by Harper West
Then again, I still didn’t know why I felt safe the second JoJo rolled up on Tommy like that. I mean, the man had never done anything nice for me. All he did was humiliate me, and belittle me, and make me feel worthless. All that man wanted to do was ruin me. I was convinced that it was his only goal in life. And while I knew I couldn’t trust him—or any man, for that matter—it didn’t stop me from feeling as if I had been saved the second he walked up on Tommy and started calling him out on his bullshit.
Thinking about all of this exhausted me, and before I knew it my eyes closed, allowing me to slip off into an effortless slumber.
Before thoughts of JoJo with his hand wrapped around my throat infiltrated my dreams.
10
Rebecca
JoJo: Come in early tomorrow morning. Six o’clock. We need to talk.
“You even have him saved as ‘JoJo’ in your phone, now what gives?” Brit asked.
I quickly turned off my work phone and put it away. “It’s nothing, really. Just some stupid nickname.”
She scooted closer to me, offering me a spoon for our tub of ice cream. “You have a nickname for him, so clearly you two know one another outside of work.”
I rolled my eyes. “We went to high school together, that’s all.”
She balked. “That’s all!? Were you two an item or something back in high school?”
I scoffed. “Him and my sister were, yeah.”
“Ooooooh, I see.”
I looked over at her. “You see what?”
She snickered. “He’s making your life a living hell because your sister broke his heart, isn’t he?”
If you only knew. “Ah, it’s not that bad.”
She giggled. “Well, at any rate, use that to your advantage. If you’ve known him for that long--.”
“I don’t know him, Brit. It’s not like we kept in touch or anything.”
“Still, I bet you could leverage it.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not going to do anything like that, okay? Now, let’s watch this movie. I have yet to see Magic Mike 2 and I don’t want anyone interrupting my ‘me time.’”
Brit cackled as she hunkered down beneath our shared blanket. “Girl, I feel you one hundred percent on that one. Let’s load the bitch up.”
My girl weekend had been absolutely wonderful, but I dreaded having to go into work early. In fact, long after Brit had left to go back to her place, I was still up trying to figure out what the hell JoJo wanted from me. Now that I had told someone that I knew him from high school, it was only a matter of time before that got spread around the office.
Would he be pissed that people knew that?
I need to tell him before he hears it from his secretary.
I tossed and turned all night. I kept dreaming about all of the ways JoJo would fire me once I came clean about telling a co-worker about our prior knowledge of one another. And when my alarm went off at a quarter to five, I leapt out of bed because I had already been up scrolling on my phone for an hour.
I cleaned myself up and made sure I gave myself enough time to settle into my office before making my way up to his.
And right at six, I knocked on his door.
“Get in here,” he said gruffly.
I quickly slipped inside and closed the door. “You needed to see me?”
“Lock it.”
I paused. “What?”
I heard him put his pen down. “I said, lock the damn door.”
I drew in a deep breath before I flipped the lock, then I turned to find him perched against the edge of his desk. With his hands in his pockets, he nodded toward the chair in front of his desk, beckoning me to sit as the bulge in front of his pants started growing. I cleared my throat and did as he asked, sitting in front of him with his cock practically staring at me.
And as his pants started to tent, my heart rate jumped into the clouds again.
“What—what is it, Mr. Ryker?” I asked.
He slid his hands out of his pockets. “Hell of a situation you got yourself into last night.”
I nodded slowly. “Dealing with Tommy has been interesting, yes.”
“You know, you’re not the only woman to have issues with him.”
“Then, why is he still working here?”
He smirked. “Because I believe in a ‘three strikes rule.’ You report him, that’s his last strike. But, if you don’t…”
I blinked. “Are you saying that I’ve got this man’s job in my hands now?”
He cupped his dick right in front of me. “Or we could do this another way.”
I swallowed hard. “Another way?”
He nodded. “You could do a favor for me, and then I could do a favor for you. Save you the embarrassment of having to recount everything to H.R. for the report.”
Oh God, it’s happening. “What—what did you have in—in mind?”
I saw my squirming bring him pleasure as his dick grew harder and his eyes ignited with lust. “I’m a very busy man, Becca. I’m sure you can imagine.”
“Yes, I can, Mr. Ryker.”
He stood to his feet, his cock coming even closer. “So, I’m sure you know that with my job comes a lot of stress I don’t always get to relieve.”
I hated the fact that my thighs clenched together to seek out friction. “I’m sure if I’m stressed, you’re very stressed.”
His hands moved to his belt. “Very, very stressed. And I think after last night, the two of us could use a bit of a release, don’t you think?”
My mouth salivated even as I grimaced. “Depends on the, uh, I mean—we—we could—Mr. Ryker?”
His belt fell open. “You have a wonderfully plump set of lips.”
I blushed at his words and my core ached. “Thank you.”
“And you have such a lovely rack. Thick fucking tits I’d love to--.”
Knock, knock, knock. “Mr. Ryker?”
