by Cooper, Jodi
He starts to yell profanities through the closed door and begins to hit the walls.
I stare at the closed office door but don’t say anything.
Instead, I take a deep sigh to try and calm the nerves.
I know that I have crossed a line with him but he just gets to me in a way that no one can.
I hate him.
I hate him for making me want to help him and feel sorry for him when he deserves no one’s sympathy at all!
And I know that my hands weren’t all the way clean, but at least I was still functional.
He isn’t even that.
I grab my purse and keys and storm out of the office, because if I stay, I know that there will be even more problems between us and I still really need this job.
Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day…
Chapter 5
It’s another late day at the office because Rhett went on a drunken rampage and threw all of the files and folders out of the file cabinets.
He’s really starting to work my nerves and I’m really not sure how much more that I can take.
I’m his personal assistant - not a maid.
Yet it always seems like I have to cover up for his mistakes and his problems.
His rampage today was about nothing, as usual.
He got one paper cut while flipping through some files and the next thing I know, all of the cabinets become open season to him. I’m not really sure of how much more of this I can take, because it is a lot.
I’m holding on by a thread.
All I can think of is my Mom and the strings that she pulled so I’m trying to keep it together.
“Jessica, can you please come in my office?” asks Rhett as he peeks his head through his door.
“Sure,” I say as I place the last piece of paper in the file cabinet.
I walk into his office and take a seat in front of his desk. I can only imagine what he has to say now.
If it is another tantrum though then I don’t care what my Mom thinks.
I’m leaving.
There was no way that I was going to put up with him being a big baby all day. Everyone had their limits and I have certainly reached mine.
“So as you know I have been acting like quite a jerk lately,” he says.
“That’s an understatement,” I reply.
He sits on the edge of his desk. “You aren’t going to make this easy for me, are you?”
I shake my head. “Not at all. I mean, after all, you haven’t exactly been making my job easy. If anything you’ve been making it a lot harder than it needs to be and I don’t understand why. I feel like I’m a good assistant. Not perfect but pretty good considering the circumstances.”
“Well… I just want to apologize for that. You were right about me yesterday and I have decided to try and change some of my ways. Maybe not come to work drunk every day and actually interact with the people that work for me.”
“Really?”
“And you’re a great personal assistant. You actually are the only one that lasted as long as you have so far. I’m sorry for making your job harder than it has to be but I’m just dealing with a lot and I know that I can’t keep taking it out on you or everyone else. So I am going to get my act together. You can believe that. I just want to say thank you for not being afraid to stand up to me because I know everyone else around here just goes with the flow of things because they’re afraid for their jobs but you’re obviously not.”
“Well, that will be nice. I’m sure that your staff will appreciate a more active boss. And thanks for appreciating me. You know that I’ve never been an ass kisser and there was no need for me to start just because you were my boss.”
“And what about you? Will you appreciate a more interactive boss?” he asks with a raised brow.
I shrug. “I just would like my friend back and to see you do some good for yourself. This isn’t what your father would have wanted and you know that. So if you actually do what you say you’re going to do, then yes, I will appreciate it because you’ve turned into kind of monster.”
“You’re right and I really am going to try and do better,” he says. “If Dad knew how things were going now, he’d probably be rolling over in his grave with disappointment. And I want more than anything to make him proud and protect everything that he has built and I can’t do that by doing what I’ve been doing.”
I smirk. “I’ll believe it when I see it. You don’t have a great track record these days so excuse me for being skeptical—but I know that you won’t lose what you’re Dad has built so I can have a little faith in you.”
He laughs. “I understand that and I deserve that. But thanks for hanging in there. I thought that you would quit after the first couple of days but you really hung in there. I have to commend you for that.”
“Yeah well, I’ve never been much of a quitter,” I say. “Although I must admit I’ve been really close at times. Today being one of those times. You really know how to work a nerve.”
“That’s nice to know,” he says as he looks me in the eye.
I stare back at him and watches as he inches his face closer to mine.
His lips crush against mine and at first I’m a little shocked, but then it feels so good and I just want to tear his clothes off and take him right there on the desk…
But then realization hits me and I pull away from him.
“What?” I whisper.
He smirks.
No.
Not like this.
Driven by instinct, I turn and run out of the office, all the way to my car.
My head is a confusion of thoughts as I drive to my apartment building.
“What the hell just happened?” I ask myself out loud. “He was still drunk!”
Liquor was still fresh on his tongue, so maybe it was just the alcohol that made him kiss me.
No.
That didn’t feel right.
Did he want a relationship with me?
Was this kiss just a one-time thing?
