T W E N T Y - O N E

THERE WERE DOWNSIDES TO THIS "HAPPY ENDING" THAT WERE WORTH NOTING.

One was the fact that no, I did not end up with Ashton Baldwin or Luke Johnson. In fact, Luke had ruled out the possibility of us even becoming a thing, or at least that's what it felt like when he basically called me out for still harboring my feelings for Ashton and unintentionally using him as a placeholder. It was a bridge burned peacefully, but that wasn't to say there was no subtle damage done. We were pretty good friends now, so it wasn't all that bad, but that didn't mean that guilt wasn't eating away at me every time I thought about him.

Another issue was that my friends - who were actively rooting for my romantic life - were disappointed by the fact that after all that drama, I still came home empty handed in their words and not mine. I couldn't deny that I felt that way myself, but I could only guess it was payback for how I had strung along Luke so there was no point in trying to fight against it.

The biggest issue was more about the company than myself. Baldwin Industries was, thanks to Nolan Abernathy's paternity situation, looking for a new CFO to take care of things around here while he left to take care of his child. Of course, with him being a working man at heart, he was still here until said replacement was found and now his job was even busier than Ashton's by one hundred percent. So much scheduling to be done and so many callers to be forwarded that Ashton even insisted that I worked under him part time. It was double the salary and benefits, but also double the work and double the attractive bosses.

Thankfully, Nolan was seriously taken or else I would've found myself in quite the conundrum.

Because of Nolan, I was on the computer now trying to balance mailing benefactors of the press release event thank you notes while slotting in interviews for the next CFO based on various credentials I had to go over time and time again just to make sure that the ones closest to the top of the list were exactly the ones most preferred by he hiring board. It was strenuous work and I could even feel an aching in my back from being hunched over a computer for so long.

"Hey," Dana said, standing above my desk with a bag of takeout from the fast food joint around the corner. "Got you this. Some crazy new burger they came up with called the El Loco, or something like that. You should try it."

The bag looked greasy so I could tell that what was inside was not only fattening but delicious as well. It was a tempting offer and it was nice of Dana to think about me like that, but I was terribly busy and I knew that taking five or ten minutes out of my time to eat a burger that would go straight to my hips would only leave me with more work to do after hours.

"Thanks, Dana," I said, "can you put it in the fridge for me?"

She nodded, taking a permanent marker and writing my name on the bag before walking off in the direction of the recreation room where the all of the lunches were kept. Now I just had to worry about someone stealing it from me before I got the chance to even taste it.

Pushing the thought of that from my mind, I got back to work. Some of these applicants went to the college I graduated from which was a relief to see among the pool of Ivy League scholars and I was able to bump them up if I wanted to, but I knew Nolan would be upset if he found out that I did such a thing.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. It was exhausting just to balance two jobs at once. Multitasking was definitely not one of my skills, especially not balancing two love interests. It had been a week since the release event, so it was a week since I had chosen Ashton over Luke and I was still feeling the effects of pining over two people at the same time. Mixing getting over Luke as well as doing work for Ashton and Nolan was on a whole other level.

Speaking of the devil - or at least just one of them - Nolan was coming my way. By the confused look on his face, I could tell exactly what question he was going to ask me.

Because that was another downside: where the hell was Ashton? It wasn't anything major because he was no stranger to not showing up or coming in late because of meetings he did all over the Midwest and East Coast. He was just a busy person in general, especially when he handled scheduling all of his cross-country affairs by himself.

"Hey, Fiona," Nolan said, drumming his fingers on my desk and bringing me back to the moment when we met. That moment being me walking into the men's bathroom because my coworkers - who barely paid me mind now - were getting way too close for comfort. Everything was a lot easier back then, even with Emilie thrown into the mix. "I'm looking for Ashton, have you seen him?"

I shook my head like I had for the past twenty seven minutes since the lunch break ended and work started. I was surprised that I still was conscious of time flying with all the work I was doing, but even I was worried about Ashton's whereabouts.

Of course you were, I nagged at myself internally, you're in this mess because of him. The least he could do is see you through it to the end.

Now where exactly did the end begin?

"Hello," Nolan said, disrupting my thoughts and bringing me back to focusing on him. "I didn't want to call him, especially so early on, but now that it's past noon, I was wondering if you could call him for me."

Knowing that I couldn't refuse and that it would probably be a positive experience, I nodded in response, reaching for my purse on the floor to fish my phone out of. "Yeah, I can do that for you," I said.

When he turned to leave, I keyed in Ashton's number and pressed the call button, holding my cellphone up to my ear.

