Page 26 of Not Safe for Work
Nikita’s voice echoed through my brain.Find some dirt on him. Uno-reverse him, you know?
I snapped the laptop shut and got up, reeling as well as thrumming with something that felt dangerously like excitement. My pulse was in my ears.
‘Hey, are you feeling okay?’ Tanya asked, leaning close to look at my face.
‘Yeah, I just … need to go to the loo.’ I all but ran to the washroom, leaving behind a perplexed Tanya. It had been almost an hour since Neil had stepped out for lunch. I needed to figure this mess out before he got back. I locked myself in a cubicle and pulled out my phone, unsure about what to do with it. After a few seconds, I typed out a message to Nikita.
Me: You’re never going to believe it. I actually found dirt on Neil!!!
She responded within a minute.
Nikita: Good, now bury him with it.
I waited until the end of the work day to pull Neil aside. ‘Care to join me in the conference room?’
He was in the pantry, making his irritatingly healthy protein shake. ‘Can it wait till tomorrow? I was just about to leave for the gym.’
I pulled myself to an upright posture as he continued shaking the sipper bottle loudly. ‘No, I’m afraid it cannot,’ I said in my most corporate, boss-like tone.
He looked up, a hint of amusement already shadowing his features. ‘Okay, well, lead the way.’
I gave him a knowing smile before turning on my heel. Around us, the office was winding down for the day. The salesteam, as always, was running around like headless chickens, trying to get the editorial teams to finishjust one more creativebefore signing off. One of Saloni’s interns stopped me in the hallway to the conference room, but I just shook my head at her. ‘Can’t, I’ve turned off my system.’
‘It’s just a minor tweak,’ she pleaded, showing me a printout of one of the creatives I’d made earlier in the day.
I made the mistake of glancing at it. By ‘minor tweak’, she meant rearranging the whole composition—the headline, image, CTA, everything. I was about to (politely) tell her to get lost when a better idea occurred to me. ‘You know what? Neil can help you with this one,’ I said, glancing over my shoulder to look at him.
He raised an eyebrow, looking between me and the sales intern, who was now beginning to look hopeful. ‘Um …’ he began. The confusion on his face was priceless.
‘Just let me have a chat with him first,’ I said, squeezing the intern’s shoulder. ‘Then he’s all yours.’ It was hard to ignore how red her cheeks got at that. She smiled shyly and told him she’d find him later.
As I continued walking in front of Neil, I pushed my shoulders back and forbade myself from rubbing the back of my neck, where I could feel his eyes burning into me.
‘What was that about?’ he demanded as soon as we were inside. ‘There’s no way I’m going to sit here after hours doingyourwork.’
The conference room was made of glass walls, so I knew I had to keep our chat civil. Anyone passing by should think this was just another routine work chat, not a showdown between blackmailer and blackmailee.
‘Why don’t you have a seat first?’ I pointed at the chair next to the head of the table.
‘This better be worth my time,’ he muttered as he sat down and set his protein shake on the table.
I couldn’t help but smirk.You bet.‘I just wanted to discuss your … extracurricular activities,’ I said, sliding into the seat in front of him.
‘My what?’ He creased his brows, confused.
I nodded slowly, enjoying the power shift I could feel by dragging this out.
‘Man, is this about all the flirting in the office?’ I could sense his impatience. ‘Because I’ve entertained none of it.’
Honestly, his cluelessness was kind of cute. ‘I couldn’t care less who you flirt with.’
‘Right.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘So what is this about, then?’
‘You tell me … anything you want to get off your chest?’
He leaned back in his chair. ‘What is this, a fishing expedition?’
I shrugged, unbothered.
