Employee of the Year - Pt. 01

To make it worse, it was kind of a kick in the teeth that she was now moving onto Deborah too. I mean, it was a downgrade, if anything. Why the hell would Eleanor send a trainee to Deborah, after she'd already learned the basics from me? She'd likely botched the meeting the previous day too, as I'd seen no emails about a contract being won. But now, Disco Debs was going to be teaching Maya? It was like I was considered only the first step or something, and that was bitterly insulting. On top of that, I was almost feeling a little possessive of her. I mean, I already knew her in my personal life, and I'd shown her the ropes the previous day. I'd also taken her for lunch, and now she was just going to be handed off to someone else? The fact it was a simpleton like Deborah was mortally offensive. Despite not wanting to reveal that the slight had got to me, I struggled to bite my tongue. "Really?" I asked, with a somewhat nonchalant snort. "Disco Debs? What could you possibly learn from her?" I tapped the side of my head and tried to make a joke out of it. "There's nothing going on up there."

Maya immediately balked, her expression turning to a vapid grimace. "What do you mean by that?" She cocked her head. "Are you saying she doesn't know as much as you...because she's a woman?"

That was exactly what I was saying. Deborah was almost moronic in her dim-wittedness. She'd clearly been hired as a favour, or maybe even to tick some boxes because the quality of her work was completely lacking. She was a moderately pretty face, and that was about it. In fact, she was so terrible at sales that she'd basically been reassigned to more administrative tasks so that she rarely had to face any customers. Still, I didn't want to come out too hostile, especially since we'd had a pretty good day previously. "I mean, yes, she's good at what she does." I shrugged, and though I knew it was best to leave it at that, I couldn't resist the temptation of another jab. "If you're happy being a glorified secretary, then I'm sure there's a lot she can teach you."

Maya's pretty face screwed up into a scowl, and she breathed deeply, clearly already tired of the conversation. She looked like the bratty tween that I remembered, the one that didn't know how to take no for an answer and was unnecessarily confrontational when we refused to humour her. That upstarting young girl that paid no attention to hierarchy and showed no respect to her elders and their privacy. "God, Piper was right, you really are a dick." She brushed passed me and headed towards Deborah's desk out in the main office area.

I was caught off-guard, and for a second, believed that she was pranking me. "Wait," I called out, waving one of the coffees at her. "I got you this."

However, Maya simply raised a hand and waved me away with indifference, not even turning to look back.

"Is that for me?" Eleanor asked, seemingly having crept up on me. She nodded towards the coffee.

I narrowed my eyes, then shrugged before offering it her way. "Yeah, go for it."

She widened her eyes excitedly, before removing the lid and taking a deep breath of the caffeine goodness. "What are you doing here anyway?" she asked. "Don't you have a pitch lined up today?"

I blinked, before screwing up my forehead. "What?" Suddenly, my eyes went wide. "Shit. The McCallister pitch."

Eleanor nodded her head slowly, before she glanced at her watch. "You're supposed to be there by ten. What the hell are you still doing here?"

I swallowed as my cheeks began to redden. "I...I thought I was training Maya again today. I had the whole day planned out."

Eleanor appeared momentarily confused, before she paused while taking a sip from the coffee. "I reassigned her after your big tantrum yesterday. I thought I'd have to tell her gently, but she seemed more than happy to switch this morning."

"Oh, really?" I asked, my face evidently souring as Eleanor seemed surprised.

"I know she's pretty, Dante," she added with a roll of her eyes. "But pull yourself together, will you? If you drop the ball on the pitch today then I'm going to have to go myself to salvage things." She tilted her head. "You know how much I hate having to do that."

"Shit," I said again, and I was already dashing out of the office.

The subsequent drive to the next town over was a shit-show. I had my laptop open on the seat next to me, trying to run through the slides and remember everything that I'd been memorising over the past week; trying not to get things mixed up with the other pitch that Deborah had flunked like a typical woman. To make matters worse, when I arrived, I couldn't find parking, having to roll up on the kerb to avoid being late. It was ridiculous, and I cursed myself for being so careless, and all because of a trivial situation. It was like because Maya had emasculated me by covering lunch, and that made me feel foolish for simply bragging about what men do, I had some primal need to one-up and placate her. I'd been so intent to pull the reins back and get her a coffee that morning, that I'd completely screwed up my schedule.

