by Jade West
“It’s more than that.”
I met his eyes. “It’s not.”
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll transfer you for the six months, I could do with someone to help manage my diary. You can check out of the training programme and work alongside me.” My face must have dropped before I could stop it, the prospect of a Katie-Verity sales smackdown slipping through my fingers. “And there we have it.” He smirked. “Busted, as Rick would say. So, tell me. Why do you want this all of a sudden?”
I hesitated. “Maybe it’s a calling, like you said.”
He shook his head, and I felt like he was boring his way into me. Only into my brain this time, not my pussy. “No,” he said. “It’s something else. Is it about your father?”
I nearly spat my coffee. “About the sperm donor?! No. I couldn’t give two shits about him.”
“Then it’s about Verity?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Why does it have to be about anyone? Maybe I just like a hard day’s work?”
“I’ve been around the block a few too many times to buy into that, Katie. I know when someone’s out to prove something, there’s a steel to it, an edge. You’ve had that edge since we sat down to look at slides last night.”
“Why does it matter?”
He shrugged. “I like to know what I’m working with. It helps me get the best out of you.”
“I’ll get the best out of myself,” I said. “You don’t need to worry.”
“I’m not worried.” He was quiet as he finished up his bagel. Big purposeful bites without any self-consciousness. I couldn’t take my eyes from him. He dabbed his lips with a napkin, left a single crumb behind. I wanted to pull him close and lick that crumb right off. “Just use that motivation in the right way,” he continued. “Competition can be healthy, it can also be destructive.”
“Sure thing, Daddy.” I laughed at his frown, and it was quite a frown. “Jeez, Carl. I’m joking, just playing around.”
His frown relaxed. He raised an eyebrow at me, and couldn’t help smiling. “Let’s get back,” he said.
I followed him out, watching his firm ass all the way back to the car. He slung an arm behind my seat as he reversed out of the space. “I told him,” he said. “Your father, I mean. I told him what Colin Wilkins said about you. I gave him a copy of your performance stats, as well.”
The thought gave me shivers. “And what did he say?”
“He said that’s his girl.”
I folded my arms. “I’m not his girl.”
“I told him as much. I said he can relinquish whatever ideas he has for a hold on you, because there’s a new daddy in town.”
I gasped at that. “You didn’t.”
He laughed. “No, I didn’t.” He met my eyes as he turned back onto our section of the estate. “But I would, if it called for it. I don’t believe in pussy-footing around for the sake of the status quo, Katie.”
The thought thrilled and petrified me in equal measure. “That would be crazy,” I said.
“Maybe.”
“Definitely.” I unclipped my seatbelt as he pulled into his space. “And I’d lose all respect from the team. Nobody likes someone they think waltzes around getting special treatment, Carl, especially not one they think is in bed with the boss.”
“And there we go,” he said. “You’re all in, even if you don’t want to be. You already care what they think of you.” He grabbed my wrist as I made to open my door, and I flashed back to the weight of him over me, pinning my wrists as he pushed his way inside my sore pussy while the birds chorused the dawn outside. “Will we see you tonight?”
My mind turned blank. “I don’t know… I, um… Samson…” I took a breath. “I need to see Samson.” And my pussy needs a break.
He nodded, let go of my wrist, and I immediately regretted my answer. “Of course, yes. Sorry.”
But I wasn’t sorry he’d asked. Wasn’t sorry at all.
I tried to say it, but he’d already opened his door.
I left Carl’s side on the way back through the office, and headed to the toilets to freshen up. My skin felt clammy and flushed, and my pussy felt battered and hot. And needy. Again. I washed my hands in cold water and splashed some over my face, opening my eyes in time to watch that bitch Verity walk in.
She didn’t pick a cubicle, just stared at me in the mirror.
“What?” I said, finally. “What do you want?”
She shrugged. “I was wondering the same thing about you.”
“I’m here for the same reason you are,” I said. “Harrison Gables. Not that it’s any of your business.”