So many questions are buzzing around in my head and I don’t have the answer to any of them.
It could have been the fact that it was late and he was excited about turning over a new leaf in life, but I doubt it.
The kiss seemed so passionate.
So hungry.
And then I kissed him back!
Hopefully tomorrow, I will be able to get to the bottom of the kiss and see if it meant something and if it did, what did it mean?
Damn.
This is not going how I planned.
Chapter 6
I arrive at work the next morning a little nervous.
I’m not sure what to expect because of what happened the night before but hopefully things won’t be too weird.
We should talk about it, get over it, and move on.
Surely nothing could happen between us right?
We were from two different leagues.
I am poor and he is still rich.
That usually doesn’t blend well together.
Especially in his part of town.
Money always stayed with money and there was hardly ever any crossing over.
Besides, if he wanted to take it there, would I be ready for something like that? I’ve never even had a serious boyfriend.
Maybe it all meant nothing and just happened in the heat of the moment.
Of course it did.
To think that it was anything more would be silly.
I step out onto Rhett’s floor and immediately notice a new change.
There are actually other people on the floor and he looks as if he’s sober.
His hair has been cut and he no longer has his usual five o’clock drunken shadow.
He’s actually working at his desk and it looks so natural on him.
Maybe he wasn’t as drunk as I thought that he was last night when he kissed me.
“Good morning,” I say to Rhett as I go to my desk. “Can I get you something?”
> “Yes, can you get me a coffee with two sugars and no cream? Also, I have some files I need you type up for me and I need you to get Mr. Hanson on the phone as soon as you sit down at your desk so that I can go over a few numbers with him,” he says.
I nod my head and immediately go get him the coffee and get Mr. Hanson on the phone.
I notice that he has placed the files on my desk and begin to type them up for him. I think that I can get used to working for this Rhett and not the drunken one I have been working with for the past month.
Maybe I could actually learn a thing or two from this one.
I begin to type up the files and before I know it, my lunch break has come around.
People are still on the floor but I know no one else is in Rhett’s office, so I decide to knock on the door and see if I can have a short little chat with him about what happened the night before.
“Come in,” he says.
I take a deep breath and walk inside. He looks at me with a blank stare and then glances back at the files on his desk before he looks back up at me again.
“How may I help you, Jessica?” he asks.
“Um, I wanted to talk to you about what happened last night,” I say nervously.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says as he sits back in his chair.
Really?
Is this the game that he wants to play?
“You know, the kiss,” I say.
“If you came in here to talk about anything but work, then I’m afraid that I can’t help you because I am very busy right now, as you can see. So is there anything else that you wanted?”
What?
“Um… ok,” I struggle to think of something else to say, “Do you mind if I take my lunch break? It’s twelve.”
“Go ahead, just be back on time because I have some more things for you to do when you get back. You may have to work a little late today but I’m not quite sure yet; it all depends on how fast you work.”
“I will, don’t worry about it. And staying a little late isn’t a problem either.”
I turn and walk out of his office and press the button to the elevator.
When I step on, I notice Nina, the only girl in the building who has ever spoken to me, is there as well. She is really pretty in the beauty pageant kind of way. She has soft brown skin, big doe brown eyes, full lips, and a chest that could turn a girl. I thought that she was going to be the stuck up type of person, but she is actually really sweet to me.
“Hi Nina! Are you on your lunch break as well?”
She nods her head. “Yes, girl. I needed to get out of the office. So much is going on upstairs that it’s bananas. Rhett fired the business manager so now everyone is wondering if they will lose their jobs as well.”
“Wow, I didn’t know that. What’d he fire him for?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Something about not having his best interest in mind and some other stuff. It was crazy. Bill was like, ‘If it wasn’t for me, this company would’ve went under a long time ago.’ And Rhett was shouting and all like, ‘That’s all fine and good, but your still fired.’ It got pretty heated. Bill even threw a chair.”
“No he didn’t!”
“Girl, yes he did!”
“All that happened this morning?”
“Before it was even eight o’clock.”
Wow.
“Want to eat together?” I ask.
She smiles, “Sure, let’s go to the sandwich shop across the street since our lunch breaks are so short.”
I nod my head in agreement as we both step off the elevator and rush across the street to the little sandwich shop. Once inside, we are greeted by a homey atmosphere.
The décor makes you think of your grandma’s house and it’s why I love coming here so much. That and the prices are very reasonable. I order a BLT sandwich and she orders the turkey and Swiss toasted. We grab a seat at one of the tables in the front and I bite into my BLT sandwich immediately. My stomach is talking and I really need to feed it.
