Desolation // l.p.

Chapter XXVII

August.

"Congrats!" Ashley, my boss's secretary cheers as she walks into my office with a small cupcake in her hand.

"For what?" I laugh as she sits it on my desk in front of me.

"Your one month anniversary of working at Ryan & Dunning." She claps and sits in the chair across from me. I appreciate her enthusiasm, it definitely brightens up my day.

"Thanks but it's not really a big deal." I shrug and eye the cupcake. She couldn't be more right though. It is a big deal. An entire month has gone by since I escaped Payne Industries. Mr. Payne; gone. Model coworkers; for the most part gone. Some of the women that work here at Ryan & Dunning could be models. Ashley especially. Her long dark hair, bright blue eyes, tanned skin and five foot eight frame make her so beautiful that I envy her. The difference though between the other people here and the people at Payne Industries is that here they are actually nice and respectable people. I fell in love with half of the people here on my first day.

My new job has been a blessing and I have no intentions of leaving anytime soon. Nothing could ever make me work for Liam Payne ever again after working here. Nothing.

"Are you kidding me? Joshua was talking about throwing you a party at that fancy french restaurant downtown." She smirks and crosses her legs. My eyes widen at the thought of my boss, Joshua Ryan, throwing me a party.

"Really!" I ask intrigued and actually looking forward to the idea already. Mr. Ryan is my favorite. He hired me for the 'potential' that he saw in me and he could tell that I have an ambitious drive.

Also, given my previous job at Payne Industries he knew I had to be someone worth hiring if the infamous Liam Payne did. I guess I could say that that's the only advantage working there got me.

"No, it's some sort of corporate dinner but you're invited to go." She teases as she hands a paper over to me. It's an e-mail from Mr. Ryan that she must have printed out. All of the details about the dinner are on it. When it starts, what it's for, where it is...

"Okay, I'll see if I can make it." I tell her as I fold up the paper and set it aside. Giving in to the temptation that had ahold of me earlier I pick up the delicate pastry that Ashley brought for me and begin to peel the wrapper of it off.

"You better be there." She warns, waving a finger at me as she stands up. I nod as I bite into the white cupcake, some of the chocolate frosting gets on my nose and I wipe it away with my finger, putting it on a tissue. "I'll see you late." Ashley shouts over her shoulder and I wave her off, getting lost in the lovely cake she gave me.

By the time lunch rolls around I'm half done with my work for the day. I've been reading through a novel that is halfway through the publishing process and haven't been able to put it down. Surprisingly, as I'm a big fan of romance books, this is a mystery thriller and I love it. It's times like these that I'm glad to have the oppurtunity to read books I wouldn't usually read.

I begin to pack things up on my desk, tidying it up before I leave for lunch. I get to choose where Ashley and I go to lunch today since she picked yesterday. Ashley is a big fan of Chipotle so nine out of ten times that is where she will pick. We eat there so often that the employees know who we are and have our orders memorized. My usual burrito bowl with steak is more constant in my life than my mothers daily calls asking me if I'm seeing anyone yet. The answer of course always being no.

I've realized with my new job that trying to get into a relationship is too mcuh work on top of the stuff I bring home every night to do. Unless someone walks into my life, I'm not going to go around searching to get tied down. I'm in no real rush to jump into dating, not right now.