I changed the chapter name

┏━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┓

Together

┗━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┛

Chapter 14: Together (Aaron's POV)

"I think we'll go crazy in this elevator," Vanessa sighed, hitting her head against the wall with a soft thud. 

We've spent nearly half an hour here already and it was starting to tire both of us out. We alternated between standing and sitting and eventually just sat down next to each other, her heels off and sitting beside her. There were chaotic voices outside, that much was obvious, people trying to start up the elevators or help the ones stuck out of them. 

"Maybe we already are," she added. 

I sighed, turning to look at her. "Vanessa." 

She faced me, lifting her brows. "What?" 

I opened my mouth to reply but my mind ran blank when I saw her face. We were too close. It felt strange and not in a good way. I scanned her face, forcing my eyes back to hers from her lips. "Don't you ever shut up?" I asked. 

We both quickly looked ahead as fresh light poured in while the doors were pried open by maintenance staff. "Thank god," Vanessa huffed, standing up and pulling her heels back on. 

"What took so long?" I questioned, bringing myself to my feet. 

"Sorry, our apologies, really," the man huffed, offering a hand to Vanessa. 

She stopped and took a step back. "Do you want me to climb up there?" 

"There's no other way, ma'am, we're very sorry." 

She sighed and cleared her throat, shifting uncomfortably. She turned to me. I lifted a brow, watching her squirm in amusement. "You can go first," she said, gesturing for me to go ahead. 

"If I go first, Vanessa, there will be no one to help you out of here," I said pointedly. 

"Van? Aaron?" We both looked up, spotting Jade. She sighed and then turned around. "Thomas, I found them!" She faced us again. "We were looking for you. Come on out." 

Vanessa turned to me again. 

"Ladies first, no?" I asked. 

She glared at me. "Just shut up and go." 

"If you don't know how to climb out of here, just say so." 

"Why?" She folded her arms across her chest. "What are you going to do?" 

I nodded towards her heels. "Take them off." 

"Huh?" 

I resisted an eye roll and stepped closer to her. "Take. Them. Off." 

She hesitantly kicked them to the side and then looked at me. I took her purse, set it on the floor with her heels, and glanced at Jade who was watching in confusion and amusement both. I held Vanessa's gaze, grabbing her waist. Her hands flew to my shoulders as her eyes widened and she let out a small gasp. She stared at me in shock while I took a step forward. 

"Watch your head," I mumbled. 

She ducked down hesitantly, her face coming in closer to mine as I seated her on the floor above us. She remained sitting while I grabbed her purse, handing it to her and then her heels, putting them on for her. 

"Up you go," I nodded. 

She scooted back, ducking her head and taking the hand the staff member offered, pulling her up to her feet. She dusted off her pants while Jade pulled her to the side, whispering aggressively. Vanessa seemed pretty dumbfounded as she stared at me while Jade went on and on. 

I grabbed the floor above and grunted softly, pulling myself up to my feet before dusting off my hands. Both of them turned to me, shutting up abruptly. I made my way over, lifting a brow, looking between them questioningly. 

"Thanks," Vanessa mumbled. 

Jade stared at her in shock and then grabbed her arm. "We'll get going, Aaron. See you at the office." She pulled Vanessa with her, both of them disappearing at the staircase. 

I sighed to myself and followed behind slowly, heading up to our floor. When I got to the office, Vanessa was talking to Jade but it seemed like she was shrugging things off and lying. She was lying about a lie. 

"He helped you! And you thanked him!" Jade hissed as I reached my table. 

Vanessa smacked her arm and Jade shut up, glancing between us warily and then turning to her computer. I looked at Vanessa as I dropped into my seat and met her eyes. She blinked away quickly, focusing on her screen. 

I did the right thing, I mean, what else was I supposed to do? She's meant to be my girlfriend and it's meant to show. So that's what I did. I made it show. 

"Listen up, listen up, is everybody here?!" Davidson strolled in, clapping loudly. He spotted Vanessa and me and then nodded. "Good, you're finally here. Get your work done and ready for Friday. Of course, I will be announcing who wins over this project, but there's also another special announcement I have to make, keep that in mind! Something for you all to look forward to," he smiled, leaving us all with questions. "Wait till Friday," he chuckled and then left. 

I blinked in confusion, wondering what it must be. I sighed, clearing my head of thoughts and starting work that I was a little late for, thanks to the elevator breakdown. 

What could his announcement be? 

»»————　➴　————««

Friday finally rolled around and after final corrections, we were all summoned into the conference room to present our pitches, after which Davidson would make his special announcement. "Someone remind me who presented first last time, please," Davidson said looking between Vanessa and me. 

"He did," she answered, pointing at me. 

Davidson lifted a brow at her. "He who, my dear?" 

"Aaron," she said, flashing me a forced smile. 