Thankfully, because I was such a king when it came to selling, after a moment to cool myself off, I strode into that meeting and won the room over. As always, my spiel was relentless and to the point, particularly attuned to the head of purchasing, that I noted was right in my target demographic; a middle-aged woman who appeared in need of a good dicking. I made sure to keep eye contact with her throughout the pitch, and directed most of my answers towards her, all with a side-portion of my most assured charm. As expected, when the time came, they signed on the dotted line, and once again, I was leaving with a large order and an agreement for an ongoing marketing consultation.

On the way out, I had to stop and pat myself on the back. It was just another demonstration of what a complete winner I was. Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Most of the other idiots in the office, like Martin for instance, would have crumbled the moment they realised they were running late. I, however, had brought the signature home once again, and that's all that mattered.

The only downside was the parking ticket stuck to my windshield when I returned, but it was but a drop in the ocean in regards to the commission I was bringing home.

I strode into the office that afternoon, just in time to catch Maya as she was leaning on Deborah's desk. "Look at that," I said, while flicking the contract in her direction. "Dante brings home the bounty again."

Deborah rolled her eyes, before outstretching a hand expectantly. "I'll move it to processing," she said while Maya looked on. "This is actually good timing as I can show you what we do with the signed contracts."

"Yeah, you do that," I said with a deserved arrogance. I made eye contact with Maya, before the smugness took over. "I bring it home, and you do the donkey work." Maya's face screwed up again, just as it had done that morning, but by this point, I didn't even care anymore. If she was happy learning the trade from a moron like Deborah, then more fool her. She'd be out the door within a week, and would have no one to blame but herself. "Not bad for a such a dick, huh?" I goaded her, making sure to parrot her earlier insult.

"He's insufferable, isn't he?" Maya said while turning away from me. "Is he always like this?"

Instead of answering, Deborah just pursed her lips, shaking her head in frustration. As always, she simply didn't have the minerals to speak up.

Meanwhile, I was kind of surprised that Maya, unlike Deborah, was so comfortable stepping out of place. It was only her second day, and here she was, insulting me right to my face. It was such a turnaround from the previous day, and none of it made sense. Just because of a few simple jokes about banging her, jokes that weren't even serious and she shouldn't have been listening to anyway. She only heard that stuff because she was a damned snoop that crept up on people. "What's got into you?" I asked. "You seemed pretty chill yesterday?"

Maya turned and sneered at me. "That's before I realised what you're really like. I'll give it to you, you had me fooled for a bit, but now I realise my sister was right. You're a real asshat for all that stuff you said yesterday, and now, you're making it even worse." She rolled her eyes and looked to Deborah. "I don't know how you put up with all this toxic masculinity around here."

Deborah was looking at me with surprise, and seemed more interested in something else. "Did you say your sister?" she whispered to Maya. She looked between the two of us. "Do you already know each other?"

My mouth was suddenly in dire need of moisture as I felt my temperature rising. I still didn't fully know exactly what Maya knew of the whole break-up situation, and the last thing I wanted was her spitting my personal life all over the office floor. Even though every instinct inside me was desperate to defend myself, to dish out some comment that would put her in her place, I realised that this wasn't my usual turf. I could get away with saying anything I wanted to my colleagues, because I could back myself with my performance record. However, Maya was bringing a different sort of arsenal to the battle field, and the damage she could do was a real concern. She was dragging my personal life into this shit, and I was severely uncomfortable with that. "I better get back to my desk," I said, while clearing my throat.

Maya looked at me surprised for a moment, before a slight smirk appeared in the corner of her mouth. "Yeah, you do that, before I spill all of the gruesome details about you."

I glanced between the two of them awkwardly, my lips quivering, on the verge of saying something I'd later regret. Maya cocked her head, seemingly interested in what I was about to say, whereas Deborah looked away awkwardly. However, I couldn't do it, instead biting my tongue, turning, and abruptly leaving.

From behind, I heard Maya snicker to herself.

"Well, you well and truly shut him up," I heard Deborah chuckle. "That's the first time I've seen him lost for words."

