The Assistant(13)
Author: Elle Brace

David put his hands up in defense. “Now, now. I was just messing around. Didn’t know she was already spoken for.” David raised his eyebrows Adrian, waiting for his response.

Before Adrian could answer, I put a hand on his chest. “Leave it. Let’s go,” I muttered, hoping to distract him. He looked down at me before lightly spinning me around so that I was walking within his eye range.

We stopped and spoke to a few more people – both men and women – before finding our seats on the table assigned to us and sitting down. As soon as I had gotten comfortable on my seat, I felt my phone vibrate in my purse. Groaning, I took it out and found my friend Molly’s name in bold letters.

“Excuse me,” I muttered to the table, smiling briefly, before answering the call and leaving the conference room. “Hey Molly, what’s up?”

“YOU’RE ALL OVER THE INTERNET!” Her voice, along with what sounded like Claire’s, screeched through the speaker of my phone.

I froze in my position, my grip on my phone suddenly becoming tighter. “What? What do you mean?” I asked in mortification.

“There are photos of you on every gossip site! Some are just saying  you’re not Adrian’s usual type of secretary, others are saying that you and Adrian have a thing going on because HE WAS TOUCHING YOUR SHOULDER AND LOOKING DOWN AT YOU WITH A REALLY CONCERNED EXPRESSION –“

“EMILY, WHAT ARE WE MISSING HERE?!” Claire suddenly burst out, before Molly shushed her and continued, a little more coherently.

“But the real issue is one with someone named…” I heard a few clicking of keyboard keys before she spoke up again, “David Walter, you, and your fine-ass boss. David looks like he’s hugging you and Adrian looks really angry – seriously, really angry. It looks like he’s about to punch the guy. And the title of the article is ‘Lovers’ Spat? Has Adrian’s new assistant been ‘assisting’ someone else?’” Molly finished talking, and I couldn’t find my voice to speak.

How would they get photos of that? It was inside – there were no paparazzi allowed inside. I cleared my throat, which was suddenly feeling dry. “Can you guys send me the article? I’ll talk to you guys later. Thanks for letting me know.” I waited for their confirmations and goodbyes before hanging up.

I walked back into the conference hall just as they began putting plates of food onto the tables. Once I reached our table, I tapped Adrian’s shoulder lightly. He looked back with an annoyed expression, but instantly raised an eyebrow once he saw that it was me.

“Uh,” I cleared my throat as all the other pairs of eyes seated at the table landed on me, “Can we talk for a second?”

Adrian didn’t say anything as he got out of his seat and followed me out of the room. Once we were outside, I handed my phone over to him, showing the article Molly and Claire had told me about minutes ago. Adrian’s eyes scanned the article quickly, and I watched as his hands turned white from the grip he had on my phone.

“Who told you about this?” he growled, sliding his gaze away from the phone screen to meet mine. “Was it someone threatening you?” he demanded impatiently, “How much did they ask for to take it down?”

I took my phone out of his death grip before he broke it. “No one told me about it. My friends were… um, browsing gossip sites for… news on Johnny Depp… and their eyes fell on this article. I thought there were no paparazzi allowed inside the hotel?” I questioned, attempting to cover the blush on my cheeks.

“You could’ve just said your friends were stalking me online,” his expression softened, but only briefly. Turning serious again, he muttered, “Let me handle it, you can go back inside.” He waved me off as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“O- okay. Do you need me to do anything?” I asked before leaving.

“Yeah. Don’t talk to any other male in there. I mean it.” He glared, before turning away and bringing the phone to his ear. I gave his back a look of disbelief before huffing and making my way back inside to our table, keeping my head down to avoid any eye contact. Adrian was making it out as if it was my fault that David came on to me and the article was released!

I took my original seat and checked the time on my phone before putting it back into my bag. I sat silently for a while before I decided to turn to Adrianna.

“So, where are you from?” I asked with a small smile, attempting to be polite and willing to set aside her earlier rudeness.

She looked away from her reflection in the small mirror she was holding to glare at me. “None of your business,” she snapped, before looking at herself again. I sighed and shook my head; someone had socialising issues.

A few more minutes passed and the smell of the food was starting to affect me. I kept shifting in my chair to try and stop the growl that was threatening to erupt from my stomach as the waiters walked passed with plates of food. Just when I thought I wouldn’t be able to take it anymore, a male waiter bent down and put a plate near the woman next to me.

“Sorry… you weren’t here when we asked, did you want chicken, fish, steak, or the vegetarian meal, miss?” the waiter asked, a bright grin crossing his features when I slightly turned to face him.

“That’s okay,” I said. “Can I please get the chicken? And let me answer for my boss as well… Um, if you didn’t know his order already, he’ll have the-”

“I’ll have the steak. Go.” Adrian’s deep voice interrupted, breaking the eye contact between the waiter and myself. The waiter nodded and walked away at a suspiciously rapid pace. I turned to Adrian and scowled, then remembered we were at an event and that he was my boss.

“That was rude,” I said in a hushed tone with a frown to match, as he took his seat in between Adrianna and me.

“What part of don’t talk to any other male did your pretty little head not comprehend?” he growled in a low voice, making his deep vocals sink deeper as he glared at me.

“He was asking what I wanted to eat!” I exclaimed, my tone rising a little. My palm flew over to my mouth when I realised, and I quickly removed it. “Sorry!” I whispered, briefly glancing around to see if anyone was watching the encounter.

“I don’t care what he was asking. I don’t want you talking to anyone, unless I tell you to.” Coldly, he added, “Know your place, Ms. Johnson.” He turned to Adrianna and gave her a smirk. She put the mirror down and pulled him in for a kiss and I looked away in disgust.