by Jamie Knight
“I know what you’re actually doing in there,” Ben said.
My eyes got wider but Ashton just shook his head and rolled his eyes. He didn’t seem worried, just annoyed.
I scrambled to put my discarded suit on and smoothed out the wrinkles. Ashton pointed to the chair on the front side of his desk, where clients sat, and I hurried to sit down in it.
Then Ashton opened the door and said, “What do you want?”
“I want to know exactly who you think you are,” Ben said to him, and looked at me in disgust. “And why you think you get to pick the best crop…”
“Shut up,” Ashton told him, and amazingly, he did.
“Maria, thank you for talking with me about the software you made,” he said. “You’re free to go home now.”
“Thank you,” I told him, feeling a bit stunned as I got up and left the office.
“Oh, that’s rich…” I heard Ben say, before Ashton closed the door behind me.
I was half glad to be out of there. But half worried about what they were fighting about and what it could mean for my job. And for my… Pet relationship, or whatever I had going on, with Ashton.
I clasped Reese’s lucky pendant as I returned to my office to gather my things before heading home to check on my mom. I told myself that whatever was going on between Ashton and Ben- who I still couldn’t stop thinking of as anything other than “Douchey Boss”- was something that Ashton seemed to have under control. I only wished I could believe it with one hundred percent confidence.
As I trudged to the subway station, I wondered what Douchey Boss was going to do to us. I couldn’t help but feel that I shouldn’t have given into my baser instincts, no matter how much I enjoyed being with Ashton.
I needed the money for my mom, and it might be the last time I ever got to work at McKenzie Enterprises. Not to mention the fact that it might be the last time I ever got to see Ashton.
Chapter 11 - Ashton
“Who the fuck do you think you are, to come to my office and start lecturing me?” I asked Ben.
I was so annoyed with him. He was starting to be more trouble than he was worth. I appreciated his help with getting our company up and going, but ever since we had started this merger, he had been slacking off.
I think he resented having to cooperate with another company and didn’t appreciate the leadership role I’d taken throughout the entire process. It had always been his way or the highway and he had always wanted to be in the spotlight.
He didn’t like that Kane seemed to favor me and always came to me with any issues or praise. That wasn’t exactly my fault, though- I’d been working my ass off throughout the merger process while Ben chased tail and tried unsuccessfully to take all the credit for my work-related efforts.
“Who do you think you are, to be sleeping with the latest hire?” he demanded. “That’s sexual harassment, you know, and is forbidden around here.”
You’re the one who should know that, I thought, as I had heard rumors and complaints about him throughout the years. But now I was more concerned with how much he really knew about Maria and me.
Was he just speculating? Had people been talking in the private channels on Watercooler and he was going by rumors? Or had he heard or seen something somehow?
I racked my brain and figured there was no way he could know for sure, but I was still rather anxious, even though I tried my best not to show it. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to Maria. I couldn’t imagine Ben wanting to risk the company just because he felt jealous or vindictive, but then again, he sure knew how to be a huge asshole sometimes.
I should have parted ways with him a long time ago, even though he was instrumental in setting up the company and I would hate to cut him out of any shares of it. But he had been utterly useless lately and now he was threatening me. If he didn’t care about me, I shouldn’t care about him.
“I don’t know who you think you are, but you’ve got nothing on me,” I told him, even though I really had no idea what he had on me.
“If there’s nothing between you and Maria then you should have no problem with the fact that I’m going to recommend she be fired,” he said.
“What the fuck?” I exploded. “Why the hell would you do that? She has helped out so much already; she is really very valuable to this company.”
“Sounds like you think she’s more valuable than she really is,” Ben said.
There was a pounding in both my head and my heart that I couldn’t get rid of. I felt the reasonable thing to do was to say that nothing was going on between Maria and me and that I had no problem letting her go and replacing her with someone else. But no other employee could possibly do what she had done for the law firm clients in such a short amount of time.
So, another logical part of me knew that there was no rational basis on which to fire her. She really had done great things around here already. He was clearly just jealous. And the emotional part of me couldn’t imagine life without her or doing anything to hurt her.
I had been telling myself that what we had going on was just fun and games. But I felt my heart tugging at me even more strongly than my cock tugged in Maria’s direction all the time.
Was this what love felt like?
“I’m doing it to test your loyalty,” he said. “To see if you’ll choose your little lovebug, or the company.”
What an absolute ass he could be. I was utterly fed up with him and couldn’t understand why he was so upset. Even if he was certain I was with Maria, what was it to him? Plenty of other partners around here had done the same- fuck, Kane had just married his employee- and Ben would undoubtedly do it too, if he could.
I supposed that was probably at the root of his behavior. No sane woman would likely let him touch her. Apparently, the rumors that he had tried unsuccessfully to get with women at the office were true.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but I know I don’t have to put up with your shit,” I told him. “Get the fuck out of my office.”
