Unedited

***

"Tell me what you want to hear

Something that will light those ears
Sick of all the insincere
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away

This time don't need another perfect lie
Don't care if critics ever jump in line
I'm gonna give all my secrets away..."

- OneRepublic "Secrets"

***

I leaned back in my desk chair and smiled from ear to ear. I’d done everything Mr. Sharp asked of me. The papers he sent in the email were printed and stapled, upside down. As for the chairs that he wanted, well I pulled them out of the room, left them stacked neatly in a pyramid in front of the conference room door. 

When it came to the email, it was sent out to all the employees like he requested. However, I didn’t agree with his decision of not letting people off the day before and after Christmas. And, after looking at the office calendar, I noticed that people here got very few breaks. So, I sent the employees an email that they had the whole week off that Christmas falls on. 

Since Mr. Sharp asked me to send an email on his behalf, I was allowed to use his signature in the email, sealing the deal. After clicking send, I smiled and felt good that I gave these people a break from this hell hole. I knew, sitting there, that they deserved it and Mr. Sharp would try to send an email out telling everyone that the earlier email was not true. Yet, I was going to fight this — tooth and nail. 

“You look like someone who just won a million dollars,” Chey said as she came up to my desk. She rested her hands on her thin waist, and smiled at me. “It’s rounded ten, I’m already hungry for lunch,” She complained. “But putting my hunger aside, please do tell me what you have done.”

“Why do you think I’ve done something?” I questioned, knowing my face was like an open book. I couldn’t help it, I was over the moon thinking about the look that is plaguing Mr. Sharp’s face. It only made me giddier thinking of how the look of anger would be elevated on his expression when he sees everything I’ve done. 

“It would take a fool not to notice-”

Chey was cut off by a middle aged, chubby man, that came up beside her. “Hey, Ryonna wanted to know if she was supposed to write off the fifth list or the sixth. She says the lists call for different contractors and is clueless about what you wanted.”

Sighing, Chey looked me, “Duty calls. I will be back in two hours for lunch. Don’t disappear.” 

Chuckling, I told her I wouldn’t. 

A few minutes past, and I found myself bored. No one was calling and Mr. Sharp was in his meeting. My eyes flickered over to his office door. Without thinking I stood up and walked in the room. Upon glancing around I noted how neat his room was. It made me grin wider, if that was possible, when I thought about how I tore up this room a few days ago. Since then he had completely straighten up the room, showing no evidence of my actions. 

I looked over at the clock he had nailed to the wall. I realized he should be out of the meeting in about ten minutes, walking over to the couch, I sat down and decided to wait for him.

“How was your meeting?” I questioned right as he walked in. 

His brown eyes, which looked slightly darker than normal, glared daggers at me. Without saying a word, he quickly looked away from me and sat down at his desk. He turned on his computer and shuffled some papers around, clearly looking for something. 

Soon he found what he was looking for, and began to read a paper with great intensity before turning to his computer and typing a few things. 

“Is there anything you need me to do?” I kindly asked. 

Mr. Sharp didn’t say anything, in fact, he continued typing away. 

I sighed and stood up, “I’ll just play Tetris on my computer until you give me something to do,” I muttered. 

When I reached the door, a voice halted me from leaving. “Close the door, and sit back down on the couch.”

I turned a little to look over at Mr. Sharp, “Now, you wanna talk.”

“Close the door.”

“I thought we have been through this. I don’t close doors for-” I stopped speaking when Mr. Sharp got out of his chair and marched over to me. 

He reached behind my shoulder and closed the door. He made no move to go back to his desk. In fact, he took a step towards me. 

My back hit the door and I cocked an eyebrow with curiosity of what he was doing. It was when my eyes locked with his that I completely lost my breath. I couldn’t help but swim in the anger and sadness that riddled his dark eyes. 

“Why? Why are you doing this?” He hastily asked as his warm breath fanned my face. 

Snapping out of my trance I simply shrugged my shoulders, “I have my reasons.”

Mr. Sharp caged me in with his arms, “Indulge me.”

Something about his word choice stirred something up in me. “I-I-I-” My words wouldn’t form as my eyes suddenly drifted to his lips. I’d no idea why I did so, but when I did something came bubbling up in my thoughts ‘One kiss, that is all you need to do’. My closed my eyes for a second as I tried to get rid of Chey’s words.  

“I-I-I-” Blinking I looked away from Mr. Sharp in utter confusion. I’d no idea why that was plaguing my mind now. There was not a single reason to kiss Mr. Sharp. He was not Colton and even if he was Colton, I wouldn’t test those lines. 

 “Well, spit it out already,” Mr. Sharp said as he inched closer to me. 

