The Ceo's Angel

Chapter 5 Ashlynn

Ashlynn

I ran to the restroom, I was just about to lose my sh*t and there was no way I was going to let everyone see it. Why was he such an ass? Hurry and leave, ugh! Sorry I dropped all the napkins, Mr. Grumpy.

I slammed into the bathroom. I looked in all the stalls to make sure I was alone. This bathroom has wash cloths to dry your hands. Because paper towels were obviously too low class for Mr. Grumpy’s ass. I grabbed a handful and brought them to my face and screamed into them, muffling the sound.

Stay positive Ash, don’t let his attitude ruin your day. You have this girl. Fake it until you make it. Smile, it’ll make you feel better.

I looked into the mirror and smiled. I looked f*cking deranged. My cheeks were flushed, my eyes looked wild. I was breathing heavily. I turned on the water and got it as cold as possible. I ran my wrists under the cool water and took deep breaths.

“It’s just one day. You can get through one day. Grin and bear it girl, you’ve gone through worse. Granted not in over a year, but this is nothing.”

I took another deep breath and used the wash cloths I screamed in to dry my hands and wrists. A knock on the door had me frowning. Why was someone knocking? I opened it and there stood Miles.

“Hi. Bad moment?”

“No,” I lied.

“We heard screaming,” he said.

“We?”

He stepped back, and the whole floor was staring at me. Almost every one of them had a sympathetic look on their faces.

I wanted the floor under me to open up and let me fall the thirty stories to the ground floor.

Miles chuckled, “I didn’t know a face could get that red.”

“Oh, you,” I said, slapping his arm, making him grin wider. “I’m fine. Sometimes negativity and rudeness get to me, and I need to take a minute. I didn’t think anyone heard me. I stuffed my face into some cloths.”

“Yeah, well, the door wasn’t closed all the way, or else we wouldn’t have heard you.”

I closed my eyes, of course.

“Did he hear me?”

“No, your breakdown is safe from him.”

I let out a relieved breath.

“You know what, I need a cookie and hot chocolate. I’ll be right as rain after that.”

Miles chuckled again and nodded. We both went to the break room and munched on a cookie.

“Is he always grumpy?” I asked.

Miles tilted his head. “He’s just a no-nonsense type of individual. He isn’t really into all the holiday cheer. He works a lot, he never has any real downtime. I am actually surprised he’s going out tonight. Did I overhear you are going too?”

“Yes, Mr. Knight invited me. I am having dinner with him first, and then we are meeting up with Mr. Williams.”

“Jace, he wants you to call him Jace.”

“I haven’t heard that from him yet. I feel like it would be rude of me to call him that without his express permission. Also, why didn’t you tell me he doesn’t like sweets?”

“He doesn’t? Who says?”

“He did. When he saw my cookies on his desk.”

“Well, maybe he was mistaken. He loves sweets. In fact, crème brûlée is his favorite dessert. Also, he didn’t mean to say six a.m. You don’t have to be here until eight thirty.”

“Oh, okay. That’s great then. I can make him some lunch. He said he liked lasagna. I’ll make another pan tonight and put it in the oven in the morning. I’ll also make him some garlic knots and crème brûlée for dessert.” I couldn’t help but smile. That should make him happy. I think maybe his office needs some cheer. I’ll get a little tree with little ornaments and silver garland.

“Don’t let his attitude get to you, okay. He doesn’t really mean it.”

“Thanks Miles,” I said, as we rounded the corner. Jace was standing there with his trash in his hands.

“You are supposed to be at your desk, take this trash, and I need more coffee.”

I bit my tongue from giving him a nasty retort. I nodded once and grabbed the three cartons he had in his hand and made my way to the break room. I threw everything away and made him a fresh cup of coffee. As I was making my way back, Derek, one of the office managers, came around the corner and bumped into me, making the coffee spill all over my hands. I let out a loud yelp because the coffee scalded my wrists and the cup went crashing to the ground.

“Ashlynn, I am so sorry,” Derek said.

“MOVE!”

We both heard the roar, and we looked over his shoulder. All of a sudden, Derek was shoved aside, and I was swept up into strong arms. Jace ran back to his office and into his bathroom. He turned on the water in the sink, plugged it, and yelled at Miles to bring him some ice.