I paused, and for a second, I thought about turning back. My hands were balled into fists, completely ravaged with frustration that a complete imbecile like Deborah was freely laughing at me. But, I knew if I provoked Maya, I'd regret it as she callously spilled the beans on my relationship with her sister.

At that moment, while I seethed in rage, I fully committed myself to doing whatever I could to get rid of Maya. I didn't even care that she was Piper's little sister anymore, or that she was a certified hottie. I figured, the sooner she was gone, the less likely it was that the rest of the office would learn any details of my private life. I'd tried the tactic of wooing her and being polite, and where had that got me?

I'd only been sat at my desk for a few minutes when there was a knock on the door. "Hi," Maya said, this time waltzing in without even waiting for permission, the heels of her booties digging into my carpet. "Can we talk a second?"

My eyes involuntarily dropped to her booties for a second, before I screwed my face up, annoyed at her disruption. "What is it?" I asked, somewhat abruptly. I'd completely lost patience with her by this point and was intent on treating her like every other annoying trainee that plagued the company. Her complete personality flip was baffling to me. The day before, she'd been hanging on my every word, and suddenly, this morning, because I'd made a simple joke, she was now acting like my sworn enemy. "I have work to do." I waved my hand at her dismissively. "I don't have time for whatever it is you've come to bother me with. You're Deborah's problem now."

"Actually, you're her problem," she said, before standing still with a smug little smile. She looked so prim and proper in the tight-fitting white shirt and black dress pants, just like the future secretary that she was apparently determined to be. Her hands were tucked behind her back, in an almost submissive gesture, as if she'd been summoned to collect me a coffee; the only task I'd deem her worthy of now she'd got on the wrong side of me. Who the hell did she think she was? Because we had a little history, she figured she could make jokes at my expense?

I looked at her with curiosity, waiting for the inevitable punchline. However, she just continued to stare at me, a vapid grin on her face. "Well, what is it?" I eventually asked while on the verge of losing my temper. "If you're just going to stand there with that stupid look on your face then you're not going to last five minutes here."

Maya bit her lip, clearly trying her best to stifle a giggle. She nodded her head, before rolling her eyes and then pulling some papers from behind her back. "Dante," she said. "Deborah noticed a little mistake in the contract you just gave her."

"Whatever," I said, while flapping my palm at her. "Quit the stupid games. I don't make mistakes."

"Evidently, you do," she said, with a firm confidence that rattled my composure. "I've been here a day, and even I can see you've screwed this up."

That simply wasn't possible. I'd done everything by the book. Sure, I'd been in a bit of a rush because I'd wasted my time trying to impress her that morning, but I'd been wrapping up deals long enough to know what I was doing. It was like a bloody set process by this point, and there was no way in hell I'd make a mistake. I wasn't Martin the moron, for fuck sake! I wasn't Disco Debs! "Cut it out," I said. "Just because I used to date your sister, doesn't mean you can bother me with these stupid pranks." I tilted my head and squinted at her. "There's a certain level of professionalism needed in a job like this."

Maya seemed unperplexed by my confidence. She held out the paper towards me. "Go on, take a look." She shrugged. "I don't really know about these things, being a stupid woman and all." She cocked her head while watching closely for my reaction. "But according to Deborah, you've well and truly messed up."

"Give me that," I said, while leaning over the desk and snatching it from her fingers. "Obviously, Disco doesn't have a clue what she's--" I grabbed the paper with both hands and leant in close, my heart beginning to pound in my chest as I noted the obvious, glaring error. I'd signed my name as the freaking purchaser and the client had signed as the fulfilment. "What the fuck?" I asked, while looking up at her flabbergasted. "Have you tampered with this or something?"

Maya balked, scrunching up her face. "It's your signature in fresh ink. Even if I wanted to prank you, I'm not capable of that. Just admit you made a mistake."

I looked over the paper at her and tapered my eyes, on the brink of spitting some kind of harsh insult her way. I was used to cocky and disinterested trainees, but this was something else entirely. Never before had I had to deal with a new starter that was this confrontational and mocking. She was actually smirking at me, delighting in the fact that I'd made a mistake, and I couldn't believe she had the audacity to do such a thing. The only thing that was different between her and all of the other trainees that I'd chewed up and spat out, was the fact that I used to date her sister. Apparently, that blurred the lines of a professional relationship, and since she'd seen me making out with her older sister in the past, she felt like she could be completely casual and unprofessional with me.

