“This is bullshit!” Jade snarled before flopping down into one of the chairs by Lexi’s desk and glaring at her. “Great, now he’s all pissy. Thanks a lot.”
Lexi bit her tongue and sat back down behind her desk, setting the mockups safely against the wall when Jade rudely propped her spikey heeled pumps on her desktop without regard for what she might be ruining. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched her dig through her gaudy designer handbag and pull out a nail file. She completely ignored Lexi, which was just fine with her.
The phone broke the awkward silence. “Vincent Drake’s office, Lexi speaking. How may I help you?”
“Lexi, it’s Leigh. Is the wicked witch of the west still there?”
“Why, yes, as a matter of fact that’s correct.” Jade’s head popped up. Her ears must have been burning.
“Did she get into his office?” Leigh asked nervously. “I should have warned you she was pushy.”
“That would have been helpful, but don’t worry, no harm no foul.” Lexi began scribbling random notes on a scrap of paper to keep from laughing.
“You kept her from barging in? Oh God, I bet she was pissed.”
“Absolutely,” Lexi said sweetly, not missing a beat. Jade’s eyes narrowed and fixed on her as she leaned forward and tried to see what Lexi was writing. “Is there a message I can pass on for you?”
“Yeah, tell the scrawny lightweight to go eat a cookie. Some decent food might put her skinny butt in a better mood.”
“I agree completely. Thanks for the call.” Lexi quickly hung up the phone and grinned, forgetting that Jade was scrutinizing her every move.
“Something funny? Was that a personal call? I bet Vince would be very interested to know that you were taking personal calls at work.”
Still amused, Lexi couldn’t help but smile back at Jade. Her good mood only annoyed the supermodel further. “Actually, that was Leigh giving me a message.”
Jade rolled her eyes at the mention of Leigh’s name. “Figures you two would be friends.” She muttered something about them being two peas in a pod, and then turned her attention back to her nails. “And where the hell is my coffee?”
Lexi grudgingly got Jade her coffee. However, the job became much more entertaining when she realized there was no Splenda to be found. Not wanting to come back empty-handed, Lexi improvised and used real sugar, tucking the empty packets deep into her pocket to hide the evidence, and then tossed in a splash of half-and-half for good measure. She placed the steaming mug in front of Jade without a word and went back to work
while the viper sucked down every last drop of her calorie-enhanced coffee.
Lexi noticed the small red light that indicated Vincent was on the phone go dark, and she waited for him to come get Jade out of her hair, but that never happened. For fifteen minutes Lexi watched Jade alternately check her watch, look over at Vincent’s door, and let out a loud huff. By the end of the fifteen minutes, the vein on the side of her head looked like it was going to burst.
Finally the door opened. Vincent’s face was buried in a pile of papers. “Alexandra, did you get those mockups yet?”
“Alexandra? What the hell? How about ‘Jade, darling, thank you so much for waiting’?”
Vincent’s head whipped up at the sound of her voice. It was obvious he had forgotten that she was even there. “Jade, yes, what are you doing here, exactly? I thought you had a meeting with your agent.”
“I did, but it ended early, so I came to see you.” She glanced over her shoulder and gave Lexi a dirty look. “Can we take this conversation into the office where we can have some privacy?” Without even waiting for his answer, she brushed past him and wormed her way inside.
He rolled his eyes in irritation, then glanced back at Lexi and saw the mockups leaning against the wall. “Is Tony still employed?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” Lexi sighed.
The corner of Vincent’s mouth turned up slightly into the closest thing to a smile that Lexi had seen on his face yet. “Damn.”
“Vince!” the impatient banshee wailed from behind him. “Come here, baby.”
His tiny grin vanished as he turned and ducked back inside his office. Before he closed the door she heard him groan, “Jade, please get off my desk.”
Lexi spent the rest of the afternoon running errands for Jade. Jade needed bottled water; Jade needed a salad from the deli with fat-free dressing because her blood sugar was low. Vincent needed a reservation at Umami because Jade had a taste for Sushi tonight. And apparently her world was going to end without a new tube of red lipstick.
A few minutes before four, Lexi went up front and sat down on the floor behind the large receptionist desk with Leigh.
“Is that miserable woman still here?” Leigh sympathetically patted Lexi’s shoulder. “Or was I lucky enough to be away from my desk when she made her grand exit on her broomstick?”
“Nope, she’s still here.” Lexi stuck her hand on the desk and fished around for a piece of paper. “Does Vincent have any messages?”
“Sorry, not right now. Only Mr. Adler.”
Lexi climbed to her feet. “Well, give me those. I’ll go walk them back to him. I have nothing to do. Jade’s holding Vincent hostage, and he can’t get any work done, so I’m free until she makes her next low-calorie or fat-free demand.”
Sean wasn’t in his office when she got there, so Lexi slipped the papers on his desk and was about to make a hasty retreat when his booming voice greeted her.
“What, you organized Vincent’s desk, now you’re going after mine? Doesn’t he have anything to keep you busy?”
“I’m just dropping off messages. I’ve learned my lesson, I swear!” Lexi threw up her hands in surrender to his dimpled grin.
“Have a seat.” Sean motioned to the chair beside his desk as he scooped up the messages. He quickly glanced through them and then set them to the side and leaned back in his chair with his hands tucked behind his head.
“So, a little birdie told me you were down in productions today.”
Lexi knew he must have heard about her run in with Tony somehow, but she shrugged it off, hoping he would drop the subject. “Yeah, Vincent needed the Max mockups.”
“M-hmm. So, how was Tony?” Sean’s knowing grin made Lexi’s cheeks turn pink.
“Fine. He gave me the boards and I left.”