by Harper West
Rebecca
As much as I wanted to relax over my long weekend, I couldn’t. If my mind wasn’t torturing me with thoughts of the work I’d have to return to, it kept me up all night long with confusing thoughts about why JoJo kept going so hot and so cold on me in the span of a few hours. I tried to focus on work and while I managed to do it long enough to get all of it done, I still dreaded going back into work on Tuesday in order to turn it in.
And when the day finally came around, I wanted to cry the second I entered my office.
“You’ve gotta be shitting me,” I grumbled.
There, on top of my desk, were at least thirty different files stacked in various positions all across the top. I clutched the files I had gotten done over the weekend close to my chest as I turned on my heels and headed up to JoJo’s office. I couldn’t take this any longer. I’d have to quit if he didn’t ease up on me at least a little bit.
But, as I approached his office, Lexie stood from her desk.
“Miss Becca, you can’t go in there.”
I scoffed. “Watch me.”
“No, Miss Becca. Please. You can’t--.”
I swung JoJo’s office door open. “We need to talk.”
He stared at me with his phone stuck in his ear. “I’m going to have to call you back.”
Lexie rushed up behind me. “He’s on a phone conference call. You have to--.”
But I slammed the door in her face before I charged the man’s desk.
“You better have a very good reason for--.”
I slammed the folders onto his desk. “Here’s the work I did over the weekend.”
He leaned back in his seat. “What? You want a consolation prize?”
I pressed the palms of my hands into his desk. “If you don’t lighten up this workload, I’m reporting you. I’ve been reading up on laws regarding overtime and overtime pay, and I’ve more than reached my limit.”
He crossed his leg over his knee. “And if I don’t?”
I straightened my back. “Then, not only do I quit, but I will go to the police and tell them exactly how I got the wounds underneath my tongue. You know, since the officer who came to question me at my apartment a few days back was so adamant about my story being false.”
He clicked his tongue. “And what did you tell him happened?”
“That I cracked my chin on the corner of my desk reaching for a pen and I almost bit through my tongue. But he knows I’m lying, and that paramedic knew I was lying. So, it wouldn’t take much for me to go to them and tell them what’s actually going on.”
He stood to his feet. “And you think that’s going to do what exactly? Earn you some sort of good reputation around town?”
“At this point, I don’t care what it does to me. Only what it does to you. You can treat me like shit all you want. You can torture me so it feels like you’re torturing Maggie all you’d like. I’m not the pathetic loser holding onto a grudge from over a decade ago. What I won’t tolerate, however, is the abuse I’ve been taking from you at work. It’s not my fault that you don’t personally vet who’s hired, and you don’t get to take that anger out on me when you almost forced me to give you a fucking blowjob underneath your goddamn desk.”
He grinned. “And yet, I don’t think you can admit that you hated it.”
“I could say the exact same thing about you, even if you don’t want to admit it.”
His face grew stone cold and, in a flash, all of the “good boy” rapport that might have been built up was demolished. He came out from behind his desk and stalked toward me, but I forced myself not to back up. He couldn’t intimidate me if I didn’t allow him to. And honestly? If he fired me, I’d be able to claim unemployment and rake him through the mud with blackmail until I got exactly what I wanted.
I only hoped it didn’t come to that.
“You’ve got some nerve,” he said as he hovered over me.
I giggled. “Intimidation tactics only work if you don’t use them all day, every day.”
He reached his hand out and wrapped it around my throat. “Is that so?”
I put on a playful voice. “Oh, Daddy. Harder, Daddy. Yeah, that’s the fucking stuff. Oh!”
He quickly released my neck. “Shut the hell up.”
And that’s when I dug my heels in. “I’m drowning in work that isn’t even mine. I’ve looked at the schedule. I’ve seen the amount of time Bonnie is taking off without even having to submit paperwork. And believe me, I’ve done the footwork to make sure that’s exactly what’s happening before I came to confront you. So, I don’t know what kind of racket you’re running with her or if you really like paying employees for jobs they don’t do, but H.R. already knows some of the stuff already happening. Do you want them to know more?”
He glowered. “What the fuck did you tell them?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “You’ll know once they send the report your way. Just know that I’m not playing around any longer. I gave you weeks to get this anger toward me because of my sister out of your system, and now it’s time to be a man about it.”
“You don’t get to say such bullshit things when you have no idea what that bitch put me through.”
I growled right back at him. “That bitch is my sister, and it’s not for lack of trying. I’ve given you many opportunities to tell me what in the absolute fuck happened so that I can have your back and ram that shit down her throat, too, but you won’t even give me a chance. So, this is me leveling the playing field. Back the fuck off and get Bonnie to do her fucking job, or I go to H.R. with everything. And I mean absolutely every fucking thing. Including your anger with Maggie.”
His eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t.”
I reached for his office door. “Keep drowning me in work that isn’t meant for me and you’ll see exactly how much I mean it.”
