The CEO's Secret✔️

8: The Girlfriend

September 2009

C H A P T E R    E I G H T:

T H E    G I R L F R I E N D

"Hi Katie." Anna beamed at her boyfriend's assistant who was at the photocopier when she walked onto the office floor off the elevator.

"Hey, how's it going?" Katie asked, a friendly smile on her face.

"I'm fine, thanks. Do you know if Colin's in yet?" Katie wished she hadn't asked that question, because she didn't know what to say then. There was an awkward silence for a minute before she spoke.

"Um, no. Not yet. But he should be here soon." She looked at her watch then back at Anna. "He should be here before noon like he usually is. But you can go right in to his office and wait if you want. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Sure. Thanks."

Anna's face dropped once Katie answered her question with a no. That was the third time this week Colin was late for work, and she knew exactly why. Katie didn't want to be the bearer of bad news, but with Colin constantly partying over the past few weeks, meaning she was always the one to inform his girlfriend that.

She had been right, Colin arrived into work before noon, with only a minute or two to spare. He popped his head into Katie's office as soon as he arrived on their floor like he usually did. She noticed how terrible he looked but said nothing about it.

"Good morning." He smiled despite his aching head and tired eyes.

"Anna's waiting for you inside."

She did not need to greet him with anything as polite has his greeting with her. Colin rolled his eyes then and left the room to go to his office, where he knew along with Anna, would be a huge lecture waiting for him once he got inside.

"Hey-"

"Don't." Anna's polite and friendlier exterior that she had when speaking with Katie earlier had been demolished by her rage. She stared at her boyfriend, his bloodshot eyes, and his messed-up hair. He probably hadn't showered, and by the looks of it shaved either. "Don't act like this is a normal Thursday morning and you can just walk in like that as if nothing's wrong."

"Anna...." Colin felt the need to explain then, although he really didn't want to.

"Where have you been huh? Where were you last night?"

"I went out-"

"Like you always do." She had become visibly upset although she promised herself she wouldn't, not this time.

"God damn it Anna, what's the big deal? You knew from the beginning what you were getting yourself into with me."

"I didn't think it was this bad." She shook her head then in disbelief. "Were you with Vinny again?"

"Vinny's my friend, of course I was with him."

"I wouldn't exactly call him a friend Colin." Anna scoffed at him then. "Look at you, you're a mess."

"So what? I like to go out okay? I like to enjoy myself everyone once in a while. What's the problem?"

"Every once in a while? Colin, it's almost every night at this stage. You need to take a break sometimes. It's not just the alcohol it's the-"

"I told you not to talk about that, not in here." His paranoia had kicked in then and he neared her when he spoke.

Within minutes, Katie could hear the two shouting at each other from inside his office. She tried her best to ignore it, like she usually did, but it seemed that their arguments were getting worse and worse each time. She sipped on her coffee and continued to type on her computer although the noise was off putting to say the least.