by B. B. Hamel
I take a deep breath. I hate starting new jobs.
I wasn’t even looking for something new, to be honest. I got a call out of nowhere from a recruiter talking about stupid amounts of money doing what I was already doing, a form of opposition research. Only I’d be doing it for an education company, and I’d be researching new markets.
It was too good to pass up, and when I nailed the interview, I knew I had to take the job. So here I am, a few weeks later starting at a company I don’t know a whole lot about doing a job I’m not sure I even fully understand yet. I’m nervous and I’m excited and I have no clue what’s going to happen from here.
I guess that’s the beauty, the uncertainty of it. Anything might happen. Maybe I’ll love this place, but maybe I’ll hate it. Only one way to find out
I push through the big doors and step into the lobby. I fall into the flow of people and follow them into the elevators, riding it up to the tenth floor. Quest Education has three floors of this huge downtown office building. As soon as I step off the elevator, I fall in with a whole group of new hires. There are probably ten of us in total, and soon we move into a conference room to begin our little orientation session.
I’m distracted, chewing on the back of my pen, as the guy from HR goes over the employee handbook. It’s pretty boring stuff, your typical first-day-of-class garbage. That triggers an old memory, one I haven’t thought of in a while: Mr. Drake, pressing me up against the blackboard.
I haven’t thought about him in a few years. After high school, I went to Princeton, and got a pretty good job in the city after graduating. I’ve had boyfriends, but nobody stuck. Now I’m twenty-eight, single, and starting a new job, thinking about a guy I don’t even know anymore.
It’s pathetic, but god was that hot. Hell, he was gorgeous, one of the most attractive men I’ve ever met. I can’t believe I was so stupid back then, wearing those slutty outfits for him, flirting with him so mercilessly. And I can’t believe it worked, even for a second, but I must have caught him on a weak day or something. After that one kiss, he didn’t try anything or act inappropriately. But that kiss, it was something else. I’ve gotten myself off many times just picturing what else he would have done to me if he hadn’t gotten control of himself.
After lunch, we break into our departments. Four other people are with me in a smaller conference room, three guys and another girl names Darlene.
“Call me Dar,” she says, smiling. “You’re in the analytics department, too?”
I nod. “Yep. Where were you before here?”
“Harvard,” she says.
“Oh, first job?”
She nods, all bushy tailed and bright eyed. “That’s right. I’m nervous.”
“Don’t be. This is my, oh god, third now, I guess.”
“Really, where did you work before this?”
“Fox Wilberts,” I say. “Law firm downtown, doing this sort of stuff.”
“Law firm? That’s really cool.”
“I guess. They’re tough though, track every single dime.”
Just as she laughs, a man walks in through the door. He’s in his thirties, balding a bit, bags under his eyes, with a big smile on his face. He’s a little out of shape, and immediately my creep alarm bells go off.
Every girl has creep alarm bells. We’re like hardwired to get a bad feeling any time some creepy guy comes around. And this guy makes my alarms go off like crazy. I’m instantly a little uncomfortable as he steps into the room.
“Hello, everyone, I’m Karl Slay, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He beams at us and I notice that his teeth are unnaturally white—definitely veneers.
Eventually I learn that Karl is my new boss. He’s not so bad, at least not so far. He shows us the ropes of the department, how to log into our computers and all that stuff, and eventually shows everyone to their little cubicles.
“And this is you,” he says to me. As I step into my cube, he sort of guides my body by putting his hand on my lower back. I get the chills and he definitely shouldn’t touch me, but the moment quickly passes.
“Get comfortable, bring in personal items, whatever,” he says to me, still beaming, an unnerving grin. “This is your personal space. And I hope a second home.”
I laugh nervously. “Thanks, Karl.”
“No problem. I’m glad you’re on board, Sofia. Why don’t you get comfortable, log in, set up your email and all that? Holler if you need anything.”
