The Player | SPORTS ROMANCE | 18+

Chapter 6

SALVADORA DE LEON

"How's the project going, Sal?" My boss, Johnny asked, on the phone as I walked to my office, having just got back from being on-site. "When do you think we'll have the first set of flats completed for viewings?"

"I've got a lot of resources focused on the ground floor, and I'm optimistic that we can have them done by the end of next month. If my order comes in earlier, we can have it done two weeks beforehand."

"I'm glad to hear that, Sal. Keep up the good work and you'll find yourself with more than just a block of flats to oversee."

My lips curled at the corners. "Thanks, Johnny. I won't disappoint you."

"You never do."

My heart warmed at Johnny's subtle compliment. He had been my boss for the past six years, and I had worked directly under him when I started out as an apprentice. I started off with a lot of hands-on work, working on site.

Out of one-hundred men, I was the one female on the team. More than half the men weren't happy with me when I started out, no doubt feeling like I was stepping on the toes of their boys party, but I quickly proved myself.

Last year, Johnny trusted me with my first project. A house. I was able to finish it within six months and once I proved that I could replicate the work and that it wasn't just sheer good luck, I finally landed myself this project. Construction of a block of flats. The client only wanted six floors, so it wasn't going to be the tallest building in Mountbatten, but it was proving to be a great learning experience thus far.

It took a lot of time to gain the respect of the men that worked under me, but now we were a team and the ones that couldn't live with working under a woman, I had switched out to a more intelligent man who didn't have issues with such minor details.

A knock sounded on my office door and one of the constructions workers peaked their head through.

"Boss?"

"Yes, Billy? Is everything okay?" I asked.

"I think some of the pipes that arrived today aren't of the greatest quality. Can you come take a look please?"

"I'm going to stop ordering with that company." I groaned. "They keep trying to pull a fast one on us by putting the bad pipes at the bottom. Next time, I swear I'm always going to check every delivery that arrives. If there's anything wrong, we're going to send it back then and there."

Billy chuckled and led the way to the supposed bad pipes. They turned out to not be as bad as I was expecting, only about twenty percent of them below standard and unusable, but I refused to put up with it.

"Harry!" I barked down the phone once I got back to my office. "The pipes you delivered yesterday are absolutely terrible. Why do you keep trying to pull a fast one over my eyes?"

"Your standards are too high, Sal." Harry chuckled, his reply something which I had heard many times before, and not just at work. But that had never worked on me before, and it wasn't going to magically start now. "A few bad pipes aren't going to harm you. Just put them in the back or under the kitchen sink. No one will be any wiser."

"Maybe, but I will." I snorted, shooting down his request. "Have you guy come back today with his truck. We're returning all the bad pipes and expecting good ones in their replacement by lunch tomorrow at the very latest. And I trust you'll throw in ten more as an apology for the mistake."

"Ten more?" Harry scoffed. "You're attempting to rob me blind, Sal."

"And you attempted to load your bad stock off on me in hopes that I wouldn't notice."