Free The Meridian Gamble by Daniel Garcia

floor consider her a hottie,
and she’s smart enough to kiss the ass of anyone and everyone important above
her, just as ferociously as she belittles the peons beneath her. And I can’t
ignore her complaints, because I don’t want to hear her voice any more than is
necessary.
    So I take the elevator upstairs to
look at garbage disposals.
    When I get to the kitchen, I find a
rotting banana in the refrigerator, and I throw it down the sink to test the
machine. I quickly see that the unit is working perfectly, and I don’t smell a
thing, but I pick up the phone and call the maintenance guy anyway. Better to
be safe than sorry when it comes to the possibility of incurring Val’s wrath.
    After I leave a message on the
building maintenance line, I curse my stupidity. I’ve left my Starbucks back on
my desk. But I need a quick caffeine infusion. Even though the office coffee is
disgusting, it is strong, and some eager beaver has made a fresh pot. So I pour
myself a cup.
    As I drop extra cream and sugar
into the cheap paper cup to make the gross swill palatable, Staci walks through
the door. She’s wearing a black blazer and black slacks, her signature outfit. Her
blonde hair has been curled to perfection, and her M.A.C. make-up has been
applied flawlessly, in a thick layer.
    Her face lights up in surprise when
she sees me.
    “Oh my gosh, Meri! What are you
doing up here?”
    “The garbage disposal. Val thinks
it’s broken again,” I groan.
    “She always thinks it’s broken,
just because her nose is hyper-sensitive. She doesn’t realize it’s probably
something in the building pipes.”
    “I know. I think she wants me to
get on my hands and knees to scrub it all out myself. Which I just might do to
shut her up.”
    “You know she screamed at me once
because she thought I was burning a candle. It wasn’t even lit, it was just
sitting at my desk. Apparently, the smell of Vanilla Cinnamon offends her. I
had to put it in a drawer to get her to stop bitching about it.”
    “She’s such a shrew. What kind of
lunatic complains about Vanilla Cinnamon? I should get …”
    But I’m not thinking straight, and
I stop myself. I’m about to say that I should get Adam to eat her, which would
be a mistake.
    “… I should get a new job is what I
should do.”
    Staci pours some coffee into a mug
she’s carrying, her own personal one that reads, “Positive Attracts Positive”
on the side. Which doesn’t make sense. Positive attracts negative in the real
world, but I suspect it’s an advertising thing. She probably only carries it to
show she’s upbeat and chipper, and that she never misses an opportunity to
promote herself.
    “So how was your weekend?” Staci
asks, not really waiting for an answer. “Oh my God, Darcy called. We’re going
out for sushi this Tuesday. I’m super excited. I’m hoping he sees it as a
date-date, and not a networking type of thing. Of course, he is a great contact
no matter …”
    “I met a guy,” I say, practically
cutting her off.
    I’m not sure why I say it. I can’t
really tell her about Adam, not his true nature, anyway. Who knows, it might
endanger her life. But on a certain level, I must be desperate to dish.
    “Oh really? Where did you meet
him?” Staci says, intrigued.
    “At Downtown Pub. He was that guy at
the end of the bar I was eye-fucking.”
    “You were eying someone at the
bar?” she says, full of surprise. “I didn’t even know.”
    “Oh, I thought I was being obvious.
That’s why I left in such a hurry, but he was gone by then. But the weird thing
is, I ran into him on the roof of my building, of all places.”
    “The roof of your building? Sounds
stalkery. Does he live there?”
    “No. It turns out he works for the
company that owns the place. And he goes up there because he loves the view so
much, like me.”
    “It is a nice view. So is he …
what? A maintenance guy?”
    “No, not a maintenance guy,” I say,
in a slightly bitchy tone. As if I have to