He scrambled to get his belt buckled before he dipped his hand into his pants and rearranged himself. I breathed a heavy sigh of what I can only assume was relief at the sound of his secretary’s voice, but I saw on his face that he wasn’t the least bit pleased. I flopped against the cushion of the chair that cradled me as he stormed past me toward his door. And as I drew in a deep breath, I stood to my feet so that he couldn’t corner me again.
Because I knew if he did, I’d cave.
“What is it?” he asked harshly.
His secretary, Lexie, spoke as if she hadn’t been barked at by some rich white asshole. “I need your signatures on some paperwork from the lawyer. It’s urgent.”
I cleared my throat. “And that’s my cue. Have a nice day, Mr. Ryker.”
Before he could beckon me to stay, I slipped out of his office and booked it back to my own. I slammed my body into the door and took the stairs down but stopped on the landing between his floor and my own. I rubbed my forearms against my tits, trying to settle them down as juices dripped against the cotton of my panties.
“God damn it, what’s wrong with me?” I said breathlessly.
And as I leaned against the wall, I closed my eyes.
It felt wrong to be as turned on as I was, and yet I couldn’t help it. I slid to the floor, crouching and trying to get myself under control before I emerged back into the land of the living. I knew I could report him for harassment. I knew I needed to as well. But, with the fear of retaliation hanging over my head and my inability to admit that I actually hated it, I knew the report wouldn’t go very far.
Especially if my nipples puckered this tightly while talking to the fucking H.R. lady in the first place.
“Jesus, come on. Get up,” I whispered.
After pulling myself up from the concrete landing, I made my way back to my office. I closed my door and was tempted to throw the lock, so I did just to make sure that neither Tommy nor JoJo could barge in on me in the middle of my day. I shot Brit a text to let her know that my door wouldn’t be open for the majority of today, and after she sent me a th
umbs-up emoji along with a ringing heart, I decided to get started on my workday.
Maybe if I finished early, I could get out of here without Tommy following me to the garage again.
You report him, that’s his last strike.
JoJo’s words sat heavily in my head. Did I really have the guts to do something like that knowing it’d get a man fired? What would people think if I did? What would JoJo think if I did?
Why the hell do I care about what he thinks?
As I sat in my chair and turned to face the city of Los Angeles behind me, I got very honest with myself. If given the opportunity, I knew I’d cave to JoJo again just to see where it went. Just to see where it could go if he set his disdain for me aside long enough to try and enjoy me. And yet, there was a bigger part of me that figured if I caved, he might leave me alone.
If I sucked the stress right out of his meaty, thick cock, maybe he’d leave me alone.
Until he needs the favor again.
The thought actually made me smile. The thought of JoJo needing something he could only get from me filled me with a joy I didn’t want to verbalize. A war was going on inside my body. A war that would eventually mow people down and hurt those around me just to come to a valid conclusion. On the one hand, I wanted JoJo to leave me alone, and on the other hand I enjoyed him coming onto me like that. I enjoyed his dominance. His control. The way his eyes darkened as his cock tented his pants simply because I sat there like a good little--.
“What the fuck is wrong with me?” I murmured.
I didn’t know what was going on and it scared me. I’d never been this kind of girl. This kind of woman, really. I’d always wanted the safe and simple life. A decent routine. Enough money to make me comfortable. Maybe a house with a small patch of backyard where my kids might one day frolic on a playground that their father built for them. I didn’t want drama and arguments and tears and broken hearts. I didn’t care about spending money or designer clothes or shopping until I dropped. I was a cheap date, and an even cheaper girlfriend, and I preferred it that way.
It was less complicated that way.
But, as the image of his clothed, hardened dick raced back to the forefront of my mind, I licked my lips.
I would’ve given anything for a taste of him.
For years, I’d been jealous of my sister. She turned every head of every boy back in high school, whereas all the boys did to me was scoff and make jokes about my fat rolls underneath my shirts. And when she started dating JoJo—the rebellious teenager all mothers warned their girls against—I absolutely hated her.
I hated her for dating the one boy I wanted for myself.
My work phone dinged, and I quickly picked it up. Anything to pull me from the debaucherously wrong thoughts soaring through my mind.
But, when I saw JoJo’s name pop up, it did nothing to abate my urges.
JoJo: Send me your personal number.
No “please.” No “whenever you can.” Just a simple command. I both hated and loved his simple commands. Things were less confusing with his commands.
So, I did ask he asked and sent him my personal number.
Before my cell phone dinged in my purse.
What the hell?
I dug my phone out from the bottom of my worn fabric purse and saw a number I didn’t recognize pop up beneath a text message.
But the text is what caught my eye.
(213)-555-0011: Don’t think we’re finished. And I haven’t seen an H.R. report on my desk yet.
How did I respond to that? Was he expecting me to respond? Without thinking, I saved his number into my personal phone and heaved a heavy sigh.
“What the hell is happening to my life?” I hissed.
After staring at my phone for a few minutes, I decided not to send a text back. There was no little “R” to show him that I had read the message. There were no little dots jumping up and down if I tried to type. There was no way for him to see whether or not I had read the message, so I placed my personal phone back into my purse and tried to focus on work.