“It’s all of my business,” she said. “I’ll be the one inheriting it.”
“Whoopty doo. Like I care.” I didn’t care, either. Not one shit for the pile of stuff she’d inherit from that fucking idiot. She was welcome to it.
“Dad only wants you here because he thinks it’s the right thing to do. You’re just his little charity case. His embarrassing little secret.”
“Sure, whatever,” I said, pretending it didn’t sting. Not even a little.
“Don’t think you can show up here and make me look bad. I won’t let you make me look like an idiot, Katie, no matter how hard you try.”
“I don’t need to make you look like an idiot,” I said. “I’m just here for Harrison. How you choose to make yourself look is completely up to you.”
“I heard you did well at some shitty job once. Don’t think that will make you better than me. A shitty job around shitty college won’t make you better than me.”
“I didn’t say it would.” I glared at her reflection.
“No, but you think it.”
I laughed. “You’re paranoid. You’ve always been paranoid.” But she wasn’t paranoid, not this time. That steely hard little part of me did want to think it would make me better than her, just this once. I was counting on it.
She tutted. “You’d be paranoid, too, if some little bitch was always after what was yours.”
I turned to face her and I could feel my cheeks burning up. “Since when have I ever been after what’s yours? I’ve never given two fucks about what’s yours.”
And she hissed, she actually hissed at me. She jabbed a pretty little manicured fingernail in my direction and her face was contorted by rage and jealousy and maybe a little bit of fear, too. “I won’t let you take what’s mine. Not my friends, not my company, not my fucking dad. You can just fuck off back where you came from, you should never have come here!”
It took me aback, and for a moment I was a little girl again, unsure of my own footing. “I didn’t want to come here. I didn’t want to know any of you. I wish I’d never even known I had a fucking dad, alright? I wish you people didn’t exist to me.”
“Feeling’s mutual,” she said.
I turned back to the sink, washing hands that were already clean and splashing more water over my face so she wouldn’t see the angry tears pricking.
“You can take your greedy eyes off Carl, as well,” she said. “He isn’t going to fall for your shit, either.”
“Sorry?” I snapped.
“Carl,” she repeated, as though I was a dullard. “I’ve seen the way you gawp and drool, and he’s gay. He’s got a boyfriend.” She folded her arms, so smug. “He’s just not going to be interested in a little skank like you, sorry.”
Oh God, how I wanted to tell her. The urge to gloat about how he’d taken me over and over and over again while his boyfriend rammed his gorgeous cock in my mouth was almost too much to bear. The words were in my throat, burning me, desperate to spring out and slap the little bitch across her spoiled little mouth, but I didn’t. I couldn’t.
She smirked a vile smirk at me. “Of course, the fact that he’s already with someone probably wouldn’t stop you. Like mother like daughter, after all. Adultery probably runs in your skanky DNA.”
“Or yours,” I said. “Probably yours, too, since it’s your lovely daddy who couldn’t keep his dick in
his pants.”
“Your mum chased him, your mum made him do it.”
“You can shut your mouth about my mother,” I snapped, and I meant it. My blood was boiling, pulse racing.
“My mum says your mum was nothing but a gold-digging slut. A cheap-rate whore.”
“Your mum is a bitter, twisted bitch if she thinks that. My mum wasn’t even twenty years old. Younger than we are now, just think about that.”
“Old enough to know better.”
“Young enough to be taken advantage of by a seedy, arrogant, disgusting old prick.”
“A prick who’s paying you money to be here! So shut your nasty little mouth!”
“I fucking won’t!” I snapped. “I don’t even want to be here, you can stick your nasty little fucking family up your spoiled little asshole, Verity. You’re all fucked up. All of you.”
I made to storm out, but the bitch lost it. She grabbed my hair with her talons and pulled my bun loose, dragging me back across the toilets, and she screamed and hissed and spewed venom while I wrestled against her grip. I wasn’t going to hit her, that’s not my style, but the bitch was a psycho, slapping my head and tugging at my hair, and one of her little bitch slaps landed on my cheek and her stupid fake nails scratched me. And that was it.
