Not Safe For Work

by L. A. Witt

  Top drop notwithstanding, I decided I wouldn’t mind more nights like that. Lying back on Rick’s bed while he sucked my cock. Fucking him until I didn’t even care if I came anymore because it felt amazing just like that. A shower that led to more sex before we finally made it downstairs for TV and pizza. Rick was amazing company. We really needed to spend more nights like—

  The phone on my desk rang, startling me out of my thoughts.

  I set my X-ACTO and ruler aside and reached across my desk to pick it up. “Drafting and modeling, this is Jon.”

  “It’s Marie,” my boss said flatly. “Meeting in conference room three. Now.”

  I bit down on a string of profanity. “But I need to finish—”

  “Mitchell just called me and said it’s urgent. I’ll meet you there.”

  And with that, the line went dead.

  I exhaled. This was not going to kill my good mood today. I refused to allow it. Whatever my bosses had up their asses, it was rolling off this duck’s back and that was all there was to it.

  “I have to go up and talk to Marie.” I turned to Teagan. “Can you handle these guys while I’m gone?”

  “As long as they don’t try to light each other on fire or something.”

  “Cal, don’t set Bianca on fire.”

  “Thanks, Jon.” Teagan laughed. “You’re a big help.”

  “Any time. All right, I’ll be back when I get back.”

  On my way up to the fourth floor, I tried to guess what this was about. Impromptu meetings weren’t that unusual, but clients were usually involved. Rick wouldn’t even be here until later today, so God knew what they wanted this time. Probably another time-waster meeting. Or maybe it was a brainstorming session about cutting costs. Those were always fun. Nothing like watching boys with yachts wring their hands over the price of foam-core and model cement. And then they’d be on my ass for not finishing the model in time for their presentation this afternoon.

  Whatever. In a few hours, Rick would be in my bed, and I just couldn’t bring myself to get indigestion over anything that went on in this building.

  I stepped off the elevator and nearly collided with Marie.

  “Oh, sorry.” I fell into step beside her. “So, no idea what this is about?”

  “No.” She scowled. “They probably want us to bend space and time to get something done ahead of schedule.”

  “Again?” I sighed dramatically. “I’m running out of Spice, damn it.”

  She eyed me. “Out of what?”

  “Never mind.” I made a dismissive gesture. “Science fiction reference.”

  “Probably one from before my time.”

  I shot her a glare. “You’re not that much younger than me.”

  “Young enough, apparently.”

  We glanced at each other, and both laughed. Apparently she was in a good mood too. That was a positive sign—if she and I could banter a little here and there, it meant things were calming down. Enough work to keep us all employed, not enough to keep us here for a hundred hours a week.

  Yep, this was going to be a good day.

  We stepped into the conference room. All three partners were there, which was unusual when there wasn’t a client around, and as soon as we walked in, their heads turned toward us.

  No. Toward me.

  Great. What did I fuck up this time?

  “Mr. McNeill.” Mitchell narrowed his eyes. “Would you have a seat, please?” He gestured at an empty chair that was rapidly beginning to resemble a hot seat.

  I glanced at Marie. I was probably imagining it, but I swore she’d put a little more distance between us, as if avoiding the inevitable lightning bolt.

  Without a word, I did as I was told. Marie stayed standing behind me.

  “We won’t keep you long,” Mitchell said flatly. “But something has come to light. And we have some…questions.”

  Sam Mitchell—his brother—sat silently, hands folded and gaze fixed on the screen on the wall. Beside him, Forsyth squirmed in his chair like he either didn’t want to be here or desperately needed to take a shit.

  Mitchell cleared his throat. Without any further comment, he pressed a button on a little black remote, and a video came to life on the screen.

  And my heart stopped.

  On the same screen where they’d bored us to death with countless PowerPoint presentations, where we’d looked over schematics and aesthetics for dozens of structures, was a grainy black-and-white video from one of the parking garage surveillance cameras. And front and center, there we were—Rick and me.

  Fuck. Fuck!

