by Jenna Payne
It’s different, very different with Alex. With Simon, I felt like I was a toy. A thing to be used and tossed aside.
With Alex, it’s as though I’m something precious. Like I’m something to be handled with care, treated with respect, loved.
As Alex finishes, we both shout out to the room, reaching our climax together. He doesn’t leave like Simon did. Instead, he moves his arm under my waist and brings me to his side.
We lie like that, tangled up together for a long while. Eventually, I begin to feel my eyes close with sleep. Just as they do, I feel a gentle kiss placed on my forehead.
“I love you, Evie,” Alex says.
I try to respond with something about love. But, before I can, my eyes close fully and I fall asleep.
***
The next Monday, I come into work a bundle of nerves, hoping to see Alex and dreading an encounter with Simon. I don’t see either of them as I move to my computer desk.
Just as I am about to begin my work for the day, my phone beeps and I look down to see a text from my brother. I have to read it twice before I fully understand what it says.
“Simon just fired me”.
*****
Before I can stop myself, I’m marching into Alex’s office. Thankfully it’s open.
“Evie!” he says smiling at me, “I didn’t know you were in.”
“You son of a bitch!” I say as fiercely as I can without shouting. The smile slides off his face to be replaced by a confused frown.
“Evie, what happened?” he asks.
“You know damn well what happened. My brother just told me,” I say. I know Simon couldn’t make a decision like that without Alex’s approval. Alex’s face clouds over. I expect to see shame at having been found out. Instead, I see a wary sort of concern.
“What’s Simon done?” he asks carefully. I don’t answer right away, wondering if this is some sort of trick. But, I know Alex. I’ve known Alex for a long time. The more I think about him, the more I realize that this is not something he would do.
Still unsure, I take out the phone and show him the text message.
Alex stares at it for a while before looking up at me.
“Did Gabe say why Simon fired him?” Alex asks warily.
“Does he need a reason?” I snap back.
“Of course he does,” Alex says. “That thing about layoffs was mostly BS.”
“What?!” I ask, a new wave of fury enveloping me.
“You mean, you let me...you made me do all that for nothing?!” I shout. I don’t care who hears me now.
“I didn’t have a choice,” Alex says raising his voice almost to match mine, “Simon holds my life in his hands too.”
“What do you mean?” I ask. “You’re partners! Gabe told me you were the one who brought him in! For the ‘good of the company’, you said.”
“There’s more to it than that,” Alex says, speaking quietly now. He moves to his chair, still holding my phone and clutching it in his hand.
“Okay,” I say. Though my voice is still fierce and I’m still entirely skeptical. “So, what’s the ‘more to it’?”
Alex looks at me as though he’s horribly conflicted. He opens his mouth to answer but, at that moment, the text message beep on my phone comes to life. Alex looks down at it.
“It’s from Gabe,” he says, reading the message. As he does, I see the color drain from his face. He looks from the phone to me and then down again. There’s something he doesn’t want me to know. I can tell.
“What did Gabe say?” I ask.
“He says that Simon told him,” Alex begins slowly, “that Gabe’s getting fired...has something to do with...you.”
“Me?” I ask, surprised. “Why would it have anything to do with me? I mean, nobody knows about what happened.”
“Simon’s planning something,” Alex says. “He’s been looking for a way to take complete control of the company. He might have found it. I just need to know exactly what he’s doing.”
That’s when the idea comes to me. It’s simple but, I know I can make it work without Simon suspecting anything.
“I have the key to his office,” I tell Alex. “I can sneak in and find out what he’s up to.”
Alex shakes his head.
“I can’t let you do that Evie,” he says. “He could come back at any time. And, if he finds you, he’ll do more than fire you. Trust me, Simon Mosoti can make your life hell.”
“Alex, I know his schedule,” I tell him, “he’ll be out until noon today.”
Alex hesitates. Then, finally, with a sigh, relents.
“Okay,” he says. “He’ll probably have sent emails to his lawyer about whatever plan he’s cooked up. He tells his lawyer everything. Here’s his email password. I swiped it on his first day here in case I ever needed to check on him.”
Alex writes the password on a small piece of note paper. I look at it and fold it in half.
“I’ll do it now,” I said, “It shouldn’t take long then I’ll come right back in.”
I move to leave the office. As I do, Alex takes hold of my hand and brings me back to him.
“Be careful, Evie,” he says.
“I will,” I say. I start to pull away, thinking that he’ll let me go. He holds onto me for one more moment. I look into his eyes and I see that sweet adoring look once more. The one that melts my heart.
“I meant what I said, you know,” he tells me, “I do love you. I have for a while. It’s just taken me this long to tell you.”
Suddenly, and without thinking, I go to him and kiss him fully on the lips. He melts into me for a moment, before I pull away.
“I love you too,” I say. I’m rewarded with a huge grin, which I return before heading out of Alex’s office and straight into Simon’s.
*****
“This is what he’s planning,” I say as I slap the papers down on Alex’s desk.
Alex looks up at me and then begins to rifle through the pages of dirty emails that, if Simon had his way, would soon be found in my company email.
