HIM
shorter than her. Sometimes, I wish I were five foot eight like her, but for the most part, I am content at being five foot two and a half.We walk up the stairs to the second floor; Ris hates elevators and says if she's going to sit behind a desk all day, she will at least get some exercise. Ris and I reach the second floor, passing through different areas along the way before coming into the Designers quadrant of Facade. It's a massive building with two floors and eight quadrants on each floor.
A cluster of fancy cubicles fills the middle of our quadrant, and offices line up the outer wall. Those working from the cubicles are the Interns and Designer Assistants. I sat there when I was interning during college. Most Interns become Assistants before becoming Designers, but Ris, myself, and two others skipped that part. Each Designer has one Intern and two Assistants under them except for our Senior Designer, who has four Assistants and no Interns.
Our Senior Designer is Brady Adams; he's been with Facade for almost eight years now. He and Ris like to fool around a lot, causing some weird awkwardness and tension at work, more so when they're in between deciding if they hate each other or want to have raunchy sex. He is very good looking but overly cocky and arrogant. Brady is Troy's best friend; that's how we met.
My office is at the end of the quadrant, next to the Senior Designers office, the largest office. Ris's office is across from mine and three down, away from Brady, which is good. All the Designer offices have glass walls and doors. Barrett claims they open offices to light and collaboration, allowing for a more positive work environment and connectivity. A see-through office happens to be the latest rage at the workplace right now here in Milwaukee. We are on-trend for sure, well, I think we may have started it.
"Brady is in his usual dickish mood today," Ris whispers as we come closer to her office.
"So, you two are hating each other right now?" I laugh.
She curls her lip up at me and growls, then darts into her office as she sees Brady, flicking me off from inside.
"Ali, welcome back," Brady says in a smug but semi-delightful voice.
Brady is average height, around five foot ten or so, and very brawny. He is a workout, protein shake, and eat well-balanced meals type. He has sandy blonde hair shaved on the sides, longer on top, and slicked back. It is sort of like how Zack Morris's hair is from the classic sitcom Saved by the Bell. Brady has light brown eyes and a decent smile with dimples. His personality makes him unattractive and unbearable to be around. We almost match our attires today. He is wearing navy dress pants, an off-white button-up, and black dress boots.
"Thank you, but I'm only back for a couple of days," I reply with a smile then cut across the cubicles toward my office.
He follows behind me as I make my way to my office. I can feel his piercing stare, knowing that he's checking out my ass and making a disgusting look on his face. I open the door to my office and walk-in with Brady hot on my trail. I walk around behind my desk, setting my purse down.
"Do you need something, Brady?" I ask rudely.
"Not really," he replies as he sits down on the edge of my desk.
I roll my eyes. He thinks he can do whatever he wants and that every woman should swoon over him. Most do, but I'm not too fond of his arrogance at all. He bothers the living piss out of me, but for some reason, he always has his nose shoved up my ass. I'm sure it's because I'm one of Barrett's favorites or the fact that I'm the only girl in this entire building that won't sleep with him.
"Does Troy know that you're back?" he asks, picking at his cuticles.
"Not yet," I reply quickly.
My two Assistants enter. They greet me and give me my messages from the past two weeks, paperwork, and talk about my sizeable commercial account with the Christiansen's. Ignoring Brady as he watches me from my desk, I continue my work as if I am going about a typical day at the office. He looks down at his watch, then grabs the paperwork from my hands, and tosses it on my desk.
"It's meeting time," he says snarkily.
He ushers me out of my office while glaring at my assistants. I quickly walk away from him and meet up with Ris, who is waiting for me at the end of our quadrant so we can head to the conference room for our four o'clock meeting together.
"What the hell was that all about?" Ris asks, in a semi-bitchy voice.
"Nothing. Brady is just on me like a fly on shit today," I reply, sort of brash.
Ris is annoyed but can tell that I am disgusted by him and gives me a side hug, and we continue our way to the conference room for the meeting. Brady is unbelievably tacky and grosses me out by his lack of respect for women. He literally makes my skin crawl. He is like the male version of Bridget, the very definition of man whore. He has some nerve to show so much disrespect to me and my assistants. He's infuriating.
Chapter Forty-Nine
We enter the conference room, which is in the center of all the quadrants on the second floor. A glass exterior also surrounds it. Ris and I both take a seat next to each other at the far end of the large steel rectangular table. Most people like to be the closest to the door, but we want to sit the nearest to Barrett, who sits at the end farthest from the door. A white Facade folder, a legal pad, and a pen lay in front of each chair.
There is a refreshment station at the back of the