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll just head over to HR then and let them know what’s been going on.”
“Do what you need to do but you’re crazy to do that,” I said, careful not to confirm or deny anything, since I had no idea what he might actually know or not. I was pretty sure he was full of it, but I didn’t know for sure.
I went down to Kane’s office to get some perspective. I figured that if anyone knew how to handle this situation, it would probably be him. Plus, I should inform him of the developments so that he wasn’t shocked if HR called him.
When I arrived, his assistant, Melissa, tried to keep me from going on but I waved her off with my hand.
“Oh, come on, you know he’ll want to see me if I want to see him.”
“Only go in if his door’s not locked,” she said, in her proper British accent.
I knocked but then entered, and I saw that Reese was in his office, too. No wonder Melissa had been jumpy. I closed the door behind me and started talking before they could ask what I was doing just barging in like that.
“Hey guys,” I said, trying not to sound too panicked. “I have a situation going on here and I need your advice.”
I told them the whole sordid thing. I didn’t go into details about what, exactly, I was doing with Maria in my office, but I admitted that she and I had been together and that Ben claimed to know and was overly upset about it for some reason, and that he also claimed to be going to HR with the information.
“What the hell is his problem?” Kane asked, clearly frustrated.
“Poor Maria,” Reese said. “We were just talking about how much she’s impressed us.”
“I know, right?” I said, in response to both of their comments. “To be honest, this is a bit embarrassing, and I’m not saying I’m not worried about the company, but my biggest fear is that HR will call and fire her, and I don’t even know where she lives. She applied online and HR has her info; I doubt the
y would give it to me if Ben lodges a complaint.”
“Aww, you’re in love,” Reese cooed, with a big smile on her face.
“Honey, this is hardly the time to dissect his personal life,” Kane said, before I was able to get a word in edgewise. But I couldn’t help but think Reese was right.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I know a way to help you figure out where she lives, if it comes to that.”
“Really?” I asked, and Kane looked just as surprised.
“Yeah, I may have made friends with your little secret lover,” she told me, with a wink. “And I might have happened to find out where she lives, as she and I bonded over our belief in the influence of luck in our lives.”
I was beginning to see why Kane was so beguiled by Reese. She was a crafty one, for sure.
Right then, Sloane Keeley peeked her head into the office and said, “I’m just about done with that report you wanted, Reese.”
“Sloane,” said Reese, and pulled her into the office, closing the door behind her. “We have a serious situation on our hands. Didn’t you say that you had had some kind of bad experience with Ben Winters? Because this involves him.”
“I don’t know,” Sloane said, wrinkling up her nose. “I might know some things, but I never like to get involved. Office dramas are messy and never turn out in a way that helps me.”
“Stop being such a self-absorbed bitch,” Reese ordered her.
My jaw nearly dropped and I expected Sloane to be upset, but instead she laughed and said, “Yeah, you know I can get like that. Sorry. But seriously. Here’s the deal. Ben Winters hit on me pretty damn bluntly and I complained to HR about it and they did nothing but ‘talked to him about it,’ which only made him hate me and treat me badly and try to get everyone else around here to hate me and treat me badly, too. So, in general I think it’s best to just go about my business and not complain or help others complain, you know?”
That explained a lot about Sloane’s general demeanor. I had thought she just felt self-conscious because she was so tall; she always towered over everyone and couldn’t avoid being the center of attention even if she wanted to. But now I saw her point about why she wouldn’t say much or be very helpful.
I still felt that she probably had other secrets she was hiding, because she always seemed like a tortured soul. But I appreciated her coming forward with this tidbit. I wasn’t sure HR would take Ben seriously if there had already been a complaint made against him. In fact, maybe he was doing this just to deflect from his own bad history, and if so, we could put our heads together and stop him.
“You know what else is part of the deal?” she asked suddenly. “I’m sure this could help you guys. The other day I heard Ben hitting on Maria, too.”
“What?” I asked, completely upset that this would happen. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
Why didn’t she say anything, either? I wondered.
“Oh, please,” Sloane said, rolling her eyes- and I noticed that Reese was rolling hers, too. “It happens all the time. Nothing worth making a fuss over.”
“Ben always hit on women here at the office?” I asked her.
“Sure,” she said. “He and all the other bosses.”
I guessed I hadn’t considered that to be a common thing they had to put up with. I knew that Ben had a reputation, but I supposed I had thought his advances were sometimes welcomed, since I had known him to go on dates or have girlfriends and I thought some women considered him attractive rather than repulsive.
I should have paid more attention to the rumors I had heard about my supposed trusted business partner, and maybe not have trusted him so much. I also should have thought about how it might feel to be in the shoes of a woman trying to go to work and do her job while being hit on by her boss, even after she had tried to make it clear that such advances weren’t welcome. I didn’t realize that this was something they had to put up with on a regular basis.