“He’s trying to set us up,” I tell Alex as I watch his eyes move left to right, face growing increasingly red as he reads the racy correspondence.
“He was going to plant these emails on our computers and then leak the story that you and I were having some kind of sordid affair and Gabe knew about it,” I say. “He’s going to say that’s why you hired me. Which goes against company policy. It would be a huge story and you’d be forced to step down.”
“And then Simon would take full control of the company,” he says. Alex slams the papers down on his desk with a loud thunk. It’s so loud that I jump.
“I should’ve known he’d pull some shit like this,” Alex says. He pushes his chair away from the desk, stands and begins to pace.
“What are we going to do?” I ask. Alex stops and looks up at me.
“There’s only one thing we can do,” Alex says, “I’m going to have to come clean.”
“Come clean about what?” I ask. Moving to sit in the chair across from Alex’s desk, I brace myself for some horrible revelation.
“I’d rather not say here,” Alex says. “But, it’s got to be a public statement. That’ll head Simon off.”
“So...you’re going to make a public statement?” I ask slowly, just a bit annoyed that he won’t tell me first.
Alex is silent for a moment. Then he turns and looks back up at me.
“Evie,” he says, “I’m going to need you to go back to work. Pretend like everything’s okay.”
I stare at him in shock. As if I could do that after everything I’ve found out.
“Alex, I’m not going to—”
“It’s just for a few hours,” he says, moving towards me and putting his hands on my shoulders. “Then I’ll need you to meet me at the deli across the street for lunch. Text Gabe and ask him to come too.”
I look at Alex, unsure what he’s planning. But, if I know one thing, I know that I can trust him.
/>
“All right,” I answer. “We’ll be there.”
“Okay,” he says. Then he gives me his hands and pulls me up to my feet. He wraps his arms around me and, after a moment, I lean into his embrace.
“It’ll be all right,” he says echoing, what he’d told me over and over again that night. “I’m right here.”
*****
“I don’t know why I agreed to do this,” Gabe says to me as we walk down the street towards the deli that Alex specified. “If Alex wants to let Simon fire me after everything I’ve done for his company, I should just let him. There are plenty of other places hiring.”
“Gabe, think about it,” I say stopping just in front of the diner. “Does this sound like something Alex would do?”
Gabe looks at me as though trying to find an answer to that, then looks away. I know I’ve made an argument he can’t refute.
“There’s more to this story,” I tell him. “We might as well hear what it is.”
Gabe looks at me then, finally, nods his head and relents.
When we get into the diner, I immediately see Alex sitting next to a short and balding man with glasses and a worn, brown suit.
“Evie, Gabe,” Alex says as soon as we all sit down. “This is my friend Ben Holmes. He works for the New York Times.”
We shake hands and order our meals. There is tension in the air, and no one speaks very much. Finally, after our meals are delivered and we’re sure we won’t be disturbed, Ben takes out his notepad and Alex begins his story.
“It started two years ago, just after the company did,” Alex says. “I went to Simon Mosoti to pitch him the business plan, hoping that he would invest. He said he liked it and wanted to become a full partner. I wasn’t comfortable with that and told him so.”
“What happened then?” Ben asked quickly scribbling notes from Alex’s previous statement on his pad.
“Simon invited me to his penthouse for dinner the next night. He said he was hoping to change my mind about the partnership,” Alex says, “when I got there...he wasn’t there but, his wife was. She told me that Simon had been called away for the evening. She said he’d tried to call and reschedule but, he couldn’t get hold of me.”
He pauses and takes a long sip of his water before continuing.
“To make a long story short,” Alex says. “Simon’s wife came on to me pretty strong after that. We had a few drinks and...I know I shouldn’t have. I knew it at the time but...I’d just gotten out of a relationship and I was lonely and...anyway, we went up to the bedroom and things...happened.”
“You had an affair with Mosoti’s wife?” Ben asks excitedly. It’s clear that this is a big scoop for him.
“It was just one night,” Alex insists. “It’s what happened after that that is more important.”
“Ok, so what did happen after that?” Ben asks eagerly, jotting the story down as fast as he can.
Alex takes another calming breath and continues.
“It turns out she and Simon had planned the whole thing,” Alex says. “Simon confronted me about it the next morning. He threatened to tell everyone about how I brutally raped his wife. He said that she would back him up. That is, unless I decided to make him a full partner. If I did that, no one else needed to know what happened.”
“And, do you have someone to corroborate your story?” Ben asks. Alex takes out a small piece of paper and slides it over to Ben.
“That’s Samantha Mosoti’s number,” Alex says. “She was Simon’s wife at the time. They divorced a year ago.”
“And you’re sure she’ll stick to your side of the story?” Ben asks, looking at the paper.
“I’ve talked to her,” Alex says, “and she’s willing to tell the truth now. In fact, I think she’s looking forward to it. She sees it as a way to get back at Simon.”
Ben nods and slowly puts the paper in his jacket pocket.
“Well, it’s a big story,” Ben says. “If I hurry, I could probably get it in in time for the morning edition.”
“Thank you,” Alex says softly.
“No, thank you,” Ben says with a chuckle. “You have no idea how many business reporters dream of the chance to take Simon Mosoti down. Everyone’s known he’s a slimy bastard for years. Now, we’ve finally got some proof.”
