by J. S. Cooper
“It was some innocent office party fun,” Scott said with a sigh. “Let it go, Helen.”
“You’re read the HR manual, Scott. You know that fornicating in the office is against company rules.” Company rules?
“Get over it.” Scott’s voice was annoyed again. “I’m fed up of you trying to make my life miserable just because I’m not interested in you.” My face flew to his as he spoke. Oh, shit, I thought as a sinking feeling hit me. I’d messed up.
“What’s going on, Scott?” I swallowed hard. “Who’s this Helen?” I pointed at her. Please God, tell me that Helen is his current or ex-girlfriend. Please make Scott the bastard I thought he was.
“Fuck it, I didn’t want to get you involved in this. I didn’t think it was fair as you were new to the company.” Scott sighed. “But I suppose I have to tell you now. Helen here is the HR manager, and she’s had it in for me since I blew her off at last year’s office party.”
“You didn’t blow me off,” Helen said, looking angry.
“You asked me to fuck you and I said no,” Scott said, his tone deathly. “I consider that me blowing you off.” He sighed and then looked at me. “For the last year, Helen has been calling me and texting me non-stop, saying she wants to do all sorts of things to me. At first it was sexual and then she started getting angry, saying she was going to bring me down. She’s practically been stalking me. I’ve been trying to deal with it my way, but she seems to want to see me fired. That weekend we met, I lied because she kept blowing up my phone and when I called her to find out what her problem was, she said to me that if I could pick up a girl at the bar and fuck her, I could fuck her too. That’s when I knew she was stalking me and that I needed to speak to the president of the company about what was going on. I didn’t want to involve you or scare you, so I was going to deal with her and then call you.”
“But in the office yesterday, you told her you didn’t like me like that. I thought you guys were…” My voice trailed off.
“I didn’t want her to know.” Scott sighed. “What we have is special. And I like my job and I like you working for me. I didn’t want either of us to get in trouble or fired.” He paused then and frowned. “I didn’t know you saw us talking in the office yesterday.”
“Oh. I didn’t want to interrupt.” My face went red. “I need to tell you something, Scott.” I said, my voice cracking.
Helen, who had been silent until that point, looked at me then and gave me a sweet serene smile. “You can leave now, Elizabeth. Good job tonight. Tell Bob that I will be sending in a thousand-dollar bonus for you. I’m pleased with how you really put yourself into the role.”
“Wait, what?” Scott’s eyes narrowed and my heart thudded. “What role? What’s Helen talking about, Elizabeth?”
“Oh, didn’t you know?” Helen smiled sweetly, though her eyes looked vindictive. “Elizabeth is an actress that works for Candy Grams, a company where you can hire people to do whatever you want them to do. She was hired by me two weeks ago for this position to fool you into thinking she liked you, just so she could embarrass you at this party. Everything she has been saying and doing is an act.”
“Elizabeth?” He looked at me, his eyes shocked. “Is this true?”
“Yeah, she even asked for more money.” Helen said and laughed before I could speak. “She negotiated for more money after she saw your photo.”
“You got this assignment two weeks ago?” He frowned. “Before we met at the bar?”
“I can explain,” I said weakly.
“And you’d seen my photo already?” He frowned. “So at the bar, you knew who I was?”
“Kinda…I, I didn’t know if…” My voice trailed off. I didn’t know what to say. I’d well and truly fucked myself.
“So it was all an act.” He jumped up. “Your rage, your hurt, your story about your dad. All of it was an act.”
“No, of course not.” I jumped up and grabbed his arm. “Please, Scott. Let’s talk about this.”
“You truly fucked me in every way possible.” His head fell back and he laughed bitterly. “And you tried to make me feel bad.”
“It’s not like that. I slept with you because I like you. And I was going to tell you the truth. I really was.”
“You’re no better than a prostitute,” he said, looking disgusted.
