Charming Fiona

by Jessica Prince

  And just a few minutes later, after he came down my throat and flipped me to my back, Deacon returned the favor.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Fiona

  As I walked into the office Monday morning, I felt so happy that I was sure there was nothing in the world that could bring me down. I was so deeply entrenched in my euphoria that I didn’t realize the atmosphere in the building was uncomfortably heavy as I walked the halls to my own office.

  Ignorant to everything but my own bliss, I greeted my coworkers as I passed without registering the quiet whispers and lingering stares all pointed in my direction.

  It wasn’t until I reached my assistant’s desk that reality set in. She shot up from her chair, eyes big as saucers when she saw me. “Oh my God. Fiona. You’re here.”

  I gave Sarah a funny look and tilted my head to the side. “Of course I’m here. It’s Monday morning. Where else would I be?”

  Her mouth opened and closed in shock several times before she finally whispered, “Oh shit!”

  “Sarah, what’s going on?”

  “Oh God. Oh shit! You don’t know.”

  The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as dread seeped into my bones. “I don’t know what?”

  Instead of answering, Sarah bolted from behind her desk, grabbed my hand, and hauled me into my office, slamming the door shut behind us. “I’m so sorry. God, Fee, I’m so, so sorry this happened. I thought someone would’ve called you.”

  “Called me about what? Sarah, you’re starting to freak me out here. What’s going on?”

  She chewed on her bottom lip and twisted her fingers for several seconds, as if trying to come up with the right way to word whatever bomb she was about to drop.

  “Uh… well, you see… late last night, a company-wide email was sent out. There were some… uh… pictures attached.”

  My stomach dropped as bile crept up my throat, burning like acid. Dropping my purse to the floor, I rushed around my desk and turned on my laptop. I chanted, “Nonononono,” over and over as I logged into my company email and began scrolling. When I came to the subject line that read ‘What she does during company time,’ my coffee threatened to make a reappearance.

  The last thing I wanted to do was open the email. But I had to. I had to see if it was what I feared.

  I clicked the first attachment and tears immediately welled in my eyes. “No,” I breathed, my heart falling to the floor. Right there, clear as day, were my naked breasts for the entire office to see. There wasn’t even a chance at denying it was me since my face was front and center in the photo.

  There were four pictures in total, each worse than the last. When I got to the picture Deacon had taken of his cock entering me while I was spread out on my desk, I finally lost it, bending at the waist to heave into the trash bin beside my desk. I vaguely recalled Sarah darting to me and holding my hair back as I emptied the contents of my stomach.

  Those pictures were private. The only ones who knew about them were me and Deacon. How had this happened? Who had sent those photos? I racked my brain, trying to figure it out, but each time I thought about everyone in the office seeing me so exposed, I heaved again until finally there was nothing left.

  Once I finished and sat up, tears trailing down my face, Sarah snatched a handful of tissues out of the box on my desk and handed them to me. “Who sent them?” I croaked, my voice ravaged from throwing up. “Who did this?”

  Her face was awash with sympathy as she answered, “Human Resources has launched an investigation, but no one knows yet.”

  I dropped my head into my hands and let out a groan. “Oh God.” Human Resources was investigating. That meant everyone knew. Then something hit me like a Mac truck. I shot up straight and sucked in a breath. “My dad. Has he…? Has…?” I couldn’t even finish the thought.

  “I don’t know,” Sarah replied.

  When I burst into gut-wrenching sobs, she leaned in and wrapped her arms around me, humming soothing words in a failed attempt to calm me down. The whole office had seen me naked—or at least mostly naked. They’d seen me having sex, for Christ’s sake. Calm was out the window. All I could do was freak the fuck out.

  “This is bad. This is so, so bad. What am I going to do?”

  Before she had a chance to answer, my office phone rang. Jumping into her duties as my assistant, Sarah snatched the phone up and brought it to her ear. “Fiona Prentice’s office. This is Sarah, how may I help you?”

