One for Me

Chapter Five

It was well after eleven PM when Violet decided to carry herself home for the night. She would be back at six in the morning to get as much as possible done in the two hours before work started.

She thought she hated her boss from her old job, but no. She loathed Grant Bass. She had never met such an egotistical, self-absorbed, downright mean man in her life. If she had never seen him, she'd think he had a short-man complex, but no. He was the spawn of satan with the body of a Greek God.

"Would you like an escort to your car ma'am?" The overnight security guard asked Violet as she swiped her card at the entry terminal on the first floor.

"Oh thank you, that's sweet." Her eyes were heavy with sleep. "But I moved my car right out front once a spot became available." Violet chirped the alarm on her Jetta so that the gentleman could see. He was right in line of sight should she find herself in any trouble.

"Okay then, you have a goodnight. Drive safely."

"You as well," Violet waved and walked through the sliding doors. Her car was only a few feet away. Once she made it inside she immediately locked the doors then threw her blazer and heels into the passenger seat before starting her engine.

Usually Violet would accompany herself with music on her thirty minute commute to and from work, but her head was pounding with a tension headache so badly, she chose to ride in silence tonight.

Though her workday had been awful, the universe must've been on her side that night as she found parking right in front of her Brooklyn brownstone.

Violet entered her home and was greeted by her dog, a black labradoodle she'd named Rocky. Rocky made it known that he was not happy with her coming home so late with his nips at her ankles.

Violet dropped her purse, blazer and shoes right at the door and followed Rocky to the kitchen where she was not surprised to find his food bowl empty. After filling it with his favorite wet food, Violet grabbed a box of Coco Puffs, then her belongings from the hallway and headed upstairs to her bedroom for a much needed shower.

Exhausted wasn't even the word. As soon as she finished her shower and her head hit her pillow, it was lights out.

While the Parkman account wasn't easy, it wasn't something Violet needed any assistance with. After working on the files from six to eight, Violet finished up the Parkman account by one and was back to her encrypted files.

She had taken her laptop down with her and had maintenance bring in an old 3-in-1 copy, fax, and scanning machine. She would not be wasting any of her precious time working between floors.

She was buried between boxes and boxes that she was barely visible and she needed coffee, badly. Violet sent a message to Eboney, asking her for a favor since she was the only work-friend she'd made. Eboney was happy to bring her a cup and offered to go to Violet's office to retrieve her mug.

"You can sit it right up there, I appreciate you so much!" Violet said without looking up from her computer as she typed furiously.

"Excuse me? Sit what where? And why are you, a new employee, scuba diving in privileged information?"

Violet turned around and was horrified to find Mr. Lincoln Bass waiting on an answer.

"I'm so sorry, I thought you were someone else." Violet immediately started to apologize.

"And yet I still don't know why you're down here. From the looks of it, you've been down here a while. Who sent you? Is this some act of espionage?!"

"Okay, whoa!" Violet held her hands up in part shock and part defense. "First of all, my résumé speaks for itself and I had a very reputable recommendation which you pointed out yourself in my interview. Not only are you accusing me of something illegal but do you think I'd be stupid enough to do it like this? I'm actually doing the opposite and I have your brother to thank for that so if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to uploading and encrypting every sheet of paper in here." Violet's face disappeared under her big, curly hair as she turned back towards her computer screen.