He waves and heads off with Dar. I feel bad for her, but at least I’m free of him.
So far, so good. Karl is a little creepy and off but hopefully that won’t be an issue. Maybe he’s not so bad, and I’ll like him as I get to know him.
I sit down and soon the rest of the day melts past. I lose myself in the mundane boringness of an office job, setting up my stuff, exploring which websites are blocked and which ones aren’t. Fortunately, I can still get on G-chat and Facebook, which is kind of all I ever need.
Just as five thirty is rolling around, Karl comes out of his office. I watch him walk across the room and stop near the elevators. The doors open and another man steps out. Together they walk back toward the cubes.
“Hey, everyone, new people, can you come meet us over here?” he calls out.
I stand up and freeze. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. I have to blink and rub my eyes to make sure that I’m not dreaming at my desk or something, but it’s not a dream.
Standing next to Karl is Mr. Drake. He’s ten years older, so probably in his late thirties, a bit older than Karl. But he doesn’t look a day of it. In fact, he looks even better: more rugged, more handsome if that’s even possible. He looks like he has even more experience. He’s wearing a suit that fits his muscular frame perfectly and he looks like he needs a shave.
I finally get ahold of myself and join the others. We’re gathered in the break room of our department. Mr. Drake looks at me and recognition flickers across his face. I stare at him but he looks away as Karl starts speaking.
“Everyone, this is Jacob Drake. He’s the founder and CEO of our little company. Jacob?”
“Hello, everyone,” he says, and a familiar chill runs down my spine. I’d recognize that voice anywhere. Deep, rich timbre, like a radio personality. “It’s nice to meet you all. I like to try and come down and meet every new person we bring on board.” He hesitates and grins. “Helps when we can do it as a group.”
We all laugh nervously. I can’t believe it’s him, it’s really Mr. Drake. We do introductions, and when it comes to my turn, I almost don’t know what to say.
“Uh, hi, I’m Sofia---“
“Sofia Wolf,” he finishes for me. “I remember you.”
There’s an odd moment where we’re shaking hands, staring into each other’s eyes, and I feel it all over again. That head-rushing, stomach-flipping spark of desire that I felt almost every day in high school when he was my teacher. I haven’t felt this in such a long time, I didn’t even know I could again.
“Uh, Sofia and I go way back,” he says after an awkward beat, dropping my hand. “Back before Quest, when I was a substitute teacher.”
The moment passes and we finish introductions, but I don’t hear anything else anyone says. When he’s finishes, he says goodbye and leaves the room. Karl dismisses us to head home for the day, and as I go back to my desk, Dar catches up with me.
“You know Jacob Drake?” she asks me, grinning like mad. “He was staring at you like you guys were close.”
“No,” I say quickly. “No, he was my substitute math teacher.”
“Ah,” she says. “Wow. I can’t imagine having him… oh, never mind.”
I laugh a little bit. “Yeah, he looked like that back then, too. Imagine being a teenage girl.”
“I can’t,” she says, a little dreamy. “I’d be a mess every day.”
“Yeah,” I say. “Well, that was a long time ago.”
“Good point. Still, pretty cool you know him. Could come in handy.”
>
“Doubt it. I wasn’t a great student.”
She laughs and waves. “Have a good day.”
I watch her go for a second before dropping down into my chair. I take a deep breath and have to calm myself down. My heart is pounding and my fingers are tingling.
I was just thinking about him today, which is the craziest part. Like somehow I knew I was going to see him again. He looks good, really freaking good. I had no clue he was the founder of Quest. I probably should have done more research, but this all happened so fast.
I lean back in my chair before finally grabbing my bags. Well, at least this was the most interesting first day I’ve ever had. I doubt I’ll even be seeing him, anyway. He’s too important around here to bother with a small fry like me.
I’m sure that was the only time I’ll talk to him while I’m working here. Besides, there’s no way he remembers what happened between us. Everything’s going to be fine, I’ll concentrate on my work and forget all about him.