  A lightning bolt, a heart attack or a goddamned grizzly bear—any of them would have been welcome at that point. Just take me out and make it quick.

  I’d been so fucking cocky about the fact that they couldn’t fire me for getting involved with Rick, I’d gotten careless. Stupidly careless. And things in this room were going to get incredibly awkward in three…two…

  The looks we were exchanging, and the way we were obviously wrapped up in conversation—we could’ve just been a couple of guys who’d bumped into each other in the garage. Except we were standing too close. And I’d been warned how many times about having the audacity to breathe the same air as Rick. But there we were.

  My hand on his arm could’ve been a platonic gesture. It could’ve been anything. But the video wasn’t going to stop there. I knew it wasn’t. Like a train wreck in slow motion, we went on—talking, smiling, touching, careening toward that moment when there’d be no denying what was going on.

  Onscreen, I moved in closer.

  Hostile work environment in three…

  I smiled up at Rick.

  Two…

  My stomach lurched as we all watched me draw Rick into another longer kiss.

  Mitchell shifted uncomfortably. Forsyth cleared his throat. Marie swore under her breath.

  And right then, they froze the image.

  With my hand in Rick’s hair, his arm around my waist, and both of us locked in a deep kiss.

  All heads turned toward me again.

  “Mr. McNeill,” Mitchell said in a low growl. “Would you care to tell us what’s going on in this video?”

  Someone muttered something, which I had no doubt was homophobic and obnoxious, but I couldn’t make it out over the thumping of my heart.

  I gulped. “This, um, wasn’t exactly how I wanted to come out at work, but—”

  “I couldn’t care less about you being gay,” Mitchell spat. He pointed a pen at the image. “What I want to know is what’s going on here?”

  Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  Marie cleared her throat. “Mitchell, I think—”

  “I’m asking him.” Mitchell glared at her, and I thought I felt her shrinking back behind me. She wasn’t one to be cowed by these guys, not even when they were being utter assholes, but this had apparently caught her off guard too.

  Mitchell shifted his attention back to me and folded his arms across his chest. “Was I not clear about the owners of Horizon Developing?”

  “You were, sir.” My mouth had gone dry, and I struggled to hold eye contact with him. I refused to stare at the floor and cower, but holy shit, they had me by the balls. They couldn’t fire me, though. Right? I’d thought that through. They’d be stupid to fire Rick Pierce’s lover.

  Right?

  Forsyth sat up, his expression twisted with disgust. “How long has this been going on?”

  “Since…” I swallowed. “A while. A few weeks, I guess.” Had it been that long? Had it only been that long? It felt like forever. My whole life.

  “I see.” His jaw tightened. “So all those times you told me that you and Mr. Pierce were having benign conversations…” His raised eyebrows finished the question.

  I cleared my throat again. Words failed me. The English language vanished from my mouth altogether. How the fuck was I supposed to explain myself?

  Finally, I managed, “You know what’s going on between us.”
I gestured at the screen as if that kiss was even the tip of the iceberg. “I’m assuming I should go clean out my desk.”

  “No.”

  I blinked. “No?”

  “No.” He folded his hands tightly on the table and glanced at his business partners before glaring at me again. “Let’s get one thing perfectly straight here, Mr. McNeill: Rick Pierce is the client who will make or break this firm. We cannot afford to lose his account. Am I clear?”

  I nodded, my throat constricting.

  “So whatever this is”—Forsyth gestured at the image, wrinkling his nose—“must continue.”

  My jaw fell open. “I beg your pardon?”

  “I think you understand us.”

  “Are you…” I swallowed hard. “Are you telling me that for the sake of the firm, and the Horizon account, my job now hinges on whether or not I keep my boyfriend happy?”

  Forsyth cringed, disgust radiating off the old bastard.

  “You’ve chosen to get…involved with a client,” Mitchell said coolly. “Like it or not, you are a part of this firm. And since this firm needs to do whatever it takes to keep Rick Pierce happy, so do you.”

