S E V E N

I WAS LET OFF SURPRISINGLY EASY.

Of course, I had never been framed before, so anything was a surprise to me in this case. Yes, because that's exactly what happened, I was framed. By none other than Meredith Marks, who I was specifically warned about by Elijah. The shock of the moment had passed and now, the only thing I could really feel was idiotic for not trusting the only friend I made here. Now that this was in effect, if the word came out and it became a scandal, I'd find it a lot more hard to make any new ones.

Thankfully, Ashton wasn't as mad as he could've been because I was right back at my desk and doing my job ― whatever that was. All I was really doing was twiddling my thumbs anxiously as I thought back to my conversation. He looked rather hot when he was truly upset, it was one of my least favorable thoughts, but I couldn't help but fixate on the fact. If I wasn't the one who angered him, I would've definitely wanted to see his face like that. It was just little things about him, like the way his jaw would clench up, his arms would cross over each other so I could see the muscles underneath his - snap out of it!

Ashton Baldwin was as dangerous of a person to develop a crush on if any. He was certainly handsome and quite the heartthrob if you asked me (and just about anyone else around here) but he was my boss as well. Not to mention how he seemed to be a player who seemed to have no regard for the aftershocks of certain things, especially if he could break up Emilie Standifer's marriage for the sake of the gala he was trying to plan. Then again, I was partly to blame for that whole fiasco and now according to the newspapers, there was a two million dollar divorce going on all because of my misunderstanding and Ashton's willingness to follow through in order to save his company.

Or maybe - and just maybe - he was doing it to save me from owning up to my mistake. Sometimes, I would think about it like that and it seemed right. He was a decent guy despite all of his pitfalls, especially when he was so intent on saving my job after I was set up by Meredith. It didn't change the facts of the matter, but it definitely made it a lot easier and guilt-free to think of him in ways that weren't exactly safe for work.

"White!" I heard as a palm slammed down on my desk, causing me to jerk up from my stupor and meet Nolan in the eyes - those dreamy, chocolate-brown eyes. It was a shame I knew what I knew about him, because he seemed like he could be someone less scandalous to think of than Ashton since he wasn't my direct supervisor. But I couldn't handle children, not for the life of me, no matter how old they were.

"Yes, Mr. Abernathy," I said, straightening out the papers on my desk and trying to play it cool. "Is there anything I can do for you, sir?"

"I heard about the spa thing," he said sheepishly, almost as if he thought I would hit him or something for bringing it up. "Are you sure you don't want to go to human resources or something about it? They'll be able to figure out who had framed you."

I shook my head. Because that was the thing, I didn't tell anyone that Meredith was involved in it at all. Call me stupid, but if I was being let off the hook, I wanted to swim as far away as possible before I got caught in it again. Meredith was trouble and I honestly just wanted to go back to the way things were when she had no clue who I was and did not see me as a threat.

"Better to forgive and forget, am I right?" I said. Wrong. I wished desperately for revenge, but I also needed to keep this job because I felt horrible for begging Bretton to give me money and Ashton paid me with enough money to be somewhat self-sufficient.

Nolan grinned and nodded before taking a step back, "that's the spirit."

-

OF COURSE, ELIJAH WOULD'VE BEEN EXCITED TO HEAR ABOUT HOW HE WAS RIGHT, THAT'S JUST THE TYPE OF GUY HE WAS.

I actually dreaded this conversation, but the bus ride home was lonely and boring, so I had no clue what else to talk about.

"You owe me, Fiona," he said with a cheeky grin that I almost slapped off of his face, "twenty bucks. Cough it up, sweetie."

I rolled my eyes at his out-stretched hand that hung between us. "We didn't exactly bet on this or make any form of contract, especially not one that involves twenty dollars. You must think I'm crazy."

"I'm not saying you're crazy, but you did manage to break up Emilie Standifer's marriage, wrap Ashton Baldwin around your finger, and make an enemy out of Meredith Marks after being here for like what - a week? I don't know what it is you're doing or if it's right or wrong, but it's happening and it's definitely crazy, Fiona."

He probably was saying that, considering all of the twists and turns my life took me on ever since I met Ashton and I couldn't blame him. However, when it came from a gossip hag who was only interested in chasing down all of the office drama, it was a little bit insulting to hear. He knew just about everything that happened in that office, clearly someone's issues had to be crazier than mine.

"Oh, Fiona," he said after dropping his hand and standing up on his feet, "this is my stop. We have to talk tomorrow, though, you have no idea how exciting your life is."

I scoffed. Says the one who isn't living it. I liked Elijah because he was the only one who really cared to talk to me on a personal level while everyone else who talked to me did it on business or they were one of my superiors, so I couldn't exactly call them my friends. It made me realize how much of a loner I was, as well as how much I missed Katie and working at Happenstance. It was a much safer and stable job than this one, even if it didn't pay as well and I was fashionably restricted beyond all levels of acceptability.