If that’s even possible.
3
Jacob
Part of me thought it couldn’t possibly be her. I mean, after all this time, I couldn’t imagine that I’d end up seeing Sofia again.
But once I was in that room, looking her in the eye, it suddenly became real. There’s the girl I still think about sometimes, the girl I knew I could never touch, the darkest desire I’ve always tried to keep hidden inside of myself. She was just a teenager back then, a girl in high school, and even though she was eighteen when we kissed it was still so incredibly wrong.
Sometimes I’m ashamed of it, but I can’t help myself. There’s something about her, and she still has it. I can see that intensity in her eyes, although she’s all grown up now. Gone is any semblance of young softness, replaced by the full warmth of being a woman. She’s got curves in all the right fucking places, basically.
She’s even more gorgeous now than she was back then. A single photo didn’t do her justice. I couldn’t stop staring at her, I had to force myself to act normal and to look at every other person in the room. But I couldn’t help but notice that look of surprise and recognition in her eyes, and I know she remembers me. I know she was thinking about the same thing I was.
That moment we shared. That kiss, how fucking hot it was, how fucking wrong.
And it’s still wrong to want her. Maybe not in the same way, but she’s my employee. I’m not supposed to get involved with employees at all, especially not right now when things aren’t exactly stable for me in the company. Karl would use any excuse to try and get me fired, and he does have some support in the board.
I just can’t stop thinking about her though. It’s dangerous as hell, but I’ve never been the kind of man to back down from something that I want.
The next day, after seeing Sofia again for the first time, I have a meeting with the board first thing in the morning. I come into the office, get my usual coffee, check my messages, and head down to the boardroom.
I figure it’s going to be another boring ass meeting. I’ll pretend to give a shit as the old idiots drones on about sales figures and income, completely ignoring the important parts of our company like how many people we’ve helped and how many lives we’ve changed. With them, it’s all bottom line and nothing else.
But as soon as I get into the room, I know something’s off. Maybe I’ve been too distracted with Sofia this past day, but I’m not expecting this at all.
Standing at the head of the room is Karl. He has a PowerPoint presentation up on the projector and he’s in the middle of talking about a slide when I walk in.
“Ah, there he is,” Peter Booth says. I glance over at his white hair, his ruddy face, the wrinkles on his jowls. He’s heavyset with the look of a man that’s been drinking his whole life. And he happens to be Karl’s biggest supporter. “We thought you weren’t going to show.”
“This was scheduled for nine thirty,” I say, frowning at the group.
“It got moved,” Peter says. “Karl here has a very interesting presentation to give. We did wait, you know.”
I glance over at Byron Teller, one of my earliest supporters, and he just shrugs.
“My secretary must not have been updated,” I say, taking my seat. “I’ll have a word with her.”
“Anyway, as I was saying,” Karl continues, falling back into his presentation.
I didn’t know he was speaking today. I’m supposed to be updated on any board activities, but clearly this was kept from me. I bet the timing change was kept from me too, just to make me look weak in this moment.
And as Karl speaks, I can tell why. Immediately I’m uncomfortable and more than a little angry. Karl’s talking about changing metrics and demographics, and how we can more easily leverage them. He’s talking about variable pricing, increasing things like hidden fees and taxes, and cutting costs by utilizing older, out-of-date books and materials.
“As you can see, gentlemen,” Karl concludes, “there is a lot more money out there for us. We simply need to be brave enough to grasp it.”
The board claps, though Byron throws me an uncomfortable look. I’m seething in my seat, horrified about what I just witnessed, but the rest of the board seems happy about it.
“Well, that was wonderful,” Peter says as Karl takes a seat on the periphery of the table. “Any comments?”
“Just one,” I say quickly, and the table goes quiet. “If we forget our mission, we will be lost. Cutting costs and increasing revenue is all well and good, but if we fail our students, we will fail as a company.”