  I coughed to get my breath moving. “This is our personal life. It—”

  “It ceased to be private and personal when you brought it onto company property.”

  “That was a lapse in judgment,” I said through my teeth. “It doesn’t give Mitchell & Forsyth jurisdiction over my bedroom.”

  Forsyth made a subtle gagging noise. Then he rose. “Mitchell, I think you have this handled.” Without waiting for a response, he walked out and let the door slam shut behind him.

  Mitchell and Sam exchanged scowls, and Mitchell turned to me again. “The last place Mitchell & Forsyth wants to be is in an employee’s bedroom. However, you’ve complicated the situation by choosing to get involved with our biggest client. Mitchell & Forsyth cannot afford to lose Horizon Developing’s business, which means you, Mr. McNeill, cannot afford to upset the relationship we have with them.”

  “Which means maintaining the one I have with him,” I said through tightly clenched teeth.

  “Exactly.”

  I just stared at him, disbelieving we were even having this conversation. This couldn’t be legal. They couldn’t… Could they?

  “I think we’ve made our point.” He clicked off the image on the screen and set the remote down. “We’ll see the both of you at this afternoon’s meeting.”

  And just like that, he and Forsyth got up and walked out.

  The door banged shut behind them. I was alone with my shock. And my boss. Slowly, she turned toward me, eyes narrow and lips pulled tight. I opened my mouth to speak, but she beat me to the punch and growled, “What the hell were you thinking?”

  “I—”

  “Could you have maybe given me a heads-up?”

  “What if I had?” I asked. “What would you have told me to do?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I’d have smacked you over the head and told you not to kiss the guy at the office while you knew you were on camera!”

  I swallowed. I’d known damn well there were cameras in the garage, but I’d been so raw in that moment, I’d gone ahead anyway. In an impulsive, needy moment, I’d thrown the dice and chanced a kiss on company property. Getting caught was a gamble I’d been willing to take right then, but in all my wildest dreams, I’d never imagined the consequences being…this.

  I exhaled. “Look, I don’t know what you want me to say.” When had my hands started shaking? “It just… It happened. We started seeing each other, and we wanted to keep it on the down-low. Up until now, we did. Then yesterday…” I closed my eyes, goose bumps prickling my neck at the memory, and the pit of my stomach sinking as if to remind me how I’d felt when he’d pulled me aside in the parking garage. Sighing, I met my boss’s gaze. “I didn’t think anyone would see it.”

  I didn’t think anything could taint that kiss. I didn’t think anything could kill my mood today.

  Oh God, Rick’s going to be here today…

  Marie’s expression softened. So did her voice. “For the record, I think this is bullshit. They have no right to put you in this position. I don’t even think something like this is legal.”

  “I’m pretty sure it’s not, but what can I do about it?”

  “Not a whole lot. Aside from going to HR.”

  My shoulders slumped. “Even if I go to HR, it’s not going to change anything. All three partners are on board with this. HR can tell them to back off with that ultimatum all they want, but the fact is, if Rick takes his business elsewhere, I’m out of a job. They’ll find a reason.”

  Marie’s resigned sigh didn’t instill much confidence.

  “It’d be like if they wanted to fire me for being gay. As long as they don’t come out and say it…” I half shrugged.

  “Except they’ve given you the ultimatum. If they fire you, you’ve got a damned good case.”

  I laughed bitterly. “Yeah, well. In this state, as long as they’re not firing me for being in a protected class, there’s nothing I can do. And last I checked, ‘in a relationship with a powerful client’ is a Facebook status, not a protected class.”

  Marie rubbed the bridge of her nose. When she dropped her hand, she said, “I’m sorry, Jon. If I’d known…” She shrugged apologetically. “I mean, I didn’t even realize you were gay.”

  “I’m…I’m not.” I combed a shaky hand through my hair. “I’m bi. Not that it matters. I just, um, never made it public when I was dating a man.”

  “Well, either way, that meeting blindsided me too, or I’d have tried to do something.”

