Meet Me In The Pit

Chapter Five - Your mission, should you choose to accept it...

Keira

Score: Rockstar - Nickleback

"Sit," Jean nods towards the chair opposite her at the round glass table. I hastily pull the chair and take a seat on the edge, my heart beating so loudly in my ears, I wonder when the army will come stomping through the glass doors.

"You're late," she says, her eyes never leaving the screen of her laptop, as she squints in concentration behind her gold-framed Cartier glasses.

"Sorry," I mumble, shuffling uncomfortably in my seat.

The train ride from Heathrow Airport to the office in Stratford had been a nightmare. I was forced to skip two trains because they were too packed, and, when I finally squeezed my suitcase and my body through the mass of hot, tangled bodies and inside a train, it got stuck for fifteen minutes between stations near East Village.

If it hadn't been for the messages with Strange Hot Guy earlier, I'd say this day's just a lost cause, and I'd go straight home after my meeting with Jean and pretend it never happened.

But, the strange, warm feeling in my chest, which has nothing to do with being pressed against a wall of bodies like in a can of human-sized sardines twenty minutes earlier, is making me want to stay for as long as I can in this day. In this moment. Just not in this office, preferably.

"Congratulations on the deal with Brett Events," Jean says finally, and I can practically feel my whole body sigh with relief. "You've earned my trust, and my respect with that one," she continues, sparing me a glance, at last, over the rim of her glasses.

"Thank you, Jean, you don't know what this..."

"I haven't finished yet," Jean cocks a perfectly painted brow.

"Of course, I am sorry," I mutter quickly, as I slip my hands between the backs of my thighs and the seat of my chair to stop them from shaking.

"Having in mind your excellent performance on this deal, I am thinking about assigning to you our biggest deal for this year," she says, and she's actually beaming, as if she's ordaining me into knighthood, instead of giving me my next work assignment.

"I have to warn you, though, this one requires a top level of discretion. You are not to mention anything about it on your social media. You cannot talk about it, and you will be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement, of course."

I pull my eyebrows in.

What the hell is she talking about? I am always expected to sign Non-disclosure agreements, and so are our clients. I am working with some big-ass names, and with some big-ass numbers, and I know for a fact that, if Big-Ass Client A found out about the discount we are giving to Big-Ass Client B, and not them, neither of them will ever sign with us.

Discretion is a big part of my work.

But, with the way Jean said that, and how her chin is trembling with excitement right now, I think there's more to it this time.

"This is so exciting! I was even thinking about taking this one on myself, because we cannot, and, I repeat, we cannot, and we must not mess this one up, but then I thought, You know what? Keira is one of Lavet Hotel Group's finest. She can do it. She is everything that Lavet Group stands for."

A lump forms in my throat, and I can practically feel my eyes straining to pop out of their orbits.

I have never, in my three years with Lavet Hotels, heard Jean talk to me, or, actually, talk to anyone like that. She's usually dry and straight to the point, and she has never, and I mean, ever before, said that she'd give anyone anything she'd thought about working on herself.