“Agreed,” Byron says immediately as the board members murmur to each other.
“Thank you, Jacob,” Peter says. “We all know your views. Anyone else?”
The board launches into discussions of textbooks and other boring and useless details. I glance over at Karl, and the smug look on his face makes me so angry I can barely stand it.
This was a fucking ambush. They purposefully kept me from coming here on time to knock me off guard and didn’t tell me about Karl’s presentation to keep me ignorant of it all. This was all done on purpose, and I fucking know it.
Things are happening in this company that are beyond my control, but I need to do something before we’re all ruined. Quest Education is about helping people by providing them inexpensive education opportunities. If we start gouging them on pricing and providing them with an inferior product, we’re going to not only lose our humanity, but we’ll lose all our customers. Providing a quality service is a huge part of what this company is all about.
I wish the others could see that. The meeting ends and we filter back out. Byron is in conversation with another member and gives me an apologetic look. Apparently even he doesn’t want to speak with me right now. I head toward my office, seething, not in the mood to get bogged down in conversation with these backstabbing bastards.
I shut my office door and sit down in my chair, sighing as I lean back. As soon as I close my eyes to try and calm myself, a memory comes back to me, completely unbidden.
It’s the first time I met Sofia. She was sitting in the back of the class on my first day, and I remember skimming the faces of my students. I remember seeing her bright, sharp eyes, and the little smile that crossed her face. My heart started beating so fast as she leaned forward, eyebrows raised, meeting my gaze. It was this incredible moment, so unguarded and intense and seductive, and I’ve never forgotten that.
Sofia is so incredibly sexy, and I don’t think she realizes it. There’s something subtle about her, not in your face or flashy at all. It’s a little smile, the quirk of an eyebrow, the hint of cleavage, the promise of curves. It’s the suggestion that beneath her exterior, there’s something so much more.
I got a glimpse of it every day in class with her. And for a brief moment, I broke down and I tasted it.
Now she’s back in my life. I’m under assault in my own house, and maybe she’s the perfect thing for me right now. Maybe Sofia can help me release some of thi
s pent-up stress and anger.
It’s a bad idea. If I get caught with her, my enemies may pounce and fuck shit up even worse. But just thinking about her now, her curves, her lips, I can’t control myself. My cock gets hard and I want to march down to her cubicle right now, drag her away from her boring computer, and fuck her senseless right here in the office.
I press my intercom button. “Minnie,” I say. “Can you clear my morning?”
“Of course,” she says. “Anything else?”
“No disturbances or distractions,” I answer. “Thanks.”
“Sure. Have a good morning.” She clicks off and I smile to myself.
There. Minnie, my secretary of many years, will keep the vultures away.
I unbuckle my belt and reach down my slacks. I grasp my cock and slowly stroke myself, root to tip, imagining what I’d do to Sofia.
Maybe I can’t actually fuck her. But at least I can picture what it would be like.
Sliding my fat cock between her legs. Spanking her perky ass. Making her get on her knees and beg for it as I slowly tie her hands behind her back.
I have a feeling she’d love to moan with my cock halfway down her throat.
4
Sofia
My first week at the new job passes without any issues. Like any new job, getting used to everything is stressful and difficult but also pretty boring. I don’t have a full workload yet, so I find there’s a lot of downtime in between tasks.
Which means I spend a lot of time Googling Jacob Drake. I can’t believe what I find out. While he was subbing back in the day, he was working on his Quest Education software in his free time. When he turned thirty, he started the company with the backing of a wealthy investor names Byron Teller, and together they built Quest Education into one of the leading online education companies in the world. Their software and their teaching staff are second to none.
I hadn’t heard of this before simply because Quest Education is a niche company, but they’re quickly expanding. Apparently Jacob is filthy rich now, and highly successful, but there are rumors online about some issues within the company. Apparently his style of management is being phased out and replaced with a more aggressive, profit-driven method