  I couldn’t hear who was on the other end, and there was no way in hell that I was looking at the caller ID.

  Sarah listened to the person through the line, mumbling, “Uh-huh. Okay. Yes, she is. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I’ll let her know,” before hanging up and looking at me with fear in her eyes. “Um, that was Anthony in HR. He and your father are waiting for you in Mr. Prentice’s office.”

  It felt like I was preparing for the firing squad as I stood and stared at the door, the only thing keeping me safely cocooned in privacy. As soon as I walked out that door, I’d be taking the most humiliating walk of shame ever imagined.

  I was going to be sick again.

  I sat in complete silence as Anthony and my father discussed those horrible pictures and what would happen to me as if I wasn’t even in the room. Keeping my gaze cast down, unable to meet my father’s eyes, I listened as the two of them went back and forth.

  “The IT department is currently tracking down the IP address that email was sent from. I’m confident that we’ll have answers by the end of business. In the meantime, I suggest Fiona take a personal day until we can decide what measures to take.”

  What measures to take. I was going to lose my job. There was no way my father would be able to keep me on, let alone hand the company over to me one day, after a scandal like this.

  My father, normally so carefree and jovial, sounded positively irate as he fired back. “What I want to know is what’s being done to ensure these images don’t leave this building. So help me God, Anthony, if I find out naked images of my daughter are being splashed all over the internet there will be hell to pay. I want the name of the person who sent that email, and I want it now.”

  “I assure you, Calvin, we’re doing everything possible to remove those images. The email seems to have been sent to the employees of this office only. I’ve been in contact with the heads of HR in all the other offices in the states, as well as Paris and Italy, and no one there received these images, so we have that on our side. And a memo is already being drafted that anyone caught forwarding that email will be terminated immediately.”

  Oh God. A memo’s going out. About me. And my filthy pictures. This was so humiliating.

  “Okay. Thank you, Anthony. Keep me abreast of the situation.”

  Anthony left just moments later, leaving me and my father alone in his office.

  Finally finding the nerve to glance up, I saw my father collapse in his chair, looking as crestfallen as I felt. I hated that I was the reason my dad’s joy had been sniffed out.

  “Daddy,” I whispered in a small, pathetic voice. “I’m so sorry.”

  He let out a sigh so heavy it sounded like the weight of the world was resting squarely on his shoulders. And it was all my fault. “Fiona….” That was all he said, just my name, but it was impossible not to hear the heartbreak in his voice.

  “Did you…?” I swallowed down the acid crawling up my throat. “Did you see the pic—”

  “No,” he answered quickly, sparing me from having to ask the full question. “I was warned before I had the chance. Thank Christ,” he grunted, running a hand through his thinning red hair. “But I was told enough about them to get the gist. How did this happen, Fee?”

  “I don’t know,” I cried, a new wave of tears rushing down my cheeks. “The only ones who even knew about those pictures were me and Deacon. I don’t even know how someone got ahold of them. They were taken with my phone, and I always have it on me….” Holy shit. I trailed off as my blood turned to ice in
my veins.

  “What? Sweetheart, what is it?”

  “I misplaced my phone last week. I figured I left it in the conference room or something, but when I got in the next day, it was on my desk so I didn’t give it a second thought. I just thought I’d been a bit scatterbrained.”

  Dad sat up straight. “You think someone broke into your phone and took those pictures?”

  A massive headache was threatening, and I began massaging my temples as I answered, “It’s the only logical explanation.” He grew quiet for so long that the tension in my muscles grew tighter. “I’m sorry I put you in this position,” I said, batting at the tears trickling down my cheeks. “I’m sorry I disappointed you.”

  “Oh, honey.” Dad shot out of his chair and came my way, pulling me up and into his arms. The comfort of his embrace proved to be my undoing and I broke down for the second time, crying into my father’s chest as he held me tightly.