“I’d say an escort.” Helen said as she looked at me with a superior look. “She’s basically an escort.”
“I’m not a prostitute or an escort. I slept with you because I liked you. I like you, Scott.”
“So why didn’t you tell me what was going on, if you like me?”
“Because I saw you and Helen in the office and I got confused. I thought she was your girlfriend and you were cheating on her with me and lying to us both.”
“So essentially you were lying to me, yet you didn’t trust me?” He looked at me with narrowed eyes and a tight voice.
I nodded and took a deep breath. My chest felt tight and I could feel that tears were about to fall. “You have to understand, Scott. I wanted to trust you. I just had a hard time. I came to your office to tell you and I saw you talking with her. I saw you telling her that all that matters in that moment was what was going on then, just like you told me.”
“What?” He frowned.
“You said that same sentence to me and her. ‘All that matters in this moment is what’s going on right now.’” I cried out. “I thought it was your thing, what you say to all your girls.”
“It’s a bloody saying, Elizabeth.” He looked angry. “It was obviously applicable in both situations. Don’t worry about what’s going on in my life if everything is functioning fine for us. When I said that to you, I meant you were the only girl for me, there were no exes of importance, and when I said it to Helen, I meant that I’m doing my job quite well, so she should just focus on that.”
“I didn’t know that.” I said. “If I’d known I would have come to you still. Please, Scott, I messed up. Can we at least talk about this?”
“Save it.” He shook his head. “I’m done. I can’t deal with this. I can’t believe you would do this to me. All you’ve done is judge me and not trust me. And you’re the one that’s been lying this entire time.”
“Scott.” I reached out to touch his arm and he shook me off.
“Don’t,” he said. He stared at me for a few seconds and his eyes looked pained as he gazed at me. “I thought we had something special. I thought that from the very first time I met you. I knew there was a fragility to you. I knew you’d experienced hurt. But you still had spunk. You were shy and naïve at the same time as being bold and kinky. I never knew what to expect. I loved that. I thought, here’s a girl that will constantly surprise me. I thought, here’s someone that could be really special in my life. Shit, I thought you could be the one. But you fooled me. You got me. I guess you really are a good actress. Look out Hollywood, here comes Elizabeth Jeffries! I’ll look for you at the Oscars next year. I’m sure you’ll pick up the award for Best Actress.”
“Scott.” I bit my lower lip. “Please let me explain.”
“There’s nothing you have to say that I want to hear.” He shook his head. “I’m done. I don’t need more drama in my life. I have more important things to deal with right now. Like keeping my job.”
“I’m sorry,” I said and grabbed my bag. I walked out of the room slowly, feeling embarrassed and heartbroken. How had it all gone so wrong so quickly? How had I fucked it up again? I walked back to my car and let my tears flow. It was over and I’d ruined everything. And all for what? Two hundred dollars?
PA
RT 2
The Second Time I Worked For a Taylor Brother
A Month Later
Chapter T
hirteen
“Bob called. He said he wants you to call him as soon as possible.” Lacey looked up at me as I walked into the living room. “How was your shower?”
“Hot.” I smiled at her and then groaned. “
Ugh, I don’t want to talk to Bob.”
“Sorry for answering your phone. He kept calling so I thought it was something important.”
“Oh, I don’t care about that,” I said. “I just don’t want to talk to him.” I looked at the coffee table in front of Lacey strewn with papers and I smiled. “First draft nearly done?”
“Are you joking?” Lacey screeched. “I’m so lost. I don’t know if I have too much sex or too little sex in the book.”
“Why don’t you read some to me, and I can let you know?”
“Really? You sure you want to listen?” Lacey said. “I just printed out this scene and I don’t know if it’s too much.”
“Go ahead.” I settled into the couch next to her. “I’m not doing anything today.”
“You don’t want to call Bob back first?”
“I don’t want to dress up like a clown this weekend.” I shook my head and crossed my legs on the cushions. “And thanks to your dad giving you rent money for two months, I don’t need to.”
