Page 4 of Room Twenty-Four: Under Their Hands

“Sounds good.”

CHAPTER3

Violetta

Friday comes and I’m so damn wound up it’s not funny.

“Are you sure that the public offering is good? I mean, everything is ready?” I gasp out the request and Alexia stares at me.

“You know you did every damn thing and it’s all ready. Stop worrying. You’re gonna put yourself in the hospital. You’re entirely too wound up for this kind of thing.”

“I’m fine,” I gasp out, my hand grasping at my delicate silk blouse and probably wrinkling the hell out of it. “Just excited.”

“You need to calm down. You’re supposed to be down on the floor in the stock exchange to hit the button and get this party started. You can’t be up there doing that, gasping like a landed carp.”

“I’m fine, really.”

“Lady, you are not fine. I’ve never seen you so messed up. When was the last time you and Jeremy went out?”

“Jeremy and I broke up over three months ago.”

“Have you gone out since then? Have you even taken a day off since then?”

“Nope. But it doesn’t matter. I’ve handled much longer stretches alone than this.”

“Not with all this stress. You need a release. A handy-dandy release with no strings attached since you’re so busy.”

Snorting, I roll my eyes. “Why don’t I just strip down right now and ask for volunteers, Alex? I don’t have time for this.”

“You better make time. You look like you’re so damn stressed that you might hit the damn floor.”

“I’m fine, dammit! Stop trying to make me crazy. I’ve got to get down to the stock exchange right now and get everything ready to go.

“Alright, alright. Just go.” She points her red fingernails at me and growls, “We’re gonna talk about this later though.”

“Whatever, Alex. Just go man the phones and tell me if any problems come up. I’ll be back as soon as I hit the bell.”

Rolling her eyes, she stalks off, her five foot frame trembling with agitation. “You could stay five minutes and maybe enjoy the drama.”

“I’ve got enough drama in my life. I don’t need to add more.”

Her hand waves over her shoulder and she swishes her full skirt at me as she stomps off.

Groaning, I run my fingers through my tousled blond curls and try to straighten them out. This day is going to give me premature grays for sure.

But I go to the building that houses the stock exchange and as I enter it, I can’t help feeling that high, that burning excitement building in my belly and tingling all the way to my toes.This is it!This is what I’ve spent the last year building towards. The public offering of Winters Security on the Stock Exchange.

Loud voices and just a constant babble hit my ears and I stagger back a bit. It’s a lot to take in all at once. But I head to where they told me to meet the coordinators and smile at the curious men and women shouting and waving pieces of paper wildly. Most of them have a wild, stressed look in their eyes that I understand very well. I’ve had that look myself.

I reach the spot where we’ll be opening by hitting the bell and groan out loud, instantly feeling my blood pressure start jacking up. There the bastard is. Phillip Bastion. My VP of marketing who seems to think that my company is his personal show. His personal playground.

I’d love to fire his ass but the board adores him. Not too surprising since he’s just as sleazy as they are on any given day of the week.

“Phillip, what are you doing here?” I ask sternly, stalking up to him and the woman who’s been coordinating this special day.

“The board asked me to be here. To help out in any way I can.”

“Translation: to keep the little lady from fucking this up? I’ve got this Phillip. You can go. I don’t need you.”

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