After ringing three times, I was surprised to hear Ashton's low voice grumble out a half-hearted "hello, Fiona." It definitely wasn't a complimentary level of excitement to be speaking to me, so I shouldn't have been glad to hear he was okay, but I just couldn't help it. Call it being a fool in love or just a fool in general, but I was definitely a fool for Ashton.

"Hi," I said. "Everyone at work has been looking for you, especially Nolan who has been up my ass with all of his work the minute he realized you were gone."

"Gross," he said, his voice seeming to liven up, especially at the chance to execute yet another not-so-charming innuendo. "I guess I should come back so we can share."

I rolled my eyes, especially since I saw it coming. "Maybe you shouldn't come back after all," I said. "Just go back to whatever you're doing now since you can't help but be inappropriate."

"Oh please, we both know how much you want me," he said with a chuckle.

His words made me hold my breath, unsure of what he was insinuating with them. There were some things he was confident enough to say outloud but me? I wouldn't have dared. Was he saying that he knew what I felt for him, the undeniable attraction that had pulled me into this whole mess? Or was he just casually joking about how irresistible he thought he was. Either way, with my clumsiness, even over the phone there was no safe way to answer him.

"I won't do your work until you come back," I said, spouting whatever my mind frantically scrambled to conjure up before I had been silent for too long. "So that way, I'll definitely want you to stay home or wherever the hell you are."

"Home," he agreed, the playfulness in his voice dying down to a more professional caliber. "I'll be back, I just have some stuff to handle before I can go back, go tell that to Nolan."

I nodded, taking a pen from the cup on my table. "Any idea what this stuff as or should he know that you've gone rogue?"

"You're just trying to figure out what it is for yourself," Ashton accused. "Don't worry about it and especially tell Nolan not to worry either. It's flattering, really, but I think I should handle this myself. Mea Culpa, you know."

I put the pen back and held the phone up closer to my ear. "No, I'm part of the one hundred percent who don't speak Latin, but I guess I understood that well enough to get the message," I teased. "Any other messages you need me to deliver for you?"

"Tell Elijah that I need for him to come over to my place tonight." With that, Ashton hung up.

I raised an eyebrow, thankful that he couldn't see my face right now. It was unlikely that Ashton and Elijah were screwing, anyway.

Or was it? It was the last thing I needed to let pick apart at my mind when there was so much work to be done, so I pushed the thought out of my head, instead focusing on the long list of digital applications I had to sift through.

-

THAT BARELY LASTED HALF AN HOUR.

In just twenty-five minutes, I was sifting through all types of rumor blogs, discovering that Ashton's life before taking hold of the company seven years ago was rather reckless and scandalous. Just typing in "Ashton Baldwin gay" online didn't get me very many exact results about what I was looking for, but there were tons of articles about him getting in trouble or what he was wearing out on the street. Being a filthy rich heir with a filthy personality had made him quite a controversial topic which made me surprised by how unfamiliar he was to me. I guess I didn't keep up with gossip all too often. Around the time he inherited Baldwin Industries, he had turned his act around and had distanced himself from the limelight.

I did, however, stumble upon a blurry picture of a younger Ashton with a man who I didn't know, hanging an arm over each others shoulders affectionately while the other man was planting a kiss on his cheek. It wasn't much, but it was damning enough.

What the hell am I doing? I've got so much work to do and Ashton isn't-

"Holy Mother of God," Elijah's voice behind me boomed, drawing lots of unwanted attention to me as well as snapping my focus immediately to him. When he noticed all of the eyes on us, he lowered his voice saying, "are you really stalking Ashton that far back, Fiona? This is like 2006."

I was genuinely curious - as well as nervous that I might either have a wider pool of people to face seeing Ashton with or not even have a chance in the first place. "I was talking to Ashton and he said something that made me curious about his..." I blushed, suddenly feeling silly for even thinking about it, "sexuality."

The sigh that escaped from his lips was not a disdainful one, even in the midst of more of my second-hand embarrassment, but one telling me how he couldn't judge because he had been down that road before.

"No, he's straight - or he's not gay at least, Fiona. That's his cousin from Italy where that picture was taken. You know how overly-affectionate Europeans are."

I didn't exactly unless he was basing it off of television and stereotypes, but I didn't feel like discussing it with him, instead feeling flooded with relief.

"What made you think that anyway," Elijah asked, scratching the back of his head. "Did you walk in on him and Nolan in a suspicious moment? Scandalous, tell me everything."

I rolled my eyes. "No, I was talking to him on the phone and he told me to tell you to come over to his place. Don't judge me, I honestly thought you were a booty-call."

"Shit," Elijah cursed, "that thing is tonight?"

"What thing?"

He shot me a wary look before saying, "how about you come with me tonight?"