The Baker's Man

B-U-S-T-E-D

Odette rode up the elevator humming a tune to herself, she had a nice relaxing weekend, and now she was ready for the work week ahead. The elevator stopped at her floor, and the doors slid open; Adam and Elise were right there waiting for her.

"Good morning," Odette said as she stepped out of the elevator and wondered why Elise was looking at her so impatiently.

"We need to talk." She said, grabbing Odette's hand and pulled her into Odette's office. She closed and locked the main door and the adjoining door to Elijah's office.

"What?"

"What did you do this weekend?" Elise asked as Adam gave Odette an apologetic look.

"Nothing much," Odette said with a shrug.

"Oh, no?" Odette watched as Elise pulled out her phone and showed her a picture of her and Elijah at the opening. They were looking at a painting, and Elijah had his arm around her waist as he planted a kiss on her cheek. The subject labeled her as victim number three. Odette's mouth dropped as she snatched the phone away from Elise.

"Where—who did this?"

"We don't know, but at least half of the company was tagged in the email," Adam said. Odette's stomach instantly became queasy.

"Why didn't you tell us about you and the boss. I thought we were friends." Elise said with a pout.

"Not now, Elise," Adam said as he hugged Odette, who was clearly upset.

"This is exactly what I was trying to avoid." She said as she clung to Adam. There was a knock at the door, grabbing their attention. Elijah was standing at the adjoining door with a look of annoyance on his face. Elise unlocked the door and let Elijah in.

"What's going on here?" he asked as he glared at Adam. Elise showed Elijah the picture, and he let out a low groan. He forwarded the email to himself and made a mental note to find out the email source.

"Can you two give us a minute, please?"

Adam and Elise silently left the room, and Elijah locked the door behind them.

"Ducky..."

Odette stood in the middle of the room with her eyes closed, rubbing her temples, ignoring his presence.

"Odette?"

Odette's eyes slowly opened; Elijah was surprised to see the fire that raged in her eyes. He took a cautious step towards her, and Odette turned on her heels and sat behind her desk. Elijah watched as she turned on her computer and opened up her email. He could tell that she was cursing him out in her head.

"Odette, we need to talk about this."

"What is there to talk about? It's out now. There's nothing we can do about it." She said flatly as she typed away on her keyboard. "You have a meeting with the team in ten minutes. I will be in the conference room if you need me," she said as she stood up and grabbed the pile of papers from her desk. Elijah watched her, and the quiet storm she was brewing walked out of the office.

Elijah walked into the conference room; the whispers came to a halt. He walked up to the front of the room. Odette was sitting in her usual place at the back of the table, with her eyes glued to her laptop.

"Good morning, team."

A chorus of good mornings answered him back as he set up his notes for the meeting.

"First, I would like to address the email. I'm sure everyone has seen by now." He said as he took his seat at the head of the table. "Yes, it's true Odette, and I are dating, and that's all anyone needs to know. Adam, you can start with the progress reports."