  “I’m not disappointed in you,” he said quietly. “You’ve done nothing to be ashamed of. Do I wish those pictures didn’t exist? Of course. But none of this falls on your shoulders. I promise you, I’ll fix this.”

  I pulled back, rubbing my hands over my face as stress ate away at me. “I don’t think this is something that can be fixed,” I admitted, my heart breaking into a million pieces. “I don’t know how I can stay on here. Not after everyone’s seen… I just can’t.”

  “We’ll figure it out, sweetheart,” he whispered. “We’ll figure everything out.”

  I wasn’t sure how he figured we’d do that, but I didn’t voice that particular concern. I’d already caused enough trouble to last a lifetime.

  I left my father’s office shortly after and made my way back to mine at a quick pace. I kept my eyes cast down to the carpeted floor and let my hair provide a curtain between me and my coworkers. But even then I could feel the penetrating stares coming at me from all directions. I’d never been so humiliated, so ashamed in all my life.

  Bypassing Sarah at her desk, I rushed into my office, grabbed my purse, and bailed out. It wasn’t until the elevator doors opened in the parking garage that I was able to breathe somewhat normally again. I had no idea what was going to happen, or what my future was going to hold.

  The only thing I wanted to do was go home, curl up in bed, and pretend the rest of the world didn’t exist.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Deacon

  “Yo, boss man. You got someone out front asking for you.”

  I looked from the inventory sheet I’d been scribbling on to Sherry standing in the open doorway of the stock room. I went back to making notations for what needed to be ordered as I spoke. “Kind of in the middle of something here, Sher. Can you take care of it for me?”

  “I would, but he specifically asked for you. And he’s got a vibe to him like he’s a high-ranking political figure, or that he’s got the kind of connections to squash me like a bug, so I didn’t want to push my luck.” My head shot up in confusion at her curious description. She gave me a shit-eating grin as she continued, “Oh, and he looks exactly like you, and introduced himself as Nolan Lockhart. I’m guessing you’ll need to handle this one on your own. If it helps, I’ll take over in here.”

  Dropping the clipboard with the stock inventory sheet onto the shelf in front of me, I glared at Sherry as I started toward the door. “You couldn’t have just opened with ‘Hey, Deacon, your dad’s out front asking for you?’”

  She shrugged and skipped into the stock room. “Eh, where’s the fun in that?”

  I moved past her and down the hall to the front of the bar. We were in the middle of the lunch rush, so the place was busy, but nowhere near as chaotic as it would get later that evening. Construction was set to happen in just a few days, and I’d have to close down until it finished, but I was actually looking forward to a little time off and had been thinking of ways to convince Fiona to ask for a few personal days so we could take a little mid-week vacation together. I was thinking somewhere private with no cell reception so there wouldn’t be a chance of any interruptions.

  But before I could put that plan into motion, I had to deal with whatever shit my father had come to lay on me.

  As soon as I pushed through the swinging door that led out front, I spotted him standing by the bar with a thoughtful expression on his face while he looked around. I couldn’t tell if his sudden surprise visit was good or bad, so I steeled myself for anything as I headed toward him.

  “Hey, Dad.”

  He gave a surprised jolt and spun around to face me. “Oh, hey there, son. Sorry to drop by unexpectedly. I thought….” He glanced around the crowded room. “Well, I didn’t realize you were open for lunch. I thought it would be a good time. If I’m keeping you from anything—”

  “No, it’s fine. This is actually our slow time, so I’ve got a few minutes.”

  Dad’s head jerked back and his eyes went wide. “This is what you consider slow?”

  “Compared to what it’s like in the evenings, yeah.”

  “I had no idea,” he muttered in awe.

  I wasn’t sure how to take his reaction, but if there was one thing I’d learned growing up, it was not to get my hopes up when it came to pleasing my old man. “So what brings you by?”