  “I’m not sure there’s much you could have done. I just wish I knew what to do now.”

  “You and me both.” She folded her arms loosely. “Listen, if I have your permission, I can go talk to HR. And I’ve got a lawyer friend that can probably help.”

  I nodded. “Yeah. Thanks.”

  “In the meantime, just keep working. I know that’s asking a lot because your concentration is probably shot, but I don’t know what else to tell you.”

  “I know. And…” I cringed. “I need to finish that model for the meeting with Horizon Developing this afternoon.”

  Marie winced. “Shit.” She chewed her lip, rocking from her heels to the balls of her feet. Then she met my gaze. “Skip the meeting. I’ll make excuses to the partners. It isn’t like they’ll say anything to anyone but you or me, and I’ll vouch for you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t mention it.” She shooed me toward the door. “Go. I’ll come up with something, and we’ll figure this out somehow.”

  “Thanks.”

  I left, and on my way to the elevator, my stomach lurched. I wasn’t ready to face my crew anyway, so I stepped into the men’s room to compose myself. The sick feeling subsided pretty quickly—enough that I knew I wasn’t going to actually puke—but the panicked, heart-pounding, gut-twisting “oh fuck” feeling wasn’t going anywhere.

  My bosses knew, and soon, my colleagues would know, and that thought filled me with almost as much panic and dread as the prospect of looking Rick in the eye tonight. I wasn’t ready to talk about this with him. I sure as fuck wasn’t ready to talk about it with them.

  And damn it. Of all the restrooms in this building, I’d picked this one. The one where we’d stolen another kiss on company property when I’d been working myself into the ground.

  I leaned against the icy wall and stared up at the ceiling. This was really happening, wasn’t it? The jig was up, the truth was out, and I was fucked.

  Now I had two choices—I could keep Rick happy, or I could find another job.

  Forty-five. In a profession that was rapidly being replaced by computers. With three kids in college and two looking at grad school.

  Correction—I had one choice.

  Which technically meant no choice.

  Which meant that either Rick was literally fucked, or I was
figuratively fucked, and holy shit, ultimatums like this didn’t bode well for anyone getting turned on enough to fuck.

  I slid down the wall until I was crouched, the vague ache in my knees reminding me of the times I’d done this while Rick knelt in front of me. That memory should’ve been enough to make me grin, or raise goose bumps on my spine at the thought of having all that again at the next possible opportunity.

  Did I tell Rick? Or did I keep it to myself? Shit. I couldn’t tell him. Then he might pull his business from the firm, and we’d all be fucked. Or he might think everything I’d done for him so far had been out of a need for job security.

  A ball of lead formed in my gut. It hadn’t been for job security before, but suddenly I didn’t know where that ended and my desire began. Now I had to keep Rick happy. I had to give him anything and everything he wanted. I had to make sure this thing worked, kept working, didn’t stop working any time soon.

  Fuck. This wasn’t done blowing up in my face, was it?

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  In the NSFW Zone, I was hanging by a thread. I couldn’t tell them. I couldn’t concentrate. I wasn’t even sure I could keep my coffee down, but I kept drinking it anyway because I was on autopilot.

  The music, the banter, the mouse-clicking, the gum-snapping. I couldn’t take it anymore. I wanted to follow Silent Dave’s lead and retreat into my own little world, but there was no point in going there either. I could escape the noise, the distraction, all the chaos that normally made my job enjoyable and made the hours fly by. Everything that used to make this the most incredible work environment on the planet. I could escape it all if I needed to, but that wouldn’t help. The only reason it all bothered me now was because it reminded me of what I didn’t hear.

  I let myself get lost in my model and thoughts of Rick. I was aware of everyone talking around me, but even under the threat of death, I couldn’t have repeated a word they said. I made a few dazed trips to the supply room, including one in which I made it halfway back to the Zone before I had to go back and get everything I’d gone in to get in the first place.

  Now all I needed to do was remember how to read a blueprint, and I’d be all—