Looking back over to him, I tried to calm down. “Can you please back away from me?” I knew then that his close proximity was muffling my thoughts and I didn’t like it. 

Mr. Sharp raised an eyebrow. “Why?” He inquired, stepping even closer to me. 

“Well first off, your breath stinks,” I lied, “and secondly, you are awfully close me. If I didn’t know better I’d say you were not really concerned with mixing personal life and business together — like you told me when I first came to New York with you.”

Giving a low growl, Mr. Sharp pushed our chest together, “It’s a little too late for that, Alice.”

My whole insides melted and my knees became like jello. He called me Alice in a voice and tone that Colton never called me in. This time — this time is was deep and raspy whereas Colton would say Alice in a soft, caring voice. 

It took me by surprise, not just that he called me Alice but the fact that I actually liked how he said it. 

Something was coming over me and I didn’t like it, mostly because I had no idea what the hell was coming over me. But whatever it was made my stomach do somersaults and my body heat up. It clouded my mind, but kept me solely focused on Mr. Sharp as the word Alice, in the deep, raspy tone, repeated over and over in my mind. 

I opened my mouth to say something, but words refused to spill. I clamped my lips together, confused as to what was going on internally. 

“Cat got your tongue?” Mr. Sharp asked amused. 

My eyes narrowed as the feelings that had taken over my body, soon washed away. “Actually-”

The door pushed open, but due to me leaning on it and applying weight, it closed. 

I heard a sigh before a small knock. “Sharp? It’s me, Belvedere.” A soft spoken voice stated from the other side. “May I come in, or is this a bad time?” She questioned. 

Pushing Mr. Sharp away from me, I twisted around to open the door. I was glad to find a distraction — someone to interrupt whatever the hell was going on between Mr. Sharp and I. When I opened the door, I was faced with a small framed woman. She had long, light brown, hair that was swooped to one side. Her face was oval shaped, and her brown eyes contrasted her pale complexion in a beautiful way. 

 “O” She mouthed when she landed eyes on me. “I - I ... I was here to see Mr. Sharp,” She stated. 

 I moved to the side, giving her room. “Well, I was just leaving. Come on in.”

The girl, named Belvedere, walked in slowly. She paused after a few steps in the office. Her eyes landed on Mr. Sharp, who was now behind his desk. “Sharp?” She inquired. 

 He looked over at her and blinked before slowly smiling, “Belvedere, what brings you here?” 

 She began to wring her hands in a nervous manner before quickly stopping and dropping her arms on both sides of her. 

 It was in that moment I noticed she was dressed really cute, with a rose pink cocktail dress and nude colored flats. Overall, she reminded me of a porcelain doll. I envied her beauty as I stood there by the door, studying here for a second. 

Shaking out of my jealousy, I raised an eyebrow with curiosity of who, exactly, this woman was. 

Mr. Sharp leaned back, waiting for her to answer.

“I was here ... to see if we were still on tonight. I called your assistant and got a voice message. If you didn’t want to go tonight — with me, I understand...”

Shaking his head, Mr. Sharp replied, “No, nonsense. I was still planning to pick you up at eight. As for the inconvenience of my assistant not answering the phone, I apologize.” He grinned and then looked over at me, “She has been slacking on her job ... and speaking of slacking, don’t you have somewhere to be Ms. Snow?” 

Anger, for some reason, boiled up inside me the second he called me Ms. Snow. I mean, don’t get me wrong that is my last name. However, just a second ago he called me Alice and every fiber of my being wanted him to continue to call me that.

“Yes, I have to go get you that medication — for you know ... the itch and redness.” I gave a visible cringe. “I‘ll be back in an hour, or two until then refrain from using the restroom, you know that irritates your lower extremities. Gosh knows they are in enough pain right now.” 

The look on Mr. Sharp’s face could murder anyone on the spot, if they weren’t use to it. However, I was because it was the same hard, angry look Colton would give me growing up when I did something wrong. 

“Tootles!” I stated with a smile before walking out of the office.

I marched right up to Chey’s desk to find her typing away at her computer and paying no heed to me. Giving a loud sigh, I awaited for her to look over at me, but she didn’t. In fact, she remained focus on her computer screen. Another loud exhale escaped my lips. 

“What is it, Dear?” Chey asked, not looking away from her screen. 

“Who is Belvedere?” I questioned with a raised eyebrow. 

Chey looked away from her computer and locked eye with me. “Who wants to know?” 

I rolled my eyes and sat down in a chair that was next to her desk. Slouching, I shrugged my shoulders, “Me, I guess.”

“Well if we are talking about the same Belvedere, she is a friend of Mr. Sharp. However, between you and I, I think they are hooking up … and She’s madly in love with him ... poor girl...”

“Why do you say that?”