The bus stopped and Elijah got off, walking down the street towards where I assumed his apartment was to be, and I never felt more alone than I did now.

-

"YES, I BOUGHT GROCERIES. NO, YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY ME BACK."

Sure enough, my cousin, Bretton, was in my apartment and putting away bags of groceries for me in their respective places. The thing was, I had no idea why he was here. He already seemed to have gotten himself situated because his jacket was flung over the back of a chair and his shoes and socks were off by the doormat (which I came to realize when I almost tripped on them), whistling an unrecognizable tune as he worked.

It was puzzling, if anything I was glad he was here, but for him to show up unannounced likely meant something was wrong and that was the last thing any of us needed. I was already in the midst of a scandal at work, the last thing I needed was for Brett to make me more worried about him than I already was.

Hoping to avoid the problem, I just went with the flow and kicked off my heels before padding my way over into the kitchen area of my apartment so I could help him. "What did you buy me," I asked while picking up one of the bags and looking inside of it. There were two containers of blackberries in there which he knew were my favorite. Suspicious, I thought as I pulled them out of the back and stocked them in the fridge.

When I opened up the door of the fridge, there was suspiciously enough, all of my other favorite foods. As much as I appreciated and loved my cousin, subtlety was not his strongest suit and I could tell when he was trying to overcompensate for something. Especially when considering my fridge was only half-empty when I left out, yet he bought me enough food to fill it completely.

"What is it," I said as he was reaching up to slide a package of sugar cookies onto the top shelf of my pantry. "There's clearly something going on, Brett, so just be up front with me."

He winced, rubbing the back of his head. "You really have to call me Brett?"

"Depends on what you're about to ask me for," I replied curtly.

"Alright, now don't freak out on me, but do you want to trade apartments? I met this girl and she's not really into all of the glitz and glamour, nor does she watch or care for Major League Baseball, so I don't exactly want to take her to my place. She'll probably get mad at me if she saw how I lived." At my look of disgust, he added, "you can take your bedsheets and everything with you and I'll bring mine here."

"Or you could be honest with her and take the risk of you really like her," I offered. "I mean, how long did you exactly plan to keep this charade up?"

He looked at me sheepishly. "A month, if need be. I don't need it next week, so this is a fair warning, don't you think?"

While this would generally be an ideal situation because Bretton's mansion was fabulous, I didn't exactly know my way to work from there since it was in the suburbs. But I felt like I couldn't deny him this, especially since he had told me about the job in the first place.

"I'll see what I can do," I said as I closed the door of the refrigerator. "But you're only getting two weeks, and after that, you're done. That should be enough time for you to figure out if she's the one or not."

While it didn't slip my attention that this meant he and the girl I met at Claver's had ended their relationship, I was pretty sure who ended things with who, and like the good cousin I am, I didn't say a word. That was the problem, it always was, and I knew better than to bring it up with him only if he really wanted me to do so.

-

NEEDLESS TO SAY, I WAS LATE FOR WORK.

I had no idea what bus to take to go into to town, nor did I even bother with finding out the night before. Instead, after I packed up everything I was taking with me and was dropped off at Bretton's house, the first thing I did was sleep in. While getting to bed earlier usually meant that I would wake up earlier and more refreshed, one couldn't argue with how incredibly soft his mattress was. So I traded in being on time for the sensation of feeling like I was sleeping on a cloud which was less painful until I was hit head-on with the hard reality.

First things first, Ashton wasn't exactly too fond of me right now after the trouble I caused. Second things second, every job had some type of penalty for showing up late, especially considering the fact that I was no longer a new employee as far as they were likely concerned. I had to call a cab over to the residence, which took forever since Bretton's house was really out of the way.

When I got in the building, I practically dove into the elevator as a horde of workers were just going up, planning to call Elijah when I got upstairs so he could clock me in. People were giving me funny looks, so I probably looked like a hot mess (without the hot) and they just didn't have the heart to tell me. The walls of the elevator were made of reflective glass so I could see my reflection in it if I wanted to, but I glued my eyes to the floor so that I wouldn't risk proving them right.

Most of them got off around floors twenty through thirty and I was alone with two other people until they got off at the thirty-ninth floor, so I was finally all by myself with no one's judging eyes on me.

Sure enough, I looked horrid. I had rushed out without even putting my makeup on and one of my high-heeled boots weren't even zipped up all the way on the sides. The dress I wore was a bit wrinkly after just pulling it out of my bag the way I did this morning too.

Taking up Bretton's offer was definitely not one of my best ideas.