“Yeah.” Lacey nodded. “You needed a break,” she said and looked at me for a few seconds. I knew she was debating internally as to whether to ask me how I was doing. We had only spoken about what had happened with Scott once and I’d never mentioned it again. She knew that I was the sort of person that brought something up when I wanted to talk about it. She knew that after what had happened with Shane, I was very careful to not talk too much, because I didn’t want to make myself sadder.
“Go ahead,” I said and nodded at her encouragingly. “I’m waiting.”
“Okay.” She smiled nervously and cleared her throat. She leaned forward and picked up some of the papers on the coffee table and shuffled them into some sort of order. “Midnight is the witching hour. Midnight is the hour that Cinderella fled from her prince. It’s the hour that the prince turned into a werewolf and it’s the hour that I experienced my first blissful night. I can still feel the touch of his hand on the curve of my butt, as if it were an extension of my body. I can still feel the tingles, smell the fear and excitement, hear the loud decisive sound of his hand against my raw skin. Slap. Slap. Slap. Bliss. Five fingers and one palm. Who knew that they could cause such bliss?” Lacey paused and looked at my face and her hand flew to her mouth as she stared at my slightly awestruck expression. “Oh my God, Elizabeth, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s fine,” I said, not even blinking as I sat there in shock and sadness.
“I didn’t mean to read you this scene. I forgot.”
“It’s okay.” I reached out and touched her hand. “Don’t feel bad. It’s not as if Scott and I are the only people that have ever engaged in spanking. Many bedrooms across the county have couples experiencing that bliss, as you put it.”
“I feel so insensitive,” she said and sighed, her brown eyes looking sad. “Sorry.”
“Lacey, it’s fine. Really and truly,” I said and jumped up. “Though, I’m going to go and get some wine. I need a drink. Want a glass?”
“Yes, please.” She nodded.
“Okay, hold on,” I said and hurried to the kitchen and grabbed two glasses and a bottle of Moscato D’Asti that I had chilling in the fridge. I grabbed a box of cookies as well and headed back to the living room. “You know, it’s really quite funny,” I said as I set the glasses down on the coffee table.
“What’s funny?” Lacey asked, a confused expression on her face as she looked up from the page she was working on. Her lips were black with ink stains and her long brown hair hung in loose waves around her face. She was wearing an old Mickey Mouse t-shirt and a pair of black sweatpants, and I felt a surge of warmth in my stomach as I stared at her. I was so glad that Lacey was here with me.
“The fact that your book Play the Player has a spanking scene after how outraged you were when I told you that Scott and I had engaged in spanking as foreplay.”
“I was a little shocked and just teasing at first.” She grinned. “But then I thought about it, and spanking is all the rage these days. Play the Player needs some spanking. That’s what makes it so hot and sexy.”
“Is that what makes all the romance books hot these days?” I said and laughed. “Hot and sexy?”
“The sexier the better.” She grinned. “I want my book to be so hot and sexy that people are blushing just opening the book.”
“Um, okay.” I giggled. “You need to write about a bit more than spanking then.”
“Yeah.” She laughed. “I guess I do.” She paused and then looked at me for a few seconds before speaking again. “So, have you spoken to Scott?”
“Who?” I said and then shook my head. “Nope.”
“Have you tried contacting him?”
“Nope.” I rested my head against the back of the couch. “He hasn’t contacted me either. He hates me.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t hate you, Eliza.”
“Yeah, I’m sure he does and if he doesn’t hate me, he dislikes me very much and thinks I’m a crazy bitch and a liar.”
“I’m sure if you explained to him what happened, he would understand.”
“Lacey, I explained to him what happened. He didn’t care. He thought I was a hypocrite for being all hard on him when I was lying in the first place.”
“You can at least…” Her voice trailed off as she saw the look on my face. “Fine, don’t contact him.”
