[The Shifters Committee 05.0] Sensual Hero

by Rebecca Foxx

  I threw the newspaper down and let Julie go. All around me was more chaos and bill, the intern, nearly spilled all of his coffee on me. “Dammit Bill!” I shouted. My words got the attention of the mob of reporters and they swarmed me with flashing cameras and questions.

  It was nearly impossible to make out one word from the other. Their mouths were like machine guns rapidly firing out questions without a single ounce of intellectual interest in any of them. I kept my arms raised to cover my face, but I couldn’t raise them too high in fear that I might damage my suit.

  “Now, now,” crooned a familiar, cynical tone. “Away with all of you vultures. Go on. Be gone!” In an instant the flashes and questions stopped as the reporters scuttled away into the elevator leading down.

  My blood was hotter than it’d ever been looking at Tom If we weren’t in public, I might’ve considered strangling him.

  “Tom…” He didn’t seem interested in me. “Tom!” I shrill yelp got his attention and he turned to me with a raised brow.

  “What can I do for you, my dear boy?”

  “Cut the shit, Tom. How’d you dig all this bullshit up on me?”

  He shrugged and looked away as he said, “I have my sources. A true magician never reveals…”

  “Tom, I want this fixed.”

  He paused for a few moments and then burst out laughing. Even the way he laughed didn’t seem to genuinely please him. The second he could catch his breath, he told me, “Oh, you’re a funny one! You just won’t stop forgetting your place around here, will you? I mean really… When am I going to get it through that thick skull of yours, hmm? You can’t make me do shit, Stewart.”

  I refrained from speaking and grit my teeth. “You mind if we go to my office, Tom?”

  “Not at all.”

  We walked past a few desk covered in various papers and the desk workers danced around us to stay out of our way. I appreciated the gesture, however, I didn’t appreciate Tom sitting atop my desk in the same manner he had before. He crossed his legs and sat his locked fingers on one of his thighs.

  All I could do was look on at him, sneering. “Listen, Tom I don’t know what the fuck your deal is, but you can’t do this kind of shit.”

  “Oh can’t I?”

  I took a step forward, pointing at him. “I’ll take you to court.”

  “Try it. You’ve got one lawyer, right?” He scoffed. “I’ve got a whole team.” My finger fell and my posture faltered. “Face it: you’re beat. There’s no point in sticking around anymore is there?”

  The first image that came to mind was Steven’s face. Not being able to see him all the while he was at work when I was so used to seeing it every day was devastating to me. I can’t let that happen! “I won’t let you bully me out of the job, Tom…”

  “Stewart… It’s either you quit the job or you get fired. There’s no way around it.” Tom grinned cruelly and leaned back on the desk. “Besides, I’ve already written the report.”

  “What’s it going to take to make you reconsider?” I asked, my voice weak and shaky.

  Tom shrugged and said, “Be normal.”

  “Normal…? What do you mean by that?” I knew what he meant before he even had to hint at the answer, but I had to hear it for myself.

  “Need everything spelled out for you huh? Heh, that’s a typical faggot right there.”

  “Don’t you fucking call me that!” I hissed, my fist slamming against the wall. The adrenaline going through my system was more than enough to help me withstand the pain even though I could see the blood coming from my knuckles.

  Tom paused for a moment, scanning over me as if he was a robot that needed new information. After a few seconds, he put out a hand and said, “I’ll give you a day to figure out what you wanna do. Does that seem fair to you?”

  I crossed my arms and asked, “Does any of this seem fair to you?”

  Tom got off my desk and walked past me without saying another word. My phone vibrated, meaning I’d gotten a text—probably from Steven. I dreaded checking the message because no matter what mood he was in, I’d dampen it with a phrase that almost hurt to think about: “We need to talk.”

  Ch. 6

  Steven let me through the door without either of us saying a word to each other. Things were different this time around. Instead of feeling warm, close, and comfortable everything was cold, distant, and jaded. We didn’t even keep eye contact for longer than a few seconds in fear that one of us would say something to the other.

