Xandros and Ally

Chapter 7 (Ally): Crushed

Was I breathing a little too fast as I looked at myself in the mirror?Calm down, Ally. Slow it down. There will be absolutely no hyperventilating tonight. You will be cool. You will be calm. You will be above all of this. You will not break.

Even though your heart did.

It'd been a week. The Monday after Xandros' cousins had asked me to sing at his birthday party, we'd had an unexpected R & D departmental meeting mid-morning. When I'd walked into the conference room, my eyes immediately flew to the man sitting to the right of my boss at the head of my table. Xandros already had eyes on me and even though I dropped my gaze so none of my colleagues could see me shooting death glares at him, I could feel him watching me from the moment I walked in until the moment I sat in the chair the farthest from him.

I already had a bad feeling about this meeting even before my boss started talking and introduced Alex Nikolaou, who would be with our department for the next year, learning about how we operated, what we did, how we did it and what our specific roles and responsibilities were within the department.

It is with great regret that I tender my resignation. My last day will be in two weeks...

"So, to start, I'd like to just go around the table and have each of you introduce yourselves to Alex and tell him what you do, what specific product line you're working on and maybe some of the biggest challenges you face. Brant, why don't you start us off?"

I zoned out while Brant rambled. The man loved to talk.

While I've appreciated the opportunities I've enjoyed at G & N, I feel it's time to pursue other opportunities that don't involve working with a fucking dickhead.

Brant was winding down, and after Alex asked him a couple of questions, then it was Trinity's turn.

I wish all of you the best, with the exception of the asshole who will someday be running this company, and for him I hope he gets a permanent case of scabies, specifically inside his dick.

I jotted down a few things I wanted to say and eventually it was my turn. Introducing myself to someone who had seen me naked was painful, and I felt as if I could barely get the words out. To not totally give myself away, I looked toward him, but not at him. Just as he had with everyone else, he asked me a couple of questions after I finished my introduction, which I answered easily.

"Thank you, Ally," he said. Had his voice been that soft and sweet for the others? He better not treat me differently because he was surrounded by scientists who lived for formulating hypotheses, investigating anomalies and solving mysteries. I didn't want to be this week's break room topic.

Once we'd all had a chance to introduce ourselves, Alex explained that over the course of the next two months, he'd be meeting with us one-on-one and shadowing us in our jobs for a day or two. I hoped I'd be working at a new job by then, because if he was going to shadow me in the lab, that could be dangerous to the precious heir's health. I wondered if we had any chemicals that could render a man impotent for fifteen years at a time. Maybe I could work on that on my own time.

Right before the meeting ended, Xandros announced that, for the rest of the day, he'd just be wandering around the department and the lab to say hello to everyone, see where we worked. When we were dismissed, I was one of the first ones out of the conference room, feeling a bit trapped.

Then I mentally shook myself. He wouldn't dare try to talk to me at work. He'd have to keep it above board and professional so no one would have the slightest inkling that we used to fuck like rabbits. He couldn't risk his soon-to-be-fiancée finding out about his piece on the side.