“Mr. Sharp doesn’t date. He befriends a girl, screws her, gets bored and dumps her. Typically his assistant — you — will be the one send the break up flowers.” Chey smiled, “The real drama is when the ex comes up here and throws a tantrum.

“One time,” She goes to explain, “this girl he went with, Madeleine, came up here with the flowers, poured the vase water on his old secretary and threw the vase at his door.”

I chuckled, “I would have aimed for his head." 

Chey nodded, “I’m sure she would have, if he opened the door. He stayed locked in his room, leaving the ex to his assistant.”

“Well, it ain’t in my job title to get rid of them, so they can throw a bitch fit for all I care.” I stopped talking for a second before speaking again. “So, he does this a lot?”

“What the friend, date, bang and leave?” 

I nodded.

“Ever since I’ve known him…”

My stomach did a flip and I felt as if I would be sick. Was this what I was to Colton? A friend that he’d just … I closed my eyes and shook that thought from my head. I wasn’t them. I was Alice, the girl he raised. But, the truth was I was the girl Colton raised, not Mr. Sharp. 

I chuckled, to myself, at the thought of the Mr. Sharp persona raising me. I’d probably be a whole different person. Hell, if he was Mr. Sharp back then he probably wouldn’t have looked twice at me. I would have been stuck with my parents that would only tend to me if I was bleeding or dying. 

“What you thinking about?” Chey asked as she studied me. The way her eyes gazed at me showed she was ready for me to lie. 

Truth was, I was going to lie. I couldn’t tell her what I was really thinking. Then again, yesterday I almost admitted to her who Chad really was. Thinking about it for a second, I realized that wasn’t a half bad idea. I did need someone who could keep me level headed and give me straight up advice on this situation I am in. 

I nibbled on my bottom lip, questioning if I should just spill the beans. Sighing, I looked around to see everyone was paying us no heed. “Chey … I … I need to know if you can keep a secret…”

She rolled here eyes, “I work for a high class gang. Everyday I have to pretend to my family and friends that I work for some big company called AAC. I’ve more secrets locked up in this brain,” she pointed to her head, “then you can imagine.”

“Right, but...”

Chey locked eyes with me and gave a stern look, “I can keep a secret, Allison.” 

I exhaled, knowing she was telling the truth. “It has to do with Mr. Sharp…”

Chey leaned back in her chair, “You are not allowed to share what goes on in his office, with me. That is against the rules.”

I shook my head, “No … this … this has to do with me and who Mr. Sharp really is.”

“Really is?” Chey went wide eyed and leaned over closer to me. “Are you telling me you know his true identity?"

My eyes glanced around us to see if anyone was paying attention to us, or listening in. I saw no signs. Looking back at Chey, I gave a small nod. “Yeah,” I whispered. 

She gasped, before covering her mouth. She removed her hand, “I don’t wanna hear anymore.”

“What?” 

Chey gave me a hard look, “Do you not understand what this means?” She hissed. Chey got real close to me and whispered, “If someone knows what you know … Let’s just say some people would kill for who Mr. Sharp really is. They will pay mountains of money to get even a whiff of his past — or some dirt on him.”

I felt my eyes water, “Don’t tell anyone.”

Chey nodded, “I promise, I won’t. But be careful…”

My shoulders sagged, “I will … but this secret … Its over powering. I want advice … and help.”

“If you told me, and someone found out-“

“That’s the thing — you already know most of it.”

“What do you mean?” 

“I’ve told you part of the secret, you just don’t know. I used code names…”

Chey looked confused for a good minute before her expression melted into understanding. “Chad…”

I nodded, “Oh Chey, it’s so complicated. I need advice!” I proclaimed. 

She gave me an expression that showed she pitied me. “Oh hell, I’m fucked."

“I am sorry.”

She shook her head, “I wanna help you — and I will. However, this is not the place to talk about something like this. We can talk at lunch and you can  … tell me everything.”

“But you will be endanger.”

Chey shook her head, “We are only endanger when someone knows we know something. What we talk about with … Chad … stays between us. You can’t divulge your secret to anyone else. You might end up telling the wrong person and that can be deadly for the both of us.” 

“Are you sure about this?”

“What? You telling me all the details about Chad?”

I nodded. 

She grabbed a pen from her desk and twisted it around in between her fingers for a minute before replying. “No. But, I can tell you are going through something. I wanna help you — and I am going to.”

I smiled. “Thank you, Chey.”

Suddenly, she dropped her pen and engulfed me in a hug right as I broke down. “Shhh, we gots this Girlie. Whatever it is, we are going to work it out.”

<><><><><>

A/N:

Have to give a shout out to pancakesneedsyrup for helping me with this chapter! Thank you, Girlie, you really did help!! 

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