofessional as hell. Yeah, you quit, but it’s not as if her ridiculous behavior didn’t warrantsomekind of drastic reaction. Plus, your track record speaks for itself, and it’ll go a long way toward giving you options if you do decide to leave the company.”

“Is one of my options to throw up?” Bellamy asked, her voice wavering.

“I guess if you need to. Just watch my slippers, would you?”

She loved Jenna more than words right now.

Tears burned in Bellamy’s eyes, and she swallowed hard as she did her best to blink them away. Jenna was right. This wasn’t the end of the world. It couldn’tbe.

Unless Bosszilla was already on the phone with HR in a pre-emptive strike, and on second thought, Bellamy might throw up after all.

The unmistakable sound of Bellamy’s phone ringing from where it lay half-buried on the duvet made her heartbeat skyrocket. She dropped her face to her hands, unable to think clearly yet.

“I can’t talk to her right now, honestly. Please, just turn the damn thing off.”

Holly sprang into action, plucking the phone from the bed. “I’ve got you covered,” she said, scooping up the phone to take it away.

“Bellamy, I mean it.” Jenna sat down next to the spot where Bellamy slumped against the bed frame with her elbows propped on her knees. “You’re smart and experienced and tough. This is going to be okay.”

She gave up a tiny nod that felt more like the tremble of her chin than anything else. “I know, it’s just…” Her words stopped short as she caught sight of Holly’s expression, both puzzled and reticent. “What?” Bosszilla couldn’t have cleaned out Bellamy’s deskthatquickly, could she?

“No. Uh, that wasn’t your boss.” Holly exchanged a glance with Jenna—probably one she hadn’t meant for Bellamy to see, but she had, and oh, no.

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