ELEVEN: GRAYSON

NOIR

"It was a major disaster. I lost two deals that night," I stated calmly.

He stared at me, obviously speechless.

"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to let you go. I suggest a different career choice. You're bad at planning important events," I added.

Neil burst out laughing.

"Why are you still in my study?" I asked, trying to remain calm.

He shrugged.

"I'm here to spend quality time with my bff," he stated sarcastically.

"You're being mean, Ash!" He exclaimed, trying hard to annoy me.

I rolled my eyes.

"Can you two just get the fuck out?" I said, focusing on my laptop screen.

"But we're having so much fun," he said with a smirk.

"You're never gonna find someone at such late notice," the other guy said. What's his name?

"You'd be surprised," I replies with a smirk.

He stared at me, still trying to come up with an excuse.

"I won't say it again. Get the fuck out," I said trying to hide the irritation in my voice.

I glared at him when he didn't move.

He got up and walked out quickly without another word.

"So what are we gonna do now, Ash?" Neil asked feigning worry.

I glared at him. "We? No no. What you need to do is leave me alone," I said.

"Not until I know what's going on in that pretty little head of yours," he said with a fake smile.

"No," I replied.

He sighed and got up.

"Well it was worth a shot. But think think I'm letting you go that easy," he said walking towards the door.

"Oh and getting Danica to work for you? Really? You know what? I won't even bother about this. Soon enough she's going to realize just how selfish you are."

With that, he slammed the door shut and walked out.

I reminded myself to breathe as I lowered myself into my calmness.

I picked up my phone with a sigh, going in search of a new planner.

...

"Sir there's someone here to see you. She says she's in charge of tomorrow's dinner party —"

"Yes let her in."

She walked in, gaping as she looked around the house.

She stretched out her hand eagerly as soon as she was directly in front of me.

"Hi I'm Samantha but everyone calls me Sam and I just want to say how honored I am to be working for you and I just I've seen you on TV a lot and this house oh my gosh—"

"Miss Rivers," I cut her off hiding my amusement.

"Relax."

She sighed, letting go of my hand.

"Danica," I called out but she didn't hear me. Her eyes were glued to her laptop screen and I could tell how loud the volume on her headphones was from where I was standing.

We walked over to her and I tapped her shoulder lightly.

She looked up and stared at me, wide eyed.

"What?" She shouted over the music.

I rolled my eyes and removed the headphones.

She let out a nervous laugh, standing up.

"Oh sorry."

"Danica this is miss Rivers, she's be I'm charge of tomorrow's dinner party, Miss Rivers this is my personal assistant, Danica."

"It's Samantha. You can call me Sam," she said with a smile.

"Great," I said with fake enthusiasm.

"Now that that's settled, ladies, I'll leave you two to it. I'm sure you both have great taste. I'm heading out. I have some work to do."

"Shouldn't I come with you instead?" She asked, tapping me lightly on my arm as I turned to leave. I looked at her hand, causing her to retrieve it quickly.

"I mean if we're going to be working together I should—"

"It's fine. I can handle this."

Danica

"Okay now that we're finally getting to the interesting part where I get to spend time with you," Neil started once we were seated in the living room.

"What do you think?" I asked.

"Well I still haven't gotten your file so I don't know much about what I'm working with," he replied

"But for now you'll just need to talk to me. Tell me everything I need to know. Everything you can remember, everything you're thinking about..." He trailed off.

"And that way we'd have made progress by the time I receive your file from that... Place," he spat out the last word in disgust.

"Actually, I really need you to tell me what happened there."

My breath hitched.

I had to remind myself to breathe.

I shook my head, searching for an excuse to divert the conversation.

"I know this might be a difficult topic, but if there's anything you're afraid of then in this case your silence won't help you deal with it. That's something to think about. Whenever you're ready I'm literally only a few steps away." He gave me a reassuring smile.

I nodded silently.

"About our umm... Sessions?"

He nodded.

"I-I have a job now so—"

"I'm sorry did you say job?" He cut me off.

I nodded.

"Danica, you may have uncomfortable levels of anxiety. You should be spending more time on yourself, focusing on how to get better."

"I need this job if I want to get on my feet as soon as possible. Please understand that," I said.

He sighed.

"I guess we can work something out," he said.

"So... where?" He asked.

"I'm Asher's personal assistant."

His eyes widened slightly but he disguised a hidden emotion with a "that's great."

"Well I can work with that," he said finally.

I released a breath I didn't know I was holding.

...

"Its fine. I can handle this."

I watched him walk out and I could tell he was tense but who was I to question him.

I turned around to meet Samantha also staring at him.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"So... How long have you been working for him?" She asked laying too much emphasis on the last word, as if he was some kind of monarch or dictator.

I shrugged.

"Literally five minutes ago," I replied.

She frowned but refrained from asking more questions.

"So where do we start?" I asked.

My phone buzzed for the first time, scaring me a little.

A text?

I opened it with a frown but a smile appeared on my face as soon as I realized who it was.

Unknown: I'm coming over. Thought you should know. And if yo dumbass hasn't figured out who it is yet, its Jay!

Danica: How did you even get my number!?

Unknown: I'll never tell

I rolled my eyes as I imagined her giving me an evil smirk.

As if on queue, the doorbell rang.

"I'm sorry about that," I said.

She shook her head.

"You don't have to apologize," she said with a shrug.

Jay walked in and I could tell she was used to walking in here because she didn't look around and gape.

"You do realize you sent this text two minutes before you stepped in," I said raising a brow.

"Yeahhhh... I usually just stop by unannounced and no one seems to care."

She looked behind me and her eyes widened.

"Samantha!?" She screamed.

"Janvier," Samantha said, equally confused but a little less angry.

"What tha fuck is she doing here!?" Jay exclaimed.

"I should be asking the same question," Sam said, folding her arms.

"You two know each other!?" I asked, joining the club of confused people.

"What do you think, Sherlock?" Jay asked sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes.

Jay pointed at her and opened her mouth, but the anger seeping through her veins rendered her completely speechless.

She threw her purse and let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah I know her," she said taking off her earnings.

Oh shit...

"That's Grayson's bitch!" She exclaimed.

"Takes one to know one," Sam exclaimed from behind me.

I was slightly amused but the tension was starting to suffocate me.

"I swear to God imma beat yo ass," Jay said with a bitter smile.

"Oh so you're just gonna start acting violent because I'm standing here? I didn't force you to be a gold digging whore—"

Jay burst out laughing.

"You piece of shit —"

"Okay let's all just calm down," I started earning a scary scowl from both of them.

"Yeah Danny, tell that blonde lil ho to shut her mouth before I slap tha taste out of Grayson's di-"

"Jay!" I exclaimed, cutting her off.

Samantha gasped, taking off her watch.

"Come on, baby. Show me what you've got," Samantha said, walking closer to her.

I clasped my palm over my mouth as Jay took off her wig and placed it carefully on her purse.

"Whose horse did you steal that one from? Huh?" Samantha asked, laughing.

Jay launched towards her and she screamed, but her fist never got to her face.

Trevor pulled her by her waist and held her back.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?" Adam asked stepping in front of Sam.

"Well isn't this just perfect," Neil said, causing all of us to turn towards him.

He stood there with his arms folded, amused.

"How long have you been standing there?" I asked.

He winked at me with his signature smirk.

"Who the fuck are you?" Jay asked, still struggling to run past Trevor.

Neil sat calmly and crossed his legs, as if in total control of the entire situation.

Damn...