“There’s just no point,” I said.
“Yeah.” She nodded and grabbed the bottle of wine and filled up the glasses. “Here you go,” she said as she handed me a glass. “You should call Bob, see what job he has for you. It might help to get out of the house.”
“Instead of sitting here and bothering you, you mean?” I laughed.
“You’re not bothering me!” she exclaimed. “This is your house, Eliza.”
“Girl, you know this is your home as well and you’re right, I might as well see what job Bob has for me. Maybe it will pay for a nice spa trip.”
“Spa trip?” Lacey raised an eyebrow.
“A day trip at least.” I giggled. “I really want a mud bath and a massage.”
‘Yeah, that would be cool,” she said and stretched. “A deep tissue massage from some guy called Brody with big muscles and strong hands.” She moaned and closed her eyes. “And he’ll knead all my stress away. Oh, I can feel it now. And I’ll be naked and he’ll massage every part of my body. In an appropriate way, of course. And then he’ll scrub me down with Dead Sea salt and exfoliate my skin and then he’ll turn me over and—”
“Um, Lacey, is this a scene for your book or for your real sex life?” I asked her, grinning.
“What?” she said as she opened her eyes, her face slightly flushed.
“Lacey, you’re not going to a day spa to have an orgasm. You need to find a boyfriend.”
“I know,” she groaned. “Writing this book is getting me all hot and bothered and what do I have? Nothing!”
“You have Magnus.”
“Magnus?” She frowned. “Who the fuck is Magnus?”
“That dildo I gave you in college?”
“That ten-inch dildo you gave me?” She burst out laughing. “You did not seriously think that I was going to be using that thing. Magnus is in my closet at home.”
“Sad, poor Magnus.”
“Poor me, you mean.” She laughed and I joined her. “We need to go out and try to meet some guys.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I guess so.”
“When you’re ready, anyway,” she said.
“I can still be your wingwoman,” I said and grinned. “Hold on, let me go and call Bob and I’ll be right back. Maybe we can go out this weekend.”
“Yeah, that would be cool.” She grinned up at me eagerly. “We can go dancing…or maybe not dancing,” she said sheepishly, and I rolled my eyes as I walked out of the room. Lacey was going to want to go dancing, no matter what she said. That was one of our go-to girls nights out. We both loved to shake our asses to Top 40 pop and hip-hop,
and there was nothing like getting drunk and flirting with random guys. It was probably long overdue that we should go out and party and have some fun.
I called Bob’s number and waited for him to pick up the phone. Our last conversation hadn’t been pleasant. I’d shouted at him and he’d told me that I was unprofessional and that I was fired. Of course, he hadn’t meant it. He’d been calling me every day for the last month begging me to come back to work for him. He needed me more than I needed him. I was the only one that was willing to put up with his bullshit pay and shady jobs.
“Elizabeth,” he said, his voice exuberant as he answered the phone. “So good to hear from you,” he said, sounding like a happy uncle hearing from his favorite niece.
“Hi Bob,” I said, already losing patience with him. “I’m just returning your call. What’s up?”
“I had a request for you.”
“A request for me?” I said, my heart beating fast as I grew hopeful.
“Well, not you in particular.” His tone changed. “Just a pretty young woman.”
“And I’m the only one that fit the bill, huh?”
“It pays a grand a week.”
“A grand a week?” I said, my eyes widening. “And what do I have to do for the grand? Fuck him every night?”
“Elizabeth!” he said, sounding shocked. “You know I would never ask you to do a job like that.”
“Uh huh,” I said and rolled my eyes. “What’s the job?”
“There’s this guy. He wants to hire you to pretend to be his girlfriend.”
“Uh huh,” I said and started laughing. “Bob, you just told me you wouldn’t hire me to do a job like this.”
“It’s not what you think. He wants to make a girl jealous. That’s his purpose. He’s in love with someone else. He wants her to think she has some competition.”