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“Drinking on the job?” he asks, and I can’t tell if he’s joking. But there is a small lilt in the words, so I take my liberties and challenge it.

“No. Are you?” I push back, and the bartender, who undoubtedly knows who he is, bites her lip.

“I like her,” she says with a smile. Then takes the tray full of drinks and walks away.

Marcus looks at me.

“You surprised me today,” he says. “I think you deserve a drink.”

“The party isn’t over,” I state, looking back at the room again and adjusting my headset.

“No, but there are people here running things, and it’s okay if we hand the reins back to them,” he says. He makes a grabbing motion with his hand, a silent indicator to hand the headset over.

I do…reluctantly.

Strangely enough, I am enjoying this. I’ve run events like this before, but this feels like another level. I usually had at least one person, and more often than not, several people working over me before. All the while pretending to know more than I did and expecting me to do all the work. Tonight, I felt like I really was in charge, and I loved it! I’m kind of high off of it, actually.

So when I hand Marcus the headset, I do it with hesitation. Like I’m a wizard who just got to try out the newest and best wand and now it’s been taken away from me just when I was starting to turn the preppy girls into frogs.

We order drinks because that’s what Marcus wants to do. I take the seat at the bar he pulled out for me. Like before, Marcus orders a no-frills whiskey neat, and I go for the event special, a dragon fruit martini. Why not? I love trying new things.

“So why were you surprised?” I ask after I take my first sip.

Marcus’s face shifts through different levels of thought. “Because you’re always in the background,” he says.

“With reason,” I say, not entirely disagreeing with the statement.

Marcus doesn’t seem to like my answer. And if I had to guess, he doesn’t like the way I am talking to him either. He leans in closer, close enough that I feel like I have no choice but to look at him.

“There is no reason for someone like you to be lurking in the background. You should be taking charge. Working the room, as you put it,” he says.

“I was. If you were paying attention, I very much was,” I say.

“I want to see more of that. That’s the first time I’ve seen you come out of your shell since I met you,” he says. Then he backs up just enough to take a sip of his drink.

“Well, it’s not always easy to stand in the spotlight when you’ve lived your whole life being shoved out of it by your older sister,” I say.

Marcus nearly slams his drink onto the bar top.

“Enough about your sister. She’s not half the woman you are. You outdo her on every level of life,” he growls.

“Maybe someone should tell her that,” I mutter.

Marcus locks eyes with mine. It’s not a glare, but he’s certainly not happy with me either. It’s hard for me to read his emotions, but when he’s disappointed or offended, they are always transparent.

“That’s your problem right there,” he says. “You focus too much on other people and not enough on yourself. You’re always worried about everything happening around you.”

“It’s kind of hard not to when you’re sitting at your desk minding your own business and you find out that your father has been fired from his own company and replaced by a man whose sole purpose in life seems to be absorbing everyone and everything in his wake just so he can be the big boy on campus,” I snap back.

Should I talk to my boss like that? At an event at one of his luxury hotels? Probably not. But he hasn’t exactly maintained a healthy employer slash employee relationship either. HR would probably have a field day with the way he talks to me when we are alone.

“Excuse me?” he hisses.

But I’m not backing down. I’m tired of backing down. And isn’t that kind of the point? “I mean it, Ash. It feels like you are trying to catch me off guard, hoping I will fuck up.”

“Do not call me by that name in public,” he says.

“And do not try to use the fact we are sitting in one of your hotels to manipulate me into cowering in front of you. It’s not a good look for either of us.” I take a sip of my drink and as strong as it is, I wish it were stronger. But I’m annoyed. I’m damn good at my job and I know it. I assumed he knew it too, considering the promotion and all.