Assignments…

By the time Jolene figured out why Brenda had wanted her in on the meeting with Ellis, it had been too late to get out of it. But Brenda's ploy wasn't working—Ellis wasn't going to play nice just because they had an audience. So, when he told Jolene to leave, she got the hell out of there before Brenda could object. It was a shitty thing to do but why should she sit there and listen to them fight when she could be enjoying breakfast? It's not like they needed—or wanted—her input, anyway…

Jolene's all-too-willing departure only added fuel to the fire. Brenda wasn't going to forget how easily Jolene had defected. Nor was she going to allow Ellis to boss around her people. Who did he think he was? It was her damn office! True, she should have told him about Ryder yesterday, but that was no reason for him to order Jolene around like a flunky or to snap at Roxy like that. She suspected his mood had more to do with the growing tension between them over last night than it did with Ryder and she wasn't about to let him get away with it.