After this man tormenting me and teasing me for weeks, it felt good to watch him squirm. It felt good to finally have a leg-up on that son of a bitch because he sure as hell deserved it. I’d given him plenty of time to pull up his big boy britches. I had given him plenty of time to deal with whatever the hell he was still carrying around from high school.
But now, I wasn’t playing any longer.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have folders I need to get back on Bonnie’s desk,” I said as I turned the doorknob.
However, his hand came down against it, slamming it closed. “Don’t you fucking dare.”
“Oh, so you’re going to do the work? Is that what I’m hearing?”
He lowered his voice. “You have no idea why she’s taking off work. Quit making this about you and--.”
I stood on my tiptoes just to get in his face. “Then, understand this: you’re my boss and I’m not Maggie. Get that through your thick fucking head before H.R. does it for you.”
He gnashed his teeth at me. “You have no idea who you’re toying with. It never ends well when people toy with me.”
“Then, I suppose it’s good that I have nothing left in my life to lose.”
That seemed to trigger something within him, and his face softened just a tad. “What?”
I shook my head. “See? This is exactly what I’m talking about. One second you’re my goddamn abuser, and the next second you seem genuinely worried about me. Can you pick one and stick with it? This whiplash alone will require worker’s compensation if you don’t cut it out.”
And that’s when he backed away from me. “Get out.”
I nodded. “Gladly.”
“And before you leave my office, know this: I don’t give a shit how you interpret my actions. I don’t care if you go to H.R. or not. Because at the end of the day, you are responsible for how you respond to me, and when you were underneath my desk I believe one hundred percent that you wanted to be there. And that’s exactly what I’ll tell a jury if you want to rake me through the mud. How do you think that’ll look for you?”
I grinned. “I don’t know. How do you think it’s goi
ng to look when they put Maggie on the stand to testify under sworn oath?”
“You wouldn’t.”
I peeked over my shoulder. “Choose the person you want to be and stick with it.”
He pointed. “Get the fuck out of my office.”
“I still believe you’re a good guy, JoJo. I really do. I just think that you can’t let go of whatever happened when we were younger.”
He charged me and pinned me against his office door. “I don’t give a shit what you do, but you will not stay in my fucking office a second longer. You can lower yourself to whatever level your sister dwells on, or you can get out. But I’ll never be your friend. I’ll never be your lover. I’ll never be whatever doting boyfriend you think you can score in this lifetime with those fat rolls. Whatever dreamscape you’ve come up with in your lonely little mind is just that, a dream. So stop trying to force your fucking abandonment issues and loneliness onto me, because I’m not the one trying to change someone just so I don’t feel bad when I fuck them.”
“Huh. Interesting.”
He wavered just a tad. “What’s interesting.”
He doesn’t trust anyone, not even himself. “Have a good day, Mr. Ryker.”
“Wait, what’s interesting?”
I opened his office door and slipped outside. “See you tomorrow morning.”
“What’s so damn interesting!?” he bellowed.
But I refused to answer him as I made my way down the hallway. Hearing him call after me in that tone of voice felt like the sweet success of victory. Finally, I had found a way to torture him in return, which meant I could give him a dose of his own medicine until he either fired me and I raked him through the coals in unemployment or he gave up his own torture tactics altogether.
Either way, I was in this for the long haul.
As I charged back into my office, I picked up those file folders. I stormed out and went right up to Bonnie’s office before knocking on her office door. I knocked and I knocked because I knew she was there. I’d seen her damn car in the parking garage, so whatever bullshit she and JoJo were running against me ended now.
And when she finally whipped her door open, I dropped the files at her feet.
“What the hell is all of this?” Bonnie spat.
I put on my best smile. “It’s not my job to do your work. Even when you’re scheduled to be on vacation while you’re still in the office. Do your job, or I’m reporting you to H.R. Understood?”
Her eyes flared with anger. “You’re messing with the wrong woman.”
“Funny, I could’ve told you the same thing.”
And without another word, I turned and headed back to my office.
I felt people gawking at me for the scene I had made, but I didn’t care. If my purpose here was to expose the shit going on behind closed doors, then I’d be the scapegoat. I didn’t care if I had to flip burgers in a different country for the rest of my life. If it meant blowing the doors of this place wide open so that everyone was treated fairly and equally and not tortured every second of their lives, then it was worth it.
I enjoyed the sweet taste of victory as I locked my office door behind me. I walked over and peered out over the L.A. skyline, drinking the view in.
Because honestly, I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be employed to see it.
I know he’s got a good side. I just don’t know how to bring it out.
If any conclusion had come from my prior conversation with JoJo, it was the fact that all of his issues stemmed from trust issues. And those could be fixed. If he opened himself up to the idea, he could release himself from the chains he had shackled around his own ankles. The only issue is that it required me to play a very specific game where, at least for a while, I sank to his level in order to prove that he couldn’t fuck with me the way he did my sister.
And now more than ever, I knew that both of them were responsible for what happened between them.
Not just Maggie.
“Time for phase two,” I whispered to myself.
