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P lacing the instruction placard at the dessert station, I stood back and looked around the break room. I was rather pleased at the work Colin, Andi, Steph, and I had done on the Halloween party, and I couldn’t wait for our co-workers to celebrate with us.

At last check, we would have twenty themed desserts to judge for the contest and twenty-five pumpkins. Those were just the initial sign-ups. Based on the sales pitch I’d heard Colin giving Accounting a couple of days ago, we might even have a few more entries. I was fine with that. I wanted this event to be one that people talked about and one that would be a good set up for the Holiday party which was already in the works.

I’d been shocked when Adrian had told me ahead of time what the budget would be for that. I kept it to myself, of course, and waited to get the official word from HR. He was being more than generous, at least where company culture was concerned. Where I was concerned? It was hard to say.

Sure, my job was demanding… he was demanding… but I was very well compensated for my time. He seemed to be pleased with my professional efforts, but I still was not entirely sure where I stood with him outside the office.

He very clearly considered me Brynn within the confines of Benedict Technologies and Karma outside of them. Those lines had been blurred a couple of weeks ago when he had fucked me in his office. He had almost seemed like he was angry at himself for doing so, but that he couldn’t resist. Things had been a bit off since then. One moment he was brusque and the next I would catch him looking at me with something in his gaze. I didn’t know what to make of any of it. So, I made nothing of it and did the best damn job I could.

“Oh, my god, Brynn, you look great!”

I turned to see Andi dressed as Alice in Wonderland. Colin was going to be the Mad Hatter and I had opted to be the Cheshire Cat. I was having loads of fun with the tail, swinging my hips a bit to make it swish back and forth. The only downside to the costume was it was better to wear flats with it, so I was short without my usual thrifted Louboutins or Jimmy Choos.

“Did you bring your dessert?” she asked. Nodding, I pointed to the fridge and she peeked inside. I had made one for display purposes since I was not eligible to win anything.

Andi showed me her carved pumpkin, which was an adorable version of a Mad Tea Party. The carved pumpkins would be displayed and judged in a different room, and we had tapped one of the junior Vice Presidents to judge the pumpkins.

“So, the caterers will arrive at two o’clock to set up,” I told her. “We’ll start at three and I have clearance that ride shares may be expensed back because we want everyone to get home safely.”

“How did you swing that?” Colin asked, arriving with a large bag in each hand. He’d been in charge of securing the prizes.

“I just asked if it was an option. We used to do that at my old company. I was told no one had ever posed the question and that it was a good suggestion,” I said with a grin.

We finished hanging the last couple of streamers in the break room, then stopped until lunch time where we added more decorations. I was thrilled to see that we now had thirty pumpkins competing for prizes. At one o’clock, the judge made his walk-through, scored each pumpkin on creativity and artistry, then handed me the scores. The winner and runners up would be announced at the party.

The dessert winner and runners up would be decided by people’s choice and would be voted with dollars placed in cups located in front of each dish. The one with the most dollars would win. All proceeds would be doubled and would go to the local charity that Benedict Technologies supported.

I had been so preoccupied with the party, and with making sure Adrian had what he needed for his meetings, that I hadn’t even seen him much less spoken to him. I had been told that on days like today, while the rest of the office was abuzz with excitement, he stayed to himself in his office and didn’t take part in the festivities. That made me rather sad. What did he have against holidays?

I walked into his office with his lunch, at the later time he requested, and he was slightly taken aback by my purple-striped costume. I suppose it was a surprise, considering I always wore professional attire. That is, unless I was naked. I placed the sandwich and the sparkling water on his desk, trying not to squirm while his eyes perused my frame.

“Is that a tail?”

I grinned. “Yes, Sir. I love it. I’m having the best time today. If I ever come back in another life, I want to be a cat.”

I saw the slightest twitch in the corner of his mouth. He directed me not to forget the notes from yesterday’s call, but beyond that, there were no further instructions. I urged him to have a productive day, then turned on my heel, giving an extra tail swish before I left his office and closed the door behind me. I hoped he would come by to at least see how hard we had worked on the party, but I prepared myself for disappointment.

I triple-checked the notes he needed and started working on the next presentation. By then, the caterers arrived. After showing them the break room and leaving them in Andi’s capable hands, I got the deck template formatted and saved fifteen minutes before the official party start time.

Andi and I set out the desserts that were in the fridge, making sure that any dishes which were similar had some separation between them. The number of entries had gone up as well. We had thirty five desserts and some of them looked absolutely disgusting. One looked like a kitty litter box, one looked like a severed hand, one looked like a human brain…there were some creative people in this office.

“We have some demented co-workers,” I joked.

“I bet they binge watch crime programs,” Andi said.

“Hey now, I binge watch crime programs,” I replied.

“I rest my case,” she quipped.

“Bitch,” I laughed.

“Who’s a bitch?” Colin asked, breezing in with the prize bags.

Andi and I pointed at each other. “She is!” We both said.

The food was out, the drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, were out, the desserts were ready for the dollar votes, and I was more than ready for people to enjoy themselves. Cueing up the playlist I had put together, I connected to the Bluetooth speaker, and the room was filled with party music. It wasn’t all Halloween themed, but those songs were peppered throughout the three hours worth of songs.

“Oh my god, it looks great in here!”

“Holy crap, is that a brain dessert?”

“Oh, are those street tacos?”

Our co-workers began to file in and the noise level increased exponentially. My head began to spin when the room filled up because suddenly it was wall-to-wall bodies. While I had met a lot of people in the company, there were still many I hadn’t, but those I didn’t recognize made a point to introduce themselves to me and tell me how much they appreciated the effort I had put into the party.

Someone shoved a beer in my hand and while I held it, I didn’t drink it. It just didn’t feel right drinking at the office. Eventually, I set the bottle down on a counter and grabbed a canned water, placing it into a coozie so no one really knew what I had.

I busied myself checking the dessert votes and it looked like the “gross” desserts were running close to one another. We might even have a multi-way tie.

The caterers were keeping a close eye on the food and made sure nothing ran out.

Colin caught my eye and I nodded, signaling he needed to make an announcement about the dessert voting. We would give another forty-five minutes for votes and then we would need to tally who had the most dollars in the cup.

We had a few stations set up around the office where themed games could be played for prizes. Andi was manning one, I had recruited a few other people from HR to man the other stations. I walked around the office, making rounds, and checking to see if anyone needed supplies for the games. I was pleased to overhear chatter from people saying they were having a good time.

I passed people walking through the room with the carved pumpkins, I saw a small group sitting at cubes, talking among themselves and drinking wine. I saw a couple of others… alone… and continuing to work. That made me think of Adrian, but I pushed the thought out of my head and went back into the break room where a conga line had started. Good lord.

Dessert voting closed, votes were tallied, and it was time to announce the dessert winners, as well as the pumpkin carving winners.

Colin, Andi, and I organized the winners, runners up, and the prizes, reconfirming results to make sure we had everything correct before we started. I heard some low murmurs in the room and it caught my attention. Looking up, I immediately saw why people were talking.

Adrian Benedict was standing in the back corner of the room with a beer in his hand.