I launched myself backwards until I slammed her into the wall, and it winded her. She dropped her grip and I spun in a flash and pinned the stupid cow by her shoulders while she spluttered.
“Listen up, bitch,” I hissed. “I’ll give you that one for free, but if you ever, ever touch me again, you’re not going to get a hall pass. I’m not ten years old anymore, and I’m not taking your spoiled little rich girl shit. Understand?”
She didn’t answer, and I didn’t really need her to. She was still catching her breath, eyes wild and spiteful.
I shoved her again for good measure and then I let her go.
I had work to do, and the job satisfaction of wiping the floor with her bitchy, self-entitled little ass would be a sweet balm for my bitter soul.
Carl
Two empty seats as the afternoon resumed, and the sight made me a little uneasy. I looked at my watch and was contemplating sending a search party to the toilets when Katie made her way across the room.
She looked like shit, scraping back hair that was clearly dishevelled and twisting it back up into a bun only to find her hair tie was missing. She checked her wrists for another, and I saw her curse under her breath. She abandoned her efforts and let her hair fall free, and someone had clearly had a go at it. It didn’t take a genius to work out who that someone was.
I didn’t see the scratch on her face until she took her seat, and the sight of it knocked me for six.
Verity appeared just a moment later, and I shot her a look that could sour milk. She walked with the same Verity swagger, but her eyes were dark and wired. Unlike Katie, she still looked immaculate, her hair still hanging in a perfect plait, her makeup pristine without so much as a smudge.
“Prepare some notes,” I said to the group, deviating entirely from my plan for the afternoon. “Upselling opportunities — list any you can think of. See what ways you can envision maximising value on an introductory call.”
I waited until the thrum of activity was in sway before I approached Katie. She turned away from me and pressed her palm to her cheek, as though that would cover anything.
“What happened?” I whispered.
“Nothing,” she said, and her smile was big and fake.
“Bullshit,” I hissed. “Did she hit you?”
“You don’t sound all that surprised at the prospect,” she said. And I wasn’t. I’d known Verity long enough to know she was a tantrum-thrower. A little madam who lashed out when she didn’t get her own way. Katie sighed. “I’m fine,” she said. “Don’t make a scene.”
But it was too late for that, I was already headed for Verity’s desk. I grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her to her feet and was already frogmarching her out of the room by the time I beckoned Katie to follow. She shook her head, but I continued regardless, relieved when she shrugged and followed in our wake.
I led Verity into one of the meeting rooms and virtually forced her into a seat.
“You’re out,” I said. “Dismissed.”
She shot me a look full of hate. “What? Why?!”
Katie opened the door and I pointed straight to her face. “How about assault?”
Verity laughed. “It was an accident, I slipped. Didn’t I, Katie?”
Katie’s eyes were like fire and her jaw was gritted. “Something like that.”
“You’re out,” I repeated. “You can get your things and leave. Now.”
“You can’t fire me!” she snapped, and then she laughed. “This is my dad’s business! It’s mine! Or it will be!”
“Not yet, it isn’t,” I said. “It’s my call, and your father’s.”
“He’d never fire me!”
I picked up the telephone extension on the desk in front of me. “Let’s see, shall we?”
I pressed for David’s extension, but Verity reached out and pressed call cancel. “This is stupid! It was a stupid accident.”
“I’ve seen plenty of your accidents over the years, Verity, but not on my watch. I want you gone.”
Her mouth flapped like a fish. “But you can’t! I’m not leaving!”
I went to grab hold of her again, but Katie reached for my arm. Her touch was light and delicate and stilled me instantly.
“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t make a martyr out of the little bitch. I can handle her.”
“She’s out,” I said. “She assaulted you, on work premises, on my watch.”