"All right then. Vanessa, your team goes first this time." 

She nodded and stood up, opening her laptop and linking it to the projector. She stepped aside and cleared her throat, throwing her hair over her shoulders. I looked at her head to toe. She was wearing a matching set of blood-red trousers with a blood-red blazer. Under that, she had on a matching red lace top, and shiny red stilettos on her feet. I think she's made it clear enough. 

She's out for blood today. 

"You have ten minutes. And your time starts now," Davidson announced. 

She spoke confidently, giving background information on the author, the purpose of the book, the dedication. Then she finally moved to the plotline of the story. "Now, for the selling point. Something extra for the readers, something to sell the book. The book, undoubtedly, is a psychological thriller with romance. Being told from Atlas' point of view, he tells the story of the past while in the present, waiting to meet his lawyer. It's mentioned briefly in the book that Atlas logs all his thoughts. Or at least he did until he met Lily. When he went to prison, he resumed this habit. What if... the readers get to read these thoughts? As diary entries." 

"Go on," Davidson nodded. 

She explained her idea with precision and certainty and handed out samples of the diary entries. The papers were made to look old and damaged, the font was scribbled and rushed, the ink was smeared. 

"And how did you obtain these letters? How did you produce them?" Davidson questioned. 

She paused for just a beat. "I wrote them... with the author." Her eyes met mine. She did not tell me that. 

"Smart girl. You have three minutes left." 

"These letters are the final drafts and will be the same ones that will go into the book. The author approved and liked the idea of adding letters because it gives an insight into Atlas' mind. That's something to draw in more readers and increase sales." She clicked on the last slide and the screen went blank. "That's all I have for today. Thank you." She disconnected her laptop and sat down. 

"Aaron," Davidson said, "your turn. And I don't want anyone from your team complaining about them contacting the author. And when I say that, I mean John." He glanced at John pointedly. "You know well that contacting the author is fair play, it's just a matter of who contacts them first." 

"It's fair play, but it's a copout," I shrugged, standing up and connecting my laptop to the projector. 

"A cop-out?" Vanessa asked with a smile. "Because we take the idea from the source? Or because it's better than yours?" 

"Vanessa," Davidson chuckled, "let them present." 

She shrugged and leaned back in her seat. I glanced at her, taking her in. She knew she was going to win this one. It's impossible not to win a pitch when you have the author on your team. She batted her lashes at me, holding her chin in her palm. 

I glanced at the diamond danglers in her ears, at the eyeliner winged out. She was more dressed up today too. 

I wonder why. 

We all looked at the door as somebody knocked. 

"Come in!" Davidson called out. 

A new face came into view. A new fact that wasn't really new at all. 

"Oh, my god," Daisy whispered from her seat. 

"Am I late?" he smiled. 

"Ronan..." Davidson mumbled. "Ronan DeLuca?" 

"That's me. I came to hear the pitches. Unless the author doesn't get a say?" 

"Of course, of course, have a seat. Come join us," Davidson chuckled, offering him a seat. "You were invited, I suppose?" 

Ronan nodded. 

"By whom?" 

"By Vanessa." He sent her a nod. 

She smiled at him, nodding back.

"Ah... then I'm afraid you missed her pitch." 

"I didn't come for that, she's already presented everything to me. I came to hear the other gentleman... Aaron?" His eyes cut to mine. 

I nodded, shooting Vanessa a glare and then standing upright, stepping away from the projector. 

"Aaron, you have ten minutes and your time starts... now." 

Truth be told, the presentation felt a little pointless knowing that the author had already made up his mind and Davidson would, of course, obey the author's wishes. By the time I was done, Davidson seemed impressed, so did Ronan. But the fact that Ronan himself worked on Vanessa's idea was the problem. 

"Ronan, what do you say? Who had the better project?" Davidson asked, facing him. 

He sighed, scratching his brow. "Of course I love Vanessa's idea, it's why I worked on it with her myself. But I can't ignore the effort put into the project by Aaron's team. Having these photographs taken must have taken a lot of time and effort. I can't let that go to waste." 

My brows twitched up.

"What are you saying?" 

"I'm saying I'd like the two of them to work on this book. Together." 

"What?" I asked. 

He looked at me in confusion. "Together," he repeated, "is that... a problem? I can—" 

"No," Vanessa shot up, standing beside me. "It's not a problem at all. I'd..." She faced me. "Love to work with Aaron." 

Everybody in the room whispered while Ronan seemed content and Davidson seemed amused. 

She shot me a look and faced forward again. "We'll work on Wicked Ruins and combine both ideas, the letters and the photographs will be a part of the book. We'll get the project done. Together."

.

.

.

.

.

Chapter 14

A little cameo by Ronan for those who read 'Guilty Love' by me lol

next chapter: heart

also Vanessa's boss bitch energy in this chapter >>>