50 Shades of Drake 3 and 4

Torn: Chapter Thirty-Eight

    If you're looking for a fun time? Try walking into a Fortune Global 500 company, where even the mail boys wore slacks and button-down shirts, wearing a pulled up hoodie and jeans. Men and women in business attire gawked openly at Destiny. With earbuds pushed into her ears and a Louis Vuitton purse slung over her shoulder, she stepped onto the elevator. For the first time since the elevator fall, she didn't grab the railing. Her entire body vibrated with anger and pent-up frustration, so much so that she forgot to feel any fear from riding the elevator.

    She'd thought that this whole bizarre period could be over, thought that she'd made up her mind as to who she should be with. She'd thought that she and Aubrey were making progress in their relationship. But no. After showing her nothing but literal and figurative cockiness for the past few days, he'd crawled back into his shell. He was holding back his feelings from her, and that irritated her to no end. I thought we were past this, she thought as she stepped off the elevator.

    The Weeknd's soulful crooning helped her to ignore the crazy looks fellow employees were giving her as she made her way to the media offices. She was relieved to find that Brian wasn't standing outside of his office, per usual. As much as she would have liked to see him on any other day, today she just wanted to lay low - as low as possible. Before she could make her way to her own office, however, Zorica stopped her.

    Zorica, dressed in a black and white pantsuit, stood up from her desk and held out one hand. "Hold on. What is this?"

    Destiny stared at her blankly, then remembered that she had earphones in her ears. She plucked them out. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

    "'What was that'?" Zorica repeated. She gestured to Destiny's choice of ensemble. "What is this?"

    "I wasn't feeling well today," Destiny said with a shrug, walking towards her office. "I didn't feel like putting on a skirt just because the rules say so."

    Zorica trailed after her. "Are you okay?"

    "No, but what can I help you with?" Destiny asked, moving around her desk and pulling out the bottom drawer. She dropped her purse into it and looked up expectantly at Zorica.

    Zorica frowned. "Nothing, I guess. I just...wanted to check on you."

    "I'm fine," Destiny said. Then she closed her eyes. "Well...I'm not. But I will be."

    "Zorica?" a deep voice sounded from outside the office.

    Destiny rolled her eyes and took a deep breath.

    "Zorica?" The door to Destiny's office was pushed open wider and Brian stepped in. He smiled when he saw Zorica, but the smile disappeared when he saw Destiny. His brows drew together. He glanced at Zorica, then shifted his gaze back to Destiny. The look in his eyes was questioning.

    "What's up, Brian?" Zorica asked, turning to face him.

    He continued staring at Destiny.

    Destiny stared back, rocking quietly in her chair with the hood of her hoodie still pulled up.

    "Brian?" Zorica asked him.

    He shook his head. "Uh... sorry. I was trying to find the footage from the report CP24 did on us last night. I can't find it anywhere."

    She grinned. "You big baby. Did you need me to hold your hand and show you how to find it?" She grabbed his hand and led him out of the office. Only as an afterthought, she called over her shoulder, "Feel better, Destiny!"

    Brian twisted around to look at Destiny once more before he was dragged out of the room.

    Destiny released the breath she'd been holding and booted up her computer. Thoughts of Aubrey started to fill her head, and she inserted her earbuds back into her ears, to drown out those thoughts. She was angry with him, for reasons that were justified and reasons that were completely unjustified.