And like clockwork, I heard that telltale voice slip through my office door.
“Knock knock!” Brit sing-songed.
I smiled as I walked over and unlocked my office. “Come in, come in. I actually have a slow morning.”
She came inside and closed the door behind her. “Yeah, I saw what happened at Bonnie’s office. Isn’t she supposed to be--?”
I nodded. “On vacation? Yep.”
“But she’s here?”
I grinned. “Yep.”
“So, you’re taking advantage of that?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m just making sure she and Mr. Ryker understand that they can no longer take advantage of me.”
She smiled brightly. “Sounds like a nice lunch is in order.”
And I’m buying for the both of us.
21
Rebecca
After knocking out half of the work that had been emailed to me from JoJo himself, Brit and I took an early lunch.
She drove as we crossed town to her favorite brunch place and immediately ordered ourselves the endless mimosas on the menu. Granted, it was thirty bucks a pop. But, endless orange juice and champagne? With the spread of food we had just ordered?
Worth every penny.
“So, I want to know what you know,” Brit said.
I sipped my drink. “Come again?”
She leaned forward. “Something’s going on between you and Mr. Ryker, isn’t there?”
I furrowed my brow. “Why would you think that?”
She snickered as she leaned back in her chair. “It’s kind of obvious. You know, the way he railroads you without doing it to us. The way he stacks you with work even though he doesn’t do it to us. The way he always calls you up to his office to talk and shit like that. It’s like the adult equivalent of a boy pulling your pigtails on the playground.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I hate it when parents tell their daughters that. My parents used to tell me that and now I have a Bad Boy Complex.”
She giggled. “All the more reason to pursue things with the Bossman, don’t you think?”
I scoffed. “Hell, no. He’s an asshole of the utmost proportions. One minute, you think he’s got the hots for you, and another minute he’s stacking me with so much work that I can’t get it done. And then he punishes me for it.”
She blinked. “Wait, is that what he’s really doing?”
I rolled my eyes. “You know he and I have a past. Well, not me and him. I mean, we went to high school together, but my sister and him dated for a few months.”
“Uh huh. Did she break his heart?”
“To be honest? I don’t know what the fuck she did to him. But she did a number on him, nonetheless. Remember that long weekend I took?”
She downed her drink. “The weekend you went home?”
I nodded. “I tried to get my sister to talk about it, but she wouldn’t. Both of them are being so tight-lipped about it and I’m the one paying for it.”
“Wait, wait, wait. He’s taking out his anger on you because of what your sister did to him? Eleven years ago?”
“Isn’t it insane? But I think I’ve got enough dirt on him to--.”
“Becca, why the fuck haven’t you reported him to H.R. yet?”
I paused. “I mean, I threatened him with it. I made him believe this morning that I had, and it seemed to shut him up.”
She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “You need to tell Human Resources. If he’s harassing you for something you didn’t even do, they need to know. They could probably get you out from beneath him so that you report to someone else.”
“Or it could get him fired.”
She scoffed. “And he shouldn’t be? Is that what you’re telling me?”
I sighed heavily. “Look, Brit, I don’t want to do anything that’s going to make him angrier at me. I just want him to believe that I have an upper hand. You know, to keep him at bay.”
“And the best
upper hand is filing a complaint with H.R. I mean, even he has to follow his own rules before someone reports him to the B.B.B. You could really turn things around for yourself and for your sanity if you just went and talked to them. You don’t even have to file anything!”
I shook my head. “That man already hates me for the fact that my sister cheated on him. I’m not pissing him off and adding more fuel to the fire.”
She plucked a grape from our charcuterie board. “Girl, cheating in high school is par for the course. I mean, how bad was it?”
I shrugged. “She got caught in the back stairwell giving head to the quarterback of our football team.”
She cackled with laughter. “That’s a serious move right there. Was she at least good at it?”
I smirked. “Good enough that she made her rounds.”
“Jesus fuck, yeah that would make me pretty pissed. But still, it’s not “eleven years later” kind of pissed.”
I reached for a waffle. “We all grieve and process in different ways.”
“Still, if I were you, I’d report the fuck out of him. H.R. is there to help us in moments like this.”
I shrugged. “Trust me, I’ve got him right where I want him.”
“Can I ask you something, then? If you promise to answer truthfully?”
I nodded. “Sure. What’s up?”
She downed the rest of her drink and poured herself another one. “How did you really injure your tongue?”
I blinked. “What?”
She groaned. “Don’t act stupid. The entire office knows what happened last week with Tommy in the parking garage. The man has a few screws loose, but someone overheard the excuse you gave that paramedic for your tongue. Even they didn’t believe you, either.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sounds like a personal problem, then.”
“So, what happened? How did you really injure your tongue?”
I racked my brain for something to tell her, but I came up with nothing. Was I really that bad of a liar? Or was JoJo simply that far out of control? I didn’t want to ruin this man’s life. Maggie had already done that for me. And even though he was a narcissistic, abusive asshole, he didn’t deserve to have his life ruined for a second time.