The Design(65)

“Yes,” I admitted, feeling a weight leave my shoulders as a heavy wave simultaneously crashed down over me. “I did.”

Grayson crumpled the paper in his fist and squeezed his eyes closed for a moment. When he opened them again, there was only disappointment staring back at me.

“Why?”

I pointed to Alan. “Because he wouldn’t listen to my ideas and I knew I had something better. His designs were shit, and everyone was too scared to speak up. So I submitted a design on my own.”

Grayson threw the crumpled email across the room.

“Stupid girl,” Alan spat.

Grayson shot him a warning glance. “Alan, that’s enough. Let’s go into my office and get the design committee on the phone.”

They turned and walked away from me without a second glance. Grayson didn’t so much as look back at me and I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to follow them or not, so I stood frozen, watching them disappear behind Grayson’s door.

“Guess having a little affair with your boss isn’t enough to get you out of this, is it, Cammie?” Hannah asked, loudly enough that in the quiet office at least a dozen coworkers overheard her.

“Shut up, Hannah,” I said, grabbing my purse and pushing past her to head toward the stairwell.

“Guess you would have been better off sleeping with Alan instead,” she called out after me. "Or maybe the whole design committee!"

I didn’t bother turning around but I heard Peter’s voice behind me.

“Don’t you have work to do, Hannah? Why are you even over here?” he asked.

I’m sure she replied with something terribly catty, but I was too busy pushing through the side door into the stairwell to hear. The quiet wrapped around me and I stood with my back against the concrete wall as the last ten minutes began to sink in. Not only had I gone behind Grayson’s back, I had also disqualified the entire company from the competition. Not to mention, Hannah had just all but convinced everyone that Grayson and I were having a secret affair.

I’d started my day as just another nameless rookie architect. Now, I was Cammie, the girl who sleeps around to get ahead and is stupid enough to jeopardize the company’s reputation on a caprice. I was standing there, berating myself, when the door to the stairwell opened and I braced myself for Grayson. Instead, a pair of stiletto heels hit the concrete and I looked up to see Serenity stepping out of the office to join me on the stairwell landing.

“I thought I saw you come out here,” she said, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of her small designer clutch. “Wanna smoke?”

I shook my head and then watched her shrug and light a cigarette for herself.

“I usually come out here to take a break, but lately you and Grayson have been stealing my spot,” she said, staring at me out of the corner of her eye.

I swallowed. She’d known about Grayson and me all along, but never said anything.

Why?

“Are you allowed to smoke in the building?” I asked, to change the subject and to confirm my suspicions.

She pointed up to the wall, where the smoke detector should have been. Instead, there was a small circle of concrete that was lighter than the rest of the wall. She’d removed the smoke detector off the wall.

“Trust me, this building is in much less danger when I've had a few cigarettes,” she said, taking a long drag.

I didn't really see her logic, but I wasn’t exactly in a place to make anymore enemies.

“That was a foolish thing you did, huh?” she said, trying to meet my eye.

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms tighter. The last thing I needed was a lecture from Miss Interior Design 2015.

“Do you realize how many * men there are in this business?” she asked.

I laughed, caught off guard by her candidness.

“Before I became the head of interiors, I worked for a crotchety old man named Mr. Winters. I knew that I had a better eye for design than he did, but I also knew that one day he’d step down and I’d get the final say in the department. I worked for him for four long years and I dreamed of doing what you did too many times to count, but I knew that it would get me nowhere.”

I huffed, annoyed. “Where were you a few days ago?”

She laughed and took another drag of her cigarette, blowing the smoke away from me, down the stairwell.

“Was your design better than Alan’s?” she asked.

The edge of my mouth hitched up. “A thousand times better. He's so out of touch with the original vision for the project.”

She nodded and crossed an arm over her chest to prop up her elbow.

“Then when they fire you, you’ll have no problem finding another job,” she said, staring me straight in the eye. “But I wouldn’t put Alan down as a reference.”

With that, she bent to stub out her cigarette on the concrete and glided back into the office, leaving me with a whole new bomb to try to diffuse.





Chapter Twenty-Seven


I let myself stay in the stairwell until I was sure that everyone had gone back to their desks, bored with the drama. I knew I’d be the focal point of everyone’s attention as soon as I showed my face, but I figured that at least a few people would pretend to be busy with their own work.

When I opened the door, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the office was all but deserted. I didn’t see anyone, but then I heard the faint sound of voices coming from the conference room. I took another step and peered around the corner to see most of the Cole Designs staff packed into the conference room like sardines. I took a deep breath and moved to join them, when I heard my name.