“As I said, it’s not worth the trouble of complaining about unless it rises to a serious level of scariness,” Sloane repeated.
“Yeah, like what happened to me before Kane helped me out,” Reese piped in.
I knew she had been attacked by a former employee of McKenzie Tech, who had obviously been fired. But was that what it took for a sexual harassment complaint to be taken seriously around here? I supposed I needed to have a talk with HR.
“Maria did try to talk to me about it, but I wasn’t about to stick my neck out for a new hire when I knew from experience it could do more harm than good for every woman involved,” Sloane said, shrugging. “And honestly, it’s better to gather evidence and be prepared for a big fight, than to try to raise allegations that can’t be proven to be true, you know?”
“I’m sorry that happened to you, Sloane,” I told her, and meant it.
“Ah, it’s no big deal,” she said, returning to the tough cookie I had always known her to be.
Suddenly, I wanted to see Maria more than anything. I needed to apologize for treating her only as my office pet, when really, I had feelings for her that I should really let her know about.
“I don’t know what’s going to come of this, but I need to go talk to Maria now,” I announced. “Reese, do you really know her address?”
“I sure do,” she said. “And it’s also her lucky number.”
Sloane laughed and said, “You and your talk of luck.”
“Hey!” Reese protested. “It’s helping them out. Plus, it’s almost St. Patrick’s Day. Who couldn’t use a little luck around this time of year anyway?”
“Good point,” Sloane agreed.
“Look, Ashton, I’m the CEO and I have your back,” Kane said, which made me feel very relieved. “I know you only have the best of intentions. However you want to handle this, I’ll support. I know HR has said that if the employee signs a waiver, two people can be together. It’s what happened in Reese’s and my case.”
“And of course it helped when we got married,” Reese said, with a grin. “There’s always that option. Hint, hint.”
“Very funny,” I told her. “I don’t think we’re quite there yet, but…”
I trailed off, not wanting to admit the extent of my true feelings for Maria, even though I was sure they could tell.
I rushed out of the office, with Melissa calling after me, “Nice to see you, too, Ashton…”
“Bye, Melissa!” I shouted. “Thanks for letting me go in!”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said back.
I passed HR’s open-glass office on my way out, and noticed that Ben was not in there. I doubted he could have been finished making a report so soon- and I was quite sure I would have heard about it already if he had. They would definitely have some questions for me, about why I was tying up the latest hire to my doorknob.
I felt I still had a little time to save things, and get out in front of this thing, whether or not Ben had already made his report. I didn’t like the idea of having Maria sign a waiver because it still subjected the firm to liability.
There had to be a better way. I was determined to think fast and come up with an ironclad plan. But my utmost priority was to let Maria know how I really felt about her.
Chapter 12 - Maria
I was trying to be cheerful as my mother and I caught up on her favorite telenovelas that she Tivoed for me while I was at the office. I didn’t really care for them and I always told her she could go ahead and watch them without me while I was working, but watching them together was a time-honored tradition of ours, honed during so many days of treatment and recovery from treatment, and it was important to her that we keep it up.
So, I laughed and cried along with her to all of her favorite shows, and usually I had a good time because she did. Still, though, today I couldn’t shake my worry about what was going to happen at work. I wished I had a way to find out what was going on.
I supposed I would have to wait until Monday to go back to work… if
I didn’t get fired first. Perhaps later I could log onto Watercooler and see if there were any rumors floating around, although that would probably increase rather than decrease my anxiety.
All of a sudden, there was a knock on our door.
“Are you expecting company, mija?” Mama asked me, as she paused the show.
“No,” I told her, with a worried frown. I hated surprises in the form of uninvited company, especially when I was already on high alert for anything that could be wrong.
But I was highly surprised when I opened the door to find Ashton on the other end of it.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him. “And how did you know where I lived?”
“I hear you’ve been busy making office friends,” he told me, bending over to give me a hug.
This was even more shocking than the fact that he was here. He wasn’t normally so openly affectionate with his feelings.
“Mama, this is Ashton,” I said, leading him into our small apartment.
I decided to leave out the part where he was my boss. I knew she wouldn’t approve, and I couldn’t exactly blame her, especially now that we had gotten ourselves into such a mess at work.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were coming over or I would have made up my face,” my mother said, getting off the couch and crossing the room to give him a hug. “I’m so glad my daughter has found such a handsome, nice looking ‘friend.’ Or is more than friends, eh?”
She winked and clearly wanted me to spill the beans.
“Mama, I’ll tell you all about it at some point,” I told her.
But I don’t really know what’s going on right now, myself.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Herrera,” Kane said, hugging her back.
“I was just going to go downstairs to the Chinese restaurant and get some take out,” my mom said, which was a lie. I was the one who was going to do that. We had ordered it a little bit ago.