With another word of thanks, Ben gathers his things and leaves the deli.
Gabe, Alex and I sit in silence for several moments. Finally, Gabe speaks.
“I guess I owe you an apology,” Gabe says, “I should’ve known you wouldn’t agree to get rid of me.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Alex says. “I expect to see you at work again tomorrow morning.”
Gabe smiles at him and gives him a mock salute.
“You’ve got it, Boss.”
Once lunch is finished, Gabe heads out, eager to tell his wife the good news.
“Emma will be thrilled that I’m headed back to work,” Gabe said.
Alex and I walk slowly back towards the office. We don’t speak for a few moments then, suddenly, Alex stops short and turns to me.
“Do you want to take the rest of the day off?” he asks me.
“To do what?” I ask. Alex shrugs.
“I don’t know,” he answers. “Whatever you like. After the help you gave me this morning, I think you’ve earned it.”
“I guess I could take you up on that,” I answer, “on one condition.”
“What’s that?” he asks.
“You have to walk me home,” I say.
“I think I can do that,” he says, smiling at me, as he takes my hand in his.
We head towards my apartment walking hand in hand in silence. When we finally reach the building, we stop at the double doors.
“This is it,” I say. He moves awkwardly away from me and looks down as though he’s a teenager on a first date. Unsure whether to kiss the girl or not.
“Do you want to come up?” I ask, making the decision for him.
“Just for a few minutes? Or…” he leaves the rest of the sentence hanging. A mischievous smile finds its way to my lips.
“Or,” I answer. His eyes widen and he smiles as well.
“I think I know what I want to do with my time off,” I say, pulling him inside.
“What’s that?” he asks with a chuckle as we reach the stairwell. I reach up and pull his mouth down to mine. We share a swift kiss before I open the door and lead him two flights up the stairs to my floor.
A soon as I open the door to my apartment, I gasp in surprise as Alex pulls me to him, pressing my body forcefully against his.
He kisses me. It’s not a soft tender kiss, like the one he gave me that night with Simon; nor is it the lustful kiss Simon forced on my mouth. This is something in between. It’s the kiss of a desperate man. A man who has held himself in check for far too long.
Before I know it, we’re tearing each other’s clothes off and I know we won’t make it to the bedroom. I maneuver us over to the couch and flop down onto it.
Alex unbuckles my bra and tosses it aside as I hurriedly push his unbuttoned shirt off of his shoulders. He moves his hand to his belt and slides both his pants and boxers off of his hips as he kisses my throat, my chest and moves his mouth to suckle at each of my breasts in turn.
He moves his mouth to kiss along my stomach before he reaches my pants. He gently unbuttons and unzips them, then slides them down my hips along with my underwear.
He stares at my naked body for a moment and I feel goosebumps as I once again see a look of utter awe fill his face.
“You are so beautiful,” he mutters. He kisses my lips and I feel him gently enter into me. I wrap my arms and legs around him.
As I do, I know one thing to be true: I’m safe here.
While Alex is with me, it feels like no one will ever be able to hurt me again. Not even Simon. Even though neither of us knows what will happen tomorrow or how Simon will react to the story. I know that Alex and I, the two of us, together, will be able to
weather whatever he has in store.
Epilogue
We don’t have to wait long to see Simon’s reaction. Just as Ben promised, he was able to get the story in the early edition of the paper the next day. And, just as he had predicted, the fallout was huge.
Everyone in the company was talking about it when I walked in the next morning. Even the news channels on the televisions in the lobby mentioned it, along with calls for Simon to step down as a full partner in the company.
It’s not a surprise, therefore, when Simon bursts into the office at ten o’clock this morning demanding to speak to Alex.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him calmly. “Alex is busy at the moment. He’s not taking any calls or walk-ins.”
“Don’t try to pull that shit with me,” Simon growls at me, his sophisticated façade gone completely. “I know he’s in there and I’m going to see him.”
“You know I can’t do that, Simon,” I answer him, sounding much calmer than I feel. “You have to have an appointment.”
“Then make me a goddamn appointment you stupid—”
Before I can find out what horrible name Simon plans on calling me, I hear the door to Alex’s office open.
“Evie, something wrong?” he asks, looking calmly from me to Simon.
“I’m going to have a word with you,” Simon says striding past him and straight into Alex’s office.
Alex sighs and follows him in. Before he closes the door, he gives me a secret smile. I think about going to door to listen but, it soon becomes clear that I don’t have to.
“WE HAD A DEAL!” Simon’s voice yells so loudly that I see employees beyond the glass doors stop in their tracks and look towards the office.
“You agreed to this! Now, I find out you’ve gone behind my back and—”
I hear Alex interrupt him, but, his voice is softer than Simon’s. I can’t exactly make out what he says.
“I DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THAT FRIEND OF YOURS!” Simon screams. This time, one of the employees tentatively makes his way to the door and looks in.
“Is...is everything okay?” he asks, “I mean, does Alex need someone to call security?”
“Actually,” I say giving him a calm smile that seems to confuse him, “that’s a great idea.”