Till Death Do Us Part

Ch. 26 - The Contract

**Well, literally every single one of you wanted the update now, so here it is! The moment you've all been waiting for!**

Roxie's POV

The day seemed to move at the pace of molasses after Ezekiel returned to his office and cut Jedrek and I's conversation short. I kept glancing at the clock every few minutes, only to huff and look away in frustration.

"Somewhere you need to be?" Evelyn asked curtly, catching onto my anticipation while giving me a glare over her reading glasses.

"Just don't feel well and would rather be at home snuggled in my bed," I replied curtly. She gave a little hmph, still watching me intently. She shot a glare my way every chance she got; both behind Ezekiel's back and when he was out of the room. Thankfully, there were only forty-five minutes left before I was able to clock out and head home for the day where her snooty glare couldn't reach me or the saltine crackers I had waiting.

"Roxie, can you come to the board room, please? It's urgent," came Ezekiel's muffled voice over the intercom on his desk.

"It's amazing to me how you've been here two weeks, yet you're always his go-to person when it comes to advice anymore," Evelyn hissed.

"Gee, Evelyn, did you ever stop to ask me why that is?" I finally snapped, catching her off guard. "Maybe if you weren't so set on fucking hating me you would know that I have past experience with architectural design and have a good eye for when things are fucked up. But no. You'd rather sit there and glare at me while making assumptions. Whatever. Hate me all you want, but ever since I've walked through that door, I've done nothing but be polite to you and try my best to help you out. Why don't you go out and get laid, huh? Maybe that'll help you not be such a stuck up bitch. Have someone pull the stick out of your ass while they're at it," I growled before slamming the door to the office on my way out.

"What's up?" I asked Ezekiel as I entered the room.

"I need your opinion on how to best troubleshoot the flow of this floor," Jedrek answered for him, slightly catching me off guard. I nodded and took the seat to his left. I couldn't help the sense of deja vu I felt. He and I had been in this exact same position countless times before while he was in college. I missed it so much. I was snapped out of my reverie when I heard the clicking of heels in the boardroom and looked up. Of course, she didn't actually leave I thought to myself. Someone had to have told her I was here. That's the only reason she would just come casually strolling in now of all times - especially after the verbal lashing Jedrek gave her earlier.

So who's the snitch I asked myself. Jedrek just rolled his eyes before drawing his attention back to the print in front of me.

We bounced ideas off of each other for about fifteen minutes, me taking the pen from Jedrek and making a suggestion that would completely rework everything they'd already had mapped out.

"Wait a minute. Roxie, that's brilliant," Jedrek murmured before suddenly pulling the blueprint over to himself, that familiar spark lighting up his eyes as it always did; it meant he figured out the final configuration of the puzzle. All the other men watched on in utter amazement as he finished the sketch and dropped the pencil back onto the table.

"Man, you guys just whipped that shit out like a big dick in a locker room. So much confidence," Julian joked.

"That's because I'm usually the man with the big dick to whip out," Jedrek stated teasingly. All the men in the room laughed as I snickered quietly.

"Bullshit," Porter ribbed back.

"Don't believe me?" Jedrek challenged. They were all clearly much less stressed with this finished. I could tell by the relaxed postures they'd all taken on since I'd come in.