It was hard, though.
Don’t think we’re finished.
What did he mean by that?
Did he mean that we weren’t finished with the idea of an H.R. report? Or were the two not connected? And if they weren’t connected, did he mean that he wasn’t finished with me? In his office? With his dick in my face?
I squeezed my thighs together as heat rushed my body. It felt so wrong feeling this way toward my boss and the boy that had tortured me throughout high school. But I couldn’t help it. My mother always used to tell me that the heart wants what it wants, but this wasn’t my heart. It was my body.
So, what the hell was I supposed to do with that? Nothing my parents had taught me had prepared me for anything like this.
Then, out of nowhere, my sister’s voice raced through my head.
If they want you, they’ll chase you. Trust me.
So, I decided to ignore the next ding of a text message on my personal phone before I sank myself in my work for the day.
Anything to keep my panties from getting any wetter than they had already become.
11
Jospeh
“Lexie!”
My secretary came rushing into my office. “Yes, sir?”
I typed furiously on my keyboard. “Has H.R. sent any sort of report up here for me to view?”
She furrowed her brow. “No, sir. I would’ve put it on your desk if--.”
I waved my hand in the air. “Get Tommy up here, now.”
She paused. “Tommy from P.R.?”
I peeked over at her. “Yes, that Tommy. Get Mr. Lancaster in my office.”
“Right away. I’ll call him myself.”
As I scanned through the H.R. reports that had been filed on Mr. Tommy Lancaster, I shook my head. There had been two other incidents in my company with him aggressively pursuing women he thought he had a right to, and my nostrils flared with anger.
No one was allowed to lay a hand on Becca.
Especially him.
“Sir?” Lexie asked.
“What,” I said flatly.
“I called and left a message on his answering machine. Do you want me to go down there personally?”
I paused. “Actually, no. I’ll go find him myself.”
“Has something happened, Mr. Ryker?”
I glared at her. “Out.”
“Yes, sir,” she said quickly.
I stood to my feet and buttoned my suit coat before I slid my hands down the soft fabric. I cleared my throat and held my head high, readying myself for the high that would come with firing this asshole. Because if this man thought he could stalk and use my company as a way to fulfill his salacious needs that had to stay behind closed doors for the sake of everyone’s safety, then he had another fucking think coming.
However, I didn’t even need to come out from behind my desk before my door whipped open.
“You beckoned, Mr. Ryker?” Tommy asked.
My face fell stone cold. “Sit.”
He quickly closed the door behind him and booked it to the chair in front of my desk. “Have I done something wrong?”
I swiveled my computer monitor around. “See these?”
His face paled. “Yes, sir.”
I swiveled the monitor back in my direction. “Care to explain?”
He held up his hands, as if he were surrendering in battle. “Sir, it’s not how it reads. I simply tried to take a couple of women out on dates, and they refused, then thought I was sexually harassing them in the workplace.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “Were you?”
He scoffed. “No. My mother raised me better than that.”
I peered at the monitor. “It says here that you cornered Miss LaShanda in a bathroom. Is that correct?”
His cheeks reddened and I saw him clench his jaw. “I peeked in there to see if she was there.”
I shrugged. “Why?”
He groa
ned. “She was avoiding my texts and my phone calls, and--.”
I slammed my hands against my desk, perching myself so I didn’t slug the guy. “So, you didn’t stop to take the hint when she started ignoring your pursuit?”
He shook his head. “You’re twisting this all wrong. These women, they say ‘yes’ to dates and then they back out last minute and then expect me to just be fine with being stood up!”
“Did she stand you up, or back out?”
His nostrils flared with frustration. “Mr. Ryker, I’m sure you understand how fickle women can be with their wants and needs. I mean, one second they’re spouting off how they’re horny and in need of fulfilling, and then the next second they’re shooting down a request from a very capable man claiming that they don’t have those same needs! It’s barbaric!”
I narrowed my eyes. “Is that what you did to Becca?”
He paused. “What?”
I straightened my back as I came out from around my desk. “Did you get pissed off when she had to work late, which was out of her control?”
He stumbled over his own words. “I mean—it was just—it was a very last minute—she could’ve--.”
I perched my hip against the corner of my desk. “Did you pursue her in this place of work in ways that made her uncomfortable?”
He tilted his head. “Did she file a report against me?”
I shook my head. “She didn’t need to. I was there, remember?”
He scoffed. “Great, now my own damn boss is turning on me.”
I grinned. “I’m not turning on you, Tommy.”
“So, you’re not about to fire me right now?”
I gripped the edge of my desk to keep from punching him. “Oh, no. You’re completely fired. No severance or anything. I just wanted to let you know that I’ve never liked you, so therefore I’m not turning on you.”
He shot to his feet. “I’ll sue this company into the ground. You can’t fire me without basis!”
I reached behind me and swiveled the monitor back into his view. “All I’ll have to do is hand this to your lawyers and all charges will be dropped. Plus, with the shit that our cameras and microphones caught in the garage, I’d be able to level you.”