The Billionaire and His PA novel Chapter 17

While everyone had been hoping that Cassie would get the job, no one, herself included, was actually expecting her to get a job after her first interview. Once she walked out through the front door of Tech Town, she stood outside in a daze, clutching her manila folder close to her chest. She had gotten a job! She spun around in a circle and let out a little squeal, stopping only when nearby people started to give her odd looks. For a brief second while her body was flooded with serotonin, she considered skipping all the way to The Bean House or Hair Glam to share the good news with someone but decided against it. She was in no way fit enough to skip that distance. She settled with semi-power walking all the way to the train station.

Once she got on the already crowded train, she tried not to let the scent of the body odor or the fact that she couldn’t get a seat get to her. She had gotten a job! That was all that mattered. She stared at her battered phone. Soon she would be able to afford to change it. She scrolled through her contacts and dialed Isabel’s number. She picked on the second ring.

“Good morning,” Isabel whispered.

“Good morning to you too.” Cassie greeted. “Why are you whispering?”

“I’m whispering because we’re hiding.”

Cassie’s heart skipped a beat. Was her friend okay? “Wait, we? You and who?”

“Me and two other girls from Club Indigo. Say hi to Spice and Candy.” She instructed.

“Uh. Hi Spice. Hi Candy.” Cassie greeted.

“Hi Shine’s friend.” Two hushed voices greeted over the phone. The fact that Isabel had given them her stripper name and not her birth name meant that she saw the girls as colleagues and not proper friends.

Isabel continued. “Candy, Spice, and I all went home last night with this one dude for a job and woke up this morning to him nudging us awake. Apparently, the idiot has a wife but still had the balls to cheat on her with us. He thought that she would be back next week but she arrived earlier than expected. He shoved us into the pantry and told us to wait until he gave us the signal that it was clear.

The only reason we haven’t left is that he hasn’t even paid us yet and if we go back to Big Daddy without pay, there’s going to be hell. The man has been gone for a couple of minutes now. The other ladies and I have agreed that if he’s not back in the next thirty minutes, we’re coming out to look for him and demand our money.”

“Oh,” Cassie murmured in understanding. This wouldn’t be the first time that Isabel had to hide from a client’s spouse but so far, it seemed that this was one of the tamer hiding spots. One of Isabel’s past clients had forced her to hide in the chimney until his wife had left the house. “I hope you guys are okay in there.”

“We are fine. It’s freezing in here and we’re all mostly nude with just a weighted blanket between us but we are in a pantry so we do have an unlimited supply of food and that part’s pretty cool.” Isabel explained.

Cassie nodded in understanding even though Isabel couldn’t see her. Her stomach rumbled. The mention of food reminded her that she had skipped breakfast that morning. “Snag something for me from there, would you?”

“I will if I can find somewhere to put it.” Isabel quipped. “So I’m guessing that you didn’t call me to hear me bitch about my cheating client. What’s going on with you?”

“I got the job!” Cassie announced. “The one for the personal assistant for Tech Town.”

Isabel squealed in elation and had to be shushed by Candy and Spice. “I am so proud of you. When do you start?”

“On Monday,” Cassie said. The train screeched to a halt and she pushed through numerous bodies to get off. “I’ll give you the full details of how the interview went when we next meet. I’m on my way to The Bean House. I have to switch up my schedule over there.” She explained.

“Okay. Bye.”

“Bye.” Cassie blurted. “And good luck too.” She hung up and pushed her way through the front doors of the Bean House. The bell above the door chimed. Everything was as it was the last time she had been there. There was barely a line but the café was still relatively filled up. Austin and Diana both had their backs to her as they refilled the coffee machine and altered the sign on the chalkboard respectively.

“I’ll have a medium cup of cinnamon cappuccino with two pumps of milk and a chocolate croissant to go please,” Cassie announced once she was close enough to them.

Austin turned around at the sound of her voice and beamed down at her. “Wow. I almost didn’t recognize you.” He whistled. “Why do you look nice today?”

Diana snorted from her position on the step ladder. She was the shorter of the two but she was always tasked with switching up the writing on the chalkboard for two reasons: she was the more artistic one and Austin, even though he would never admit it out loud especially not to her, had a crippling fear of heights. “What’s that supposed to mean? That she doesn’t look good on every other day?” She asked. Even though she had her back to them, Cassie could hear the displeasure in her voice.

Diana took Cassie’s hands in hers. “I think you just made a big mistake. Felix Callahan is an asshole.”

“You can’t say that.”

“I can. Remember that dude that came in here a while ago with a redhead girl? The one who didn’t even let me get his order before he asked for a different waiter? That’s Felix Callahan. I didn’t recognize him when he walked in but it clicked a couple of days later.” Diana explained.

“Diana, lots of people ask to change their waiters.” Cassie countered. “And besides maybe he was in a bad mood that day.”

Beside them, Austin snorted. “Nah. Do you know what they call him? They call him the Ice King. Do you know why they call him that? Dude’s got no heart. He’s like borderline evil.”

Cassie blanched. “The Ice King is Felix Callahan?”

“Oh, so you’ve heard of the Ice King?” Diana asked.

“Well yeah,” Cassie said. “I don’t live under a rock. I just didn’t know that the Ice King and Felix Callahan were the same people.” She lamented.

“So now that you know exactly who your new boss is, what are you going to do?” Diana asked.

Cassie knew of the Ice King from gossip columns. She heard of how he was cold and ruthless. He would instruct the dismissal of anyone that didn’t meet his high standards and turn his nose up at the world as if he were better than everyone else. For a split second, she thought of calling Tech Town to tell them that she was turning down their offer of employment. She didn’t think she would be able to cope with someone like that as her boss. But then she remembered that Aaron and Lily would be going back to school and that the bills wouldn’t pay themselves. She took a deep breath.

“I will resume work first thing Monday morning.”