“So, tell me. What’s the sudden change in Rhett?” she asks. “You know he’s been in a drunken stupor for almost two years now, so what finally made him decide to want to change now? He made a pretty drastic change today with firing Bill and actually becoming active in the company.”
I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know. He just called me into his office last night and said he was going to be making changes and that he was going to start becoming more involved. He said that he didn’t want to lose his father’s legacy. I didn’t think that he was serious at first but after seeing him today I could be wrong. He seems to be taking it serious.”
“Mmm, are you sure about that? Or did you say something to him? I had a feeling that you were going to snap at him sooner or later. You don’t strike me as the type to be a pushover. He probably did something to really piss you off and you lit into him, causing him to finally come to his senses.”
“I may have said a few things but I don’t think it has anything to do with his change in behavior. I mean, you know Rhett, and the only way he’s going to change is if he wants to change. Maybe what I said came at the right time in his life or maybe he was going to change already and we just didn’t know anything about it,” I say.
“Whatever you say,” she smiles. “I think that you have a lot more to do with it than you’re leading on. We called Rhett ‘Liquor Scrooge’ around the office because he always has a bottle in his hand and today not only did he show up without a bottle in his hand but also sober. I haven’t seen sober Rhett since a couple of months after he took over the company. So whatever you said or did to him, I really commend you for it because I thought for sure that he was going to take himself out with alcohol poisoning.”
I laugh and shake head. “I have a question for you though.”
She wipes off her mouth. “Sure, what is it?”
“How come you talk to me? No one else in the building talks to me except you. Does everyone hate me? Is there a sign on my back that says do not talk to her?” I ask. “I just want to know why people avoid me, that’s all.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just that no one believed you were going to last as long as you did. When Rhett gets personal assistants they last about a week or two tops before he chases them away. They all figured you would do the same thing so they didn’t feel the need to get close to you. Me, on the other hand, I knew that you would last. You have this look that says you are put up a fight and don’t give up easily,” she says. “And I was right. You’ve hung in there and managed to do the impossible with him. I’m sure people will start talking to you now with no problem at all - if only to be nosey.”
“Well it’s nice to know that everyone doesn’t hate my guts. I thought for sure that’s what it was. I would say hi to people and they would just give me this look like I had a disease or something. It was just rough,” I say. “But even if they don’t talk to me I’m glad that I get to talk to you. You’re a little crazy, but I like crazy.”
She laughs. “Of course no one hates your guts and good eye on the crazy part. But just because people don’t hate you, doesn’t mean that they don’t hate Rhett and they probably are going to hate him even more now that he’s become more active in the company. They’re not going to know how to react, but don’t worry about it. If anyone’s a jerk to you just send them to me and I’ll set them straight.”
We both burst into laughter.
She was just the person I needed to clear my head from the mess that I have going on with Rhett.
We chat freely as we walk back to the office. It feels nice to actually begin to get to know someone here.
I step off the elevator to my floor and wave goodbye to Nina. I walk over to my desk and see that there are even more files sitting there with notes to type them up and email them to some clients along with some other requests.
This will keep me busy the rest of the afternoon and I am sure that’s what Rhett wanted so that he could avoid talking abo
ut the kiss between us, but if that’s the way that he wanted it then so be it. I’m not going to force him to talk about anything that he didn’t want to talk about.
If it made him that uncomfortable, then I would just push it out of my mind as if nothing ever happened.
I start working on the files and all of the other things that Rhett has down for me to do. Before I know it, it’s almost time for me to be off of the clock. I gather up my stuff and Rhett walks out of his office and stops by my desk.
“Jessica,” he says.
“Rhett,” I reply.
“About what happened the other night…” he starts to say.
“I thought that nothing happened or at least that’s what you want to believe. I recall things a little differently, because you kissed me. And not just a kiss that you would give to a friend. It was a kiss indicating that you want more than friendship, but I’m not going to force you to talk about it if you don’t want to talk about it.”
He sighs. “Look, I just want you to know that nothing can happen between us again. That kiss—it was a mistake. I just got caught up in the moment and let things get carried away but don’t worry because it will never happen again. I will make sure of it.”
My brows raise. I already knew that, but I want to hear his excuse.
“Oh really? And why not? Am I not good enough for you? Do you think that I will file a sexual harassment suit against you? Because if you didn’t want the kiss to happen it never would’ve happened but since it did, I’m assuming that you wanted it and now you’re trying to backpedal to make it seem like it didn’t mean something to you.”
He sighs. “Look, it can never happen again because my Mom would never approve of you. You’re not the type of girl she would want me to end up with.”