Playing with Power - Book 5: New Adult Office Romance by Adele Huxley Page B

distance between them, Lauren took advantage of the element of surprise. With a strong shove, she knocked the assailant to the ground. As the woman tried to brace herself, her hands flung the dark hood away, revealing her face.
    For a moment Lauren thought it was a trick of the light. It can’t be... but as the figure on the ground rolled to her back, she knew.
    “ Rochelle ? What the fuck are you doing?” Lauren shouted as she stepped closer. The anonymity of the attacker removed, her fear was quickly replaced with anger. Rochelle sat up, bracing herself as if she wanted to leap to her feet. Her eyes were dark and sharp, focused on Lauren’s movements.
    “If I scar from that shit, I’m totes suing you to pay for my plastic surgery.”
    “No, don’t move, you fucking stay right there.” Lauren felt a warm trickle of blood run down the side of her face from her temple, the sensation enraging her further. Parker must’ve come to his senses and fired her finally. Of course, she’d blame me and not the guy whose dick she was sucking. “You had to have known this might happen. It’s not like you ever actually had any loyalty to us!”
    “That doesn’t mean I didn’t give a shit about the people there,” she muttered. “What the fuck do you know about loyalty, anyway?”
    Lauren shook her head and bent the grab her purse. She gasped as a jagged flash of pain fired through her side. “I don’t even understand what the hell you were trying to do.”
    Rochelle’s smirk turned into a low chuckle. Her blonde hair hung in limp clumps, torn loose from her high ponytail. She looked gaunt, her face thin and skin stretched. She looks insane, Lauren thought. “So clueless. This isn’t some Bond movie. I’m not just, like, gonna spill my guts cause you asked. Sahra was right about you.”
    “What the fuck does Sahra have to do with anything?”
    “Wouldn’t you like to know!” This sparked another round of eerie giggling and Lauren just wanted to put some distance between them.
    “Fine, whatever. You’re obviously unhinged or something, so I’m just gonna leave,” Lauren said holding her hands up. She side-stepped to the stairs and turned to ascend, but Rochelle was too quick. Before she even had time to register the crunch of the gravel behind her, Lauren’s head was wrenched back. A fiery pain shot through her scalp as she was led by her hair, nearly knocking her off balance yet again.
    With a grunt, Lauren twisted under the grip of the ponytail and swung a looping fist as hard as she could towards Rochelle’s stomach. The impact weakened her grip but she still held on. Lauren noticed the girl was wearing thin running shoes. Without another thought, she jammed her pointy heel into the center of Rochelle’s foot and twisted. The girl screamed in pain, loud enough to finally attract the attention of anyone walking by. The heel stuck in Rochelle’s foot as she tried to yanked it out. Oh God, I’m gonna puke. Not sparing another look, Lauren took off down the block toward Damon’s apartment building.
    She didn’t remember getting her phone out or even dialing, but she suddenly became aware of Landon’s voice in her ear.
    “Hey babe, how’s it going.”
    “I was just attacked.” Lauren’s voice sounded disembodied and flat, foreign to her ears.
    “ What ? If Nick put one fucking finger on—”
    “No, it wasn’t him. It was Rochelle. She knocked me down but I...I got away. I still don’t know why she did it. She came up from behind and...” Her words came out between panted breaths as she walked briskly home. Her body tingled with adrenaline and she was thankful for the darkness. At least the night hid her bloodied knuckles, knees, and face.
    “Wait, this is the girl who I found out was working for another company, right? Jesus Lauren, are you alright? Did she—”
    “No. She still works for us. Parker never fired her. Or, maybe he did and that’s what this is all about.” Lauren turned the