Alexandra, Next time, extra tomato, please.
V.D. Progress … Lexi smiled to herself, finally feeling like maybe she was beginning to win her war against the closed off man that Vincent Drake had become.
It was hard for her to understand this dramatic change in Vincent’s personality. Ten years ago, he had been the big man on campus, the football star, the guy every girl wanted to date, the boy who was always surrounded by a pack of friends. She remembered watching him walk down the hall, saying hello to every person who looked his direction. Lexi wished that just once she had been brave enough to talk to him.
He had been somewhat arrogant back then, but it was hard not to have an inflated ego when girls threw themselves at him and guys lined up to be his friend. At eighteen, it was difficult to understand the complexities of popularity—the doors it opened weren’t without costs.
Even so, the boy he was did not match the man he had become, and Lexi wondered what made him close out the world and be so mistrusting of everyone around him. He didn’t have any friends in the office other than Sean as far as she could tell. As a matter of fact, Lexi often walked in on people gossiping about Vincent, talking about his temper, rumors about his wild sex life—which Jade probably started herself—or wild theories on why he’d been promoted to vice president at such a young age.
It seemed there was a lot of animosity directed at him, and Lexi found herself questioning what came first—his bad attitude or the hurtful gossip.
And it seemed that the hostility was only directed at him; everyone else at Hunter seemed to get along very well. They were the happy family everyone portrayed them as. For Vincent, however, it seemed to be no better than the rumor mill of high school all over again.
Lexi eventually became used to walking into the lounge only to have conversations stop or drop to a hush. She assumed that no one wanted Vincent’s assistant to hear what they were saying about him, and this day was no different. She had her head ducked into the refrigerator, looking for her cherry yogurt, when she heard them talking.
“Oh, please. Why is it always my fault that the guy can’t check his facts? I mean really, he’s the big shot VP. Shouldn’t he know that the owner, Richard Trumbell, wouldn’t find it funny to be referred to as Dick in the ads? I heard the guy chewed him out for a half hour on the phone and told him he would never even answer a call from Hunter again.”
Lexi recognized Tony’s voice the moment he began spewing his hate.
“And what about that new assistant of his? You know, I hear they’re already sleeping together.” Tony’s female companion giggled at his blatant lies.
“I mean, who did she think she was, talking to me that way? She probably spent most of the morning on her knees under Vincent’s desk.”
Angry tears began to well up in Lexi’s eyes as she slammed the refrigerator shut and spun around to face the pair, ready to set the record straight.
She opened her mouth to tell them how wrong they were when the cavalry arrived, led by the most unexpected person.
“Tony!” Vincent’s deep voice snarled as he filled the doorway and loomed over the couple. “Apologize to her immediately.”
“Oops. Did I let the cat out of the bag, Mr. Drake?” he sneered.
“If you have a problem with me, then take it up with me, but Alexandra never did anything to you other than pass on a message.” Vincent held his hand out to Lexi, ushering her toward him. She tentatively stepped to his side, praying the tears in her eyes would stay put a minute longer and not give away how hurt she was by Tony’s vicious insinuations. Vincent turned his back on Tony, ignoring him as he tried to guide Lexi safely out of the room. “Come on, I need your help with something.”
“I’ll bet you do.” Tony and his companion snickered until Vincent spun around and backed him up against the wall.
“You give her any more trouble and it won’t matter anymore who your parents are. You’ll be fired on the spot, and I’ll let her be the one to do it!” He placed his hand on the small of Lexi’s back and led her out the door. “Watch your step, cousin.” He gave Tony one more murderous glare and then disappeared down the hall with Lexi.
She stumbled back toward her desk, trying to put as much distance between herself and Tony as possible before she lost it completely. Vincent kept pace with her, but said nothing except “I’m sorry.”
For some reason, that infuriated Lexi. “Why on Earth are you apologizing to me? Tony was the asshole, not you. All you did was defend me.” She stopped and sagged against the wall, catching her breath. “Thank you for that, by the way.” “His problem is with me, not with you, so try not to take it personally.”
“Oh, I take it very personally when someone accuses me of …” Lexi waved her hand in the air suddenly at a loss for words. “Well, you know exactly what he was accusing me of.” She blew a stray hair out of her face and crossed her arms. “This sucks.”
Vincent leaned his shoulder against the wall beside her and nodded his head. “Welcome to my world.”
“Promise me one thing.”
Vincent raised his eyebrow as Lexi watched him expectantly. “Name it.”
“That you’ll keep your word, and if he crosses the line like that again, I get to fire him.”
Vincent winked at Lexi, pushed off the wall, and started walking to his office. “Hell, I’ll even let Sean videotape it.”
Lexi buried herself in her work for the rest of the day after the unfortunate run-in with Tony. When she arrived at work on Tuesday, it was back to business as usual. Vincent stayed in his office preparing for an important meeting the next day, and Lexi ran back and forth to the copy room, collating presentation packets and adjusting the graphics.
When she finally sat down at her desk, the phone rang right on cue. Lexi rolled her eyes and answered it. “Good morning, Vincent Drake’s office. This is Lexi White speaking. May I help you?”
“Good morning. This is Anna Caldwell, Vincent’s sister. I wanted to check his schedule for the day … wait, Lexi White? I went to school with an Alexandra White. Odd question, but you didn’t go to Riverdale High by any chance did you?”
Lexi’s eyes grew huge with surprise, and then she smiled. “Hi, Anna. I’m shocked you remember me after all these years. How are you?”
Anna laughed. “How could I not remember you? We worked on the yearbook together junior and senior year.” Lexi found herself grinning at Anna’s excellent memory. “I’m great. How are you? I can’t believe you’re Vincent’s new assistant. How weird is that? What a small world.” Unlike her brother, Anna sounded like she hadn’t changed a bit since high school. Her kind nature drew people to her. “I bet Vincent freaked out when he saw you.” Well, he freaked … just not in the way you’re thinking , Lexi laughed to herself. She answered as honestly as she could. “Actually, Anna, I don’t think he remembers me.”