“It’s okay, you’ll be okay,” he muttered, as he held my hands under the water.

Miles came running in and dumped the ice in the water, making it colder. I could only stare at Jace. He looked frantic.

“Hey, it’s okay, I’m fine.”

“No, you’re hurt, look how red your hands are.”

He sounded so upset. “I’m okay,” I whispered.

He took a deep ragged breath. He stood up to his full height and looked at me, his cold mask back in place on his face.

“You will call me Jace, no more Mr. Williams. You will not show up earlier than eight thirty unless I specify. You may take the rest of the day off. Put some burn cream on your wrists and hands, I will see you tonight when I pick you and Gray up.” He then left the bathroom. I stood there, stunned.

My mind was in a whirl of confusion, as I wiped my hands off. I looked at my wrists. They were perfectly fine, just really red. Miles grabbed them, looked at them and nodded his head.

“You’ll be fine,” he declared with a smile.

“What just happened, Miles? He was frantic and then cold. I didn’t mean to drop the cup on the ground.”

“Oh, no dear. That had nothing to do with his behavior. Jace suffers honey. He was in the military and he’s seen some things. His cold demeanor is a coping mechanism. It’s a way to not be vulnerable. Don’t mind him. Now, I want you to do as he says, and go home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I nodded, still a little confused and left the bathroom. I looked at Jace’s desk, he had his head down as he looked at his cell.

“Goodbye, Mr. Wi…” I stopped, his head snapped up, and he glared at me. I cleared my throat. “Goodbye Jace, see you tonight.”

He nodded and looked back at his phone. I sighed and left his office. I gathered my things. I rode the elevator down still in deep thought as to why he was so concerned. When the doors opened, I gasped. A giant decorated Christmas tree was in the middle of the lobby with wrapped presents all around it. High in the ceilings were red and green garland and giant ornaments hanging from them. On a huge erected wall, what looked like five hundred stockings were hanging, and each had an employee name. None of this was here this morning.

“Isn’t it fantastic?”

I turned to the girl that was at the front desk.

“Hi, I’m Ashlynn,” I said to her.

“I’m Nicole. This is my second year here. I love it here at JTECH. Mr. Williams is a fantastic CEO. Did you know that every year at the company Christmas party, those stockings are filled with the yearly bonus? Even the cleaning crew gets a bonus. Last year I got a thousand dollars,” she squealed.

My eyebrows lifted, that was impressive.

“How many stockings are on the wall?” I asked.

“Three hundred. That’s all the employees for the building except for the ones on the top floor. They have their own stocking wall, I hear. Where do you work?”

“Oh, I am Mr. William’s PA.”

She gasped and got stars in her eyes.

“You are so lucky. He is so handsome. I would love to work on the top floor just so I could see him every day.”

Yeah, but he can be a real jerk face. I thought, but then felt horrible, because he was really concerned when my wrists got burned.

“Well, it was nice talking to you. I hope to see you around.”

She waved as I walked away. I went through the glass door and pulled up my Uber app. I ordered an Uber and then looked up to people watch while I waited. It wasn’t snowing, thank God, but it was chilly. I heard a noise behind me and my jaw dropped.

“Derek, what happened?” I asked.

He was holding a cardboard box with all his office supplies in it.

“I got fired,” he mumbled.

“What? Why?”

“I was told it was because I haven’t been using my work time efficiently. My reports have been sloppy and are missing information. Also, I was caught with top secret information on a thumb drive. I knew I shouldn’t have done it. But I was offered a lot of money by one of JTECH's competitors. The only reason I’m not going to jail is because I haven’t given any secrets away yet,” he said, looking down.

“Oh, Derek, I don’t know what to say. That wasn't a very smart thing to do.”

“Do you know the funniest thing? That all happened six months ago, I was already talked to about it all. But me bumping into you and burning your wrists, I guess, was the catalyst.”

“Are you saying, I’m the reason you got fired?” I was taken aback at that.

“You are. You must have a golden p*ssy to bring Jace Williams to heel.”

I gasped, my hand flashed out and I slapped him.

“You have no right to say something like that to me. None. I am not that type of person you a*shole. I’m glad you got fired now.”

My Uber pulled up. I stomped to it and yanked open the door. After closing it I looked back at Derek and he was staring at me coldly. F*ck him. I flipped him off as the Uber drove away.