Being an Inside Joke

Lila

Lila's stomach fluttered as she greeted the guard at the door to the Daniel's Security building and headed inside. It was almost nine and she was running late. She'd hoped to make a few phone calls before the meeting with Chris and his team, but she'd been so tired, she'd forgotten to change her alarm last night and had woken only in time to get ready and get over here.

She ground her teeth, but tried to hide it behind a smile as the elevator doors opened to the bustling reception area of Daniels Security. Smiling at the receptionist, she barely noticed the gold walls and glittering white globe chandeliers that bathed the whole area in a warm glow. She thought only about getting to her office and sorting out her laptop and papers before she had to be in the conference room.

"Hello, Lila!" Tish squeaked, rushing past on the way from Dane's office to the conference room. "Did you want a coffee for the meeting?"

Lila blinked. "No, thank you," she said. She was about to ask if Tish was expected, at her level, to get coffees for all the staff, but Tish was already hurrying down the hall, her arms full of files. Lila made a mental note to ask Dane what the girl's role was.

Another of the security men, in grey suits that seemed to pop up in random places throughout the day, greeted her and winked as she reached her office door and paused to unlock it. "Good morning, Miss Farris. I hope you have another excellent day!" His broad grin and teasing tone surprised her.

She turned to ask him what he meant, but he was already moving quickly towards more staff, all headed for the conference room. She didn't have time.

Frowning, she got the door opened and hurried across the carpet to lay her bags on her desk and pull out the things she'd need.

Then it hit her: they'd heard about her flipping Chris yesterday.

Her cheeks went hot. Surely not? Sure Dane hadn't . . .

But there wasn't another explanation, was there?

With a soft sigh, she pushed the thoughts aside. She didn't have time to figure it out now. But she'd ask Dane. He better not have been telling stories to the staff. She was so new, she needed to build respect and relationships with the staff so they'd be willing to help if things got challenging.

She didn't need them gossiping and laughing behind her back.

*****

Dane

Dane was about to head to the conference room when a knock sounded on his door. Chris was inside before he'd even had a chance to look up.

"What do you want?" Dane knew he had to let go of Chris's involvement in this mess. He knew his brother hadn't intended to bring a plant into the clientele. But it was hard to stomach when Chris seemed so happy to just treat the whole thing as a joke.

"We need to talk about yesterday, and Lila," Chris said. His eyes were shadowed like he hadn't slept well, Dane frowned.

"What about her?"

"I think I was wrong to bring her in. She's going to be too disruptive. The staff are all talking about her this morning. How are we going to keep them focused if they're all more concerned with whatever stunt she's going to pull, than listening to us?"

Dane's frown deepened. "Yesterday you told me we needed her."

"We do. Someone like her, anyway. But I've had questions from five guys already about her flipping me yesterday—and what was that about, anyway? Clearly she has some serious issues. It's not like I grabbed her—"

"I'll talk to her about it," Dane said, going back to his papers. "But I'm not firing her. She's already made more progress in a day than we made in the full week before she arrived. I think she's onto something and I want to see what it is."

Chris's brow pinched to lines. "Onto what?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't have to wait to see what it was, now, would I?" Dane muttered. But he tensed. Chris was a good man, and trustworthy, but sometimes he spoke too openly with the staff. Even though Dane was sure he could have trusted him alone with his suspicions, he didn't trust Chris not to talk to some of the guys behind the scenes. This entire situation had come about because Chris was too quick to trust. Too quick to believe others wouldn't betray him—or the company. Dane couldn't risk filling Chris in on what he suspected was happening. Not until they knew which staff member—if any—were working with their enemies.

Dane sighed. Chris seemed twitchy. What was going on? "Bad night?" he changed the subject.

Chris rolled his eyes. "I had to ice my shoulder," he admitted. "And I might have had a late visitor, but I'm not complaining." He gave that twinkling grin that Dane hated. Dane snorted.

"Whatever. I'm not firing her, and frankly I'm surprised that you'd even suggest it. What changed overnight?" He asked the question casually, but waited for the answer.

"I don't like being a joke among the staff," Chris muttered.

Dane sighed. "I'll make sure she doesn't tell any more staff about it. Let it go."

"It's too late, Dane. They're already talking. Tish giggled at me today when I walked in!"

"So?"

"So! How am I going to get them to take me seriously if they think I got physically beaten by a . . . a woman? You always say, the way the staff see us determines how they think about our clients. Why are you okay with this?"

Dane gave a wolfish grin at this brother. "Because they're still shit scared of me," he said quietly.

Chris growled something insulting and stalked out of the room. Dane smirked at his back, but inside there was a niggling doubt.

Was she going to be too much trouble? Take too much attention away from their purpose? He'd have to watch it. In the meantime, he'd enjoy watching his brother be humbled.