50 Shades of Drake 1 and 2

50SOD II: Chapter Ninety-Five

    Wednesday. The return to work. Brian allowed her to drive one of his cars, a sleek blue BMW sedan. As soon as she set foot in the office, she noticed that a calm had settled over Graham Enterprises. It was most likely a result from their fearless leader hosting a press conference to put the public at ease. I guess it wasn't just the public that needed to be put at ease, she thought as she made her way to her office.

    The day was productive. She was assigned to keeping watch over the Graham Enterprises mentions on the web, making sure the company was being represented accurately. Simple. Easy. No more dangerous Palmer work. That work was definitely more fun, she thought, lowering her eyes to the instant messaging icon on her desktop screen. Crazy how much longer the days seemed when she wasn't able to message Aubrey and flirt with him.

    And I miss hanging out with Carlos. I wonder how he's been. Has the poor guy just been holed up in the condo this time, or is he at least able to get out and have fun with some of the new friends he's been meeting? Aubrey didn't want her to text him, because he didn't want Palmer to be able to trace her location. But I should be able to contact Carlos from the work phone, right? I'm sure Palmer already knows where I work. She pulled her cell phone out of her purse so she could retrieve Carlos's cell phone number. Then she picked up the office telephone received and dialed in his number.

    The phone rang. And rang.

    She looked towards her office door while waiting. Jeremiah, the office intern, was goofing off with one of the girls in their department, a pretty brunette named Tatiana. She couldn't hear what either one of them was saying. but from his body language, he was into Tatiana in a big way.

    The phone was still ringing in her ear. She pulled the receiver away from her ear and frowned down at it. She hung up and tried dialing him again, but same thing. No answer. Hmm. Maybe he's getting out and socializing more than I thought. Maybe I don't have anything to worry about. I mean...he is Carlos. He could make friends anywhere. With a sigh, she hung up the phone and returned back to work.

    Every ten minutes or so, her eyes would dart to the clock in her computer taskbar. She would wonder what Aubrey was doing, wonder if she should take Brian's advice and try talking to Aubrey again. Aubrey has a lot on his mind, with trying to save his company from all of these scandals. The last thing he needs is for me to go whining to him about how hard all of this is on me. She tried working for a few minutes, then gave up and leaned back in her chair. But I miss him. I miss him so much. And I want to talk to him, but I feel like I can't. And it's killing me.

    Meanwhile, Brian was being a complete saint. Him being a saint was helping, but it wasn't helping. It was great to have him to talk to, but she didn't like how close she was starting to feel with him. The closer she got to him, the messier the whole situation became - and she was trying to prevent the situation from getting messy.

    After multiple attempts of trying to work and failing, she decided to take Brian's advice. She picked up her phone and dialed Aubrey's direct extension.

    He answered on the third ring. "Thank you for calling Graham Enterprises, this is Aubrey Graham speaking."

    Even the sound of his voice made her feel weak. "Um...hi."

    "Destiny?"

    "Maybe we should come up with code names since there's a mole," she muttered.

    He laughed, but cut the laugh short. "Did you need something? Is something wrong?"

    "I need to talk to you."

    He hesitated before responding.

    She held onto the telephone receive with both hands, to keep her hands from shaking. Please don't say no. I need to see you.

    "Right now?" he asked her.

    "Yes."

    "Destiny..."

    "Please?" she begged him, her voice cracking. She felt tears coming to her eyes and willed them away.

    He sighed and lowered his voice. "You know why that's not a good idea."

    "I don't care, okay?" Her voice cracking again. She closed her eyes and cursed under her breath. "This whole plan, the not seeing each other...I hate it. I'd rather be with you risking my life than stay away from you. I'm tired of this. I need to see you. I need to see you right now." Her voice cracking and shaking. Nice, Destiny. Real smooth.

    There was silence at the other end of the line. It was so quiet, she feared that he might have disconnected the line. But finally, he said, "Okay. Come up."

    She didn't have to be told twice. Quick to log off of her computer, she withdrew the compact mirror from her purse, flipped it up, and checked her hair. Then she left her office and rode the elevator to the thirty-fifth floor. It took a lot of effort to keep her emotions in check as she breezed past the employees working on the thirty-fifth floor. Keep a pleasant smile on your face, Destiny. Look normal, not like you just got done crying and not like you're about to cry. You're just having a meeting with the CEO of a company even though you're an entry level PR representative. Nothing strange about that at all. Nothing to see here, folks. By the time she reached Bridgette, she realized that she'd held her breath the entire walk from the outer office doors to Aubrey's office. She paused right before his door and exhaled.

    "Are you okay?" Bridgette asked her.

    "I'm fine," she replied, staring at his office door.

    "Are you...going to go in?"

    "Yeah, just...in a minute."

    Bridgette stared at her, then shrugged and returned to her work.

    Destiny closed her eyes with her hand still on the door handle, hoping and wishing that he wouldn't turn her away this time. Hoping and wishing that they could find a way to at least communicate, or see each other once in awhile. Opening her eyes, she took a deep breath and opened the door.