Chapter 19: Abby
It took me a moment to realize where I was when I woke up. I looked at the clock and realized I needed to get home soon so I could get ready for work. Max was still sleeping and when I pulled away from his embrace, I felt the chill from the room. We had collapsed on top of the bed and hadn’t even bothered with covers. We stayed warm wh
en we were huddled together, but his air conditioning definitely worked better than mine because my nipples were hard as a rock when I started getting dressed. I got my underwear on and started tugging my dress over my head, stumbling around for a moment. I heard the bed squeak and by the time I got it past my eyes, he was sitting up.
“Do I get a show every morning?” He grinned.
“I think that Funnel Cake added five pounds overnight.” I smoothed out the wrinkles in the dress with my hand.
“You know that when you spend the night with someone, you’re supposed to give them morning sex as a thank you for cuddling all night.” He took his cock in his hand and started stroking it.
“Don’t you have a son to take care of?” I stared at his cock.
“Ms. Ruth gets him up if I oversleep.” He reached for me.
“I really can’t. I should go home and get ready for work. Not all of us are able to set our own schedule.” I picked up my purse and reached for my cell phone. My heart sank straight into my stomach when I turned it on. “Uh...something is wrong.”
“What do you mean?” He casually reached for his cell phone on the nightstand and then I saw his eyes bulge out of his head. “Shit!”
I had missed calls from almost every member of my team and several text messages to go along with them. I couldn’t even process the long paragraph Mr. Hawthorne had sent. Energy Enhanced was on the front page of CNN’s website and it wasn’t for a good reason. A child in Ohio had gotten really sick after drinking it. The parents were quoted as saying they thought it was vitamin water. The next paragraph in the article was an FDA report along with a report from a private lab that stated the chemicals in the drink destroyed any nutritional values the vitamins offered and it was basically just the equivalent of taking a giant drink of poisoned caffeine.
“Fuck me!” Max slammed his phone down. “How the fuck did they miss this?”
“I had a report...it was from the FDA. Adam said it was nothing.” I started thinking about the studies we had done.
“You knew about this?” Max looked at me in shock.
“No, I mean...” I stammered quickly. “I didn’t read the report. It was a bunch of complicated jargon. When Adam said it was just a formality, I skipped it.”
“Shit...” Max stormed towards the bathroom. “I have to shower and get to the office.”
I STRUGGLED TO HOLD myself together as I walked into the office. I didn’t even bother with a shower. I used the bathroom at the end of the hall to clean myself up, tied my hair in a ponytail with a rubber band, and walked into the office in the same dress I wore to the Fair. My makeup was the best job I could do in the car on the way to the office. I saw my team assembled in the conference room with Mr. Hawthorne and Adam. I pushed the door open and stepped inside, seeing all eyes turn towards me.
“I’m sorry, I came as soon as I looked at my phone.” I looked at the table and sighed. “This is really bad, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” Mr. Hawthorne sat down and ran his fingers through his hair. He didn’t even bother to shave. “This is a nightmare. This is going to bankrupt Energy Enhanced and all of the money we’ve invested—damn it—I don’t know if we’ll survive.”
“I waited until you were here.” Adam stood up. “Because I wanted to tell you instead of having you hear it from someone else. I’m resigning, effective immediately. I can’t have my name associated with this campaign.”
“You’re leaving?” I stared at Adam and opened my mouth in shock. “You are the one who told me we didn’t have anything to worry about with the FDA report.”
“Wait a minute.” Mr. Hawthorne looked up. “You had a report that told you Energy Enhanced was garbage? You didn’t tell me that...”
“I didn’t understand the report.” I shook my head as everyone started to look at me, angry expressions forming on their face.
“You’re the Team Lead.” Mr. Hawthorne stood and I could see his face turning red. “You’re supposed to figure that shit out. If you don’t understand it, ask someone.”
“I asked Adam...” I pointed at him. “Adam, you agreed when I said anything that was in those reports was for Energy Enhanced to worry about.”
“Yes.” Adam nodded solemnly. “I obviously made a mistake. I didn’t read the report and I just assumed it was routine.”
“Both of you—out.” Mr. Hawthorne pointed towards the door. “I don’t want either of you here while we try to clean up this fucking mess.”
“What?” I felt tears welling up in my eyes.
“Yeah, Abby.” Mr. Hawthorne pointed at the door again. “You’re fired.”
My hands shook as I started putting my personal items in a cardboard box. I couldn’t believe my dream was over, ended in an instant because I didn’t read one stupid report. If I had, I would have known Energy Enhanced was dangerous and avoided the inevitable. I felt the weight of the child’s sickness on my chest and my head started to spin. I picked up a picture of Sebastian and cried when I put it in the box. The two of us were going to be homeless and starving if I didn’t find another job quickly. I walked out onto the sidewalk with my box in hand and hailed a taxi. My car was still parked at my house. Once it dropped me off at home, I collapsed on the couch and started sobbing.