  Eventually, I knew it had to be me to break the ice. “So, I guess you noticed all the commotion that happened at work today.” He nodded. “And so…you saw the papers?”

  Steven nodded again and said, “Yeah, that was some pretty nasty shit, Stewart. I don’t know how you’re going to come back from that one.”

  “Kind of seems impossible at the moment.” I threw a hand up and behind my head to scratch the back of my neck.

  “So, who released the article anyway? How’d they make it? I’ve been your assistant forever, but I didn’t even have a clue you were into guys.”

  I stared at the ground, twiddling my thumbs. “That was pretty much the plan, yeah… I’m not sure how they did it, honestly. I don’t think I’ve told anyone for…years.”

  Steven shifted in his seat a little as if he was uncomfortable. “Yeah…”

  “I’m sorry. Did I say something wrong?” I asked as I turned to him.

  He immediately turned away from me. I could see his eyes growing redder as tears welled up. “It’s just…” he could barely choke the words out.

  “Steven?! What’s wrong, dude?” I leaned in closer to Steven and tried to scoop him up in my arms, but he pulled away from me. “You…you don’t really believe the stuff in those articles, do you?”

  He shook his head. “No, of course not!” After a brief pause, he asked me, “Stewart?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Did I ever tell you how I got my job at the office?”

  “No… I don’t believe you have, Steven.”

  “A while ago my dad passed and my mom didn’t want to take care of me anymore. I was seventeen at the time. She gave me to my uncle so he could take care of me. I still live with him at twenty-one.”

  “Oh, so your uncle got you the job? Do I work with him?”

  Steven shifted uncomfortable and scratched the side of his hair. “I…um… I guess you could say that…”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, my head tilting to the side a little.

  He took a deep breath and said, “He’s on a level higher than you and you probably think he’s the most evil person you’ve ever met…”

  What? Holy shit…! There’s no way he could possibly mean…!

  “Steven! Tom’s your uncle?!” the words came out before I could stop them.

  Steven was silent for a few moments and then gave me a single nod. “Y-yes…”

  “And you fucking told him about us?!” I raised my voice higher than I expected to as I jumped off the couch and away from him. My face scrunched up in anger and my breaths grew shallow.

  “N-no!” Steven tried to find the words as he grasped at the air, but nothing came to him.

  I stood over him, hardly able to keep from lunging at him and interrogating him hands-on. “Then what in the fuck did you tell him then?” I growled lowly at him.

  “The only things I told him were that I had a crush on someone and they might’ve been from work.” I gave him a dull look of disbelief and he put his hands up in defense. “No, seriously! That’s all I told him! I swear.

  “Then how the fuck does he know any of the other stuff?” I asked, my voice getting higher again.

  “I don’t know!” He sighed, trying to collect himself. “Look, I don’t know, okay? I didn’t want you to get caught up in some of my uncle’s bullshit, okay? He has a habit of doing this kind of thing, but I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you on my watch.”

  I sat down on one of the couch ends an
d crossed my arms while rolling my eyes. “Oh yeah… That’s priceless. Where were you in that department when they were going on about our little dinner dates on the front page?”

  Steven shook his head and then planted both of his hands at the sides of his head. “That shit was a little out of range, okay? I can’t know everything.”

  “Yeah, I know…”

  He scooted down over to me and put his hand over mine. I jerked my hand away—still refusing to look at him.

  “Stewart… The last thing I’d ever want to do is hurt you. If you would just trust me I know that I can get this shit sorted out and it’ll never come up again.” He put his hand over mine, but instead of pulling away I looked down and into his eyes. “No one reads the tabloids anyway.”

  His words warmed my heart. I could feel each one’s sincerity so perfectly and yet I still felt the need to ask, “Do you really mean that?”

  “You know I do, Stewart,” he replied warmly, squeezing my hand softly. I could feel my heart melting in my chest and the tears welling up in my eyes. “I really hope you’re right, Steven… Not being able to see you every day might be a fate worse than death.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t worry… I won’t let anyone take away your happy endng…” he said as he leaned up and pressed his lips to mine.

  THE END

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