“Yeah,” she replied. “And I slammed her into the wall and now we’ve got each other’s measure. I can handle her,” she said. “She doesn’t need to leave, and I don’t want her to, not when I’m about to outperform her spoiled little ass.”
“Outperform me?!” Verity sneered. “As fucking if.”
I looked at Katie and the scratch on her pretty skin gave me the rage, deep inside. I was all set to ignore her and throw Verity out regardless, but I noticed the fire in her eyes. There it was. Resolve, and hunger and drive. The drive to win.
And she could win this.
It would be blissfully fucking sweet to see her win this.
“I mean it,” she said. “We’re cool now, we’ve clocked each other’s form.”
I glared at Verity as though I could burn her alive. “If this ever happens again. Ever. If I hear so much as a peep of any kind of incitement, or abuse, or physical violence, you’ll be out on your ear and straight into a fucking police car, understand me? I don’t care who your fucking father is.”
“Yeah, whatever,” she said, and I could have slapped the bitch.
I leaned over the table, until we were eye to eye. Her brows flew high and her composed facade broke down enough that I could see right through her, and all I saw was a jealous, vindictive, spiteful little cow.
“I’m disgusted by you,” I said. “And I will be telling your father. I’ll be telling him exactly what a nasty, violent little cow you are.”
“Tell him!” she said. “I don’t care!” But she did care, it was written all over her face.
“I should take this further,” I said to Katie. “You should report this.” But she was already shaking her head.
“It’s a scratch,” she said. “Bad aim, that’s all.” Her eyes pleaded me. “Let us go back to work, where it matters.”
“This matters,” I insisted. “This matters a lot.”
“Let me do this,” she said. “Please, Carl. Just leave it be.”
And Verity saw the familiarity between us. Her mouth twisted into a sneer and she glared daggers at me.
I was glad she saw it.
I was proud she saw it.
I wanted to show the bitch a whole lot more.
I weighed up the situation. I weighed up Katie’s injury and her composure. I weighe
d up how adamant she was that she wanted to take Verity on. I weighed up how I’d keep an eye on the situation, every single word that spewed from Verity’s mouth. How I’d tell David all about it and make damn sure it wouldn’t ever happen again.
I weighed up how steely my little blue-eyes was becoming and how confident she was, how sure.
And I noticed the feelings rising up in me. The venom and the anger. The impotence I felt at failing her, at not keeping her safe.
I wanted to keep her safe.
But I wanted to see her fly, too. I wanted to see her take on the nasty little cow and win.
“This isn’t over,” I said to Verity. “Not by a long fucking shot, madam.” She stared, mute. “Get back to your desk,” I said. “I’ll deal with you later.”
She didn’t need telling twice, and Katie breathed out a sigh of relief when she was gone.
“Thank you,” she said. “For not firing her.”
“I should have fired her,” I snapped. “I still should. She should be gone.”
Katie smiled. “I’m used to it, seriously, it’s just a scratch.”
I took her chin in my fingers, angled her face so I could see. I ran a thumb over the cut, and it was just a scratch, hardly a break of the skin. “I hate this,” I said. “I hate that this happened on my watch.”
“In the ladies’ toilet,” she said. “What were you supposed to do? Armed guard me?” She sighed. “I’m used to Verity bitch face, I can handle her shit.”
“I don’t want you to handle her shit,” I said, and the words tumbled out. “I want to keep you safe.”
Her eyes widened and her cheeks blushed. “Thanks… but, I, um… I’m tough. I’m alright…” She reached out and touched my arm. “I’m good, Carl, really. It was nothing.”
But it was something.
It was something to me.
She was something to me.
Chapter Fifteen
Carl
David was uncharacteristically quiet as I gave him the lowdown. I didn’t pull my punches and he didn’t interject. I watched as the man I’d grown to know so well grew old before my eyes. He rubbed his temples as I recounted the aftermath of toilet-gate, and then he put his face in his hands.