  He tugged at his tie in discomfort before answering. “Well, what Fiona said last night really hit home. It’s rather painful to realize I’ve spent years voicing my concerns as your parent the wrong way. I owe you an apology, Deacon. All these years I’ve been making you feel like you were less than your brother in my eyes, and that couldn’t possibly be further from the truth.”

  “Dad, you don’t have to—”

  His hand came up to stop me. “I do, son. And it’s been a long time coming. It was never my intention to make you feel like you couldn’t live up to my expectations. The truth is, from the moment you learned to walk, I’ve lived in a perpetual state of fear. You’ve had an iron will since the moment you were born. Nothing ever scared you. You treated every day like it could be your last, squeezing every ounce of enjoyment from life. I always admired that about you, even if some of the shit you pulled put gray hair on my head.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at that. My father had been blaming me and Grayson for the salt liberally sprinkled through his pepper hair for years.

  “I envy your zest for life, Deacon. You have more courage than I ever could’ve hoped for at your age. You never let other peoples’ opinions stop you from doing what you wanted, even mine. There hasn’t been a single day that’s passed since you entered the world that I haven’t been proud to call you my son.”

  My throat suddenly burned as a lump swelled so big that it was a struggle to breathe. I had to clear it in order to speak, and when I finally did, my voice was hoarse with emotion. “Thank you.” It was a lame response to everything my father had just said, but it was all I could come up with in that moment. When the shock of hearing my father tell me he was proud to call me his son finally wore off, maybe I’d be able to fully express how much those words meant to me. But I had a feeling that, for now, a simple thank you would do just fine.

  Dad clapped me on the shoulder in a show of support. “Good. I’m glad we’ve finally cleared the air. Now, I’m starving. I don’t suppose you’d have time to join me for a quick bite before you get back to work?”

  Even if I’d been swamped, I would’ve pushed everything else to the back burner to have lunch with my old man. “Got all the time in the world, Dad. Let’s grab a table.”

  Collapsing back in the booth, Dad tossed his napkin onto the table and patted his stomach in contentment. “Have to say, Deacon, that was the best burger I’ve ever had.”

  I let out a low chuckle and lifted my water glass to my lips. I had to agree with him on that. The Black Sheep served the best burgers on the West Coast. “Glad you approve.”

  “I more than approve. I think I’m probably going to lapse into a food coma when I get back to the office. Speaking of….” He
lifted his arm and took a look at the Rolex on his wrist. “I should probably be getting back. What’s the damage?” Dad asked, shifting to reach for the wallet in his back pocket.

  “On the house.” He gave me a look like he was about to argue, but I cut him off at the pass. “You come in for lunch again, I’ll charge you. First one’s free. Friends and family discount.”

  Dad looked at me with a smile full of pride. “I’ll take you up on that.”

  We both stood from the booth, and I walked with him to the door. “I’ll look forward to it.”

  He stopped to slide his coat over his arms before turning to me once more. “This visit was actually a way for me to kill two birds with one stone. Your mom’s been on my case since yesterday. If you and Fee don’t come over for dinner soon to show we’re good, this might be the last time you see me breathing.”

  My head fell back in full-blown laughter. “Wouldn’t want that, would we? I’ll talk to her and see when we can set something up.”

  “Good. Enjoy the rest of your day, son. And… this place is amazing. I’m proud of you.”

  My chest constricted, squeezing so tight it was almost painful to take a breath. But damn if it wasn’t the best feeling in the world. “Means everything, Dad. I’ll see you later.”

  Dad left a moment later, and I watched as he walked down the sidewalk until he was out of sight, thinking that, for the first time in my life, everything was absolutely fucking perfect. I finally had the woman I’d loved all my life. I had my dad’s approval. And I was succeeding at doing what I loved. I was sure there wasn’t a damn thing that could get me down.

  Unfortunately, as life had proven more often than not, happiness wasn’t guaranteed. And when you let your guard down long enough, bad shit usually came creeping in.