Page 6 of Game Misconduct

“Let me check.” I could hear clicking in the background. “I don’t see any notifications, and the meeting is still on his calendar.”

I wasn’t surprised. I wasn’t aware it had been cancelled, but there was no point in telling Jonathan that. He’d deny it like he always did. I swear he somehow expected me to read his mind. He made it seem like half the things he asked me to do were reminders of things that had already been done, but they never were.

“I’ll cancel it now.” I opened Jonathan’s schedule and cleared out the meeting. “Oh, and send over Simon’s order for lunch on Friday. We’re doing sushi this time.”

“Yuck,” she whispered.

“I’ll get you a chicken bowl or something.” One of the benefits of being the assistants to the powers that be was getting to order our own lunches or breakfasts anytime there were meetings like this. The only unfortunate part was that we rarely chose where the food came from.

“Thanks.” She sighed. “Has Jonathan been in a mood today?”

“He’s been distracted, but no crankier than any other day. Why?”

“Simon has slammed his door three times since he got here and yelled at poor Marshy for sending in her report this morning instead of last night, even though it’s technically not due until the end of the day today.”

That wasn’t all that unusual. Simon was over operations while Jonathan focused on the development side of things. As long as the teams were hitting their deadlines and the products were up to his standards, things were good. Simon had to deal with the daily problems that popped up and took him away from working on big projects, or more likely meeting with other rich men to discuss how successful they were.

At least, that’s what it seemed like he did most of the time from what Kerry told me.

“I wonder if something HR related happened,” I guessed. With a company of over two hundred people, it was a nearly daily occurrence for complaints to be filed, and those that needed to be escalated were discussed with Simon. He hated the drama, but it was a necessity that came with the job.

“Did you hear anything?” she asked.

“No, but we’re always the last to know.” It was a blessing and a curse, being the assistants to the head bosses. No one shared anything with us since they thought we might tell, plus we were physically separated from the rest of the employees due to our desk locations.

Kerry and I sat on opposite corners of the top floor in the building, about twenty or so yards away so each man could have a fancy corner office with a view. Between us were rows of small and medium meeting rooms as well as the central conference room that was large enough to fit the whole company at one time. That meant that unless people were walking by on their way to a meeting, we didn’t see our coworkers.

She missed the socialization more than I did. I liked being isolated from distractions while still having the freedom to wander around under the pretense of running errands for Jonathan. The central gossip hub was the kitchen on the far side of this floor where most people hung out while grabbing snacks and refilling their drinks. That was usually when I overheard the latest office drama.

“I’m going to get another coffee and see if I can get any details,” Kerry said. I could picture her already standing, anxious to hear the gossip.

“Okay, let me know.” I hung up the phone just as my cell lit up. Jessica’s name stared back at me.

She rarely called me, and never during work hours, so I hurried to pick it up.

“Hello?”

“Viv? Oh, thank heaven. I wasn’t sure I’d catch you.” She sounded out of breath which made me even more concerned.

“Are you okay?”

“No, I’m really not. We’ve got this event tonight for the mayor that starts at eight, and the whole set-up team is missing. I’ve called the rental company about thirty times and can’t get ahold of anyone. We have twenty-five tables to set up plus decorations and the food tables, and no one to help us set up.”

I glanced at the clock. It was almost four, so I wouldn’t be off for another hour. I wasn’t sure what I could do to help.

“Dani is calling Lance and asking for as many guys from the team who can to help, but we need all hands on deck. I hate to ask, but I’m so desperate. Is there any way you could get to the hotel down the hill from the capitol building anytime soon?”

I pulled up Jonathan’s calendar. Since he canceled his meeting with Simon, he was open for the rest of the afternoon, and I didn’t have anything left that needed to be done today. “I’ll ask.” I rarely asked for favors or time off, so I hoped Jonathan would be understanding.

“Oh, thank you! I will owe you big time.”

“If I can’t leave right now, I’ll be off in an hour and head over then. I’ll text you to let you know.”

“You’re the best.”

I ended the call and stood, tugging down my pencil skirt. The stretchy cotton material always rode up when I wore it with tights, but it was too cold to go without right now. The compression shapewear I wore under those layers made sure all my bumps and curves stayed in place.

I knocked on Jonathan’s door.