But still, that didn't fully explain things. It didn't explain why she'd gone from being polite and reasonable the previous day, to this argumentative and spiteful abrasion on my life, even after the fracas she'd walked into yesterday. That was just basic locker-room talk, and it didn't explain why she'd gone full vendetta against me. But then, a thought suddenly occurred to me. "What's Piper been saying?"

Maya flinched, before I noticed her swallowing uncomfortably. "What do you mean?"

"Clearly something has changed since yesterday. You spoke to her, right? Told her we're working together now?"

For a second, she was hesitant, as if she was about to lie, before she then shrugged. "We may have had a chat."

I felt a tingle in my spine, as my mind started frantically swirling various scenarios around my head. I'd done things with Piper that I'd never partaken in before. I'd shared with her my darkest, kinkiest fantasies, and she'd been happy to indulge me, telling me it was no big deal. She did so because she loved me, right up until the point she'd found my requests so seedy that she could no longer stomach them. But now, she was evidently a woman scorned, and who knows what she'd tell her little sister to get her revenge. "What...what did she say?"

Again, she was hesitant, before she looked me up and down, crossed her arms and was overcome with an air of confidence. "That's none of your business, Dante."

I let the contract slap down on the desk. "Well, if it's about me, then it's obviously my business, isn't it?"

Maya suddenly let out a frustrated gasp. "Why do you care anyway?" She pointed towards the contract. "Don't you have more important things to be worrying about? I know I'm knew to all this, and I'm just a stupid woman, but according to"--she uncrossed her arms and pointed at the contract--"that right there, you're the proud owner of a load of our stock now." She smirked with an annoying, patronising glee. "You sure you can afford all of that?"

I looked back towards the contract. Obviously, she was just being an idiot, and none of this was binding, but I did actually need to get this sorted, especially before Eleanor found out. It was actually easily rectifiable; I'd just need to get it signed again, this time in the correct places. I glanced at my watch.

Maya too checked the time. "Is it far?"

"Oh, for fucks sake," I said, while already reaching for my car keys.

Her annoying, chipmunk-like little chortle of amusement as I dashed through the door left me seething, almost as much as the second parking ticket I later received.

From that day on, I gave Maya a wide berth. I didn't know whether it was because I found her completely infuriating, unbelievably attractive, or the fact I was concerned about what her sister had actually shared with her. More worrying, was the obscene, unfathomable effect she seemed to have on me. Merely a day or so in her company, and I was already fucking up my work performance. It was like I was some idiot teenager that had had his head turned by the pretty girl, and I needed to put that to bed before Eleanor noticed. I'd dropped my guard slightly, because of who she was, and I'd been punished for it.

I mean, she was very striking, but it wasn't like she was a supermodel with a power or something. I could only put it down to the fact that I'd known her when she was a teenager, and I'd witnessed the way she'd blossomed.

There was only one comfort in all of this. From the way Maya was behaving, I was fairly confident that Piper hadn't told her everything about our relationship. Whenever we were forced to cross paths, I'd subtly drop my eyes, confirm she was still wearing those tight-fitting booties, and breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed like an innocuous detail, but, her wearing those booties confirmed to me that Piper hadn't disclosed my deepest, darkest secret, and for that reason, I still held hope that I could just avoid Maya, keep my head down and just continue bringing in the money.

Though I kept my distance, I wasn't completely ignorant to Maya's progress through her probationary period. The first few weeks at the company for her were a blur of training sessions, meetings, and paperwork. Maya worked hard to learn as much as she could and impress, with her occasionally stepping into my office to get things signed off. She'd usually been sent by someone else, and the interactions were brief, with me silently signing a page, while she smirked to herself and disappeared. She seemed to quietly rejoice in the fact that she held some kind of power over me, having seemingly silenced the company loudmouth. However, thankfully, she didn't realise the further power she could wield, and for that reason, I constantly bit my tongue. The last thing I wanted was to have another confrontation, where she'd go running to her sister and discuss me further. If Piper ever divulged my biggest secret, the secret I'd buried since our break-up, and had spent endless amounts of effort curating my image to cover-up the glaring truth, well, I was already worried by what might occur.