T W E N T Y - T H R E E

I THINK YOU KNOW.

That was the text that Luke had sent Elijah. Four simple words, four thousand complex ways for them to be interpreted. They were completely unraveling me the next day at work, my mind exploding to dust every time I tried to comprehend what Luke had meant by his words. It was none of my business, but with so many implications behind it, my mind couldn't help but think that maybe he might actually still like me.

He had left no stone unturned the last time we spoke, but that meant that he was making himself content with the idea of not having me. And back then, maybe I was content with it too, but who knew now at this point? All I knew was that it was bothering me more than it should have.

It was bothering me now at work as I sat at my desk, clicking the catch of my pen incessantly in an attempt to distract myself from thinking about it. It surely didn't work, but once I had started, I just couldn't stop. Luke was somehow getting back his hold on me - maybe not in the way I was wound over Ashton, but it was close enough.

"Fiona," Nolan said, making me finally register that he was standing behind me. "What are you doing? You're supposed to be working on finding someone to fill in for my job."

His words snapped me from my reverie and into reality, which caused me to look up at the screen of my computer. Of course, I still had my 'Ashton Baldwin gay' web search still up instead of the resume program that I should've had opened. And of course, Nolan had seen it because the look in his eyes said it all: he was judging the hell out of me.

I mentally cursed Elijah for dragging me out before I could close out my search and spun around in my chair to face Nolan. "It's not what it looks like, I swear!"

I felt the curious eyes of several people on my floor swivel their focus on me, making me blush a deep red.

Nolan didn't look too convinced. "Well the first time I met you was when you walked into the men's bathroom, so I'm surprised by how surprised I am that you're a pervert. You just seemed so nice and innocent."

I groaned. This one definitely wouldn't be easy to get out of, especially since I wasn't familiar with Nolan. I had no idea if he was serious or not and that was what scared me.

"Mr. Abernathy, is everything okay," I heard Dana say when she approached aside me. She was terribly good at keeping a poker face because I knew that she already knew what happened and she was taking great pleasure in embarrassing me further. I needed something on her, Eric, and Elijah - and I needed it quick since all the jokes seemed to be played on me.

"Why are you even here?" I asked her through my teeth.

"Better question," she singsonged, "why are you using your work computer inappropriately?"

"Alright, wrap it up, ladies," Nolan said and at that, I just knew I couldn't help it.

"Unlike you did," I muttered but not-so-much under my breath by the way Nolan's face reddened. I had definitely hit a nerve joking about his unplanned pregnancy, but it's not like he wasn't asking for it. And when I had dirt on everyone else, there would be hell to pay.

-

OF COURSE, I HAD TO PAY FIRST.

Nolan decided that I had to sit in the time out room - which I had no idea any self-respecting office building would have - which was basically an extra conference room that no one exactly used for its original purpose. Instead, it was retitled as a "Steam Room" where employees who were too valued to fire were sent to blow off steam if they were being disruptive. Ashton was busy taking a ton of calls and just busy in general now that I pretty much worked for Nolan, so he wasn't able to step in and hopefully get me out of this. I just had to stay here and weather the storm for about thirty more minutes, the amount of time that was my sentence for bad-mouthing the CFO.

Ashton likely didn't believe in sending people here because my track record with him would've had me sent here for life probably.

I kicked off my shoes and slumped over the wide conference table when I heard the click of the door opening. I thought it would be Ashton, so my head instantly shot upwards, only to find a blonde girl stepping through the door. She seemed to be a repeated offender since the look on her face was a mixture of annoyance (hopefully at the thought of thirty minutes in an empty room) and intrigue (hopefully at the sight of a not-so-familiar girl).

She raised an eyebrow as the door closed behind her. "Let me guess, you got caught drinking on the fire escape? I usually go to the bathroom and stand on the toilet so no one can see my feet, but I don't know how I got caught this time."

I raised my eyebrow in confusion. "No, I didn't get caught drinking at work - or anywhere I shouldn't for that matter. It's a really bad story, actually. Do you want to hear it?"
Of course she wanted to hear it. So when I told her everything - or well, everything that would explain what happened while preserving my dignity - she leaned forward in anticipation as she applied a coat of lipstick. Like everyone else in my life did, I knew she would laugh or question me immensely since everything I did seemed to be questionable, so I braced myself for it when she said, "do you want my help to get back at them?"

I gasped, surprised that a complete stranger who's name I did not even know was more understanding than most of my friends were. "You don't think I'm some kind of lunatic?"

The woman just shook her head. "No, I totally get it. They're your friends and all, but you should still stand up for yourself. I actually work in the office where they keep all the disciple records since Ashton thinks it's fitting that I file my own for how much trouble I get in."

