In Too Deep

Chapter 21

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I pulled into the parking lot and switched off the engine. My phone vibrated from deep inside my bag. I sighed, digging past paperwork and my diary before eventually finding it nestled underneath a tub of body cream and a spare pair of old socks.

I noticed it was a missed call from the office. "Hey Jess," I answered as she picked up the phone. "I'm on my way in now. Is there a problem?"

"No problem my end. What about you though? Where've you been for the past 36 hours Lex? "

I decided not to answer that. "I'll be 15 minutes max. I'm just picking up some coffees and I'll be there. Is Carrie in the office?"

"Yes!"

"In that case I'll make it three coffees to go," I shouted before ending the call.

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I pushed open the door to hear Carrie shouting down the phone – hopefully to a supplier not a client – and Jess tapping away on her keyboard. She looked up as I cursed, coffee spilling from one of the mugs on to my jeans.

"Here, take these will you Jess," I called, trying to balance bags, coffee and files in my too-small arms.

My desk was full of post-it notes and paperwork piled high next to my laptop. "God Jess, I haven't been gone that long! What's all this stuff waiting for me?"

I listened to her talking about new clients while I rubbed at the coffee stain down the front of my jeans. I'd showered at Jared's before leaving but the memories of what happened weren't quite so easy to wash away.

"So where have you been Lexy?" The abrupt turn in the conversation caught me off guard.

The look of confusion on my face must have spoken volumes. "Lexy, have you been listening to anything I've been saying for the past five minutes?"

"Sorry Jess," I muttered. "This party's gonna be the death of me. I've been going over last minute details with Jared this morning. We're almost there, it's just the little things he's demanding that are taking up my time now."

I sighed and pulled out my desk calendar. I preferred old school writing into little squares rather than using my phone. I pointed to today – March 7. "Ive got two more days before the party. Two more days Jess." My voice was a whisper. Wow, surely nobody screws up better than me. Two days, two brothers and two colleagues who need me in the office working round-the-clock to clear a never-ending workload.

"Lexy, come over here for a moment!" Carrie was off the phone and straight on to the next task, which for my sins seemed to be me.

"Hi Carrie, what's up?" I asked, pulling up a chair at the side of her desk.

"Christ Lexy, you look fucked. What's been going on while I've been away? I need updates."

If only she knew how fucked I was. I took a deep breath. "Let me get my notebooks and I'll tell you where I am with everything."

I walked back to my desk and sifted through piles of paperwork before finding the relevant documents.

I sat back down and spent the next twenty minutes filling Carrie in on the party planning and reassuring her we were on schedule for delivering the ultimate Hollywood bash.

"OK. Stop there for a minute," she said. I held my breath for as long as Carrie held my gaze. It was too long and I looked away.

"So what's it been like working for Jared Leto?" The question was a fully loaded pistol waiting for me to pull the trigger.