I chuckled before nodding. "When we get out of here, that sounds like a plan."

-

HER NAME HAPPENED TO BE LILY MASTERS.

When I realized that I hadn't even introduced myself, I instantly knew we had to do it right away. She worked on the sixteenth floor and I barely even stepped out of the forties since both Ashton and Nolan worked there, not to mention the COO who I didn't even know yet. Ashton told me in passing they were out on some sort of business in Africa and that was all I ever heard about them.

We were in her workspace - which she shared with three other girls who were all watching a soap on television instead of paying us any mind - sifting through many different manila folders to find as much information as we could. So far, I found out that Eric had once been caught with his hands... down his pants at work; Dana, to no one's surprise, was caught saying some rather inappropriate things about her superiors; while there were countless reported incidents of Elijah surfing the not safe for work reaches of the internet. Just knowing I had some dirt on them gave me a giddy feeling because I knew that I'd be able to get them to lighten up with all of the teasing as if they were perfect people themselves.

"Thank you so much for this," I said, turning for the door when I finished gathering information, "now I just have to figure out how to use it."

Lily just nodded. "Anytime. Although you've got some good friends, Fiona, who maybe are kind of hard on you, but that's just how they're acquainting themselves. I don't think you need to use that stuff at all in case they might find it personal. But of course, you can borrow those files for awhile just in case you have to use them."

Wow, I guess she was right. While I wasn't exactly given the newbie treatment anymore, I still didn't feel fully integrated into Baldwin Industries like I was back at Happenstance. So the fact that I had three good friends in the building was good enough for me. They made my life into a living hell, but at least I was living, I guess.

"Also," she said, effectively stopping me before I was gone for good. Her voice was sharp but not menacing, more bold instead. "Maybe you don't have to choose between those two men, but do think about which one is an idea and which one is the real deal. Don't want to see you getting hurt or hurting anyone."

Her words made my knees almost give out and send me sprawling to the floor, but I somehow managed to keep myself upright. I was just really caught off guard by that because of all the parts of my story about Ashton and Luke, she didn't seem to care much for them.

I nodded in silent appreciation of her advice before finally pushing open the door and stepping outside. But as soon as I did that, my body was instantly hit with a powerful force, knocking me over and sending my papers flying across the floor.

"Dammit," I cursed, scrambling to pick up as many of the scattered pages as I could before the person who knocked me down could see what they were. I didn't need it getting back to Nolan that I was snooping through discipline records I probably shouldn't have access to right after I got out of trouble.

"That's no way to talk in front of your boss," I heard a voice say, and although it carried a different pitch from the pain the speaker felt from after the fall, I knew it all too well. Of course Ashton Baldwin would come right along the one time I didn't exactly want to be seen by him, not to mention the fact that I accidentally knocked him down to the floor.

"I'm so sorry," I said, getting up on my feet to help him get onto his own. He took my hands and pushed himself up off the floor, leaving me looking silly for thinking I would just be able to pull him up by myself. "I'll buy you a coffee or -" I trailed off, realizing that he had inherited a billion dollar company from his parents while I was just his personal assistant, so he could buy a swimming pool full of coffee with just a wave of his finger.

Ashton grinned in response, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it, Troublemaker."

And here we were, back to square one. I, of course, realized that I still had papers scattered out over the floor that I needed to pick up or else I would be in big trouble, so I wasn't able to argue about the fact that he gave me my old nickname back.

Ashton and I both stopped down to the ground, trying to pick up as many papers as I could so I can get the stack Ashton was grabbing from him as fast as possible. He didn't seem to be looking at the content on them, so I was in the clear for now.

At least until he said, "what the hell, Fiona?"

"That's no way to talk to your employee," I said under my breath, hoping that he didn't hear me.

"Why do you have these?" he asked, his expression a mix of confusion and worry. Just one look into his green eyes made it near impossible for me to even string a decent sentence together. Ashton just shook his head, "never mind, just give them all to me because you're not allowed to have them. Once a troublemaker, always a troublemaker, huh?"

"Sorry, Ashton," I said as I handed him the papers I held in my hand. Well there went my plan for revenge.

"Now that that's all settled out," he said, getting up off the ground and standing to his full height, "I have to say, I was actually looking for you. I heard from Nolan that you got in trouble and I wanted to know why, but since you weren't there when I got out of my meeting, I came here."

"I think you might already know," I said with a sigh, remembering that I told him all about my web searches back at the restaurant.

"Maybe," he said with a laugh, "but I also wanted to ask if you could come to dinner with me, tomorrow night at the Roosevelt?"